Category: News

Local Latvian rock band Cacophonics presents their newest song We Did Not Use It All and an accompanying video.

The song’s author Ingus Sala comments: “Just like for many other bands, last year has been a big challenge for us. We greatly missed spending time together, rehearsing, also gigging and visiting shows of other musicians. At the same time, it has been a good opportunity to slow down and evaluate past events and decisions so as to more effectively use the chances that live presents and appreciate things that seemed self-evident in the past”.

The song was recorded at No Fuss Audio studio in Tukums, it was mixed by the drummer of Cacophonics Valērijs Černejs. The song’s music and lyrics were written by the band’s singer and guitar player Ingus Sala. The video for the song was filmed at Tukums city Culture Center, it was shot and edited by Gints Sprēdis in collaboration with the band’s bass player Aivars Daugavietis.

Cacophonics was formed in 2002 in Cēsis, up until now the band had released 1 full-length LP, 2 Eps and 7 singles, has played shows in all Baltic states, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Russia.

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Press release photo by Laura Grūbe.

Electronic music producers MICKEEN (Miks Pinzulis), and DESTRO (Voldemārs Pauls Dzenis), in collaboration with Jasmine Green Tea (Jasmīne Zavele)  on march 26, release the single “We Lost Us”.

Jasmine Green Tea about the song: It’s hard to put the idea of the song to words, and just as hard to understand what the people around are dealing with emotionally. The words “We Lost Us” resemble a lot of things. Everyone has their own demons to deal with. They can be stored deep within, they can appear in the form of another person. We can’t grasp how simple it is to bestrange ourselves, while fighting mazes placed by others. That’s what the lyrics are all about – not losing yourself trying not to lose someone else.

MICKEEN about the song: I’ve been working together with DESTRO for over a year now, but just now are we actually showing the results to the listeners. As the first original collaboration we decided to release “We Lost Us”, because that’s one of the first songs we worked together on. There were many versions. At the end we decided to go with this one.

Latvian indie rock band Carnival Youth have released another remix from their upcoming “Good Luck” remix EP – this time it’s Kasetes remake of “Boys Do Cry”. This follows the “Only the Moon Can See the Sun” remix by Bel Tempo released in February.

Kasetes, who’s latest album “Dialogue” was named Best Electronic Music Album at the 2021 Latvian Music Awards “Zelta Mikrofons”, have given “Boys Do Cry” a fresh 80s synthpop vibe. The remix comes with a reconstructed original music video, that emphasises the new ambience of the track.

Since Kasetes have already done a dazzling remix of Carnival Youth’s “Underneath the Water” a few years ago, they were one of the first ones Carnival Youth thought of when deciding which creators to give “Good Luck” songs to remix. “Cool people and a cool band with a distinct style and their own signature sound within the local music scene,” describes Emils Kaupers from Carnival Youth. “I sent Rudolfs the song tracks almost a year ago and he replied very quickly with an almost finished version of the remix. It’s essentially a Kasetes song with a “Boys Do Cry” vocal tracks since it feels like almost all instruments are added from scratch. And that’s the beauty of this project – each artist can do whatever they want with the song. We love to be surprised!”

Rudolfs Zagorskis of Kasetes explains that it was difficult to choose which song to remix: “After experimenting with three songs, that I thought would work well as remixes, “Boys Do Cry” vocal track brought the most interesting vibe. I began with putting together interesting synth chords that further created the mood of the track and from there it was pretty easy to amplify it with different elements. Since 80s music is close to my heart, I chose to make the whole song with the mood of that time – electric drums and analogue synthesizers. When the remix was almost done, bass player Jurgis Prieditis joined and played bass in the “slap” technique, which added a good atmosphere to the remix.”

The Latvian indie band Carnival Youth is one of the most successful new generation bands from the Baltic region. Carnival Youth fuse neat melodic lines with the energy of alternative rock and indie music, while their emotion range varies from youthful melancholia to pure, bright joy. Since the formation of the band, Carnival Youth have released five records, from which the latest one – “Good Luck” came out in August 2019.

Chris Noah releases lyric video for his single “Only Words”. The track is about how in many situations people can be selfish and do things that benefit them but present it like they’re doing it for the other person. “Words are only words – they can make people feel a wide range of feelings, however, they’re kind of useless if you can’t back them up with actions,” explains Chris. Noah’s 2nd EP “Distance”, which was released in 2020 and includes “Only Words”, is nominated for Latvian Music awards in the category “Best Pop Album”.

Regarding the writing process, Noah explains: “Usually the stories behind my songs are influenced by my own experiences, but “Only Words” is inspired by seeing one of my best friends go through a rough patch in his relationship. It’s interesting to observe this type of situations from the sidelines, it’s definitely easier to see the big picture.”

“Only Words” is produced in collaboration with London-based producer Kristofer Harris (Bears Den, Belle and Sebastian, Ghostpoet etc.) and the lyric video for the track is made by a Latvian graphic designer Didzis Bardo.

