New Releases From Edgetone Records

Source: Edgetone Records.

Itkuja Suite, invocations on lament
Rent Romus, Heikki Koskinen, Life’s Blood Ensemble featuring Heikki Laitinen

Crafted by Finnish-American Rent Romus and award winning Finnish composer Heikki Koskinen, the translation of itkuja (eet-koo-yaw) literally means crying, but hidden within this translation embodies deeper undercurrents of meaning. Itkuja surpasses the biopic Western acceptance of polar opposites (i.e. happy/sad, good/bad), drawing a more all-encompassing world view of the definition of existence, loss, and change. The tradition of song through lament has served as a form of community expression spanning millennia, invoking processes of healing in profound ways. This project completes the Otherworld Trilogy which includes the 2015 release of the Otheworld Cycle and the 2020 release of Manala.

Narella
Jukka-Pekka Kervinen

Narella, the latest adventure in sound from Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, is a highly engaging foray into the art of experimental sound collage. This musical journey crosses borders of genre and texture while creating a full-bodied immersive experience for all.

Pearls
Neo Archē

Neo Archē explores new possibilities for ancient Japanese instruments only used in Gagaku ceremonial music (the shō mouth organ, the gaku-biwa lute, and the uchimono percussion set). We use the tuning, some melodic segments, and the modes of classical Gagaku, which often date back to almost a millennium, but with a contemporary sensibility, and a large part of our music is improvised. In Pearls we continue our experiments in improvised world/ambient music, this time with the contribution of guest artists (musicians, a poet, and a painter) from the US, Japan, and Italy. The result oscillates between free jazz and contemporary classical music, with touches of progressive rock.