Latvian music you need to see at this year's Positivus Festival

11 July 2017, 11:34

Latvia can be a grey place in winter when the cold winds rush off the Baltic Sea and everyone is forced to huddle together in nightclubs for warmth. So when the sun does come out, there’s no better way to celebrate than with an outdoor music festival set on the sunlit shores of the Bay of Riga.

The Positivus music festival kicks off this week and it’s the ideal way to mark summer and all its pleasures (namely having a drink outside while listening to incredible tunes). While this year's headliners include well known international acts like Pixies, Rae Sremmurd, Alt-J, and Ellie Goulding, if you make it to Latvia, you’ll need to catch up on the local talent—and there’s a lot of it. Here is a list of five Latvian acts that will have you booking a ticket to Riga faster than you can learn to pronounce the Latvian post-grunge band, Pienvedēja Piedzīvojumi.

Dzelzs Vilks

Back when Grantland was still a functioning website, they graded the 10 best songs in Latvia and Dzelzs Vilks’s “Aizliegumi Likumi” earned top marks for their take on “chill alternative pop rock.” It’s an apt description for the band, although their sound seems to be in a constant state of evolution, a right they’ve earned thanks to their longevity. You never know what you’re going to hear from the band, who has one six-time Latvian Music Awards, whether it’s dabbling in the melodic realm of Future Islands by way of Kraftwerk or the arena rock of bands like Imagine Dragons (but in a good way).

Raimonds Tiguls And Moonlight Sound Design

If you’re looking for an artist to add to your meditation playlist, check out Raimonds Tiguls. He released an evocative, effulgent ambient album back at the turn of the millennium and then promptly dropped off the radar. He resurfaced in 2011 with the project Islands, which paired his sparse compositions with the haunting voices of singers from Iceland and Gotland. And after another hiatus (ambitious ambient is hard work, apparently) he is back bringing his minimalist, emotional ambient sound to a musical festival and/or yoga retreat near you. Bring your own meditation mat.

Bandmaster

VIŅA, the stage name of Zelma Jēgere, has been hustling hard in the feverishly growing Latvian hip-hop scene since 2014, when she came out of the gates with her slinky single, “Tēva mājas”. After releasing a solo album, the MC opted to team up with the electronic music duo DJ Rudd and Andis Ansons and from there, Bandmaster was born. The combination of Vina’s rapid-fire flow and the skittering beats and floating rhythms of her electro-counterparts is a dynamic combination. While Vina still performs alone—and will be taking center stage at Positivus Festival—she really shines when she is fronting Bandmaster.

Satellites LV

Back in the ‘90s, The Satellites as they were known, helped introduce Britpop to the Baltic states, crafting a string of hits that would fit in perfectly on a playlist next to Pulp, Blur, and Suede. Their album Piens (which translates as “Milk”) topped the charts and helped the band win the Grand Prix of Liepajas Dzintars, which at the time was the biggest rock music event in the Baltic States. The band is now back with a new name—Satellites LV— and a new sound, as they start to dabble in the sounds of the 70’s and 80’s with a soft rockin’ post-punk sound that is surprisingly modern.

Sign Libra

There’s no doubt that Agata Melnikova, who performs as Sign Libra, is an incredibly well-trained artist with a musicology degree from the Latvian Academy of Music to prove it. She takes all that school learning and transforms it into lush electronic landscapes that sound a bit like if Micachu and the Shapes met Brian Eno in a dark alley and they ended up getting a pint together. She has been making a name for herself internationally with appearances at the Montreal iteration of the Red Bull Music Academy as well as appearances in the U.S. at the Ambient Church and she’s well worth checking out wherever in the world you find her.