• Music

    Vadims Dmitrijevs Quintet – Integration!

    Though the price is a bit steep at 17 Euros for a download, this one might be worth it.  Vadims Dmitrijevs is an up-and-coming trombonist from Latvia, and this slab of hard bop swings mightily.  Currently there are two tracks made available to sample.  The whole album will come out on May 23, 2024, so you have a chance to save your pennies now.

  • Music

    SALA – Jurmala Revisited​/​Breath

    Audrius Simkunas operates as SALA, a Latvian composer whose work straddles ambient and nature recordings.  From the release’s Bandcamp site: “Jurmala Revisited/Breath documents SALA’s return to the shores of Latvia, as a sort of audio postcard. The cover photography was taken during the trip and has been treated to look like a fading memory. There are two images, one for each piece. The first is hazier and more feint, suggesting a distant recollection of events, whilst the second image is slightly clearer, as if the memory has been jogged during a listen to this EP.”

  • Music

    Auļi – Ķekat​ā​s

    Six pipes, three drummers, a bassist and a massive wall of sound are what Latvian band Auļi offer, and this album shows the band collaborating with a score of modern musicians updating a powerful ethnic sound.  According to the Bandcamp site, “this album is dedicated to the Latvian masquerade traditions in winter. Starting from the Winter Solstice and ending with Meteņi.”

  • Music

    Domenique Dumont – People on Sunday

    I came across a “composer” (really, a duo) based in Riga, Latvia called Domenique Dumont. The pair consist of Latvian multi-instrumentalist and producer Arturs Liepins and vocalist, ethnomusicologist Anete Stuce, and they have produced a shimmering, gentle piece of electronic music.  From the release’s Bandcamp site: “People On Sunday is an original soundtrack to the 1930 silent film variously known as Menschen am Sonntag, Les Hommes le Dimanche and People On Sunday. The film is a key work of interwar German cinema, based on a screenplay by Billy Wilder. Part documentary, part fiction, People On Sunday follows a group of…

  • Music

    Yuri Vikharev / Juris Āķis / Einārs Raibais – The Lost Latvian TV Studio Sessions 1967

    This archival recording is a swinger released from Latvian specialty label Jersika Records.  It consists of pianist, jazz journalist and and record collector Yuri Viharev, paired with bassist Juris Āķis and drummer Einārs Raibais.  This was the cream of Latvian jazz, and it’s a massive event to see this label reissue such a vital recording.  They have quite a few more in store, so we wait with baited breath to hear these.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Meticulous Midgets 2023

    Our beloved friends at Russia’s finest indie music magazine, Meticulous Midgets, has released their annual compilation of weird experimental, lo-fi and avant-garde music. Featured artists include Russia’s own Assembly of Honey, the Italian ambient sound sculptor Marco Lucchi and Latvia’s Ш​у​м​и​л​о​в Б​о​р (Shumilov Bor) among a host of talent worldwide.

  • Music

    Baložu Pilni Pagalmi – Māris Šverns – Būt ceļā

    Baložu Pilni Pagalmi are a Latvian post-rock/folk band out of the capita city of Riga.  What’s most interesting about this 37 minute-plus track is that it covers not only the genres mentioned, but it would be comfortable listed as an alternative/indie release.  I like the fact that there is a story embedded in this album, even if I am unable to understand Latvian.  I look forward to learning more about the band.

  • Music

    Jelena Glazova – Bardo Thodol (Eliane Radigue Tribute)

    I came to the work of Latvian noise musician and composer Jelena Glazova originally through her collaborations with the legendary Russian noise maestro Alexei Borisov. This four-track album is a paean to the work of French soundscape artist and composer Élaine Radigue, perhaps the foremost sound composer operating today.   Glazova used processed voice, her laptop and controllers to sculpt these works.  They were recorded and mastered in Riga between 2016 – 2019.  The drones wash over the ears magnificently.

  • Music

    Saucejas – Dabā

    Our dear friends at CPL-Music have done it again!  This 60-track album by Saucejas is an ethnographer’s dream if you’re into Latvian music, and there is an organic feeling to this album.  Nothing too terribly processed, nothing added that didn’t need to be there.  The album is appropriately titled, as Dabā is Latvian for “in nature.”  This is simply beautiful choral traditional music from one of my favorite regions of the world.