Category: News

Latvian indie rock band Carnival Youth have released a brand-new single called “Love Is the Answer” on 16th of March. Next week the ensemble will embark on a European tour.

“Phrase “love is the answer” came from subconsciousness while thinking vocal melodies in gibberish, mumbling. It seemed funny at first, but after a while we saw a challenge to justify it and after all – it is true. It was a joy of discovery, we tried to follow where it was going and experiment a bit, with choir of trumpets, for example,” says Emils Kaupers, member of the band.

This single marks the period between their latest release – an album with songs in their native Latvian called “Vienā vilcienā” – and their new, upcoming album, which will take them back to writing songs in English.

The band RYGA, which recently released its debut album “Catch Her Groove”, as well as took part in festivals “Saldus saule”, “Laba daba” and “LĪVIfest” and has already become known for its confrontational videos, is now releasing a new and thought-provoking video of the record “Give Me Your Love”.

The song is included in the soundtrack of the Daile Theatre performance directed by Dž. Dž. Džilindžers “The death of Banny Manro” (“Bannija Manro nāve”). The performance will return to the stage in late September. This year, the band leader Mārcis Judzis was nominated for this record in the annual theatre award “Spēlmaņu nakts” and received outstanding reviews and critical acclaim of music professionals. Actors of the Daile Theatre Ģirts Ķesteris, Ieva Segliņa and Kaspars Zāle (the Devil) take part in this video.

Mārcis Judzis: “The protagonist of the story is the Devil. He is exceptional in what he does, and now he has chosen two candidates. The evil one, in fact, has a good sense of humour and can dance very well, which is probably why the “clients” are easily caught on his prongs. He also has his magic potions that cause hallucinations so intense that even giraffes start to prance. This is not one of those love stories that end with a white dove set free in a wedding ceremony, but rather with a guitar solo on devil’s prongs as performed by the devil himself, because he is pleased with his achievements and, feeling satisfied, he moves on to new, vulnerable, weak, tired, self-depleted, burnt-out candidates, who have been spat on by oligarchs, because they are the easy targets. Perhaps he is, in fact, a purifier who does not allow the seed of tired and tortured men spread any further?”

The author of the video is Artis Dzērve, who also created the previous video of the band RYGA for the record “Bunny Munro Waltz”, which only recently was broadcast by the German TV channel 3sat. And it was not by accident. At the end of the year, in co-operation with the company “Rough Trade”, the album of the band will be released and distributed also in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Negotiations are under way regarding a tour of the band in clubs of Germany at the time the album is released.

The up-and-coming Latvian psychedelic rock quartet “The Bad Tones” have released a new single called “Just A Boy” along with a music video. The clip is made using VHS recordings from their childhood.

Most of the used footage is more than 15 years old and filmed by their fathers – Dedzis Andrejs Broders, Juris Levics un Uldis Ozols. Editing has been done by Pēteris Vīksna.

On 26th of August “The Bad Tones” performed in the city of Sigulda as a warm up act for “Carnival Youth”.

“The Bad Tones” was previously known as “The Pink Elepahnt” – their catalogue consists of two albums. Currently the members of the band – Edvards Broders (guitar, vocals), Rūdolfs Ozols (guitar), Alberts Levics (bass) and Kalvis Sležis (drums) – are studying music in the Netherlands. They are working on their next record that will be released early next year.

Latvian musician and host of TV show X-Factor – Markus Riva just released new music video for his composition "This Time". Markus is also participating with this song at SUPERNOVA 2018 which is a National Selection for Eurovision Song Contest.

“This Time” was released in…

Controlling water fountains, fireworks, 3D visualisations, light animations and all the music with the Ableton Push sample pad is not just a futuristic vision about binding contemporary music with visual design, but instead those are the opportunities of modern technology, which are demonstrated by Rick Feds.

The main drives towards new challenges for the multi-instrumentalist is creation, control and excellence. Breaking boundaries for the musically creative minds and urge for innovative artistic expressions. This year’s tour to USA is one of such challenges.

On February of this year, the virtuoso artist is going to the U.S. where he will carry out audiovisual performances in New York, Washington and Philadelphia. Rick Feds, who is rated in the top 5 finger-drummers in the world today, describes his upcoming performances as a combination of the analogue and digital world, which will consist of creative sound design and energetic show. The musical saturation will be also complemented by his drumming, which is musician’s former specialty.

His shows will fascinate not only lovers of electronic music and interactive art forms but anyone who appreciates world-class mastery on a music instrument.

Shortly before Latvian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest “Supernova 2018” semi-finals, which will take place on February 3, Katrina Gupalo & the Black Birds releases a naughty video for their song “Intoxicating Caramel”.

As Katrina Gupalo explains the song is about the madness of falling in love, when just one kiss feels like a flaming comet litting up the nigh sky and suddenly the mind becomes misty, and your sweetheart’s words melt in your ears like caramels. It seems that Gupalo’s desire to create the greatest feeling of falling in love has materialized. The atmosphere in the video was not artificially created but is a pure effect of the song. “Girls shooting in the video were unstoppable, the heat was rising by every time we hit the repeat button” told Gupalo’s representative. Although many shots have been cut out leaving space for imagination, it is still very hot video.

Katrīna Gupalo – vocal, piano, Gatis Gorkuša –  trumpet, Miķelis Vanags – guitar, Kristiāns Kosītis – bass guitar, Elvijs Endelis – drums & percussions, Endijs Endelis – back vocal

Video director – Jānis Romanovskis, sound director – Artūrs Sedriks Sinkevičs choreography – Gabija Bīriņa, make-up & hair – Anita Intaite.

