Category: News

Latvia’s most active music hooligans, Very Cool People, together with the young singer Paula Saija, surprise again and release a new, completely uncharacteristic single for the band called Rikšiem (In Trot), which was inspired by a Latvian folk song.

It is kept in the grooving tradition of roof and bass systems rousing folk-electro-jazz. In the song, singer Paula is joined at the vocal microphone by trombonist Laura Rozenberga of the band Very Cool People, who counts the rhymes in a very technical, even rap king-like skill, and also in folk moods!

“Rikšiem is an ode to the strength and perseverance of human character”, comments Laura. “For life to move forward and growth to happen, you have to take the reins and just do it. Waiting for miracles sometimes has to be left to the world of fairy tales.”

“We were so inspired by the text and sound of the summer wedding folk song that we left the most effective accents from it in our version – the first two lines of the text and two measures of the original melody”, emphasizes Elvijs Grafcovs, the co-author of the arrangement and the leader of Very Cool People with a guitar in his hands.

A video was also made for the song, created by Arvis Belovs. The authors of the script are the band members themselves. The video is also made on the subject of marriages – the girls Paula and Laura go to the streets of Riga to look for grooms with their trusty two-wheeler, meeting all kinds of groom stereotypes on the way.

“We are from Latvia and we are always very proud of it”, says Elvijs. “We have noticed that playing with ethnic codes in music often appeals to listeners of different nationalities, so this time we focused on pseudo-folklore. It is a style in which our creative expressions in the direction of Latvian folklore are mixed with the most authentic folklore and electronic music plus live energy of Very Cool People!”

“Creating Rikšiem was a very exciting process for me, discovering new aspects of myself and my voice”, adds Paula Saija. “In the song, Latvian ethnic culture is of great importance, which has acquired completely new colors this time.”

The song was created by Elvijs Grafcovs, Māris Jēkabsons, Paula Saija, Laura Rozenberga and Jānis Kalve, using the motifs of the folk song Rikšiem bērīt’ es palaidu (I Let the Horse Trot). The producers are Elvijs Grafcovs and the legend of Latvian dance and electronic music of the nineties, Jānis Kalve. Despite the wide presence of electronic instruments, everything is played live, without using previously prepared loops and backing tracks.

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The song was recorded at Very Cool Studio, Labo Ierakstu Studio and Ciemupes Production. Mix and master versions were created by Jānis Kalve.

The new single Rikšiem can be heard on the most popular music streaming services.

The song “Aijā” by the group “Sudden Lights”, with which Latvia will be represented at the international Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool this year, has been remixed by the popular domestic DJ [Ex] da Bass

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Photo by Roberts Vidzidskis

Kriss Baglais from the group “Rīmdari” releases a new song and video under his solo project “Loopout”. This is the second single from the upcoming album that is scheduled to release on June 1.

“Me and a friend of mine went to Open’er festival in Poland last year and met the stage crew of Twenty One Pilots in an underground bar in Gdynia, Poland,” says Kriss Baglais, “There were guys from lighting, pyrotechnics, the stage manager – about 20 people in total. And that was just part of the whole team. I showed my song to one of the crew members and he really liked it. The video engineer offered to shoot a video for the song the next day, for free. I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Kriss remembers. “I went to Poland mainly to see the performance of Twenty One Pilots, and two days before it I suddenly shot a music video with the band’s crew. Unbelievable!”

Unfortunately, Kriss lost contact with the crew member and never got the final video for Close My Eyes. A year has passed since the event and Loopout is coming out with a self-made video about the story of how they filmed the music video. “The song is about using your imagination to achieve your dreams,” Kriss explains. ”This song manifested a true story of how a dream manifest itself out of nowhere. All I can say – just do it.”

In 2021, Loopout released debut EP ‘Music from Nowhere’ and in October last year came out with a single from the upcoming album “Monsters in Dreams”. Loopout is a hip-hop project by Latvian musician Kriss Baglais. Kriss is a member of a popular latvian hip-hop group “Rīmdari”. The record was produced by Reinis Karklins (Aleja Records).

The song reflects a journey of self-discovery and the emotional conflict that comes with it. I wrote this song as a reminder to myself and others that it is okay to struggle with yourself, and sometimes not even understand yourself.

We are all human and sometimes have an emotional journey from time to time that shows how important it is to accept even your past self, learn from your mistakes, and grow into the person you want to become. Therefore I hope it resonates with anyone who has ever felt lost or self-conscious.

