Category: News

Indie pop band “Franco Franco” unveils its second EP “Moon + Light”, recorded in cooperation with producer Reinis Sējāns (Instrumenti). The album’s presentation concert will take place on November 5th at K.K. fon Stricka villa.

“The album and its title “Moon + Light” reflect our own diverse nature. If at one point we are serious, then at another the melancholy is gone and we can laugh sincerely — this is human nature, where the dark side always plays with the bright one,” the band’s lead singer and author of lyrics Elizabete Vētra reveals.

The album contains 5 songs: the ones with dancing beats “By the Lake” and “Up”, the lyrical “Home”, the dramatic “Shaking Hands” and the cinematographic album’s title song “Moonlight” with post-rock features.

The audience will be able to experience the concert version of the album’s “Moon + Light” programme on November 5th at K.K.fon Stricka villa. It will be an enjoyment of sound and light with the participation of singer Līva Komarovska, and DJ Kārlis Ķilkuts will take care of the dance beats after the concert. The presentation tour of the album in Latvia and neighbouring countries is set to take place at the beginning of next year.

The album is available in CD, as well as on Spotify, iTunes, Soundcloud and other digital streaming channels:

Latvian indie pop band “Franco Franco” unveils the second single and lyric video “Up” from the EP “Moon + Light” which is set to be released on November 2. The producer of the single and the EP is Reinis Sejans (Instrumenti); the recordings have been made in “TRU Music Studio”, Riga.

The band’s lead singer Elizabete Vētra reveals that “Up” is a confirmation of the old saying “Whatever happens, happens for the best”. This feeling has also been captured by the makers of the lyric video — Jurgis Rudmiezis (KIDDIN Aerial Works), Anete Ruke and Janis Vīksna. The band has already collaborated with them while making the video for the song “Frank Killed Lee”. A parallel, magic world has been discovered in the flight, making everyday concerns and greyness unimportant.

The song is already available on Spotify, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, as well as on the online music store iTunes and other online streaming channels.

The EP “Moon + Light” which is set to be released on November 2, will feature the song “Up” as well as “By the Lake” (unveiled in May) and other original songs.

“Franco Franco” has been active since 2010. In 2013 the band released its debut EP “Color me” and this year it has returned to active performing, giving concerts in festivals, for example, “Playground Festival”, “Fono Cesis”, “Piens Fest”.

Latvian indie rock band “Carnival Youth” have begun second part of their European tour, which is devoted to the presentation of their latest album “Propeller”.

The up-and-coming indie rockers are going to play more than 10 shows in Germany, Luxembourg, England, Scotland and Belgium during October, November and December. In addition to those concerts abroad, Carnival Youth will play seven shows in the biggest cities of their homeland – Latvia.

In September they had their first shows in New York, USA. For the next year “Carnival Youth” have made plans to play more concerts in Eastern-Europe, Scandinavia and some festivals around rest of Europe.

Their latest album Propeller was released in April 2016, yet their new single “Seagulls On Bicycles” – along with a video – was presented in September.

Latvian indie rock band Carnival Youth have released the new single “Seagulls On Bicycles” from their latest album “Propeller” along with a new video.

The charismatic four-piece is one of the most successful acts from their region – the Baltic States. Their new single sets off the second part of “Propeller’s” tour. Throughout autumn they will visit USA, Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Scandinavia, the Baltic States and other countries. The first part of their tour took place this spring and covered Central and Eastern Europe. In New York carnival Youth is playing  first showcase festival in USA – Mondo.NYC. The participation has been done in cooperation with Music Export Latvia, supported by Ministry of Culture and VKKF.

The chorus line of the song “To get through the day with no seagulls on bicycles, leading the way – seagulls on bicycles” is adopted from the painting by American artist Marc John. The video is based on the work of Spanish photographer AnaHell – she’s also the Art director of the video, while the rest of the crew is made up from local talent – director of the clip is Jurgstulajstus, camera operator – Jānis Eglītis, editor – Juris Matuzelis.  Video was shot at the city Sigulda in Latvia.

Carnival Youth were presented with the European Border Breakers award earlier this year. Their previous album found favour with critics and listeners alike, in their home country and abroad. The band was formed in 2012 and since then has released two studio albums.

Latvian pop sensation Aminata releases title track from her sophomore album Red Moon that is available in all music streaming and digital distribution services. Song has been written by Aminata herself and is produced by Kaspars Ansons.

Red Moon is the third single from her upcoming album with the same name. It will be released shortly before Aminata’s biggest solo show yet that will take place in Palladium Riga on 13th of October.

“To me this is a very symbolic song that represents the saying that still waters run deep. Of course, Red Moon is about love and being in love. Love inspires and sets us free, even the coldest and meanest person gets emotional when he falls in love. The same thing could be said about the moon – to most it’s cold and distant, but to me – red, warm and tendr,” author herself reveals.

In cooperation with producer Kaspars Ansons, drummer Rūdolfs Dankfelds, guitarist Jānis Ruņģis, bass player Reinis Ozoliņš and keyboardist Matīss Repsis, Aminata is working hard on her Red Moon concert in Palladium Riga. It’s also worth noting that there will be special guests present at the show who will perform alongside Aminata, but their names have yet to be revealed.

