Since Guntars Račs, the Repertoire Director of Microphone Records, became a member of The Recording Academy, Microphone Records has had the rights to submit recordings produced in Latvia and released in the USA for the prestigious Grammy Awards for the second consecutive year.
In preparation of the company’s big anniversary concert 20 Years in Latvian Music that will take place next Wednesday at Arena Riga, the company has received great news. We now know which of the recordings submitted for the Grammy Awards have made it through the screening process and qualified for the first-round ballots. The voting members of the Academy still have today and tomorrow to voice their opinion. Here is a list of this year’s MicRec recordings that have officially qualified for the first round. Each in its own category.
The members of the Latvian band The Briefing have lived and worked in London since 2010. The EP was released on 19 February this year. The album and its title song have received positive feedback on various music blogs, including American blogs. Available on all music streaming and downloading websites around the world.
Rodion Gordin’s recordings have been released by prestigious European dance music publishers such as Kingdom Kome Cuts and Kontor Records. He has successfully collaborated with the duet Dvīnes and the American singer Dustin Paul.
Edvards Grieze has previously collaborated with producers Rassell and DJ Makree. The song has been produced at the Labo ierakstu studija studio in cooperation with Jānis Kalvis.
The song has been produced by Mārcis himself in collaboration with the studio’s producer Jānis Kalvis (at Labo ierakstu studija). The song has been mastered at the Cutting Room studio in Sweden. The producer of the video is Mārcis himself in collaboration with Ritvars Bluks, who was responsible both for camerawork and the montage of the video. The video features actors Ģirts Ķesteris, Gints Grāvelis, Ieva Florence, Lauris Subatnieks, Vilnis Kuģinieks and dancers from the PRO-X dance studio under the guidance of choreographer Ieva Biteniece.
After a week, the song will appear on German radio stations, while the band’s complete album is scheduled for next March. In Germany, Switzerland and Austria, the song will be distributed by Rough Trade.
The song has been recorded in collaboration with the producer Gints Stankevičs, and it features the little singers of Dzeguzīte, the most well-known children’s pop group in Latvia, who found neither the unfamiliar genre nor the English lyrics a challenge.
This year, Microphone Records was responsible for creating a distributing the song Heartbeat by the Supernova winner Justs. This job was delegated to the company by the song’s author Aminata Savadogo. From the many remixes made, the one by producer REZarin was deemed the best, and it entered the UK Upfront Dance Chart soon after its release. The remix was included in radio playlists by the well-known deejay Don Diablo and many others.
Several of these recordings have still not gained recognition at their own home country and can’t be found on the playlists of many local radio stations. That, however, has not stopped these songs from being played outside of Latvia. We’re eager to find out the results of the Grammy voting!