Austria-based electro-pop artist BAIBA releases a new EP, which includes her previously published singles, as well as her latest work – the song “Too Cool”. At the end of the summer, BAIBA will also finally perform in Latvia, at the music and art festival “Laba Daba”.

Influencers dressed in the uniforms of fashion brands, flashy and at the same time misleading image of people on social networks, and the fast pace of modern life – these are just some of the topics that BAIBA satirizes in her latest work – the single “Too Cool”. It is accompanied by a catchy melody, a lively beat and contrastingly irritated, even angry vocals. This combination creates an almost perfect piece to sing and dance along to, to forget everything that drives you crazy and makes you sad.

“It [the song] is about people looking just fine and confident, so cool and self-sufficient. But… is it just a facade? Maybe it’s just a cover to protect a very vulnerable soul,” says BAIBA.

“Too Cool” is the fourth single from BAIBA’s new EP “Compulsive”. The mini-album contains four songs by the artist, which were created in collaboration with several well-known artists in Austria, including producers Christoph Holzknecht and Moritz Kristmann. On the other hand, the video of the new song was made in cooperation with the Spanish director Marta Cesar, who lives in Austria, and will be released in mid-June.

Presenting the single “Too Cool”, a video and also an EP, BAIBA will go on a promotional tour this summer, visiting several Austrian cities, Northern Italy, Slovakia, and the she will also visit her homeland Latvia for the first time at the beginning of August, performing at the music and art festival “Laba Daba”.

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About BAIBA:
BAIBA is a Latvian musician (real name Baiba Dēķena), who has been living and playing music in the Austrian city of Innsbruck for several years. She plays self-produced electropop and teaches music production workshops for girls. Until now, BAIBA has already released two albums and her songs are regularly played by radio stations both in Latvia and abroad. The first single of the new mini-album, “Perfect”, got into the regular rotation of the popular radio station FM4 in Austria.

Oskars Gvido Gailitis, a songwriter, producer and performer from Latvia with an artist name “osiits”,  presents to a wider audience the first part of the project “You + Me” called “Eternity”.

Both songs are about time, about eternity. Sometimes time drags on like eternity and sometimes you wish it would stop and stay like that forever.

Project “You + Me” will consist of two parts, two double singles, making a total of four songs.

The artwork for the songs was made in collaboration with the young talented artist/graphic designer “art.utah” (real name Juta Zemlicka).

Summer song “Sapņoju par tevi” was created as part of the ArtifexLV project. The goal of the project is to work with young and experienced Latvian musicians.

Music – Juris Ludženieks, Lyric – Annemarija Moiseja, Producer – Juris Ludženieks

The rapper March (Martins Šimpermanis), known as a rap prodigy, has just published a video for the song “The Man” Come Get It, which also features the US rap superstar Redman. In the video, the legendary American rapper shares his ideas about what he believes to be the true hip-hop sound.

Velvet River is a project by drummer Kārlis Roberts Kalējs (LV) and bassist Tauna Woolfe (UK). The musicians started their collaboration at the end of 2019 when both were studying music in the UK. However, shortly after the formation of the duo, the pandemic halted their ability to collaborate in person for several years until they reunited in 2021.

In music, the role of bass and drums is usually to support and complement other instruments, but Velvet River in their EP experiments with what they can create themselves in such a minimalist context. The duo’s sound and unique concept are inspired by the modern and contemporary world of jazz, combined with both musicians’ personal sources of inspiration.

“This EP was not planned. During the pandemic, we exchanged some ideas virtually. We agreed that we could try to write music using only bass and drums. When we met again, there was such energy flowing through us that we composed 4 tracks in one week”, says Kārlis. The musicians say that the so-called “lo-fi” atmosphere suits this EP, which only adds to the fact that the album was recorded with their own
resources at home.

“I had gone to visit Kārlis at his place in the UK. We played music every day in the living room, where Kārlis had set up a minimalist drum kit. Due to the pandemic, we didn’t have access to a proper studio, and we decided to record the compositions right there in the living room”, adds Tauna.

Perhaps, in unconsciously striving to create new musical forms, the emphasis throughout the EP’s tracks became highlighting the interplay between the bass and drums, as well as the musical freedom and space with which the musicians experimented in their compositions. “In such a minimalist context, there are so many possibilities of what to play, and just as many possibilities to not play anything and leave some vibey space”, says Velvet River.

EP “Casablanca” is produced, recorded and mixed by Velvet River and mastered by Toms Jankevics. Artwork and design by Tīna Alise Drupa. Listen to “Casablanca” on all major streaming platforms starting from 02.06.23.