Category: News

The first ‘DELFI digiConcert” will take place on Wednesday, 20th May at 21:00 (EEST Time) and will offer a live performance from “Carnival Youth”. The show will be available via Bilesu Paradize website.

The band has prepared a special programme for the live broadcast, calling it “Reconnected”. The show will be around an hour long and after the performance, Latvian hip-hop artist Eduards Gorbunovs aka Edavārdi will join the musicians for an informal chat.

Tickets to the online show can be purchased via “Bilesu paradize” online shop. Pre-sale tickets (until 19th May) cost 6 EUR, but tickets purchased on the day of the event (20th May) will cost 8 EUR. One ticket is valid for one connection to the broadcast via one smart device. If you purchase a ticket for 9 EUR, you will get access to the live broadcast as well as a recording of the show that you can watch 72 hours after you activate your unique code.

The concert is organised in response to the national and global restrictions on live shows, festivals and other events. Artists are now sharing their work free of charge via social networks, so “Delfi” calls on the public to take a step forward and remember, that social distancing is not a reason to demand free of charge high quality culture in which knowledge, creative energy and time has been invested.

“Carnival Youth” comment: “The state of emergency was announced around the time when we were preparing to leave for our European tour, hence we had to cancel all our shows. This will be a great opportunity for us to reach the fans that we were supposed to see during our spring tour as well as a good encouragement to those who are longing for live shows. The name of this online show is “Reconnected” – it’s a reunion after a lost connection. As the show is intended for fans everywhere in the world, the program will mainly be in English, but we will definitely play a song or two in Latvian as well. Let’s stay together through a virtual touch!”

“Carnival Youth” is an indie rock band from Latvia, which made its debut in 2011, gaining recognition both at home and abroad. The band consists of twins Edgars (guitar, vocals) and Emīls (drums, vocals) Kaupers, Roberts Vanags (keyboard, vocals) and Kristiāns Kosītis (bass). Carnival Youth debut album “No Clouds Allowed” was released in October 2014 and was awarded as the best debut at the Latvian Annual Recorded Music Awards “Golden Microphone”. The band have received “The European Border Breakers Award” at Eurosonic 2016.

The concert is created in cooperation with sound and light rental company “GaCo”, LED screen rental company “VPT Group” and live broadcasting company “No Limits”.

Tickets

“Cellar Cat”, an indie and alternative rock band from Riga, have released their “quarantine” video – the live music video for the song “Time & Space”/ It was shot and simultaneously recorded at the band members’ homes. Music of “Cellar Cat” is often compared to the likes of “Coldplay” and “The 1975”.

The band tells about the idea for the video: “In the current situation of public emergency in Latvia we couldn’t rehearse of record at the studio, not even mentioning playing gigs. Still, we decided to try and nor get demoralized and use this situation for the best. We thought that we might try doing something more unconventional for us — record a new song at home, while actually filming the process, and then glue the sounds and the videos together. Looks like it was a successful experiment.”

As the band members say, this experience let them have a feeling of unity despite the social distancing.

“Though we managed to pull everything off almost as we envisioned it, we still want to get back to normal life as soon as possible and play this song in front of the audience!” the band’s singer Alex says.

New single is from artist’s upcoming album ‘Lighter’ and is a melancholic electro-pop track from Latvian artist who currently lives and performs in Austria.

„I Can Tell You My Sins“ is the new single from BAIBA’s upcoming album „Lighter“.  It is her one of her first tracks which is more focused on electronic and is pursuing her hunger for good electronic pop music.

“It’s dark, sexy mood of the song expresses the hope and despair of young lovers. Craving to open up to each other, merge into each other’s essence to express their deepest secrets, sins and desires and yet, the song is also sharing the insecurity of young love,” BAIBA explains.

The track is a slow burner – it is supposed to be listened on melancholic and beautiful summer nights, together with lovers and their touch.

