Latvian hard rock band “Everstate” introduces to a new single and a video Trying Times from the band’s debut EP “Inside Out” which contains 5 songs.
Trying times and the EP were produced by Greg Haver (Manic Street Preachers, Bullet For My Valentine, etc.), recorded and mixed by sound engineer Clint Murphy (Enter Shikari, etc.) at Sound Division Studios, Riga, Latvia. Masters were done by Ryan Smith at the Sterling Sound Studio in Nashville, USA.
The band’s leader and guitarist Uldis Blazevics says that “Trying Times” is a song about inner experiences that occur when a person searches for his identity and improves himself. It’s the “good pain” that a person expects and accepts because he knows that the outcome is expected to be positive and rewarding.”
The band’s EP Inside Out, as well as the single “Trying Times” are available on major music streaming websites such as Spotify, Amazon, Deezer, YouTube, etc.
2020 was not only a year of the pandemic, but also a year of jubilee of two Masters of classical music – Frederic Chopin and Ludwig van Beethoven. Even though this year has been very difficult for classical music and it was not possible to hold many concerts dedicated to the jubilee of Chopin and Beethoven, musicians all over the world, including Andrejs Osokins, are looking for creative ways to reach their audience and let the music survive. The project dedicated to the jubilee of Frederic Chopin came to life in cooperation with the Embassy of Poland in Latvia. It is a musical greeting that, by traveling virtually around the world, will reach the music lovers of the outstanding Polish composer and remind them of unchanging values.
“It is especially important that in a virtual environment, where there are so many pieces of frightful and tragic news, we also give people beauty, spirituality and harmony through art and music. This project will share the hope that we will endure. Music and art are the values that will give us strength. Chopin’s music contains everything I consider so crucial – the unrestrained temperament, subtlety, spirituality, spontaneity and tenderness, wit, danceability and elegance. One can listen to his melodies for evermore! So much time has passed, but human nature and soul remain unchanged,” says pianist Andrejs Osokins.
“The past 2020 has been a difficult one for all of us. We have to face many challenges and we are denied so many opportunities. However, in spite of everything, I would like to emphasize that this year has once again revealed the depths of creativity that are lying dormant inside of us. Thanks to the project “Musical Greeting”, which has been prepared in collaboration with the outstanding Latvian pianist Andrejs Osokins, we, despite the pandemic, are able to reach you with the help of Frederic Chopin’s music. May it bring you a ray of hope! Today, just as many years ago, when this music raised the spirits of Poles longing for freedom, let it inspire and herald a better future, even if we have to wait a while for it,” chargé d’affaires of the Republic of Poland, Consul Małgorzata Hejduk-Gromek.
The musical greeting includes two masterpieces by Frederic Chopin – “Nocturne op.9 No.2” and “Etude op. 25 No.12”. The video was created by Kaspars Kambars and Ainars Krauklis, recorded by sound director Aleksandrs Volks. It was recorded on Yamaha concert piano at the Piano salon @152 in Riga.
Pamirt is a dark music trio from Baltics that brings together musicians Kristiana Karklina (voice, piano), Edvards Percevs (drums) and Edgars Gultnieks (guitar, bass) previously known for their work with black metal act Eschatos. This collaboration started as a solo project of Kristiana, but soon after Edgars and Edvards joined to add guitar textures and rhythm. Most part of this album was composed while residing in Berlin in fall of 2018 where Kristiana goes often to work on music.
“It was a new experience for me to have the control over all artistic decisions while making this record over a period of almost 2 years. My academic background is in art history so visual arts also play a great role in making of this record. About a month before the world entered the state of global health crisis, we created album art for Mausoleum. We wanted to create a sense of grotesque, lonely celebration, inspired partly by Pushkin’s work “A Feast in Time of Plague” and personal experiences while working in the field of contemporary art. Needless to say that we could not even imagine how prophetic this work will be,” says Kristiana.
Mausoleum was nominated for The National Latvian music awards “Zelta mikrofons” as The Best Experimental record of 2020.
On December 21, when many gurus and spiritual leaders predict the beginning of the new world, Taurud comes out with a new song ‘I’m Changing’. Listen to it on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and other platforms.
