Confucius is Christchurch musician / producer Nava Thomas, who has been involved in many musical endeavours and aliases over the 20+ years, including Confucius & Mysterious D (D&B circa 2000-2002), roots-based label/production duo Reality Chant (2008-present), and most recently Midnight  Dubs for modern jungle productions.

The Confucius album Newsoundlandscapes was released in 2004, the result of exploration and development of his musicality and production since 1998.

Nava’s approach in the studio comes from a musician’s viewpoint. Most tunes begin as a bassline, a melody or just a vibe… Practically all the composition takes place prior to entering the studio by jamming out different ideas & developing them acoustically. The structure and solidity of material is planned ages before the 'record' button is hit, and even then there’s always room for improvement and experimentation. This method accounts for the large amount of realtime performance on the album… The idea is to provide all the character of live instrumentation without compromise in the beats, bass or any element. The emphasis is thus equally centred on performance and production. Parts are reworked, tweaked, chopped up, but most of that tweakage is of the notes themselves. As a die-hard muso, Confucius believes firmly in the power of an effective arrangement above all else.

“The notes are all important, and the solidity and quality of every part. Each element should stand alone, should be compelling in itself. Otherwise the composition as a whole will not be at its optimum. It’s the music that reels people in, the way notes are arranged. Music is its own message, and a language subtler than the spoken variety. It can evoke feelings that words never can, but like an essay or a poem, it must be perfectly structured to achieve the desired effect.”