Edgetone Records

From idealism to realism, independent saxophonist/composer/producer Rent Romus launches Edgetone Records, the newest recording and distribution artist run label for new and experimental avant music and modern jazz! After years of independent touring and producing Rent Romus strengthens the ranks of musicians taking control over their destiny with the opening of Edgetone Records. Joining forces with Jazzheads Records, Romus will present some of the most creative musicians that the SF Bay Area, West Coast, and beyond has to offer. Each custom packaged CD release embodies the pure sound of the artist without compromise to a preconceived market. In addition to the three new releases in April, Edgetone is in the planning stages for new music from bassit Bill Noertker, reed master Tony Passarell, electronic iconoclast Scott Looney, and drummer Phillip Everett. Also, jazz violinist Yehudit will debut her second CD on the Edgetone Modern Jazz Series.

Link to home page : Edgetone Records

CDs:

Artist: Spirit

Title: Preface to God

Spirit - Percussion

Label Number: 4010

Audio samples for this CD

Artist: C.J. REAVEN BOROSQUE with The LORDS OF OUTLAND

Title: The Metal Quan Yin "Destinations Suite"

The Metal Quan Yin "Destinations Suite"

Label Number: 4011

Artist: C.J. Reaven Borosque

Title: MACHINE

C.J. Reaven Borosque, guitar

Label Number: 4020

Artist: Rent Romus' Lords of Outland

Title: Avatar in the Field

Rent Romus - saxes
Toyoji Tomita - trombone
Bill Noertker - bass
Dave Milahy - drums

Label Number: EDT 3001

Audio samples for this CD

Artist: Guinea Pig/Out of Town

Title: Live at the Hotel Utah

Doug Carroll ~ electric cello
Drew Gardner ~ drums
Tony Passarell ~ sop/tenor/bari sax, pocket trpt
Rent Romus ~ alto/sop sax, voice

jazz/acidic new improvisation

Label Number: EDT 4002

Artist: PKD Vortex Project

Title: Music Inspired by Phil K. Dick

Doug Carroll ~ electric cello
Joel Harrison ~ electric guitar
Dave Mihaly ~ drums & perc.
Tom Nunn ~ electro acoustic inventions
Rent Romus ~ alto/sop saxes

film/vortex music/free improvisation

Label Number: EDT 4003

Artist: Forward Energy

Title: Configurations 2002

Victoria Brill
Eddie Gale
John "Waveman" Gruntfest
Adam Lane
Scott R. Looney
Alicia Mangan
Donald Robinson
Rent Romus
Jim Ryan
Spirit
Damon Smith
Peter Valsamis

Label Number: EDT4009

Audio samples for this CD

Artist: The Abstractions

Title: Sonic Conspiracy

Ernesto Diaz-Infante - guitar, voice
Scott R. Looney - percussion
Bob Marsh - vibes, violin, voice
Jesse Quattro - vocals
Rent Romus - saxophones

Label Number: EDT4012

Audio samples for this CD

Artist: Dr. Bob

Title: Dark Times

Doctor Bob plays songs for a dark and bitter world. They range from scary to the surreal to the abstract and frequently dwell in a space between idea and word.

Doctor Bob is a project of Bob Marsh (whose mother always wanted him to be a doctor) and David Michalak (whose favorite TV show was Mr. Wzard). Bob Marsh sings, rants and yowls whilst committing unnatural acts with his cello and other electronic devices creating a unique chemistry with the equally unnatural lap steel guitar style of David Michalak.


Bob Marsh - voice, electronics, cello
David Michalak - lap steel guitar
special guest
Karen Stackpole, drums

Label Number: EDT4035

Audio samples for this CD

Artist: Tom Nunn

Title: Identity

Tom Nunn
Identity
EDT4047

This solo CD by master instrument builder Tom Nunn features three of his main inventions:

Hybrid Mothics: small triangular shaped boards with “zitherods” (bronze brazing rod supported by three nails), horizontal bronze rods (bridge-like devices), a curved line of finishing nails, and textured surface material. Contact microphones (pickups) are attached to the underside.

The Octatonic T-Rodimba: a 4 x 2 foot sheet of 3/4” high grade plywood with three V-shaped “tiers” of ¼ inch threaded steel rods of various lengths bent at 90° about 4 inches from one end. Each tier of 11 rods is tuned to an octatonic scale (alternating major 2nd/minor 2nd).

The Crustacean: a 32” diameter round stainless steel plate supported by three inflated toy balloons in small cardboard paint buckets. Bronze brazing rods of various diameters and lengths are brazed (welded) to the top surface and are arranged in curved rows to facilitate bowing the rods individually.

Tom Nunn has designed, built and performed with original instruments as an improviser since 1976, and has been active in the Bay Area since 1978. He currently plays with the trios, Axallto and RTD3.

