James Gardner
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jegcomposer.bsky.social
James Gardner
@jegcomposer.bsky.social
Grateful Immigrant and Manuhiri | Composer | EMS Researcher | an "individual with diverse but intertwined competencies”

Based near Tītīrangi, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa.

gardnercomposer.com
Pinned
Those of you interested in the history of electronic music may enjoy the talk I gave to the Computer Arts Society last week on Peter Zinovieff’s early work (among other things). It can be seen in all its rambling unedited glory here:

youtu.be/u6P72zPZpUo
Peter Zinovieff and Electronic Music Studios
YouTube video by Computer Arts Society
youtu.be
Reposted by James Gardner
If you're interested in MfE's reports or use their data, better load it up to the wayback machine pronto.

#nzpol
National orcishness continues, with a bill to disestablish MfE bills.parliament.nz/v/6/27caed65...
House
bills.parliament.nz
February 16, 2026 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by James Gardner
Friends, I'm quote posting this and asking you to let your friends and family know this is the lived reality for many of the people doing the teaching at our universities. Just imagine trying to do any kind of life planning with an employer like this. Precarity is the norm.
#NZPOL
Does semester 1 start in exactly 2 weeks? Yes. Do I have a contract for it yet? No.
Am I sure they want me to teach? Questionable atm. But course 1 they can't cancel (core course) and course 2 they don't want to cancel (because EFTS and money!)
(an update on my on-going employment shenanigans)
February 16, 2026 at 3:45 AM
Reposted by James Gardner
Holding a flimsy umbrella against the weather to protect pork barrel funding for foreign sporting organizations while the country drowns and is flattened by wind and being sycophantically praised for it by your own team really should be a symbol of this govt's priorities but let's see how it's read.
Image for those who missed it ...
February 15, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by James Gardner
When government ministers dismiss deadly storm events as "just weather", as Mark Mitchell did on RNZ just now, they reveal themselves to be unfit for government.

It's thinly veiled climate denial.
February 15, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by James Gardner
Please consider submitting INDIVIDUALLY ⬇️ as your sub will carry much more weight. It takes minutes.
A bulk submission is better than absolutely nothing at all, however. It allows the organisation to gather your data, course. This is not a bad thing, or a criticism, but it is a thing.
#nzpol
February 14, 2026 at 5:32 AM
Reposted by James Gardner
How many more people have to die before the central government understands we’re in a climate crisis in little old NZ? (Rhetorical, I know 🙄😑)

Vote these fuckers out & get everyone else you know to vote them out too #nzpol
📢 A member of the public called emergency services, alerting them to the submerged car on State Highway 39 near the intersection with Kiwi Rd at Puketotara last night.

👉 Latest bot: NZ Transport Agency - Auckland & Northland
Man found dead after vehicle submerged in Waikato floodwaters
www.1news.co.nz
February 13, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by James Gardner
Folks, Are you aware the submissions for the proposed Arms Bill are due by 16th?
Want an easy way to submit on the Arms Bill? Add your name to their summary submission at www.guncontrol.nz/submission and let Parliament know you want stronger gun laws. The website also has resources for writing your own submission.
February 13, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Today’s welcome arrival:
February 13, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by James Gardner
YOU HAVE UNTIL 4:30PM TODAY TO GET YOUR SUBMISSIONS IN!!!
🚨 Attn: Aotearoa
Limited time to get these submissions in! They close Friday by 4:30pm, not the usual 11:59pm deadline.
🗣️📣
Submit here:
www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/mak...
February 12, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by James Gardner
More reasons why the government's LPG plans are strategically stupid:

#nzpol

theconversation.com/importing-ga...
Importing gas locks NZ into fossil fuels for longer – just as clean energy surges
Even as the US steps back from Paris and New Zealand flirts with imported gas, the global energy transition is gathering speed.
theconversation.com
February 12, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by James Gardner
Heads up, for those of you interested in this sort of thing – this book is now available:

www.routledge.com/The-Roland-x...
The Roland x0x Series: A History of Early Roland Synthesizers and Drum Machines from SH-101 to TR-909
The Roland x0x Series: A History of Early Roland Synthesizers and Drum Machines from SH-101 to TR-909 offers an authoritative but accessible investigation of how the design of these most influential m...
www.routledge.com
February 12, 2026 at 5:58 AM
Heads up, for those of you interested in this sort of thing – this book is now available:

www.routledge.com/The-Roland-x...
The Roland x0x Series: A History of Early Roland Synthesizers and Drum Machines from SH-101 to TR-909
The Roland x0x Series: A History of Early Roland Synthesizers and Drum Machines from SH-101 to TR-909 offers an authoritative but accessible investigation of how the design of these most influential m...
www.routledge.com
February 12, 2026 at 5:58 AM
Reposted by James Gardner
Huge if true.
February 11, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by James Gardner
This LNG terminal is such a bad idea that the government literally don't want their own Bad Idea Speeding Up system to look at it www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
Government wants to bypass fast-track process for proposed liquefied natural gas terminal
A proposed LNG terminal will bypass even the fast-track process in order to be built in time.
www.rnz.co.nz
February 11, 2026 at 6:26 PM
A rare good news story…