You can listen to the new single on Spotify

BAIBA is a young Latvian musician, currently living in Innsbruck, Austria. In 2017 in collaboration with the Austrian producer Christoph Holzknecht (CHRS) she released her debut album ”These Storms”. Since then BAIBA is performing solo, producing herself and moving away from the melancholic singer songwriter corner and embracing more and more the curiosity of electronic pop music.

Her singles ‘Running’, ‘Light Inside’, ‘Touch You Right’ and ‘You Don’t Know Me’ which she released under her full name (Baiba Dekena), had radio airplay all around Europe and were also featured in numerous Canadian and American music blogs. Her single “Waiting” was in a daily rotation in one of the biggest Austrian radio stations “FM4” and mid November she entered the „Official European Independent Music Charts“ on number 19 with the title track of her upcoming album „Lighter“ and stayed in the top 50 until March 2020.

At the end of last week, nine finalists of the Supernova songwriter and singer competition, including Edgars Kreilis with the song “Tridymite”, were announced. Now a video too has been made for the composition. Edgars offers it for a wider audience rating.

“Tridymite” has been co-authored by bass guitarist of Latvian band “Brainstorm” and composer Ingars Viļums, who wrote a message to Edgars offering to collaborate on this year’s Supernova competition. In the process of dynamic work, a song came to be known as the Tridymite, causing a widespread debate about what does it actually mean.

The name came up in the songwriting process, while Edgars and Ingars exchanged different ideas. Tridymite is a polycrystalline that is found in small quantities on our planet Earth. But it was a big surprise when a large group of American scientists from NASA discovered it on planet Mars. This mystery is still unresolved. In the song, this multifaceted crystal symbolizes the unknown and utterly unexplained formula of love that exists in the universe. Who can surpass energy when eyes meet for a moment and the “inexplicable” happens? The world around us glows and at that moment everything seems possible – as if there were no limits to time or space.

Musician Markus Riva has just released the music video for his much-discussed single “Impossible”. It is his first music video shot on 35mm film, and marks the 30th video in his career.

The song “Impossible” was created in collaboration with singer Aminata. It is a story about determination, conviction, self-belief and an endless fight with the circumstances standing in our way – including our own fears and doubts.

“Markus himself is the focal point of the video, and various images and symbols represent his inner world, thoughts and feelings, and the message of the song,” says Pavel Trebuhin who the directed the video. “To create the right mood, we chose to shoot the video on a 35mm film. The whole filming process becomes much more difficult, but the video obtains a particular quality and vibe not often found in the modern world.”

The music video was shot in E. Fon Trompowsky Quarter the day before Christmas. Almost 20 people took part in the filming process that lasted up to 3 AM. Markus notes wittily that he had to remind himself repeatedly that he is indeed unbreakable as it was very cold indeed in the deserted factories, but he is very happy with the result.

It is no secret that the song “Impossible” was one of this year’s “Supernova” competition entries, and Markus had hoped to fight for a chance to represent Latvia in the Eurovision song competition, set to take place on May 12 in Rotterdam. Although the events played out differently, Markus is pleased with his achievement and hopes to inspire his fans with this song.

“This song says very much about the events currently unfolding in the world and in my own life as well. Read the lines and read between the lines! Do good things in life, and do what you love! And be brave,” says Markus.

Markus Riva is currently working on material for a new album and continues performing in Latvia and CIS countries. Moreover, in collaboration with the movement #Neklusē, he will be visiting several schools in Latvia to talk about mobbing among teens and to promote its eradication.

Carnival Youth release their new album “Good Luck” on the 16th of August. It is available on digital streaming platforms as well as in CD and double vinyl. Limited Edition LP is also available.

As the band describe, the ideas for the new album have been collected over a couple of years of touring and experiencing contrasts within the world and people, at the same time, understanding that we are all united by the same things: “The same lust for human compassion, openness, as well as lust for love and freedom. Whilst writing the material for our new album, we tried to be very open and intimate within our environment, letting freedom flow through various musical experiments.”

