Hailing from the Latvian capital city of Riga, electronic brothers in arms Queer On Acid have been fervent dance music devotees since the 1990s. Born out of the LGBTQ community of which they belong to, the duo has had an impressive ascendency over the last couple of years that has included releases for Josh Wink’s Ovum Recordings, Shadow Child’s Takeout imprint, collaborating with original house vocalist & artist Robert Owens, and maintaining their burgeoning Queer On Acid record label.
The ‘Short Cut’ EP is the latest fruits of their labour, released on Dense & Pika’s ever consistent Kneaded Pains label. Lead track ‘Bob’ cuts up some gnarly lead lines with an ardent rhythm and drifting atmospherics, whilst ‘C Ex’ jacks out some crunchy funk over an industrious 909 beat as waves of elated pads wash in an old school flavour. A hypnotising percussive house rhythm, not too dissimilar to the classic ‘House Of God’ by DHS, build the foundations of ‘Not The Time’, as a raw Chi-town groove is shaped and pulverized with a seductive vocal loop.
‘Short Cut’ EP by Queer On Acid is released on Kneaded Pains from 3rd December 2021. Get it from major music platforms: https://fanlink.to/short_cut_ep.
Guitar player and music author Rihards Lībietis releases a new video for the composition “Miniature on Being”, which is the third single from the new album “Lines and Miniatures”, published at the end of October.
Composition “Miniature on Being” is a reflection on melancholy, search for inspiration, about impossibility of a true loneliness and finding strength within oneself. It’s composer and performer Rihards Lībietis reveals: “This is one of my favourite pieces of the new album – it’s quite a simple composition in its essence and instrumentation, but at the same time it’s a very fragile, emotional and sensitive work. It also includes sort of existential ruminations about someone always being there for us, even if we may not be aware of it. I sincerely hope that this composition will bring warmth, strength and self-acceptance to the listener.”
Video for the single was filmed at the end of the autumn in forests of Lilaste near the three lakes. It’s DOP and director is Janis Romanovskis, who says: “Music of Rihards Lībietis can take us on endless existential reflections and that is what directed our approach for the video – it’s filmed as a meditation in nature, reflecting in the music and catching the passing autumn in raindrops. A possibility to tune in on the artists’ soul through a combination of the music and eyes.”
“Miniature on Being” is an instrumental composition for the baritone guitar. It was recorded in “No Fuss Audio” studio in Tukums, its sound director is Valērijs Černejs. The composition can also be heard in the theatre performance “Upe” in Liepāja Theatre, directed by director and choreographer Kristīne Brīniņa. The performance was nominated for “Spēlmaņu Nakts 2020/2021” award.
“Lines and Miniatures” is the second original music album by Rihards Lībietis. It includes ten instrumental compositions, thematically dealing with feelings and events of the last year – especially loneliness, melancholy and uncertainty. At the same time, music is brimming with inspirational, energising and uplifting emotional charge. While originally intended as a solo-album, the album features various guest artists – Toms Kagainis (Drums, Percussion), Erna Daugaviete (Cello), Olga Bucinska (Violin), Ieva Rutentale (Flute), Matiss Repsis (Piano) and Beate Zviedre (Voice). Album was made with the support of AKKA/LAA Author Scholarship and is available on all music streaming platforms.
Author of the photos – Janis Romanovskis, Gribuvasaru.lv.
Waterflower says of the track: “I dream of a future where technology can co-exist with the natural world. But in reality, it is humankind that is the death of nature. Our world is in mourning for its future before it has even happened. An oasis is a self-contained eco-system, dramatically different from its surroundings. Humans need to change to accommodate nature, or else there won’t be anything to save and the oasis, if it exists, will cease to be.
Music Video Info
The music video is a short film that was directed by Ērika Daņiloviča. The music video’s concept explores the sadness and struggle of youth to want to live in the autumn of the world around them.
The production was supported by Sony Latvia and Master Photo.
“Quickstrike” continue their single trilogy, and have unveiled the fast and intense piece “Rebel Radio” for audiences worldwide.
“This one is a straight-forward old-school punk piece, and is the fastest one on “None of a Kind”. The song was basically born out of the chorus, which came first, and we combined it a wild and driving riff we had laying around, which fit perfectly. The lyrics are basically a recap of a pre-show preparation week, which we had a few of back in the day. It’s the fastest track on the album, and during live shows it’s our major energy discharge, where we make it as intense as possible” says the band.