Auckland secondhand bookshop owner saves store from closure finding new location www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Auckland secondhand bookshop owner saves store from closure finding new location
Hard to Find Books in Auckland was struggling to find a new location after the Catholic Church decided to sell the former convent where the shop had traded for eight years.
www.rnz.co.nz
February 11, 2026 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by James Gardner
February 11, 2026 at 4:18 AM
Quite.
Government must be feeling under pressure - the rolled out a surprise covid related inquiry. It’s like they use the Covid response as an excuse every chance they get to deflect from being really awful at what they do knowing at plays well with the coalition supporters.
February 11, 2026 at 1:24 AM
FAFO, slaphead…
The UK Govt has raised concerns over New Zealand's climate action rollbacks, following the weakening of our methane target last year.

This could have major implications for our trade agreements dependent on climate ambition. #nzpol #climate

www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...
Explain your climate policies to us, UK ministers asked NZ counterparts
New Zealand’s trade minister initially downplayed global interest in New Zealand’s new climate policies.
www.stuff.co.nz
February 10, 2026 at 11:08 PM
🧵☹️
#nzpol I’m here at the release of the Salvation Army State of the Nation for 2026. It’s a portrait of the problems facing Aotearoa, and how we are doing in tackling them. Many of the problems we face have worsened over the past two years. A 🧵
February 10, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by James Gardner
FYI I’ve opened this up for full public reading, listening & sharing after requests from paying subscribers. Their support allows me to do this kind of public interest journalism on Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate & poverty in public. #nzpol thekaka.substack.com/p/why-not-sp...
Why not spend $2.7b on solar & batteries instead?
Govt to pay up to $180m/year or $2.7b over 15 years to lease LNG re-gasification plant, paid for by $15-$30 'levy' per household per year. That $2.7b would build four Benmore Dams worth of electricity
thekaka.substack.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:59 AM
Timely repost from @kirstyjohnston.bsky.social
Bit late to it but if you want to know the chain of events that led to us importing gas (and charging electricity users to pay for it!!), I did this deep dive for RNZ last year www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
The fuel of ‘last resort’: How imported gas became New Zealand’s first choice
It's expensive, vulnerable to price shocks and terrible for the planet. So why are we importing gas?
www.rnz.co.nz
February 10, 2026 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by James Gardner
Renting in Aotearoa NZ? Please fill in the survey; if nothing else the results will help me with council decision-making!

Own your home? Please share it widely to get max responses.
Aotearoa Renter's Survey 2026
This is about gathering stories and information about what it's like being a renter in Aotearoa in 2026 - to support you, your flatmates and your neighbours to advocate, organise and campaign for dece...
actionstation.typeform.com
February 9, 2026 at 11:37 PM
I’m gonna go out on a limb with “Bonkers” here…

New liquified natural gas terminal: 'Vital' or 'bonkers'? www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
New liquified natural gas terminal: 'Vital' or 'bonkers'?
The government wants taxpayers to fund a natural gas import terminal, but says lower power prices will come as a result.
www.rnz.co.nz
February 9, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by James Gardner
Govt plans to force NZers to pay even more fossil fuel subsidies, this time via our electricity bills for an LNG import terminal. Govt wants us to pay Big Oil to make the climate crisis worse. Gross moral turpitude and economic illiteratacy www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/pre...
LNG terminal decision: Dirty, dumb and expensive - Greenpeace - Greenpeace Aotearoa
Greenpeace is slamming the Luxon government’s announcement it will build a liquid natural gas (LNG) import terminal, calling it a dirty, dumb and expensive decision that will leave New Zealander...
www.greenpeace.org
February 9, 2026 at 4:15 AM
Reposted by James Gardner
So the disaster around my on-going employment at UOA continues, so I'm looking for other ways other making money and I'm wondering two things: A) if I were to make some video lectures/short courses on NZ music history would people be willing to pay for access to them (Patreon or similar)?
February 8, 2026 at 3:48 AM