Songs were mainly created during creative camps, which are almost always held somewhere close to the Latvian nature, however, the album was recorded in Red Bull Studios in São Paulo, Brazil with producer Gatis Zakis. As Carnival Youth describe: “While we were recording the album, we let the Brazilian air affect our music and writing methods. We gave way to more expressive and passionate rhythms, using local percussions, which in result creates a great balance with a couple of more melancholic compositions.”

The album name “Good Luck” came up during the recording process: “Thus far, the names of our albums have always been thought through and made up after it has been recorded. But this time it was more spontaneous. During one of the days of recording in São Paulo studio, our producer Gatis, whilst sitting behind the sound mixer, after one our recording tries, announced to the three of us via microphone “Ok, let’s try that again” and very ironically added “Good luck…”. At that moment something clicked, and we said “Hey, that sounds like a great name for an album”. This phrase can be taken both as a genuine wish for good fortune or figuratively, as it’s often used with an ironic smirk, when someone is trying to accomplish something challenging or something that at the moment can seem impossible. In those instances, what can we say? Well…Good Luck…”

The album was mixed by Grammy winning producer Nicolas Verhnes, and the master was done by Greg Calbi at “Sterling Sound” in New York.

The Latvian shoegaze/dreampop collective returns with “Rust and Gold”, their first record in a decade. It will be presented on August 28 at the K. K. fon Stricka Villa in Riga.

After the show they released an announcement about the current state of the band, sharing that the singer Ksenija Sundejeva will not be able to participate in live concerts this year due to current health issues.

“We have been in the process of recording the new album and rehearsing for more than two years. As it became clear that Ksenija will not be able to take part in the shows, we had to make a choice – to postpone both, the shows and the new release for indefinite time, – or to let the new tunes play. We chose the latter, especially because that’s what Ksenija wanted. Despite not being present physically, enabled by modern technologies Ksenija remains the voice of Tribes of the City both – on record and live.” – says the band’s statement.

At the presentation show the band will play the songs from their latest release “Rust and Gold”, accompanied by concert visuals created by Ksenija (who is also a visual artist) for this occasion.

Speaking about the new record the band’s musical leader and guitarist Sergei Jaramishian shares what his goals and vision were: “I was attempting to create such a broad interweaving of guitars that could hypnotise and mesmerise. To make the record sound like it comes from the 80s or 90s when albums were commonly listened to in their entirety.”

Ksenija says that the record feels very personal to her, as the song lyrics reflect her own experiences.

The album was recorded with Aleksandr Solovjov at ZStudios, Riga, produced by Adam Cooper of Allison’s Halo at Jetpack Studios and mastered by Brian Wenckebach of Electric Blue Studios, Brooklyn, NY.

Tribes of the City was founded in 2003 and have released three albums: “Running to the Sun” (2004), “For the Sleepy People” (2006) and “Recipe of the Golden Dream” (2009). They have been awarded with multiple Latvian Music Awards and nominated for the MTV European Music Awards and the Best Baltic Act.

While the indie-rock band “Audrú” is working on their debut EP “The Lighthouse Trilogy”, that’s set to be released in Fall, a mellow and dreamy composition that won’t appear in the record has been brought to listeners attention. “Fog” is the bands second single and it contemplates moments, when we’re on the brink of forgetting ourselves and wish to exchange the reality around us for our individual version of the reality. In a quiet and uninhibited mood, the song carries a story about the need for trust.

The song is accompanied with a lyric video, which presents sunny meadows and shrubs of Zakusala, all through the eyes of a racing drone. Video-related glitches that can be spotted throughout the video are caused by the disruptions in the analogue signal happening during the flight. Song is recorded and mixed in “Hodila records” studio. “Audrú” consists of four friends – Ieva, Gita, Jurģis un Artūrs, who have been playing together for two years. Since then the band has crafted their own sound, for which they, jokingly, have coined the term “May-flower Grunge”. It features elements of indie-rock, indie-pop, American folk and vibes from music of the 90’s. “Fog” is soon to be available on most mayor streaming platforms. You can follow “Audrú” on Facebook and Instagram.