In October, the upcoming release Angel Tape by Islaja will soon be followed by Stupor from Kenyan-born, Berlin-based artist KMRU. In the future, Other Power will not only release new music but also previously unreleased selections from Pekka Airaksinen's extensive archives. The launch night of the record label will be celebrated with a live performance by Islaja at G Livelab in Helsinki on October 20th.
Internationally acclaimed record label We Jazz is launching a new label called Other Power. The aim of this new label is to release adventurous music that doesn't fit seamlessly into We Jazz's jazz-focused releases. The first release under the new label is the album Angel Tape by Islaja, also known as Merja Kokkonen, who has recently relocated from Berlin to Helsinki. The album will be released on October 13th, and its first single Urvogel is already available. Following that, Kenyan-born and Berlin-based artist KMRU will release his album Stupor, created in collaboration with the Helsinki-based organization PUBLICS.
Other Power's artistic director and visual designer is Matti Nives, who is also associated with the We Jazz record label. The name Other Power is a tribute to two experimental music giants, Pekka Airaksinen (1945–2019) and Perttu Häkkinen (1979–2018). The new label's future also intertwines with Airaksinen, as plans include releasing selected unheard gems from the extensive archives of the experimental music pioneer. The first Pekka Airaksinen album, Hevajra, is set to be released in early 2024.
The label launch will be celebrated with a performance by Islaja at G Livelab in Helsinki on October 20th. This event will also feature a new performance concept called "Music for Pekka Airaksinen," created by musicians Sami Pekkola and Samuli Tanner, who have worked with Pekka Airaksinen in the past.
Other Power's releases will be distributed internationally by !K7 Music, Forced Exposure in the United States, and We Jazz Records in Finland and Scandinavia. The label's international communications will be handled by Modern Matters in Berlin. The Other Power logo font was designed in collaboration with Jaakko Suomalainen and Tomi Leppänen.
Other Power Label Night
G Livelab Helsinki
Friday, October 20th, at 8:00 PM (doors open at 7:00 PM)
Performance by Islaja (Angel Tape album release)
Music for Pekka Airaksinen
For more information, visit link
Open Up Nicosia Festival, Cyprus
Saturday, October 21st
Performance by KMRU (Stupor album release)
Performa & PUBLICS present:
Performance by KMRU and Islaja
Thursday, November 16th
Pioneer Works, New York, USA
Instagram: @otherpowermusic
Bandcamp: https://otherpower.bandcamp.com
Islaja © Antti Nylen