The title ‘I’m Changing’ undoubtedly sets the expectation of what the song is about. Taurud describes: So here we are at the end of 2020. What’s ahead of us is still unknown. However, one thing we all feel and know for sure is that things are changing rapidly. Universal energy and information always have been flowing through me, and I feel it so vividly that we are approaching something incredible no matter how hard it might be to believe it right at this moment. It’s time to get rid of everything that no longer serves us, it’s time to take the wheel and steer towards the light with confidence. This song is a mantra that will help us along the way.
Every one of us goes through many different experiences and we always look back and reflect on them by the end of the year. It’s a special moment. You can feel a bit of that festive vibe in the song. It’s a collaboration with Tom Stott from Manchester band LUX. (Listen to their latest single here) Tom Stott plays keyboards on all Taurud’s tracks and they are going to continue working on records together.
We can expect more inspiring music from Taurud next year as he promises some surprises as well. His journey began in August with the song ‘I Keep Loving You’ was followed by ‘I’ve Been Carrying My Past Lives With Me’ in November and, ‘I’m Changing’ is the one to wrap this year up. The song is about what I feel is the most important right now – our growth – says the artist himself.
From home to home: this could be a motto of a project, created in 2020 by a Latvian composer and pianist Edgars Cīrulis, which resulted in an altruistic collaboration of many people and a composition called «silence». The composition for voice and orchestra, composed by Edgars last spring upon his return to his Latvian home, is based on a poem by Aleksandra Line. The music is recorded by 19 professional musicians from Latvia, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and Denmark, sound production done by Toms Lisments, video art — by Patrīcija Vilsone. This way the composer has united different worlds which couldn’t have normally met, especially in 2020.
«Last spring I returned to the safety of my childhood home, and I had time. I’ve finished this new piece for voice and orchestra and was very excited to premiere it, but then last year changed things and I had no idea when I’d be able to hear it played by real people instead of my notation software. So I reached out to my friends and colleagues and invited them to lend their voice to this piece — to my great surprise, so many of them decided to participate in the project. This way, we could unite different parts of the world in one place», — says Edgars Cīrulis about his composition.
This piece was specially composed for a Latvian singer Beāte Zviedre — as Edgars says, the voice that speaks volumes. Cīrulis has collaborated with Beāte many times and greatly appreciates her musical potential. This also isn’t the first collaboration with Patrīcija Vilsone, a young Latvian artist and student of Latvian Academy of Art, which has dedicated many months to original illustrations which evolved into the music video.
The lyrics are written by a poet Aleksandra Line who explains her choice of the topic: ««silence» isn’t necessarily the time after everything has ended — quite often that’s a moment before. Last year has been too silent for all of us, especially the music industry, but it’s really important to remember that silence isn’t boring or empty at all — it can contain lots of colorful things. For example, a precious word or sound can be born in silence».
In celebration of their song’s Find My Way 50k streaming mark on Spotify within a less than a month, DJ’s and music producers [Ex] da Bass and REZarin are inviting all interesents to participate in a Find My Way remix contest. The highest rated remix, as well as 5 other best remixes will be released by the Day Dose Of House label.
“Find My Way is dedicated to the “challenging times”, in other words – the life stage period in 2020 when the world has lost it’s control and we’re all on our own. For the representatives of the entertainment and music industries, this year will always be remembered as very tough, when every person had to “find his way”. We found our way by creating a joint song which we’re submitting for your evaluation. While our mouths and noses are blocked, listen to our track. Our ears are still free and they’re what the song was made for. Besides, if you’ll also dance, then it will be a great combination, because physical activities strenghten health and eases the mind”, as been said by [Ex] da Bass and REZarin.
On Friday, 15th of January, Latvian indie-pop band Blue Jean Serenade release their newest song Your Heart.
The single is the very first song published after the debut album that was presented back in March 2020, just before the pandemic hit Latvia. The new single marks a new chapter in the band’s musical life.
The song Your Heart is about the feelings each of us hold inside. The feelings of love. The lead singer Jānis Niedra explains: “We are scared of revealing our love in fear of getting hurt and not receiving it back. We are afraid to ruin the relationships we already have, so we don’t go all in. Then we play out the confession of the other person and how it would feel. How wonderful it would be. This idea warms the heart, even if it is not meant to be. In the end, we mostly regret the things we haven’t done.”
The song first came to be in a song-writing camp held in Riga. It was further developed in the creative camp Blue Jean Serenade had in the July 2020 in the countryside of Latvia. The record is made together with the Latvian producer and musician Aleksis Luriņš. Mix and master is made by Andis Ansons.
