Category: News

One of this year’s music and artist contest “Supernova 2019” semi-finalists Edgars Kreilis from Jelgava presents his song “Cherry Absinthe”, which now has a lyrics video. Edgars is one of the 16 semi-finalists and in 26th January he will fight for the chance to be in the finals.

Originally for the “Supernova 2019” contest Kreilis announced his song “Fire”, but in the semi-finals another song with the same title entered, then Edgars heard the suggestions for improving the song and decided to change the composition’s title to “Cherry Absinthe”.

The song “Cherry Absinthe” is about a girl that was met on New Year’s Eve. It’s about emotions that take over when you meet someone and about the explosion of feelings – about falling in love. Besides all the feelings, this is also a story about a great party and an adventure – the moment when you forget the absence of the last year and embark on the new one with other goals, wishes and feelings, enjoying the time that we are given.

The story and meaning of the song tells Edgars himself: “There’s is no doubt that behind every successful man stands a strong and a successful woman. And every blossoming relationship starts with a feeling that you can feel in every note of this song. At the moment I’m not sure how others will feel about “Cherry Absinthe”, but I’m confident that every listener will enjoy the great dose of positivism that dwells in it.”

“Cherry Absinthe” was written in the spring of 2018 in the second song writing camp “RIGaLIVE”. Event organisers had created a team that included producer Arnis Račinskis, as well as musicians Jūlijs Melngailis and Edgars Kreilis who were working together for the first time. In this songwriting camp musicians shared their ideas with each other and fulfilled the potential of the song by making it a tuneful story. And that’s how the song “Cherry Absinthe” was born – by three creative minds collaborating and just letting magic happen. Moreover, in the creative process guys decided that contest “Supernova 2019” will be a perfect place to introduce this song to a wider audience, letting it start the way to success.

The music authors of “Cherry Absinthe” are Edgars Kreilis, Jūlijs Melngailis and Arnis Račinskis, however the lyrics were written by Jūlijs Melngailis and Arnis Račinskis.

“Cherry Absinthe” is available on the streaming service Spotify and you can listen to it on the social platform Youtube.

Latvian pop-singer and Eurovision star Aminata, this January, is celebrating her five-year anniversary of being in music industry, and to mark this special occasion releases the single “Catching the Headlights”. Five years ago, after winning Latvian TV show “Jaunā Talantu fabrika”(‘The New Talent Show’), Aminata released her first ever single “I can breathe”.

With the new song “Catching the Headlights” Aminata was willing to recall the beginning of her career: “When writing this song, I wanted to come back to the feelings, which I had when I only started writing songs, 5 years ago. I did not want to think about making this song ‘fit’, about it having certain format. I just wanted to express my feelings in music, in whatever form it takes.”

Aminata worked on the song alongside the Danish songwriter and producer Jonas Brogger Filtenborg and his Swedish colleague Edvin Hjertquist.

“Catching the Headlights”  has sensual, sexy mood. The song does not have a story, it does not describe a certain plot. The main idea of the song is to remind about being present and enjoy the moments of pleasure: “Nowadays, people are running all the time. We have a lot of things planned, a long ‘to do’ list. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves, we always worry and forget that life goes by. We forget to enjoy things, to enjoy moments,” that Aminata.

This year Aminata is planning to release her third album, and “Catching the Headlights” is one of the singles, that follows previously released ‘Zero Love’ and ‘Don’t talk about it’. The two first albums – ‘Inner Voice’ and ‘Red Moon’ gained success both in Latvia and abroad, which gives Aminata the inspiration to be braver and work even harder. Together with her team of producers and songwriters Aminata set her creative spirit free and worked productively, which has already resulted in releasing several singles.

The single “Catching the Headlights”  is available in all popular music stream services and can also be heard on radio stations.

Evija Vebere will perform in Polish music club Stodola, before their own star, singer-songwriter MARCELINA.

On 1st of March 2019th, Evija Vebere is invited to perform a support show for Polish singer- songwriter Marcelina. Concert will take a place in Stodola, the oldest and largest music club in Warsaw. This invitation is an effect of Stodola collaboration with the organisation Liveurope.

In October “Riga Room” presents series of unique concerts of the leading Baltic saxophonist Denis Pashkevich performing together with outstanding Danish musicians – guitarist Christian Frank, bassist Claus Kaarsgaard and drummer Carsten Landors.

