New Zealand

New Zealand. Where the hell is Old Zealand?

Anyone who follows this blog regularly knows that I’m a big fan of the Dead C. A great band from Dunedin, New Zealand that I have posted before & will surely post again. I thought I’d post up something different here today. A couple other Kiwi acts that I also enjoy.

Dadamah was a short-lived group, started in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1990 & calling it quits in 1993. Members were Roy Montgomery – vocals & guitar, Janine Stagg – organ, synthesizer & backing vocals, Kim Pieters – vocals & bass, & Peter Stapleton – drums.

While Dadamah is often seen as another step along the way in the artistic path of Roy Montgomery, he'd be the first to disagree. He has stated: "I look back upon the Dadamah album as an exercise in weaving tunes into cacophony. The other members of the band had the energy & enthusiasm for experimentation, I had the ‘hooks’, to put it crudely…I had that at the back of my mind in trying to write tunes to go with the words & ideas of the other members."

Unlike the consistently aggro noise fests of the Dead C, Dadamah also draw on a generally more spare but no less compelling approach, positively shimmering with beautifully earthy lo-fi Velvets/ Pere Ubu sound. Roy Montgomery's droning guitars offset by Janine Stagg's gurgling synth woosh, stabbing organ-wheez, & possessed femme voice over, Kim Pieter's cavernous man-voice vocals weaving through the mix, with Peter Stapleton’s drums punching through into your waking nightmare, because this is not a dream.

Dadamah - This is not a Dream, Majora VPAG LP 5750, 1992.

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Side One –

Limbo Swing

Papa Doc

Too Hot To Dry

Side Two –

Prove

Brian's Children

High Tension House

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Gydja is the name of the musical projects of Abby Helasdottir from Wellington, New Zealand. The project began with the aim of creating sounds that could be used for magickal & shamanic purposes. Her approach has since broadened, now creating music of both a mundane & a magickal nature. Works designed specifically for magickal use sit alongside explorations of sound for sound’s sake although some exploration of sound contain magickal themes, even if there is no practical magickal application intended.

This is an aesthetic exploration of dark & mysterious environments by a couple of talented, sensible, & unique visionaries who through their musical expression inspire us.

Ma-Mo Rbad Gtong was released by Chmafu Nocords in 2005. New Zealander Gydja here collaborates with Maru (Marufura Fufunjiru, an Austrian musician & founder of the Chmafu Nocords label) to create this amazing dark ambient sound. This is an aesthetic exploration of dark & mysterious environments by a couple of talented, sensible, & unique visionaries who through their musical expression inspire us.

It explores the four orders of Wrathful Goddesses encountered by the soul in the Bardo Thödol, or Tibetan Book of the Dead. The tracks bear the names of each of these orders: the eight Kerimas, the eight Htamenmas, the four female Door-keepers, & the twenty-eight Herukas. This mysterious release is constructed with multiple layers of analog sounds structured into minimalist soundscapes, where the vibe & the drones flows through an intangible space, penetrating in our skin, reaching our bloodstream, & sending an electrical current through our nerve synapses. The ritualistic sounds are used repetitively to infuse a contemplative stage of mind where momentarily we can abandon our physical body.

 Gydja & Maru – Ma-Mo Rbad Gtong, Chmafu Nocords, 2005. 

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Tracklist –

Kerimas
Htamenmas
Doorkeepers
Herukas  

Enjoy,

NØ