Tickets to Red Moon concert are available in all Biļešu Serviss marketplaces and on the internet. Album Red Moon will be released shortly before the show and will be available in all music streaming services and in digital distribution marketplaces.

On November 9 with appearance in Arena Riga heavy metal band “Relicseed” will start the 4th chapter of their Serial Surgery Tour.

In 2017 Relicseed will release an EP “Ideology” which will be the first material in Latvian since their debut album in 2010.

Relicseed`s journey begun back in 2004 when four Latvian musicians started experimenting with different playing and singing styles. The debut album “60 minutes of a dream” was released only in 2010 (Relicseed). The album was the start of defining the band`s character which is brightly represented in their second studio release “Slaughterhouse”. Constantly remaining the only original member Edgars Rakovskis (guitars, vocals) has led Relicseed across his native Latvia`s borders entering various alternative music markets around the world and created the new international form of musicianship together with the great Nathan Mercado (drums).

Latvian singer-songwriter Alise Joste is announcing forthcoming concerts by releasing a live video version of her single „Mirrors”.

The intimate video performance, featuring Karlis Josts and Janis Sipkevics, offers a glimpse of what to expect from Alise’s two October shows  in her hometown Riga at a spectacular manor house „K.K. fon Stricka villa” where all three musicians will be on stage.

Alises Joste’s autumn tour starts already this weekend with three performances in Vilnius, Lithuania, at Loftas Fest.

In November Alise Joste embarks on German solo tour and will be visiting Munich, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and other cities.

Alise Joste debuted on Latvian singer-songwriters’ scene in 2008 and released her first album in 2011. It took several years for Alise to complete the next studio recording but it was well worth waiting. The album „Hardships are Ships” (2015) received two most prominent music prizes in Latvia – „Austra Award” for the best album of 2015 and „Golden Michrophone” in singer-songwriter category.

In the past few years Alise Joste has performed in the Baltics, Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and other European countries,  including showcase festivals Tallinn Music Week, Lost in Music, Waves Vienna/Bratislava and The Great Escape.

Latvian singer Evija and Serbian “beast on drums” Lav recorded their new single in Serbia, right after performing in the prestigious “The Great Escape” and “Liverpool Sound City” music showcases.

The notorious duet will start their summer concert series in “Positivus” festival on the “I Love You” stage on 16th of July at 18:45. Followed by the release concert of their new single “Tic Tac” in concert venue “Autentika”, Bruņinieku 2, Rīga, on 18th of July, where they will share the night with the Polish duet “Coal”. This event is made special with the premier of several new songs.

You can hear more of the duet in festivals like ’’Summer sound’’, “Galapagai”, “Lab Daba”, “Piena Svētki” and “Fontaine Festival’’. 

Latvian alternative rock four-piece band Neon Saturdays has released their new single titled In My Eyes. The song came to be after a long and close collaboration with the upcoming british producer Dan Weller.

While talking about the band’s most recent accomplishment singer Andris Evelis admits that working tohether with the british professional was a worthy challenge for the band. „We started working on this song last Summer. A lot of time and resources went into perfecting the sound because we felt that this record should convey maturity – a new level we’ve achieved as a band. The results satisfied us completely and we really did learn a lot,” says Evelis. While recording the band also received a huge support from their hometown – the municipality of Sigulda.

Before getting into studio in the Summer of 2015 Neon Saturdays had a chance to play a couple of shows at The Great Escape – leading festival for new music in UK. The band also played most of the big festivals at home in Latvia and has already accepted the support slot for James (UK). The british rockers will hit the stage of Sunset Festival at Sigulda on July 6th.

Rihards Fedotovs is presenting his music video and recording studio. Musician and music producer Rick Feds aka Richards Fedotovs is sharing the music video of his song “Forever”, the first witness of “Rick Feds Society” upcoming album. He is also inviting folks to discover his new recording studio “Creative Society Studios”.

The idea of “Rick Feds Society” was polished during the “Creative Music Workshops” (“Riharda Fedotova radošās darbnīcas”) which during the time from 2013 till 2015 were held in music clubs in Riga, improvisational music sessions with the top latvian soloists and instrumentalists.

However, “Rick Feds Society” is an electronic music synthesis which will feature soloists as: Aigars Gravers, Ralfs Eilands, Kristine Praulina, as well as Taphy Spencer (USA), Rachel Claudio (FRA). “Forever” is the first single and first music video of the upcoming album.

The song is a collaboration with the American singer Taphy Spencer and the music video has been made by Janis Abele (director), Aleksandr Grebnev (main camera) and Martins Dabolins (visual effects). The video has been shot in four different cities: Philadelphia, New York, Riga and Saldus (a little town in Latvia where Richards was born).

Alongside the video Rick Feds is also presenting his newly done recording studio in the very centre of Riga, “Creative Music Studios” . The large environment of the studio makes it possible to capture very different characters of music starting from song production to larger ensemble recordings. Inside of the studio is an impressive collection of Richards analogue synthesisers, drums and various oriental instruments.

If “Rick Feds Society” involves a larger group of musicians and soloists, “Rick Feds” stands for Rihards solo performance beats on the AbletonPUSH controller and is starting to get international recognition. Last weeks performance at the Baltic Art Forum in London has left a promising resonance and future performance possibilities. Furthermore, his summer awaits a few mini tours in Latvia, Germany, Sweden and The United States.