The video was directed by Gunars Porietis, with location provided by Nikolajs Lukins. It was filmed on november 2020 at the “VR Audio” studio in Valmiera, Latvia.
The band continues: “The concept of the video was taking over a radio station and the airwaves in order to declare that “Quickstrike” have arrived, in case anyone missed the single and video release of “None of a Kind”. We’re going strong with our pre-album campaign, and plan to reach an even wider audience with this second single.”
“Quickstrike” have signed a record deal with “Rockshots Records” and their debut “None of a Kind” will be released on February 11, 2022.
The most famous Latvian jazz-funk band “Very Cool People” continues its artistic flight at unlimited heights. Their eighth album “50 Years of Influence + 30 Years of Cool Equals 13 Years of Music Hooliganism” is a positive musical irony about Latvia’s turbulent recent history. There is also a new video – the fifth single “Rapid Dough – Pelmjakški” from this album.
With this instrumental music album, the band members pay tribute to their teachers and the previous generations of musicians, who helped jazz and rock and roll to survive behind the Iron Curtain, as well as get through the crazy nineties in the Baltic States. Everything is already mentioned in the title of the album – jazz here is intertwined with classical music, Balkan music with metal, surf music with funk and soul, but choral music with klezmer and the musical heritage of other peoples living in Latvia.
This is an instrumental album of original music, where compositions are written by the group’s guitarist and bandleader Elvijs Grafcovs, saxophonists Māris Jēkabsons and Kristaps Lubovs, drummer Andris Buiķis and the group’s keyboardist Māris Vitkus, for whom this is his debut in composing.
This is the band’s eighth album and the fifth in the row released since 2017, the band still fulfilling their promise to release a stylistically different new album every year, which at the same time is paying homage to the work culture of musicians in the past.
The album was recorded in the legendary basement studio of the Riga Reformed Church “Mints Music Studio” by no less than the legendary recording engineer Tālis Timrots. Andris Buikis mixed the recorded material in Ciemupe & the whole group’s members relentlessly and pleasantly commented each step of the mixing process. The record is produced by Elvijs Grafcovs and mastered by the master legend Dave McNair at the Dave McNair Mastering Studio in North Carolina, USA.
The colorful design of the album was created by Gatis Pakalns – a designer living in London, who 14 years ago created the already famous “Very Cool People” cats and who time after time cooperates with the group since. The cover of the new album is decorated with a photo of a real 2 x 2 meter carpet attached to the wall like in the “good old” Khrushchyovka apartments. This rug was custom designed by Gatis Pakalns & produced in Belgium, as it turned out to be the closest place to order such specially designed rugs.
The design expressions of the band did not end with that, the wall itself was specially prepared for the photo session of the album booklet – Māris Vitkus glued special wallpaper from Latvia’s past, inherited from his grandfather. Then Elvijs and Māris bought an equally authentic sofa in a Riga Khrushchyovki architecture district, which then became the main photography platform for all the members of the group. The author of all the photos in the design of the album is the embodiment of rock and roll both with and without a photo camera in his hands – Jānis Škapars. The overall idea of the album’s design flares somewhere between an old Eastern Europe family album and artifacts from music lovers of the 1990s.
Along with the new album, the band is also releasing their fifth single and video “Rapid Dough – Pelmashki”. This video includes characters from all the previous music videos related to the new album, so this is considered the grand finale, where all the videos come together.
The new album can be heard on all major streaming platforms, and physical copies are available in “Bandcamp”. Oskars Ozoliņš – trumpet, vocal; Māris Jēkabsons – tenor sax, vocal; Laura Rozenberga – trombone, vocal; Kristaps Lubovs – baritone sax, vocal; Elvijs Grafcovs – guitar, banjo, vocal; Māris Vitkus – organ, synths, piano vocal; Jānis Olekšs – bass, vocal; Andris Buiķis- drums, percussions, synths, vocal.
The band “Very Cool People” will present their new album “50 Years of Influence + 30 Years of Cool Equals 13 Years of Music Hooliganism” with a special concert at the most famous live music club “Tamsta” in Vilnius, Lithuania. The concert will feature not only the compositions of the latest album, but also new compositions and special arrangements of already known compositions together with the young and talented singer Paula Saija.
