Category: News

Australian-Latvian band Shades present the first single and video “Together (No More)” from their upcoming EP that will be released in Spring of 2018.

The story of Shades goes back to 2015 when the drummer and producer Janis Eglitis met singer and composer Chris O’Neill in Melbourne, Australia. Chris has written music for many international projects, including well-known video games like “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” and “Final Fantasy XV” and the BBC’s very first virtual reality documentary “Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel”. Together they wrote several songs with the idea of future collaboration and they called the project Shades as a reference to Australia’s hot sun. Almost by accident one of their songs won a newcomers’ radio show competition on Latvia’s “Radio SWH”, bringing the band radio rotation.

Having been set aside to work on other music and life projects, this autumn Shades has reborn into a fully-fledged band. This time, from two opposite sides of the world. Chris and Janis, who is now living in Latvia, were joined by bass player Martins Leja, also known as a member of Latvian rock band “Indygo”, and guitarist Janis Lide. The band plays indie pop-rock and is currently working on their debut EP. In 2018 Shades will be playing concerts in the Baltics and beyond.

Meanwhile their ballad “Together (No More)” has now reached radios and streaming services. “The song is about the power games, lust and suspicion in a broken relationship”, says Chris who is in charge of the lyrics. The song was written in various home studios and pulled together in the cloud, with the final version mixed by Janis at his studio “Ierakstu Maja”.

The single’s video features renowned Latvian contemporary dance choreographer Liene Grava and was filmed with support from “Kultfilma” and “Colortime”. It is available on YouTube and Vimeo.

After an almost a decade-long break we are excited and proud to release our new single “Rust and Gold” from the album with the same name coming up in September 2018. It is going to be our fourth studio record following the double “Recipe of the Golden Dream” (2008). A live release show is going to be announced soon.

After several kids born, books read, beards grown and hair cut, we have finally reunited and are currently actively working in the studio, awake and inspired as ever. We are lucky to have the great producer Adam Cooper working with us on this album. Adam has worked on one of our favorite and most influential shoegaze records of all time – Crash by Astrobrite (2001), he is also the founder of Alison’s Halo.

Latvian musician Justs has released a new single from his upcoming album, which is going to be available in Spring. New song “Are you there” is a work of musician and one of most promising new music producers in Latvia DJ Makree. Music video was developed by Ritvars Bluka.

“New single opens a question, which might seem easy to answer, but makes you really think, what makes you alive. I think that it is a question you can ask yourself every day. It is important to understand, what is your story and what is your path. You do not have to be afraid of it,” Justs explains message behind the lyrics.

With the song artist announces his debut album. “This albums content will slightly differ from what you have heard before. A lot of things have changed since the Eurovsion, impressions have turned into experiences, emotions have turned into skills. I want this album to represent more of my character.”

Music video perfectly represents the essence of the songs message and was captured by videographer Ritvars Bluka. Justs claims: “With this video my team and I wanted to show that every story is unique, and so is our characters. Sometimes it is hard to embrace who you are, but you have to be strong and resist the oppression.”

Justs Sirmais is a Latvian artist, singer and songwriter, who also was a Eurovision 2016 finalist. Now teamed up with perspective producer DJ Makree, he is exploring his capabilities through Pop, House and EDM genres.

Song “Are you there” is available on Soundcloud,  Spotify and Deezer. You can download song on iTunes.

Latvian four-piece Neon Saturdays released their new single titled Get Up on April 20th. This was a long-awaited comeback after two-year silence and took the local music scene as well as social networks by surprise because of the unconventional yet visually stunning music video that was shot during a spontaneous trip across Turkey.

“Each time we do something, we make sure we’ve raised the bar for ourselves. A new perspective, new sound or previously unexplored approach to music-making process – anything that pulls us out of our comfort zone and makes us focus during our creative process,” said the leader of the band Andris Evelis, explaining band’s silence during last couple of years.

The band teamed-up with the talented Scottish producer Lewis Gardiner to record and produce the new single.

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

Multiple Grammy recipient, sound engineer Randy Merrill (USA) was recruited to put on some finishing touches.

“I think I speak for everyone in our band when I say that our music comes from our childhood and teenage years. We’re driven by emotions and impressions we had back then – both positive and negative. The games we played, the music we listened to… Nowadays we talk about our thoughts and feelings a lot, the four of us – at times we spend a whole rehearsal just falling deeper into a conversation that should’ve lasted no more than 5 minutes. It was hard for us to grow up and now it is hard for us to commit to the daily life because it eats away at our creativity. I guess this song is about us, desperately searching for that wisdom we all had when we were children. I think we can all agree that childhood – no matter how tough or carefree – is not just a string of trivial and ultimately meaningless events. It shapes our personalities and inspires us to take certain paths in life,” commented Evelis, explaining the meaning of the song.

To celebrate the comeback, Neon Saturdays played an acoustic gig which was streamed live on Facebook:

There’s also a word that the band is preparing to release a second single this summer. A third release is planned for autumn and not long after that – a second album by the locally acclaimed four-piece should finally surface.

Neon Saturdays was formed in 2012. Since then the band has released its debut album, a number of singles, made it to the TOP10 of the biggest Latvian radio stations and 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.

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.

At the end of this summer Madara (Múr) introduced everyone with a nostalgic preview of the album – first single “Confirmations”, but today Múr is releasing a song with a completely different vibe – “One weak breath away”.

Both songs let listeners understand that the upcoming album “Under allure”, which is coming out soon, is filled with different sounds and emotions. 

A bit more than one year has passed since the moment Renars Kaupers (“BrainStorm”) and Evert Sundja (“Ewert and the Two Dragons”) locked themselves in Renars’ home kitchen and started to work on a new song. By now, seven co-authors have joined the two “kitchen members” and as a result of this, a collaboration between the two bands has born – “Ewert and The Two Dragons” and “BrainStorm”  – present a new, sunny song “We wait for the light”.

