22 Dec 2024
David Edwards - Album Review: Águas Brilhantes: 2018-2022
20 Feb 2023 // A review by Kev Rowland
Listen to Águas Brilhantes: 2018-2022 here
What we have here is the fourth in a series of compilations from Dave
Edwards, AKA Fiffdimension, covering the years 2018-2022 (the others are for earlier years) and includes
previously unreleased recordings, download-only bonus tracks, and excerpts from
12 albums. Yes, twelve. Dave is a musician who has a huge range of influences
and styles, and the music keeps pouring out of him. However, I get the
impression (rightly or wrongly) that each album is in a similar style, and he
uses multiple personas to keep each musical strand separate. That is fine when one
is playing one of those, but when they are all mixed up in a compilation which contains
28 songs and a running time of nearly 90 minutes it is somewhat more eclectic.
I was trying to think which label this album belongs on, and the closest I could come to was Alternative Tentacles as there is something about this underground independent mix which I can see appealing to Biafra. We go from bossa nova rhythms to folk to RIO to indie to, what is interesting listening if nothing else, a dog howling along to a banjo (Oscar’s Blues), and I am sure there are many who can understand the pain the poor dog is going through. We have songs taken from Poems & Lyrics (in the Scotch dialect) (1856), where Dave paid tribute to his ancestor John Collie who wrote a book of poems more than 150 years ago and he and other family members took some of those and put them to music, ensuring his words are being uttered again, all those years after they were first committed.
Dave’s website is interesting, and he provides a great deal of information to where songs have come from, where he was when they were recorded, as well as where the inspiration comes from. His Bandcamp page is also informative, with plenty of links and information so that even the uninitiated such as myself can easily find a way into his vast catalogue. Given the difference in styles I am not sure if this is a great introduction to his music, but I would instead use this as a guide and make notes of what songs are the most enjoyable and then seek out the albums on which they originally appeared. It is unusual to find someone playing so confidently in such diverse areas and anyone into independent music will certainly find something on here to enjoy.Listen to Águas Brilhantes: 2018-2022 here
Rating:
( 3 / 5 )
About David Edwards
He spent the turn-of-the-millennium era in Wellington (his birthplace), amid the free-improvisation and avant-garde music scene (& yes was an extra in Lord of the Rings). Over the next six years he made an idiosyncratic series of albums on CDR and cassette, fusing acoustic folk and electric postpunk with modernist spoken word and free improv. And formed The Winter Trio with Mike Kingston and Simon Sweetman.
In 2005 Dave collaborated with Nigel Patterson (The Black Seeds), winning Best Music Award in the NZ Fringe Festival with their 18-piece punk orchestra Ascension Band.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for David Edwards
Releases
Other Reviews By Kev Rowland
Gig Review: Crushfest @ The Tuning Fork, Auckland - 07/07/2023
07 Jul 2023 // by Kev Rowland
So it was down to Tuning Fork for the first night of the second Crushfest festival. Tonight was going to be Wellington and Auckland bands, and then some of the same will be playing at the second night in Wellington next month.
Read More...
07 Jul 2023 // by Kev Rowland
So it was down to Tuning Fork for the first night of the second Crushfest festival. Tonight was going to be Wellington and Auckland bands, and then some of the same will be playing at the second night in Wellington next month.
Read More...
Rain - Single Review: Love and War
15 Jun 2023 // by Kev Rowland
It has been quite a while since I last heard from Wellington-based singer songwriter Cathy Elizabeth, and back then Rain was seen solely as a studio project with Cathy being accompanied by Thomas Te Taite, who provided all the instrumentation including digital drums. Now they are a full band who have been performing live, and it is the first time they have recorded as such, with Thomas now, just providing acoustic guitar (plus engineering and producing etc.
Read More...
Lost Vessels - Single Review: All This Time
01 Jun 2023 // by Kev Rowland
I must admit I was not that impressed when I first saw Lost Vessels play at Crushfest, something they later admitted to me was the worst gig of their career, but since then they have improved in leaps and bounds. This has been noticed by others on the Auckland circuit as they are getting more opportunities with better support slots, and I was not at all surprised when they won the Ding Dong Lounge Battle Of The Bands in November last year.
Read More...
Unwanted Subject - Single Review: Sons of Savages
28 May 2023 // by Kev Rowland
I have caught Unwanted Subject in concert a few times over the last couple of years, and while they have been getting better each time I have seen them, I must admit that nothing prepared me for this, which right from the off is a monster. I have never heard them quite this is aggressive, nor as polished, and this multi-sectioned single sounds almost like a different band as they have pushed their metal roots to the max in this metalcore beast which sees them mixing and blending different genres to create something quite special.
Read More...
Gig Review: Stray Dogs @ AUX, Auckland - 26/05/2023
28 May 2023 // by Kev Rowland
So it was back to Ding Dong Lounge on a Friday night for one of their infamous Emo nights, which tonight was a three-band bill with Stray Dogs having an extended set, supported by Altaea and then up first we had Blindr, a band new to me. Blindr are a quartet featuring Bill Caldwell (vocals, guitar), Blake Woodfield (lead guitar), Jack Power (bass), and Charlie McCracken (drums).
Read More...
Gig Review: Turkey The Bird @ The Ministry of Folk, Auckland - 27/05/2023
27 May 2023 // by Kev Rowland
Back up to Auckland Guide Centre in Mount Eden tonight for my second consecutive gig (Sol suggested it was a turkey sandwich as I am at Vader tomorrow) to see Taranaki’s finest, Turkey The Bird at The Ministry of Folk. Before that we of course had Hoop, who are Al Baxter (vocals, guitar, harmonica, banjo, mandolin), Nick Edgar (vocals, guitar, ukulele, flute, harmonica), Emily Allen (violin, viola), Glenn Coldham (bass) while tonight Gary Hunt was filling in for drummer Rusty Knox.
Read More...
This Silent Divide - Single Review: Beautiful Creature
25 May 2023 // by Kev Rowland
Here we have the latest single from Wellington-based melodic hard rock quartet This Silent Divide, entitled Beautiful Creature. I really enjoyed their Tall Stories EP, and they played a great gig at Dead Witch towards the end of last year, and this would have been recorded at about the same time.
Read More...
Gig Review: Emily Rice @ Your Local Coffee Roasters, Pukekohe - 24/05/2023
24 May 2023 // by Kev Rowland
Earlier this week I had a message from Emily Rice asking me if I lived in South Auckland. When I responded I did, she asked if I would be interested in coming along to an event she was putting on in a coffee shop in Pukekohe to celebrate the release of her new single, Warenoa.
Read More...
Most Viewed Artists
Latest Galleries
NZ Top 10 Singles
- APT.
ROSÉ And Bruno Mars - DIE WITH A SMILE
Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars - BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Billie Eilish - TASTE
Sabrina Carpenter - I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
Gracie Abrams - ESPRESSO
Sabrina Carpenter - SAILOR SONG
Gigi Perez - LOSE CONTROL
Teddy Swims - A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
Shaboozey - GOOD LUCK, BABE!
Chappell Roan
More Content on muzic.net.nz
Google Site Search
Custom Search
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report A Problem
