Salient Magazine 11 October 1999

When I walk into the Deluxe Café I am relieved to see that Daimon is not one of those pretentious DJs who wear sunglasses inside. In fact, hes a really friendly guy: hes very animated, hes easy to talk to and he has some really interesting things to say. Drinking coffee and trying to ignore the din of passing traffic, we talk about the man behind The Nomad.

Daimon is Christchurch based DJ, The Nomad. He is, also a self confessed DIY (do it yourself) person: from the production of his music and his album, though to the organisation and promotion of his tours. He is also does his own artwork for his CD cover posters, posters and web-site. This year he has been doing a multi-media course so that he can take things even further. The course was intended to expand his mind and help with visuals, video and web sites.

The Do it Yourself ethos can be hard going at times. Producing and releasing the album and organising and promoting tours has taken its toll. Daimon confessed that, a one point, "it ran me down and made me really sick". But he wouldnt have it any other way. At one time he worked in Christchurch with a group called Locust. Although he admits that it was a good starting point he ultimately wanted to do his own thing. He also feels that he works better by himself. "Sometime working with people, your mind gets pulled in all directions as everyone has their own perception of what a of what a song should be." This doesnt mean that he wont work with any one at all. When he does need it there are a whole host of friends in the industry whom he can call on an hes adamant that if youve got a good product people are more than willing to help. He cites Salmonella Dubs Tikki as someone he does enjoy working with. Hes also done some work with Rockers Hi Fi and UK DJ Subtropic. Of course there are the people at Festival Records as well. Hooking up with Festival means greater distribution throughout New Zealand and eventually Australia, which is uncharted territory for Daimon.

While Daimon has made a name for himself in New Zealand, he has yet to discover the rest of the world. Early next year he is planning to take off to Australia, probably with Salmonella Dub. And hes more than ready to show the Australians a thing or two about electronic music. It seems that electronic music is not really that big in Australia and Daimon feels that this is good for him. After all, he can go over there and impress them. "Ive got some friends over there who keep saying to me you've got to come over and do some parties and release some music because its really bad here". While electronic music may not be big in Australia it has certainly come long way here. Daimon puts this down to a timing thing." Electronic musics been around for ten of eleven years before any of the commercial type stuff and the knowledge has grown," says Daimon. And ten or eleven years is about how long Daimon has been around for. He first started out on a hip-hop beat, but now hes in to drum n bass and dub. In fact, he likes a lot of different styles and professes that "I like to incorporate them into my projects. The next one might be a mad hip hop turntable album". This (Second Selection) is a deep downgrove trip hop smash album with a wee dash of hip-hop.

Daimon is definitely a man who is passionate about what he does and hes incredibly animated when hes talking about his work. His second album Second Selection, has just been released and he is very happy with it. "Im stoked" is his reaction to the album. "Its really wicked". However, it took a long time. Most of last year was spent in the studio working on the album and Daimon has no qualms about that. "I made about 50 tracks, but only used ten of the fifty." It is fairly standard for musicians to write more tracks than they record, but Daimon wanted to ensure that all the tracks that went on the album were potential singles. You get the feeling that this man is a perfectionist. But fair enough if it leads to good quality music.

So what does Daimon use to produce the music that he does? When he does his up and coming tour he will be using turntables with an MC doing scratching effects, and a mixing desk for effects and dubbing out vocals. Its hard to believe that you can get such an incredible range of sounds from this equipment, but you can. Daimon produces all sorts music ranging from down-beat, dub-wise, through trip hop, drum and bass and hip-hop. One thing though: he would like to do more with vinyl. Basically, its an extension of who he is as a person and as a DJ. As he says "its the culture and its my lifestyle". And he also states that if youre going to be a DJ producing cutting edge music, then its really important to get it on vinyl as thats basically what DJs play. He goes on to say "not many DJs go out of their way to play CDs". So Daimon will be putting out tracks on vinyl. In fact, hes already done a mix of Life Forms, which will be coming out on limited edition vinyl.

Plans for summer include his current tour plus a stint at the Gathering. A possible appearance at the Big Day Out is not out the question and Daimon is certainly interested in an Orientation tour. While the summer tours keep him busy theyre something that Daimon really enjoys. "Yeah, theyre nice man," he says, I get the feeling hes imagining himself on one of the tours as we speaks. The infamous summer tours seem easy going and relaxed and Daimon views them as "time-out" from his otherwise hectic lifestyle. "You go on the road and you can cruise over to some nice beaches and shit". It definitely sounds like the ultimate summer holiday.