As “Very Cool People” announced at their album presentation in Riga, the band’s plans for 2022 are to release new singles with Paula Saija, as well as a new album. The talented singer has been participating in “Very Cool People” concerts since 2018. At first, they were smaller concerts where Paula sang just a few songs, but now Paula Saija has become a great, powerful vocalist, who in 2020 and 2021 together with “Very Cool People” performed at festivals in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, including events such as “Ezīšfests”, “Šiauliai Jazz”, “Klaipėda Castle Jazz”, “Taurage Jazz” and “Augustibluus” & many others.
“We wanted to present our previous album “Koncertprogramma Pa Apli” in the legendary club “Tamsta”, but in 2020 due to epidemiological reasons it did not happen,” says the group’s leader Elvijs Grafcovs. “We then decided that immediately after our 2021 autumn-Balkan tour we would present our new album “50 Years of Influence” in Lithuania – Tamsta club, but we had to postpone those plans as well. Well, at last it looks like it’s happening!”
This will be the band’s only public concert in January, that’s why the band has also invited fans from Latvia to come to Vilnius and have a great party together with their beloved “braļukai”.
“A weekend in Vilnius with the opportunity to enjoy a cool concert in the great atmosphere of the Tamsta Club enjoying the good company of music lovers seems like a fantastic plan” adds Elvijs, who has also experienced the charm of nightlife in the Lithuanian capital during his studies there.
The album was recorded in the legendary basement studio of the Riga Reformed Church Mints Music Studio by no less than the legendary recording engineer Tālis Timrots. Andris Buiķis mixed the recorded material in Ciemupe & the whole group’s members relentlessly and pleasantly commented each step of the mixing process. The record is produced by Elvijs Grafcovs and mastered by the master legend Dave McNair at the Dave McNair Mastering Studio in North Carolina, USA.
Lineup:
Paula Saija – vocal; Oskars Ozoliņš – trumpet, vocal; Māris Jēkabsons – tenor sax, vocal; Laura Rozenberga – trombone, vocal; Kristaps Lubovs – baritone sax, vocal; Elvijs Grafcovs – guitar, banjo, vocal; Māris Vitkus – organ, synths, piano vocal; Jānis Olekšs – bass, vocal; Andris Buiķis- drums, percussions, synths, vocal
Notable rock band “Laime Pilnīga” releases new song together with a music video on “Perseverance”. You can already find the song on all the biggest music streaming platforms.
“The process of creation of the composition “Perseverance” was a wonderful adventure full with contingencies and unexpected turn of events that were carried out with no rush and perfected at the band’s recording studio “Laimes telpa”. We were successful with multiple ideas that we wanted to do for a while now, like, using recorded stories of more than 30 people. This composition is created as a journey with a beginning and an end. Thematically we are continuing the matters that we find interesting or feel affected by. Regarding this song we could say that with perseverance you can go miles, and sometimes even too far.” That’s what the authors of the song Ervīns Ramiņš and Mārcis Vasiļevskis have to say.
On a hot evening in August the music video was created as well which is the work of Ņikita Karpovs. The band has already worked with him before on creating music videos for songs “Divatā”, “Esmu, tu esi es”.
The song is recorded at the band’s studio “Laimes telpa” together with the guitarist of the band Mārcis Vasiļevskis in the role of a sound engineer and at “Siguldas skaņu studija” with the sound engineer Mārcis Kalniņš. The producing and mastering was then done by Krišjānis Geidāns, but the final touches on the record were from Minervai Pappi from “Waudio Mastering” in Finland.
The notable rock band “Laime Pilnīga” was founded in spring of year 2006 in Riga and is known for their energetic and emotionally charged concerts. The sound of the band is concluded of virtuoso guitar play, unique vocals and a strong rhythmic section that altogether create the whirl of roaring rock music and nuanced sensations
On the 6th of January, in collaboration with ALCE (Alise Diure) rapper E.V. releases a new video for a song from his upcoming album “The Smoke & Mirrors LP”, which is set to release on the 28th of January. The song as well as the video for “The Magic” thematically revolves around music. In the video for the song, the viewer gets a tour of significantly important locations for Latvian hip-hop where either music is created or inspiration gets picked up for the creation of music. Locations include Kreisais Krasts recording studio, Dirty Deal Audio’s studio, the recording studio of rolands če, as well as Latvian hip-hop legend Ozols’ clothing store Hoodshop, which is full of iconic hip-hop memorabilia and items. In the song, the saxophone is played by Ernests Aļļis.
