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Scratched Surface (1998)

by fiffdimension

supported by
Dave Edwards
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Dave Edwards Where it all got started for me, as a teenager in New Plymouth
/
1.
The air is poisoned, fouled and polluted The Earth itself is raped, pillaged and looted You want to yell, protest and bomb things, 'cause everyone else is insane But you drive a car don't you? You're guilty you can't complain You open up a plastic container of some processed food The stuff contains frog DNA and some chemical you can't pronounce You don't even know what it is, but you want to throw it down the drain But they warned you in small print on the label, so you can't complain It looks like the offices and four-wheeled coffins are grinding you into the dirt It seems like the computer tax collectors are out to get your shirt But it's fair and written out in the rules, they will explain You can't stand against the fine print and you can't complain See the Americans taking over, with their Coca Cola and their rap See the Japanese taking photos, see your home become a tourist trap But you can visit Japan if you want, if you've got the money for the plane If you don't like Coke you don't have to drink it, so you can't complain If you go ahead and protest they'll put you in jail for a couple of months The plastic people in suits were hairy rebels once If you don't like civilisation, go live in the forest in the rain With no power, no running water, either way you can't complain You worry about freedom, how your feet are chained to the ground Nah, your feet are free, you can do what you like but will bring the consequences down You are almost totally free, to do anything but rage in your pain If you're angry you can pay to see a doctor, no you can't complain
2.
Dave Edwards - electric guitar & vocal Tim McVicar - bass I say 'I love you', you say you gotta go You got a date with some guy I don't know Then it turns out it's my brother you're screwing I don't know know what you're doing to my head I don't need you to grind me down I'd like to teach the world to sing discordant out of key Against the city noises and the brainwashing TV The fascist pop stations and the government lies Superior is just inferior in disguise I don't need you to grind me down Spank me O God for I have sinned But trying to talk to you is like pissing in the wind You never listen to what I say or sing You have the power but I can say anything I don't need you to grind me down 'cause I can do it myself
3.
Dave Edwards - acoustic guitar, vocal Tim McVicar - percussion ----------- Everything you want you can make it come true With a steel fist & an iron shoe Smash all dreams like a pane of glass See a shooting star, let it go past Counterrevolutionary, shitting on the sky No remorse in yr television eye Engineered greatness and make thoughts out of plastic Prepackaged happiness, bright & fantastic Fairystomper, Fairystomper, open yr mind Full moon up there, wasting its time
4.
Dead Eyes 03:35
Dave Edwards - acoustic guitar, harmonica, vocal
5.
The Ghost 03:18
Dave Edwards - acoustic guitar, vocal
6.
Dave Edwards - electric guitar, vocal
7.
Dave Edwards - acoustic & electric guitars, vocal
8.
Venus wrapped in rags lights another candle Huddled shivering in a corner, with a limp wrist waves her magic wand But the dark around is silent, closed in all around her The sound of her breathing does not go far They stood there to watch her slamming gracefully into orbit The lovely ballerina, the butterfly under glass Now the winter is upon her, she is undone by her own glory The night is so deep, and the spirits do not answer her calls The night is so deep, there are gravestones in the sky She sits in military mindlessness, looking out from the tunnels of her eyes Inside the cloud, her shooting star has fallen Farewell to all good things that burn
9.
Yo Yo Song 03:08
Dave Edwards - electric guitar, harmonica, vocal Tim McVicar - bass, vocal
10.
Dave Edwards - acoustic guitar, harmonica, vocal Tim McVicar - electric guitar
11.
Dave Edwards - electric guitar Brett, Ross, Tammy - percussion
12.
Dave, Brett, Ross, Tammy - percussion, didgeridoo, vocals
13.
Dave Edwards - acoustic guitar, kazoo, harmonica, vocal

about

“Worth searching out coz this lo-fi singer/songwriter oddball has a unique take on the genre. He’s pissed off, a tad fucked up (as usual), but not full of lugubrious self-pity (as unusual) and is happy to get raucous & obnoxious in just the right kinda way.” – Chris Knox

The debut album from fiffdimension – a genuine 1990s teenage no-budget lo-fi post-punk singer-songwriter artifact from the Taranaki, New Zealand underground, recorded on analogue reel-to-reel tape.

Online reissue includes download-only bonus tracks and previously unreleased material.

credits

released December 9, 1998

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fiffdimension Featherston, New Zealand

Outsider music from Aotearoa NZ and beyond, by Dave Edwards and collaborators (from 1856 to 2024).

Spans acoustic & electric noise, rock, folk, spoken word, postpunk, free jazz, gamelan, lo fi, electronica, & ethnomusicology.

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