Category: News

Latvian singer-songwriter MARTA has shared her new single called ‘Filma, ko negribu redzēt’ (‘A Film I Don’t Want To See’, which is the first song from her second album coming by the end of 2022.

“When Russia started its war in Ukraine, I felt emotionally broken. I realise, of course, that my feelings are incomparable to what people are experiencing there, but I had never felt such fear, anger and despair before. To pause myself from refreshing Twitter and reading the news non-stop, I started playing the piano, however, I was still unable to think about anything else. And that’s how this song came to me – as a film I don’t want to see and neither does anyone.”

The production, studio recordings, mixing and mastering of the song done by JJ Lush, the video made by Kate Ozolina. The single is now available on all streaming platforms.

This and other Marta’s songs will be played live on her upcoming gig in Līgatne (Zeit) on 30 April.

MARTA (Marta Grigale) is a Latvian singer-songwriter. She has gratuated from London College of Music, returned to Latvia and has been releasing music since 2016. Her debut LP ‘Lietas, kas notiek manā galvā’ (‘Things That Are Happening In My Head’)  was nominated for the Annual Latvian Music Recording Award ‘Zelta Mikrofons 2021’. MARTA has collaborated with such well known Latvian musicians as Intars Busulis, DJ Rudd, Kashuks, Kaspars Ansons, Reinis Sējāns and others.

E.V. (real name – Kārlis Pauls Šēnhofs) released a new solo album called “Smoke & Mirrors” on the 28^th of January. The album’s conceptual content covers topics such as existentialism, faith, music, addictions, humanity, moral values, and many more.

“This album is like a search for yourself in a world full of ideas – some with strong foundations, where others are just an illusion. In total, the album has four conceptual meanings. One and the most obvious meaning is a dedication to hip-hop music because it has changed my life irreversibly. Another meaning is the time given to man on this earth, which is placed against the choices he commits to, how he wants to spend it, thus showing his priorities and values ​​during the process. This is one big story that permeates the ideas I learned while studying philosophy when I was a student at the University of Latvia. Given that I am creating this album with the assumption that it is a work of art, I will leave the remaining two meanings of the album to the listener’s free interpretation. ” -E.V. comments on his new album.

An artistic touch is not only heard in the rapper’s sixteen-song album but can also be seen in the visual design of the album, created by the author Katrīna Megija Deičmane. In the middle of the design is a painting by rapper E.V.’s grandfather and prestigious artist, set designer, and book illustrator Pāvils Šēnhofs (1924-2011), whose activities are closely connected with the Latvian Puppet Theater (“Latvijas Leļļu teātris”).

Among the guest artists on the album are DJ Krii, DJ Vinvins, Little Green, Krisy, Ods, Ieva Andersone, Ernests Alļis, Oriole, PRGMAT, dotConcept and others. The sound engineering and recording were done in the studio by rapper roland če.

E.V. is a 22-year-old hip-hop artist from Ikšķile / Ogre, who writes and performs songs in both Latvian and English. He is a member of two Latvian hip-hop associations – “Left Bank” and “Freephone Project”, as well as the initiator of the movement “TimelessR.”, Which is essentially a creative team with various representatives. He started his career in music in 2016 but released his debut album “Imperfect World” in 2017 (recorded in the Dirty Deal Audio studio). Following this project, the next album to be released was “2018” (recorded by rolands če), which E.V. himself referred to more as a “collection of songs” than a single concept record. Rapper’s latest album “Smoke & Mirrors” (recorded by rolands če) was released on January 28, 2022.

E.V. has performed at a number of events, both as a soloist and with the aforementioned associations. Concerts have taken place both in smaller clubs and in the largest Latvian festivals, such as “Positivus”, “SummerSound”, “Baldones Waterfest”, etc.

Link to the artist’s album on Spotify.

Music and lyrics by The Bad Tones, mixed by Jasper Ras, mastered by Rengert Eggink. Video directed by Ieva Aleksa and Peteris Viksna. The song is available on all major digital music streaming services.

On Tuesday, April 26, June River invite their listeners to take a walk in the streets of colorful Barcelona in his new song & video ‘Tavu Ēnu Meklējot’

The song ‘Tavu Ēnu Meklējot’ (Searching for Your Shadow) was written

in February of 2022, walking through the colorful streets of Barcelona and searching for nostalgic memories of study time. Many years ago, when we were Erasmus students, we walked through strange places, drank cheap sangria, and spent time with local young people. When I return here today, it seems that a lot has changed in the city, in people, and in my mind as well, but the feeling of aura and freedom is still the same, says the musician.

At the beginning of the year, the world seemed to begin to return to its usual rhythm – travel restrictions were lifted, concerts resumed, and people began to gather in cafes, but everything has changed after the morning of February 24 when Russia invaded Ukrainian territory and began committing its heinous war crimes.