Chris Noah is a Riga-based recording artist who gracefully combines indie rock with catchy pop. Noah first gained attention with self-released singles “River” and “Fall Through” – receiving praise for his distinctive vocals, relatable lyrics and a strong sense of melody from a variety of blogs including Indie Air, AlexRainBirdMusic, Uranium Waves, Comeherefloyd, Aofd3, Mystic Sons, York Calling, Wolf in a Suit and many others.

The band “Rihards Libietis Orchestra” has published a new musical composition and music video from the upcoming album “Willful Blindness”, due to be released in late spring 2021. Author of the composition is Rihards Lībietis, and the idea for the music came last spring, during the first self-isolation period. “Driftwood Island” tells about movement and passage of time, but not in their obvious sense – more like driftwood on the shores, having experienced an unimaginable journey before ending up there.

“In this work I feel a very strong feeling of roots and introspection. Everything around us is in constant and unpredictable motion and it is unbelievably important to not lose your footing and self-reliance in all the unforeseen changes. Although it was not initially planned when working on this composition, the worrying events in the world can also be felt in there,” says Rihards Lībietis.

“Driftwood Island” was filmed at the seaside on a winter day and captures the powerful and moving emotions of the music. The video was filmed and directed by Laima Jaunā.

“With this video I tried to bring the viewer in the world of dreams and illusions: where surreal landscapes, mirroring sky and band members as dreamy characters lure the viewer in never-ending thought labyrinths with every frame,” the feeling of the video is described by its director Laima Jaunā.

“Driftwood Island” is the second single from the band’s upcoming fourth album “Willful Blindness”, set to release in late spring 2021. The album’s themes will be about self-responsibility and acceptance of personality’s shadow side. Composition was recorded in “Amfo Music Studio” Riga by Toms Lisments.

Rihards Libietis Orchestra is a quintet performing instrumental, dynamic world music, mixing influences from African, Middle Eastern and Latvian Folk Music with Blues and Jazz. The band was formed in 2015, and has released 3 albums, the newest “Reflections EP” came out in Fall of 2018. Rihards Libietis Orchestra regularly performs in the Baltic area. The band consists of Rihards Lībietis (guitars), Gints Smukais (guitars), Jānis Polis (bass), Erna Daugaviete (cello) and Matīss Repsis (percussion).

Authors of the lyrics and music is “Pirmais Kurss”. Song mix – Arnis Račinskis. Producer – Dāvis Mazurenko. Master – Kaspars Ansons and Krišjānis Geidāns.

“Pirmais Kurss” is a group of normal young people who play cool music in their free time. In their ten-year existence they have played concerts all over Latvia and released the album “Problems”, which tells about sore topics – unsuccessful purchase of a new car, barn construction process, hair and internet problems. They play original music and some masterpieces of Latvian music. Intars Busulis: “World group no. 1 in Latvia”

Hit the dance floor with Carnival Youth as they release Bel Tempo’s remix of “Only the Moon Can See the Sun” with a glitchy remake of the original music video. The remix sharpens up the song, which appears on Carnival Youth’s 4th and latest album “Good Luck”, with the indie electronic duo’s signature spellbinding beats and gives a whole new spin to this procrastination anthem.

In the upcoming months, Carnival Youth will be releasing more remixes of “Good Luck” songs, all created by Latvian masterminds of electronic music. Emils Kaupers from Carnival Youth explains: “About a year ago we thought it’d be a cool idea to create a “Good Luck” remix album. We called up a few of our friends – artists and eventually came to a very colourful bunch. We gave them absolute freedom; they could choose the song themselves and do with it whatever comes to mind. Add new musical structures, use only the voice tracks, or remake songs beyond recognition. The results are very different and interesting. We believe that “Good Luck” has gained a new parallel life and we’re glad to say that the first of the remixes is our friends’ Bel Tempo interpretation of “Only the Moon Can See the Sun”.”

“Our remix is a tip of the hat to Caribou – one of Bel Tempo’s greatest inspirations, says Andis Ansons of Bel Tempo. “It refers specifically to his song “Sun”, which begins with that phrase.” Julijs Melngailis adds: “Bel Tempo and Carnival Youth go way back, and it feels like a circle completing an eclipse now that we’ve created a remix for “Only the Moon Can See the Sun”. What makes this occasion more fulfilling is the fact that I also took part in their “Only the Moon Can See the Sun” music video – we’ll let you guess where I come in.”

The Latvian indie band Carnival Youth is one of the most successful new generation bands from the Baltic region. Carnival Youth fuse neat melodic lines with the energy of alternative rock and indie music, while their emotion range varies from youthful melancholia to pure, bright joy. Since the formation of the band, Carnival Youth have released five records, from which the latest one – “Good Luck” came out in August 2019.