Blue Jean Serenade dates back to 2016 when the lead singer Janis and the drummer Tomass started playing together. The team has changed over the years, and now they play and write as a five-person band. In 2016 the band released an EP in English called All My Friends Care About Celebrities, Well, I Don’t and then turned to writing in their native language as well. The band has held concerts all around the country and participated in Reeperbahn Festival 2018 in Hamburg. In March 2020 Blue Jean Serenade released their debut album Prieks, no kura neizaug. Laiks, kuru neaizmirst. (Latvian for for Happiness that can’t be outgrown. Time that can’t be forgotten.)
“The Bad Tones is coming out with an announcement for a new live album “Ezera Skaņas, which will be available on the platforms starting from November 21. Album was recorded on Kala lake (Kāla ezers) as a part of the festival “Sounds from the Lake” (“Ezera Skaņas”).
In collaboration with the Finnish saxophonist Ukko Heinonen and the Latvian percussionist Dzintars Viksna (Dzintars Vīksna), The Bad Tones have written a 1.5-hour dedication to the festival, which consists of 8 fragments included in the album. The main theme “I’m Not Afraid of The Wolf” reflects the growth of a child, where “Wolf” is an inner adult, but “I” is an inner child.”
Latvian composer Aija Alsiņa who has been working in film music for several years now, is releasing a new single titled “Abyss”. The composition, along with a video made by the French director Paul Lavau, is published on November 6th, and is available on all major music streaming platforms.
Aija Alsiņa’s debut album ”Domum”, released in 2017, was critically acclaimed by both Latvian and foreign reviews. Her delicate piano compositions are emotionally charged and writing music is a way in which Aija expresses her feelings. After completing an MSc in Composition for Film and Media in the UK, it has now been a year since Aija returned back to her home country of Latvia and is currently residing and working in her native Riga.
The essence of “Abyss” is the nostalgia for one’s childhood – manifested in moments of fond memories, deeply immersive and at the same time blurred, and intertwined with a thread of sadness over a time gone by; just another reminder of the transient nature of our lives. “Children are a significant part of my life, and this inevitably influences my music” , Aija comments on her creative process. “When writing Abyss, I played around with chord progressions and sounds, and while listening to a fragment of the written piece I imagined waves and the plain vastness of the sea. A moment came to my mind when, in the beginning of the pandemic, I was staying at home with my kids a lot, and my five year old loved to make up fairytales, so I had a couple of them recorded on my phone. When thinking about the sea and the water, I decided to use a fragment of his story in my composition, turning the child’s voice into an additional instrument.” “Abyss” was mixed and mastered by Aija in her home studio.
Aija’s collaboration with the French director Paul Lavau started earlier this year when she was invited to write the soundtrack for his documentary “202”. In the video for “Abyss” Paul portrayed his own take on the memory and the feeling of nostalgia, crafting the film to the finalized music composition.
On 6th November, Latvian recording artist Chris Noah releases a deluxe version of the EP “Distance” which came out on the 20th March. Alongside the original songs from the EP, the deluxe version includes recently released single “This Is The Night”, its live acoustic version as well as a stripped-down version of a fan favourite River.
““This Is The Night” was recorded after the release of EP “Distance” and even during the writing process, I felt that it would fit very well with the other songs in the EP. It’s not only strong as a single, but it also serves as a great addition to EP “Distance” and gives the necessary contrast between the songs,” says Chris.
“This Is The Night” was released on 23rd October and came out with a music video.
Regarding the inclusion of the acoustic tracks in the EP, Chris comments: “I write most of my songs on my acoustic guitar and only during the production process, by adding various instruments and other bits and bobs, the characteristics of the recording are shaped. It’s great to have big production and it’s always fun to do that, but sometimes it’s worth returning to the basics which for me is my voice and guitar. Doing a live recording is always special as there’s room for natural noises and you also seem more vulnerable as a musician since there’s less editing. I think it might reveal a new side of me to people who follow my music. The stripped-down version of “River”, which is included in the EP, has become a fan favourite at gigs where I don’t play with a full band, and this version gives a rawer feeling to the story behind the song.”
On 6th December, despite the ongoing situation in the world, Chris Noah is playing two shows in one of the most beautiful cinemas in Latvia – Splendid Palace. Chris will be showcasing his talent to his rapidly growing fanbase in his homeland, whilst taking all the necessary precautions to stay safe.
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