It was hard to read the headlines and I couldn’t fall asleep that night so I decided not to release the song at all or postpone it – at that point, the music seemed so insignificant compared to the war. But It’s not possible to live in such a state of mind for a long time and absorb negative emotions, so everyone has their own way to divert or turn them into something productive – it’s music for me. That’s why I still do it I will never stop making music, says indie folk musician June River.

The song was recorded, mixed, and produced in the musician’s personal studio, mastered by one and only Kārlis Šteinmanis (KS Records – Unity Audio). The song is in indie-folk style, supplemented with an experimental synthesizer and ambient sounds. The video of the song was made in Barcelona, ​​where the city can be seen in all its glory.

June River, also known as Jānis Andžāns is a guitarist of rock bands “Wild” and “Crow Mother”. He participated in the pre-Eurovision contest LTV “Supernova” in 2016 and has performed in European cities such as the United Kingdom, Sweden, etc.

In the last summer, the musician traveled to Greece in a self-made van and dedicated the song to the trip – “The Land of Burning Sand”, as well as participated in the recording of Katrīna Gupalo’s song “Resistance” dedicated to supporting Ukraine. At the end of last year, June River released their debut album “Sand in my Sleeping Bag” and released a video for “The Lighthouse.” June River is currently working on his second studio album and the next single will be released in the beginning of summer.

On November 26, the Latvian alternative rock band Cellar Cat released their first EP “Broken Glass” with 6 songs, and their first music video this year.

Coming from an indie rock and britpop background, Cellar Cat have become considerably heavier for the EP. One can hear influences from artists like Foo Fighters, Bring Me The Horizon and Architects. At the same time, the music has not lost the band’s traditional melodiousness.

This is confirmed by the first music video for a song from the EP – “Drag Me Out”. The band wrote the song as a statement of justice, encouraging people to take their lives in their own hands and rely on trustworthy people only. Following a catchy guitar riff, the lyrics tell about a person’s disappointment and anger at the modern world order. The song questions whether the protagonist is the one who failed the world, or it is the rest of the world that failed them. Nothing feels real and honest anymore.

Cellar Cat frontman Alex talks about the EP and music video:

“We are amateur musicians who work at regular day jobs, so we rarely recorded new songs and filmed videos before. Now, being locked up at home during the pandemic, we decided it was time to release something more substantial. We started working on the EP in the beginning of the year, and the work was hampered by restrictions on meetings. We recorded and produced all of the music ourselves, so we often had to make video calls and help each other remotely.

The music video was filmed in August – in the gym of an abandoned factory. What’s interesting is that we had to stop filming at one point, as a tiny bird crawled into the gym through a gap and began smashing against the windows. So we all started running around trying to catch it to let it out from the building. In the end we rescued the bird, so we surely can say that the video was not filmed in vain:)”

On Friday, 3 December, the young musician Patriks Peterson released a new, emotionally saturated song “Can’t Get You Outta My Head”, augmented with a music video. The artist reveals that together with the release of the new single he has fulfilled a long-standing dream.

The song “Can’t Get You Outta My Head” was written by Patriks Peterson himself and produced by Kaspars Ansons.

“For several years now, I have been dreaming of releasing one of the songs for which I have written both the music and the lyrics, and this dream has finally come true,” says Peterson. “The song was actually made at the beginning of this year, in a bright and delightful stage of life. Thus the song is positive – about finding yourself, falling in love, about the joy that the other person brings. I want to pass on these feelings and positive emotions, which I felt while writing the song, to every listener as well,” Patriks reveals.

The music video of the song was directed by Artūrs Streļuks, and the duties of the cinematographer and editor were entrusted to Elvis Lācis. The actress in the clip is Madara Martinkena-Igaune, and the style and make-up was done by Iluta Reinberga.

“Like many things in life, this clip should not be taken literally. Often a time comes in a relationship when one wants to end it, but they don’t know how to tell the other. Often in such moments we break each other and become cold. The feeling of “freedom” comes with the break up. Portrayed is a fictional story with a completely different subtext… This is a story about a young man who, unable to escape from a relationship and in suffering, comes up with the same solution every time – that he has to push it to the end himself,” explains Streļuks, the director of the video.

The piece is about repetitive moments in our daily lives, which very often are taken for granted and are not appreciated. Such as waking up for a new day, seeing thousands of colours or having a refreshing sip of water when You’re thirsty. momentum II sets focus on the big value in these tiny things.

Dainis is an active member of well known crossover, instrumental band DAGAMBA. As a band they perform worldwide including several arena concerts in Baltics and Russia, their albums had won numerous awards. After their debut in Glastonbury festival DAGAMBA has headlined many world known festivals.

As a soloist Dainis has performed with many orchestras, including Sinfonietta Riga, who has been awarded the grammy award. He had won numerous competitions as a classical pianist and has performed in several classical festivals, including Piano aux Jacobins.

The original music of Dainis Tenis is permeated with the sounds of acoustic, prepared pianos and synths. In Dainis’ music, lyrical melodies are enlaced with unusual harmonic solutions that highlight a broad spectrum of emotions from tranquil meditation to technical eruptions of energy.