Post Description

Kari Ikonen is not afraid of the light. His ultra-positive afro-pop-jazz project Trio Toffa 
is living proof of that. Lately, however, his Finnish background seems to have drawn him to 
the wintertime and darker moods of the soul. Wind Frost & Radiation is a search for his roots, 
a quest for the Nordic qualities in music. Spaces of biting cold and horror, of inhumanity 
and transience - these are the fundamentals of the Ikonen Trio's third studio album. The contrast 
with the sensual late-night-jazz of predecessor Beauteous Tales and Offbeat Stories 
could hardly be more obvious. And yet, experiments have always come natural to this band 
and its members. Olli Rantala is equally capable of creating danceable grooves in one moment 
and making his bass sing like a cello in the next. Markku Ounaskari is as adept at laying down 
a ferocious swing as he is at breaking his percussive patterns apart into insular dots. And Ikonen 
himself has just hit his creative peak with his eccentric project Ikonostasis. Clearly, these musicians
would find it hard to record a single unoriginal note! Still, the depth of their commitment 
to extremes is remarkable. On Pripyat, they visit the forlorn ghost town near the burnt out 
Chernobyl reactor. And in the closing track, they completely disassemble Aram Chatschaturjan's 
famous waltz, leading it into a wondrous shadow world. The pulse of the music slows down to a 
glacial melt, the music penetrates the moment like a scalpel, in search of the nerve that hurts 
the most. What has remained is the familiar separation of the album into a distinct a- and b-side. 
It is a sign that the Ikonen Trio hasn't entirely left tradition behind. In fact, breaking with the past 
and re-building it from scratch has always been an essential part of jazz right from the start.


Kari Ikonen - piano, voice;
Olli Rantala - double bass, voice;
Markku Ounaskari - drums;
Mia Simanainen - voice on The Roaring Frost.

foobar2000 1.3.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2018-06-04 22:24:38
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Analyzed: Kari Ikonen Trio / Wind, Frost & Radiation
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DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track
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DR10      -0.72 dB   -14.48 dB      7:39 01-Harmattan
DR13      -0.71 dB   -17.26 dB      7:05 02-Pripyat
DR9       -0.69 dB   -12.68 dB      5:18 03-Levoton
DR13      -0.71 dB   -17.61 dB      6:14 04-Kuru
DR11      -0.73 dB   -16.29 dB      9:05 05-Beatamente
DR13      -0.73 dB   -18.30 dB      4:13 06-The Roaring Frost
DR12      -0.73 dB   -16.47 dB      6:02 07-Waltz From The Masquerade Suite
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Number of tracks:  7
Official DR value: DR11
Samplerate:        96000 Hz
Channels:          2
Bits per sample:   24
Bitrate:           2545 kbps
Codec:             FLAC
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