“This very song and video is a crucial element for understanding the upcoming album. It depicts the relentless creative energy of an artist and the energy for the album itself. It’s all about the magic of music and the unmatched feeling of mysticism that comes with it. That’s why the song is called “The Magic”. ”
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 hip-hop groups – Kreisais Krasts and Brīvrunu Projekts. The start of his musical career dates back to 2016 but his debut album titled “Imperfect World” was released in 2017 (recorded in Dirty Deal Audio). His next big project was titled “2018” (recorded by rolands če) although E.V. himself defines this project as more of a “song collection” than a conceptually formed album. The rapper’s upcoming and most ambitious album yet “The Smoke & Mirrors LP” is set to release on the 28th of January, 2022.
E.V. has performed at multiple events as a solo artist and with the aforementioned hip-hop groups. Concerts have taken place in small clubs as well as some of the biggest festivals in Latvia, such as “Positivus”, “SummerSound”, “Baldones Waterfest” and many more.
BAIBA’s latest single has been made in collaboration with Italian electro / groove music producer Bruno Belissimo. The song “Come Around” is the musician’s first single after the album “Lighter” released in May.
BAIBA (real name – Baiba Dēķena), who lives in Innsbruck, Austria, has released this song thanks to winning the second place in “Upload Sounds” – the Italian competition for young musicians’. The victory gave her the opportunity to collaborate with Bruno Belissimo, a Canadian/Italian electronic music producer.
The collaboration also includes a music video for the single that was filmed in the Italian city of Milan.
The song “Come Around” is a story about various emotions that we experience after a relationship. Both the relief we sometimes get when a difficult relationship is over and the frustration when we realize that we may be adapting too much to the relationship and, for fear of not being loved, have ultimately lost what we really are.
“This is not a sad song. If after the relationship ends the anger is chanelled properly after the end of the relationship, it can give us the ability to accept ourselves for who we really are, ”says BAIBA, “I want this song to empower people, to give this feeling that we all are different and, maybe, sometimes weird and crazy but it’s all OK!”
Currently, BAIBA continues to write new songs, as well as performs regularly in Austria and Italy. The young artist also teaches music production classes. This autumn, the artist had planned to perform in Latvia as well, but these concerts have been canceled for the time being due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
BAIBA is a Latvian musician who currently lives in Innsbruck, Austria. She grew up in a farming family in Tukums region, Pūre parish. At the age of seven, she began attending Kandava Music School, where she studied piano. Later, BAIBA moved to Liepāja, where he studied cultural management and also obtained a master’s degree in writing. During this time, she began to write her own songs and perform at various events.
At the end of 2020, BAIBA won 2nd place in the Italian music competition “Upload Sounds” and got the opportunity to work with renowned representatives of the Italian music industry – producer Bruno Belissimo (previously worked with Italian groups such as “Calcutta” and “Frah Quintale”) and video graphics and video director Claudio Zagarini from Universal Music.
With three released singles, Quickstrike has prepared their audience for the culmination – the release of the debut album “None of a Kind” on February 11 this year.
“Cheats n’ Liars” takes inspiration from the various situations and encounters with people that we experienced both before and during the writing of the album. Mostly during the latter – situations with different characters in showbusiness, their attitudes, work ethic and intentions. Their impressive offers with the fine print that says none of it is true, and their dishonest nature. We’re quite sure that everyone has had a run-in with these type, so anyone will be able to relate’’, says the band.
This is the second collaboration with director Gunārs Porietis, and this time the location used was the club “Live Art” in Valmiera. Chronologically, this is the first video filmed and, like the other two, was made in November 2020.
“We would like to thank the owner of “Live Art”, Māris Kalniņš, who has supported us from the very beginning, providing space for rehearsals, and making us the house band. With this video, we wanted to show ourselves on stage, and “Live Art” was the perfect place for it” – the band concludes.
Last year “Quickstrike” signed a record deal with Rockshots Records to release the band’s debut album, None of a Kind, on February 11, 2022.
