Category: News

In this album, DANI RYAN present the collection of feelings of the last 3 years. The world has changed, the people have changed, and this album is like a diary of the band. Its name symbolizes the band members’ ability to find comfort and relief from everyday events in their music. This album connects the riff-filled alternative rock with the already recognizable elements of Dani Ryan’s synthrock, and also includes a couple of synthpop ballads. The songs’ themes connect to life and emotions.

DANI RYAN are getting ready for the album presentation concert, which will take place on March 31st in the “Republika” club. Follow the news via the band’s social networks @daniryanmusic and on the website daniryan.lv.

DANI RYAN is a synthpop project created by Daniel Ravinsky (vocals, guitar, synthesizer). After the debut album “Open” (2019), Daniel was joined by like-minded musicians and the project turned into a real rock band. After the band’s experimental second album, “Party!” (2020) he was joined by Jānis Zariņš (drums) and Angelina Volkova (bass guitar). During the pandemic, the band recorded the concert album “Performance”, thus capturing the band’s energetic multimedia concert performances. During these years, listeners have come to love several songs of DANI RYAN – “Exciter”, “Meloman” and also “Radio Anna”, which entered the list of TOP 3 songs on radio NABA and was regularly on air.

DENISS (Deniss Stepanovs), a member of the hip-hop association “Kreisais Krasts”, rapper and mixed martial artist, has released the song “Stop gamble”. With this single, he wants to draw people’s attention to the problem of gambling, also mentioning examples of well-known people in Latvia.

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A new song “Atdevu visu Tev” from the upcoming album and its video is presented to the audience by singer Samanta Tīna. The singer invites everyone to listen to themselves, not to be afraid to dare and to be able to step out of their usual comfort zone, beyond which a new stage of self-awareness opens.

Photographer: Arturs Martinovs

Singer Kristīne Prauliņa and her band “The Soulful Crew” release the single “Change of Perspective” and the music video for their first full-length album “Textures”, which will be released on 20 April.

“Change of Perspective” is the second single from the upcoming full-length studio album “Textures”, due on April 20th. “The song is about the days when it’s hard to see beauty and meaning, but it’s the pursuit of the good and the choice to view both ourselves and the world around us through faith and a sense of perspective that define us more than anything else. This is a very dear song to me, written on a hard day, with the sun shining”: says Kristīne Prauliņa about the new single.

The recording features original music by Kristīne Prauliņa’s band “The Soulful Crew”, which includes keyboardist Toms Mikāls, bassist Valters Sprūdžs, guitarist Jānis Kalniņš, drummer Kaspars Kurdeko and, of course, Kristīne herself.

A special video version of the single “Change of Perspective” has been created in collaboration with the creative team “Colortime”. The video was directed and produced by Reinis Janulis.

The single “Change of Perspective”, as well as the forthcoming album “Textures”, were recorded at “Mint Music Studio” in Riga and engineered and mixed by Toms Lisment, while the sound mastering was done by Zino Mikorey in Berlin. The album will include 10 original songs in English by singer Kristīne Prauliņa and bassist Valters Sprūdžs.

“Textrures” will be available on 20 April on all major streaming sites and will be premiered at a concert in Riga at the “K.K. fon Stricka Villa” on the day of the album’s release.

“The Soulful Crew performs original music in English and Latvian in soul, blues, R&B, gospel and singer/songwriter styles. The group’s sound ranges from intimately fragile singer-songwriter motifs to full-bodied, wide-ranging soul music expression, playing melodic, lyrical songs with less instrumentation, as well as full-bodied grooves.

Album is a reminder that feeling alone and alienated from the rest of the world can still be enjoyable. Meanwhile single “Zvaigžņu rati” (or Star chariot) is a romantic ballad that provides the feeling of a warm summer night.

On April 12th, indie rock musician Jannsi released the song “Atkrītot”, featuring elements of indie rock and rap with an authentic and inclusive message. “I believe that music has the power to change the world. Similar to other songs, in this composition, I encourage everyone to challenge their personal beliefs, not allowing prejudices or misunderstandings to create hatred, which is sometimes presented as love,” says Jannsi. 

In the song “Atkrītot”, Jannsi, whose real name is Jānis Uplejs, talks about his experience in various conversations, internet comments, letters, and phone calls where someone expresses their opinion about Jānis’ religious life. As Jannsi identifies himself as a Christian while also expressing support for the LGBTQ+ community and egalitarianism – the belief that all genders are equal in friendship – these opinions are received quite often.