The annual music festival and showcase “Eurosonic Noorderslag” will take place from the 17th till the 20th of January in Groningen, The Netherlands, and two Latvian artists – Elizabete Balcus and Makree are going to present Latvia this year.

“Eurosonic Noorderslag” is the biggest showcase in Europe, gathering approximately 300 bands and musicians, 4000 industry professionals and more than 40 000 listeners overall each year.

Elizabete Balcus is a musician and performance artist who creates neo-psychedelic dream pop that is simultaneously melodic and experimental. Her extraordinary records and visually impressive live performances have put Balcus in the spotlight, and her act in Groningen will be a stop in-between a two-week tour in Luxembourg, France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Serbia and Romania.

Makree is an electronic music producer and DJ, he appeared on the music scene in 2014 with his track Clouds, released with Swedish record label Metron Music. His music has been acclaimed by labels, radio stations and colleagues across Europe and a little while ago he produced a track together with chart topping artist Secondcity. Their track is set to be released next year with Sony’ sub-labels; the legendary Ministry of Sound and Danny Howard’s label Nothing Else Matters.

10 delegates from several Latvian music companies will also participate in the “Eurosonic” conference this year. On 19th of January “Music Export Latvia” together with colleagues from Hungary, Slovakia, Austria the representatives of Latvia will host an event called ““Ceentral Party” Oost Dance and  Noghtclub”, where Balcus is set to perform.

Katrine Lukins, a participant of this year’s LTV Supernova contest, has released a video for her song “Running Red Lights”. According to the singer, this video best reveals the message of her song. The video is full of breath-taking events: a car theft, weed smoking, drunk driving and even crazy car destruction.

“The story of the video has its roots in my own experience, my relationships, only told through other events, using other, slightly more dramatic actions. I know that I would never go so far in my real life. I want to share the story of my life to encourage others who might be stuck in a similar situation to get it settled and become free. In my case, these were relationships with my boyfriend. On the one hand, it seemed as if everything was fine, but my senses told me that I was going against myself – running red lights. We all know that we should not cross the red light on the street, and still we do it  sometimes,” Katrine comments on her video.

Kaspars Dumburs, a star of the TV3 series “Svešā seja” (The Foreign Face) and actor of the Latvian National Theatre, takes part in the clip. “It was very easy to work with Katrine; although she is not a professional actress, she knows exactly what she wants and is very confident and flexible,” says the actor.

The answer is very simple: they all appear in the same video that Ryga has deliberately released right before Christmas to remind us what this holiday is all about. No, it is not about shopping, which has taken the world by storm.

This year, Ryga released its debut album Catch Her Groove, which is also available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where the band held several concerts at the end of autumn. After these concerts, the band received offers to return for more performances elsewhere. Some German portals have published positive reviews.

After the tour in Germany, the band’s front man Mārcis Judzis travelled to Vietnam, where he experienced all kinds of wonders. It included filming the video for “Black Friday”, which features some political material.

Catch Her Groove is available on the MicRec website, can be downloaded from iTunes and streamed on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, etc.

In November 2017, a new music show titled “Best.Cover.Ever.” premiered on the video streaming website YouTube. Contestants from all around the world compete on the show for the opportunity to share the stage with international music industry stars.

The show is hosted by the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist Ludacris who is joined by a different music industry star on each episode (such as Demi Lovato, Katy Perry, Jason Derulo, Charlie Puth, Bebe Rexha). In each episode of the show, two participants compete for the opportunity to perform live with the guest star. Each contestant performs a cover version of a popular song by the guest star, which is then judged. After the star and Ludacris proclaim the winner, the said winner is given a unique opportunity to collaborate with the star of that episode and perform a unique cover of a song with that artist.

Thousands of contestants from all over the world applied for each episode of the show, and among the lucky ones, who were invited to participate in the LA-filmed show, was the band “Double Faced Eels”, who not only represented Latvia, but who were also the only finalists from Europe. On the show, “Double Faced Eels” competed with the talented group “Two Less Lonely” for the opportunity to perform a cover version of Bebe Rexha’s song “In the Name of Love”. The Latvian band managed to win the sympathies of Bebe Rexha and Ludacris and the opportunity to perform together with Bebe Rexha.

At the end of the show, the winners were presented a special prize from the producers of the show and Bebe Rexha — a repeated paid trip to Los Angeles to perform at a special private showcase at the legendary “Roxy Theatre” club and present themselves to producers and representatives of the local music industry. “Double Faced Eels” will possibly be the first Latvian band to perform at the iconic venue in Los Angeles, which has seen the performances of Bebe Rexha, Ludacris and such legendary musicians and bands as Bob Marley, “The Ramones”, Peter Gabriel, “Guns N’ Roses” and others.

Bebe Rexha is an American singer and songwriter of Albanian origin, who obtained wider renown with her songs “Me, Myself and I” with the hip-hop artist G-Eazy, David Guetta’s “Hey Mama” and Martin Garrix’s “In the Name of Love”.

The premise of “Best.Cover.Ever.” is unique — the show is presented without any additional charges or limitations world-wide.

Inspired by the lessons learned during the show and using the momentum provided by its release, “Double Faced Eels” also present a new single and a video for their new song “Can’t Let Go”.

“The song “Can’t Let Go” deals with the thoughts of a person being stuck in a bad relationship. Regardless of your gender, age or even the type of relationship — whether it is your relationship with a lover, an employer or a teacher etc. Sometimes we understand that the relationship is going nowhere, but we are unable to take a decisive step,” tells the author of the lyrics to the song, Reinis Straume.