On October 4th, the concert will take place at the Rocket Bean Roastery, at 29/31 Miera Street, Riga, and will be a retrospective of previous years of musicians co-operation. The concert will feature compositions from the jointly released albums “Outlook,” “Close” and “Yours Faithfully”, which was awarded with the Latvian Music Records annual prize “Golden Microphone 2017” in the category “Best jazz / blues music album”.

On October 5th, Denis Pashkevich, Christian Frank, Claus Kaarsgaard and Carsten Landors will perform in the restaurant “32.augusts”, at Sēļu street 12, in Marupe, and present the program called “Frank & Pashkevich Quartet” Meets Jazz Classics. That means that audience will have the opportunity to enjoy the world-famous jazz standards in the original interpretations of these musicians.

On October 6th, in the newly opened art space “Freska”, the unique event will be presented. Musicians will perform unheard songs from the new upcoming album, which will be recorded this November in studio in Denmark. During the concert solo exhibition of the painter Arnis Jansons “The Happiness Code” will be displayed. Moreover, audience will witness art happening performed by Agija Jansone, who will paint in front of the audience under music impression. At the end of the concert the masterpiece created by Agija with her and musicians autographs will be offered for sale.

Musicians met in 2010 during music seminar in Copenhagen. They decided to collaborate and after several concerts they released their debut album “Outlook”. Two years later came out their second album “Close. In 2016 they formed quintet with world famous pianist Aaron Parks (USA) and released album “Yours Faithfully”, which won Latvian Grammy 2017 as the best Blues & Jazz album. Original compositions by Deniss & Christian are mostly atmospheric ballads full of calm and relaxing sophisticated jazz vibes, saturated with intimacy and hint of melancholy. It is a fusion of Nordic laconicism and a wide range of jazz styles. 

Line-up: Deniss Pashkevich (composer/tenor saxophone), Christian Frank (composer/guitar), Claus Kaarsgaard (double bass), Karsten Landors (drums)

The single  “Listen To The Way That I Breathe” is selected for the international song competition “Eurovision 2019” Pre-Selection show “Supernova 2019” semi-finals.

The story of a video (and song) is about the loneliness, struggle and the inner demons of a musician, looking for a support from the others and a hope in general. Every upcoming performance is an emotional challenge for a musician, but the band is always there for the support.

The video was shoot in different places including “K.K. fon Stricka villa”, “Buratino theater”, “GM Pool”,” Ziemeļblāzma Castle”.

“The shooting of a video was quite challenging because you really had to get over yourself emotionally and physically. First, we had to film in a cold weather outside. After that we had to film under the water. With the lack of sleep from the previous night’s gig, that really did took an energy from us” Guntis recalls.

Laika Upe is a five – piece band from Riga, Latvia. Their uniqueness and sound can be found both in their records and in their energetic live performances that no listener can ignore. Since the formation of the band in 2016, Laika Upe has released two singles. The first single “Debess Puses” was released in the summer of 2018.

The second single “Listen To The Way That I Breathe”  is selected for the international song competition “Eurovision 2019” Pre-Selection show “Supernova 2019” semi-finals. The band will perform in the second “Supernova 2019” semi-finals show that will go on air on the second of february on the channel “LTV1”. The show starts at 9.25 PM.

The song “Listen To The Way That I Breathe” can be found on the biggest music streaming services including Spotify, Google Play, iTunes.

One of the hottest new acts from Baltic states Neon Saturdays have returned this autumn with their new single “Phoenix”. The song is loaded with warm summer vibes and will definitely find favor with those who already dread the cold and windy days ahead. And yet there’s so much more to this new tune by the promising Latvian four-piece.

The single was released world-wide on September 25th.  “We had a lot of time to contemplate and discuss issues of human nature, social dynamics and above all – the importance of love, while going through the creative process,” commented the leader of the band Andris Evelis.

“All of this reminded us that our ambitions and actions are primarily guided by our need to be loved – to be safe in the knowledge that the missing piece of the puzzle is not really missing,” said Edvins Rakickis who wrote the lyrics for the song.

While the song speaks about struggle to find happiness in the modern world, plagued by social polarization, the music video takes us through a day in the lives of two girls who fall in love.

“Playing around the myth of the phoenix seemed appropriate here. Thus, we did a modern take on it in the music video. It was clear from the start that we needed actors who would play a couple to tell this story visually and I insisted that we portray a female couple because I felt that feminine energy had to dominate in this story,” said Rakickis.