“These comments are quite diverse – from attempts to indoctrinate to efforts to persuade, to calling me a Satanist or a false teacher, but they all share the judgment that I have either never truly been a believer, or I have ‘fallen away’ from faith. This song is my story about this ‘falling away’ – a careful evaluation of my beliefs, not relying solely on what some teachers have said, who continue to echo only what they have been taught, without conducting deeper research,” continues Jannsi. “For example, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah describes horrific sexual violence, physical and numerical superiority used against the weaker, but is used against loving same-sex couples.”

The song “Atkrītot” is available on all popular music streaming platforms.

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“Angelic Mimetics” explores how different creations, before defined in more specific categories, have all merged in the infinite white light of the feed and become content. In this angelic light, there is no longer any observable border between craftsman, artist or master of other discipline, all are content creators, all are content consumers. What happens when content becomes so beautiful and perfect that it threatens the conditions of art themselves?

The video for “Angelic Mimetics” was filmed in a Riga dance club, “ONE ONE”, produced and directed by Alberts Levics and Alise Golovacka. The band would also like to say a massive thank you to Maksimilians Kotovičs, Harijs Aizups, Elza Krasta and Kristiāns Laizāns, all of whom participated in the making of the video.

The core of “Perestroika” is Leo Novus and Rūdolfs Ozols, who started their creative collaboration journey in 2020 in Amsterdam. In live shows, the duo is joined on stage by Aleksandrs Barons, Alise Golovacka and Dāvis Mazurenko. Although self-described as belonging to the art-rock genre, “Perestroika” refrains from limiting itself to the restrictions of any specific genre. In the creative process, the primary directive is the context/message of the song, while elements from different genres and styles are chosen to enhance it and to morph space accordingly.

The band’s first album “memorial server” was released on October 22 of last year and was nominated for the Latvian annual award for music recordings “Golden Microphone 2023” in categories “Best debut Album of the Year” and “Best Indie or Alternative Music Album”.

Single comes out just a few days before Valentine’s day and is dedicated to so-called “ghosting”. Ghosted is the third single of BAIBAS upcoming EP ‘Compulsive’ which will be released this spring.

In her latest song, the Latvian electro-pop artist BAIBA, who lives in Austria, tells about various experiences in the search for the other half – both joys and unpleasant moments, through humor and satire. Song is about “ghosting” – when one person decides to end the relationship without notifying the other.

Through a good dose of self-irony, catchy and rhythmic tunes, the musician has turned this phenomenon into a powerful manifesto for everyone who has ever encountered it – it is not worth looking for the culprits, but it is important to say goodbye with respect.

“Making this piece of music and video for it has changed my perspective on the topic a lot,” says Baiba, “Speaking with people that both have been ghosted and/or have ghosted someone, the only true reminder is – as unpleasant as it may be – a little communication goes a long way and can save one feelings of guilt and anxiety and for the other party sleepless nights of self doubt and insecurities. It’s a matter of respect for the time spent together.”

Song on Spotify

About BAIBA:
BAIBA [real name Baiba Dēķena] is a Latvian electro-pop solo artist living in Austria. She actively produces music, performs and teaches music production master classes for girls.

After releasing two albums in 2017 and 2021, she is currently working on a new EP

“Compulsive”, which will be released in the spring of 2023. “Compulsive” will be a satirical, direct and multi-faceted work. It is known that at the beginning of August, BAIBA will finally perform in Latvia, at the music and art festival “LABA DABA”.

Musician Zelma Jēgere (VIŅA) has released her third solo album “Diamond dust” on March 1st, but this time with a new sound and stage name – Zelma. The album “Diamond dust” consists of 7 songs written in English over the last 3 years. Many different musicians were involved in the making of the album, each with their own style and sound – Oriole, Kashuks, Arturs Liede, Andis Ansons, Andrjus Jaņuns, Kapteinis Reinis, Andris Buiķis, Oskars Ozoliņš, Erna Daugaviete, Matthias Herberg and Marvin Langner from Germany, Rūdolfs Ozols, Valters Sprūdžs and Ralfs Eilands. The songs on the album sometimes contrast with each other, which is a characteristic feature of Zelma’s previous solo albums.

“The time during which this album was created, to tell the truth, was full of painful experiences . Almost throughout 2021, I had to focus more on my mental health and well-being, so there was very little time and motivation for music. The very first songs that were written (“Blue”, “How”) are quite gloomy and depressive. I was quite sure that the whole album would be in similar tones, but slowly, as I regained my joy of life and passion, a few songs also gained some positive tones. I am extremely grateful to all the people who have been part of my support team both musically and emotionally in the process of creating this album. I know that many of my listeners have been longing for a new album from VIŅA in Latvian, and I can whisper that I have already started working on it in parallel.” That’s what Zelma says about the album.

The visual design of the album was created by artist Sandis Mūrnieks using charcoal on canvas. The album is available on all streaming platforms starting from March 1st.”

Spotify