Once the demo was ready, the first recordings of the song took place in Tallinn, where the song got new melodic lines, but after the work with the song got stock for a while. Swedish friends of “BrainStorm” –  Povel Olsson and David Larson, came to the rescue and gave the song its final touches.

Ewert himself comments on the collaboration: “A little more than a year ago I got a call from an unidentified number.  Well, it turned out to be Renars Kaupers from “Brainstorm” who had a plan. And the plan was to write a song together. So that was exactly what we did, got together and started jamming. The result is here now – nice upbeat, kind of easygoing pop song with a summer-vibe.”

“We wait for the light” has been made with the power of three countries – Estonia, Latvia and Sweden. And with great happiness, we are sharing the song with you!

Every year „Reeperbahn” – one of the biggest showcase festivals in Europe – selects from the strongest and brightest new musicians who will be given a chance to perform in Hamburg at the end of September. This year this opportunity is given to two Latvian musicians – Elizabete Balčus and Chris Noah. They will be enjoying the exclusive attention of the world music industry.

„I’m very happy to be part of a festival where it’s possible to behold the newest and most interesting in the world of music and art. I’ll be taking part in the festival with my electro-acoustic performance where I synthesize electronic and academic music. An important role is given to free-jazz flute improvisations and soniferous vegetables which I use as a synthesizer. This spring I had a chance to perform at „The Great Escape” festival in Brighton that brought forth a lot of new turning points and useful contacts for my future creative work. I hope to show myself from the best side in the „Reeperbahn” festival, widen my audience and find new opportunities and contacts,” – Elizabete Balčus shared her thoughts.

Chris Noah also feels honoured: „I’m glad I can be part of this festival and share the stage with musicians that I highly appreciate because of their music. I wish to prove myself outside of Latvia and I’m especially happy that one of my first foreign stage performances happens to be the „Reeperbahn” festival.”

The festival will be held for the 12th time and will offer 800 various experiences: new musicians, musical shows, newest films and literature, presentations and conferences.

Latvian Music Development Association / Latvian Music Export Office with collaboration with their Lithuanian colleagues are organising a presentation event of both countries „Meet Music Latvia and Lithuania” that will take place on the 22nd of September in the club „Nochtwashe”. On the 21st of September Latvian Music Development Association / Latvian Music Export Office will collaborate with colleagues from Hungary, Check Republic, Russia and Lithuania to organise a Central-Eastern Europe music industry event „CEEntral Party” that will take place at „The Mad Hatter”.

With a shout-out to pop/punk true-believers, Double Faced Eels relesed a new single and video titled “You and I”.

The song is about relationships and how any problems you run into are just another challenge to figure out, when you’re in that relationship with someone worth the effort. The lyrics „I’ll do that thing that you want, I’ll get it right. If you can look past all the other times” capture the perpetual compromise which the author of the song, Reinis Straume, wanted to talk about in the song.

The band also posted a brand new cover to their YouTube channel. This time, it’s Bebe Rexha’s “I Got You”.

On 19th of January workshop „Youtube – one of the marketing tools” will take place in Riga –organised by Latvian Music Development Association / Latvian Music Export Office along with Investment and Development Agency of Latvia.

Video-sharing website Youtube is not only one of the most popular websites of all time, it’s also one of the most important tools for every musician. Even if some artists doesn’t focus on making splendid music videos, it’s still one of the most common platforms to access music with.

The workshop will be led by a sertified Youtube expert – András Bozán Bodrogi from Google Ground Budapest. Main subject – the best way to use Youtube in order to reach the best audience. Bodrogi will also share his knowledge on how to increase the amount of Youtube subscribers, how to atjust content for specific audience along with some practical tips and tricks.

It will take place from 10 am till 1 pm at the headquarters of Investment and Development Agency of Latvia – Riga, Perses street 2, conference hall on the second floor. The workshop will be held in English. Registration – http://bit.ly/seminars-youtube.

The new album “Seasons. Winter. Piano” of new series of Latvian instrumental music “Seasons” has been released.

New album is the compilation of romantic melodies of 12 well-known Latvian composers on piano. You will come across compositions of Raimonds Pauls, Imants Kalniņš, Mārtiņš Brauns, Uldis Stabulnieks and Jānis Lusens, as well as works composed by Dons, Mārtiņš Freimanis, Lauris Reiniks, Gints Stankevičs and Aigars Voitišķis. The pianist Normunds Kalniņš has recorded them all in his interpretation. Mixing and sound editing was done by producer Gints Stankevičs. You will only hear the piano in the record and it is the most popular way of recording popular song arrangements emphasizing the melodies thereof. Compositions complement each other and this album will serve as excellent background music in different situations – in cafes, saloons, shops or at home next to the fireplace. All compositions included in the album are well known songs of popular Latvian singers and different groups of singers, but it is the first time they are all available in one instrumental version. Here are the titles of compositions and the authors thereof:

The design of the album was created by Artūrs Tigulis, but the design of new series is based on artworks, painted by Līga Ķempe especially for this purpose. The paintings for spring, summer and autumn editions are already painted. Currently there are four albums planned to be in the series of instrumental music “Seasons” – “Seasons. Winter. Piano” available in stores this week, as well as the ones planned next year “Seasons. Spring. Guitar”, “Seasons. Summer. Strings” and “Seasons. Autumn. Percussions”. There will be melodies of well-known Latvian composers and bands recorded in these albums as well; just the main instruments will change.

CD’s are available for ordering on web site of MicRec www.micrec.lv and for purchase in bookstores “Jānis Roze” bookstores and in music stores. The digital version of the album is already available on platforms iTunes and Spotify.