But things havent always been this great. This is the first year that Daimon has been able to produce and play music full time. Before now hes had to hold down various jobs, mainly club residencies and bar work. However, that all just got too tiresome: "You just get past that," he says. And well past it he is. For now its a national tour, hopefully followed by long stretches of open road and sunny beaches.

Evening Standard 21 October 1999

Christchurchs favorite hometown electronic artist returns with his second album entitled 'Second Selection'. It starts nicely with the first few tracks hitting the spot with perfect low-key, late-night cafÈ groove. The Nomads diverse musical influence and tastes are evident. Throughout the album, Nomad showcases his skills, including some nice scratching on the turntables. But this album is not without its faults. Toward the end the drum sounds become all too familiar and the "featured guest" tracks dont hit the spot either. Farda Ps (Rockers Hi Fi) New Zealand-style chant goes on for too long and 'Version Two' takes too damn long to get busy for those with short attention spans, like myself. The album was too short, having 10 tracks in total. So its two and a half stars from me.

Salient Magazine - 11 October 1999

Second Selection is The Nomads second album and it is as different from the first as chalk is from cheese. Movement (the first album) was mainly hip-hop and break-beat, whereas Second Selection delves into deep dub-wise drum and bass, topped off with a slice of hip-hop. Even for people who dont really like electronic music this album is very accessible. It has a deeply relaxed, simple feel; its really quite sublime at times. Yet its layered and had some substance to it. Second Selection is NZ DIY at its best. It has a nice free flowing feeling to it and it will be a good summer CD to have. Not only is this album very pleasant to the ear; it also had some rather nice eyecandy. The artwork is the Nomads very own along with a stylish cover, the inside of which is filled with a collection on some rather nice photography.

City Voice 7 October 1999

The Wanderer

The Southern grip on NZs growing dub scene continues with the release of the Nomads (Daimon Schwalger) album Second Selection. As the title suggests its album number two for the wandering musician who had just relocated himself to Wellington after a few years based in Christchurch. Schwalger says Wellington is a good central place to base himself making the large population base of Auckland and the South Island dub strongholds like Christchurch and Nelson equally accessible. Second Selection is a much more dubby, trip-hoppy affair than its precursor Movement. Schwalger says when he recorded the first album drumnbass and break beat styles were on the ascendancy. Second Selection reflects the music hes been playing in his 11 years as a hip hop DJ. He credits his turntables alter ego DJ Daimon with the albums scratching and says often promoters who book him as a DJ arent aware of his live music incarnation. "Its a chance to branch out," he says of his two careers. To limit yourself to one arena is "commercial suicide. The album was recorded in Christchurch and includes guest appearances by Antsman from Beats and Pieces, Salmonella Dub soundman Tiki Tane, MC Charmed 1 and vocalist Lotus. It even includes the Nomad remix of Salmonella Dubs Version(for the love of it). Its a big bottom ended record probably more likely to light up the chillspace than the dancefloor. It will be launched tomorrow at the Lava Lounge. It will be a full show with the Nomad controlling three turntables alongside other electronic gadgetry. Hes joined by and MC and Lotus will guest on Where are you? the albums first single.

Christchurch Press 1 October 1999

Nomad tour: Erstwhile Christchurch producer Nomad (he has recently decamped to Wellington) returns tonight with a show at Base to promote his new album Second Selection. Drawing on influences from dub, hip hop, and drum and bass, Second Selection is an album that will take you into the laid-back, drawn out days of summer.

Tonights show is part of a New Zealand tour, and Nomad says that he will be doing a New Zealand tour, and Nomad says that he will be doing a two-hour set which is going to sound really fat, with over-the -top live vocals, lots of scratching and people "just going nuts."

"Ive just recently got my album pressed on to dub plates, so Ill be spinning my own album on vinyl and Ill be doing live scratching and effects, dubbing and Ive got MC Antsman and Lotus-who features on the track Where Are You, which is on the radio at the moment-will be singing on that track live."

Nomad starts at around midnight tonight at Base but if his set at the Rockers Hi Fi gig in July (where the new songs had an airing) is anything to go by, youll need to get there fairly early in order to find a spot on the dancefloor.

Evening Post 7 October 1999

Of a slightly more modern vintage is electronic whiz The Nomad, aka Daimon Schwalger, who has relocated to Wellington from Christchurch and plays the Matterhorn on Saturday. His new album, Second Selection, is out now.

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