"I can only urge you to buy yourself this impressive piece of musical mastership. ‘Identity’ stands out because of the extremely unique circumstances it has been created under. It is an adventure, a ride back in time when people had to use their hands to create instruments, as well as a ride into the musical future, breaking barriers with means very unusual in the 21st century. Tom Nunn did it all. A truly great achievement.
-Fred M. Wheeler Tokafi

"For while many have created new and beautiful instruments, the ability to transcend their most basic function eludes even the most talented of builders. With “Identity,” Nunn finds himself among the virtuosi, genuinely able to speak with the remarkable voice of his creations."
-DaveX Startling Moniker

"A homeopathic cure against the excesses of studio production, “Identity” is also a justification for anyone still dreaming to change the world with an invention."
-Massimo Ricci Touching Extremes

"...a constant sense of surprise and discovery that very few others can match."
- J Worley Aiding & Abetting

"- this is taking ‘found sound’ to the next level and beyond. Take a listen and hear these magical instruments at work."
- J-Sin Smother.net

"... some renegade entomologists were able to live with these amazon arthropods and discovered that the sonic emanations are also a complex form of artistry enjoyed by these evolved insects."
- Thurston Hunger KFJC Radio

Label Number: EDT4047

Artist: Moe! Staiano

Title: 2 Rooms of Uranium in 83 Markers

This album documents two live performances at the former venue, the Oakland Box Theater, in Oakland California.

Label Number: EDT4050

Artist: Ghost in the House

Title: Ghost in the House

The music of Ghost in the House is a soundtrack for the subconscious. It could suggest a murder mystery, a visitation in a dream or a cataclysmic storm. The scores are sketches that depict musical events to be interpreted by the band.

Conceived by filmmaker & musician David Michalak, Ghost in the House explores ethereal and elemental soundscapes where music suggests an image. Stackpole’s swelling gongs resonate with Nunn’s sculptural inventions creating other worldly scenarios with Michalak’s eerie lap steel and Bruckmann’s ominous horns adding texture and detail.

“These are all the films I couldn’t afford to make.” D.M.

David Michalak - lap steel guitar, buffalo drum
Karen Stackpole - gongs, percussion
Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn
Tom Nunn - crustacean, water phone & other original inventions

Label Number: EDT4054

Audio samples for this CD

Artist: T.D. Skatchit & Company

Title: T.D. Skatchit & Company

Tom Nunn and David Michalak
T.D. Skatchit & Company
EDT4096

“Primal Utterance” – that is the nature of skatch. Articulations of shaped noise arising directly from the gut through the application of combs to cardboard and objects attached thereto. From these most humble of materials comes a new universe of sound reminiscent of wind, seashore, trees rustling, birds singing, frogs croaking, dogs barking, cats fighting, tires squealing, motors running. The skatchbox is an organic “synthesizer” of noise, but the noise is not synthetic; it is acoustic. With the simplest gesture, comb in hand, a rich complexity of sonic articulation arises effortlessly. Yet with study and practice, variegated techniques are developed in the use of the combs, themselves shaped so as to function most efficiently. Add to this the sophisticated talent of the guest improvisers presented here and one has a truly unique music.

"...with other varying objects and materials attached to the box, which are then "played" with plastic combs, the Scatchbox can generate enough scratchy, squeaky weirdness to belie its humble origin. Witness this so-called "recession era wonder" in action when Nunn and multi-instrumentalist David Michalak form the Skatchbox-playin' backbone of T.D. Skatchit & Company..."
- John Graham, SFWeekly

"...it sounds really, really wild." - J. Worley, Aiding & Abetting

"Tom Nunn and David Michalak are the maestros of the skatchbox, contructed out of cardboard boxes and played with combs. Is it dogs panting, or frogs croaking, pigs oinking, helicopters rotoring?"
Humana, KFJC 89.7 FM

"Nunn and Michalak form the core duo for this remarkable series of improvisational pieces featuring Nunn’s latest soundmaker– the Skatchbox...where alarmingly videogame-like Skatchbox sounds burble alongside the sing-song of what I’ll describe as Littlest Pet Shop jacuzzi erotica."
-DaveX, Startling Moniker

"The album teams up two skatchboxes with a third instrument. The results are colorful, unique (Nunn appears to have no set template for placing elements onto the boxes), and probably loads of fun to play with."
-Wedge, Memory Select
Tom Nunn - skatchbox
David Michalak – skatchbox

Guest Artists
Aurora – voice
David Slusser – Slussomatic
Chris Brown – electronics
Toyoji Tomita – trombone
Jon Raskin – bari saxophone
Leif Shaleford – viola
Karen Stackpole – gongs

Label Number: EDT4096

Artist: T.D. Skatchit & Company

Title: Skatch Migration

T.D. Skatchit & Company
Skatch Migration
EDT4103

The sound of Thomas Skatchit’s amazing new invention spread throughout the land and soon players of instruments came from near and far to make music with the Skatchbox and T.D. Skatchit.

The Skatch Migration had begun!

The air was festive and full of Skatch as they created unique sound recordings for future generations.

T.D. Skatchit & Company now presents their second recording of Skatch music featuring T.D. Skatchit (David Michalak & Tom Nunn) playing Skatchboxes in trios with guests ~ Bruce Ackley, Bob Marsh, Doug Carroll, Aurora, Tim Perkis, Kyle Bruckmann, Jacob Felix Heule, Gino Robair, Scott Looney and Ron Heglin.

“To invent something one needs a good imagination and a pile of junk.” - Thomas Skatchit

Tom Nunn - skatchbox
David Michalak – skatchbox

Guest Artists
Aurora – voice
Gino Robair – energized surfaces
Bruce Ackley - soprano saxophone
Bob Marsh – voice
Tim Perkis – electronics
Doug Carroll –cello
Scott R. Looney – piano
Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, english horn
Ron Heglin - voice
Jacob Felex Heule - percussion

Label Number: EDT4103