“Since we chose to portray a same sex couple it was important for us to concentrate on the romantic aspects of this relationship in the video. I think that one of the central errors of homophobia is the perception that it is mainly sexual desire that drives people forward while in reality love and need to be valued and accepted is the reason all of us do most things in life,” added Martins Rudzitis.

The song was recorded and produced together with Scottish production genius Lewis Gardiner who has been working with the band for some time now.

Gardiner had previously made a name for himself working with Ellie Goulding and the winner of 2016 British X Factor Matt Terry.

Talented and well-known sound engineer Andy “Hippy” Baldwin from Metropolis studios was recruited to lay on some finishing touches. Baldwin has previously worked with acts like Oasis, Robbie Williams and The Who.

The band has also announced that the third single together with their second full-length album titled Freaks In The Ocean will be released in November 9th.

Their previous single “Get Up” was released back in April and found its way to numerous radio stations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, UK and Baltics.

The band released their debut album in 2012. Since then a number of singles, made it to the TOP10 of the biggest Baltic radio stations after which Neon Saturdays toured the Baltic states as well as UK a couple of times.

In 2015 Neon Saturdays was one of the first Latvian acts to play The Great Escape in UK. In 2016 the band opened for the British rock band James.

In July 2018 the band opened for the American singer LP (Laura Pergolizzi) in Latvia, playing for 4000 people.

Band’s music has also received a well-deserved recognition by Tim Fraser, an internationally well-known songwriter (Tina Turner, Billie Myers), partner of Artists United and a member of BASCA’s Songwriters Executive Committee.

The classical music hooligans DAGAMBA as a special st. Valentine’s day greeting has released a new video version for the piece Romeo & Juliet. This is the second single from their upcoming album and grand concert DAGAMBA feat TCHAIKOVSKY taking place 12th of April this year in Arena Riga.

The inspirational spark for the Romeo & Juliet was taken from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poem and its love theme with the same name. Infused with DAGAMBAS original music the piece slowly evolves from lyrical radiance into energetic explosion of emotions.

The composer and DAGAMBA leader Valters Puce explains – this piece is unique, because for the first time each band member has their own solo part or as one could say their own individual interpretation for love. Music is nothing more than pure love in its core; it is love towards your own music instrument – your main tool to bring emotions alive in others as well as in ourselves. DAGAMBA enjoys doing usual things in an unusual way; therefor we want to show you that love is not only fragile, but can also be monumental and suggestive.  

The video version of Romeo and Juliet has been filmed during the recording of the new album in “Sound Division” recording studio by videographer – Karlis Kempels. The album presentation DAGAMBA feat TCHAIKOVSKY will take place at the end of the march.

As announced earlier on 12th of April the classical music hooligans DAGAMBA will have their most ambitious Live Performance in Arena Riga. Tickets are available at “Biļešu serviss”.

Janis Jacmenkins a.k.a JJ LUSH is a young Latvian producer who has just released his debut single “Head high” collaborating with well known Latvian musician Justs. Jānis not only produced music, but also wrote lyrics for this song.

“The main idea of the “Head High” is braking the self-imposed limits. Every one of us creates a thousand stories in our heads about what we could do, become and acheive, however the stories never come true as we are always afraid of failure. This song symbolises my own break-out as a producer not only as a piano player or session musician.”

The author of the single and musician Justs have collaborated before, when both of them stepped on the same stage as well as studied in the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music.

To build her International career further, Aminata now teamed up with a Scandinavian writer/producer team.

‘Don’t Talk About It’ captures the simmering-beneath-the-surface tention of not knowing where you stand in an evoking relationship. This infectious pop-banger was released via Hitmaker / The Orchard / Sony Music US.

Music producer and dj Makree has released a new song “Position in Here” featuring vocal from singer and songwriter Justs. The song has been signed by Eton Messy Records.

Radio version of the song has already been featured in Justs debut album “Here I Am”, Eton Messy also released the club and dub mixes of the song. You can also hear Latvian duo Dvines singing back vocals before the second chorus kicks in.

Earlier this year dj Makree signed a record deal with Sony Music UK for releasing 3 singles together with the British DJ Secondcity. Their first release “Never Been in Love” was released in march and since then it has been played out in BBC Radio1 multiple times, the song has reached over a million streams on Spotify and has gained support from big name artists such as Annie Mac,Oliver Heldens, Disclosure, Sam Feldt, Claptone, Danny Howard and others.