Reuploaded 11/27/2025
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.
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.
Tracklist –
Kerimas
Htamenmas
Doorkeepers
Herukas
Htamenmas
Doorkeepers
Herukas
Enjoy,
NØ