Dzeltenie Pastnieki
Encyclopedia
Dzeltenie Pastnieki are a Latvian band formed in 1981 in Riga
, Latvia
. Their name means "the yellow postmen" in Latvian
, and is sometimes abbreviated to DzP. They were among the pioneers of new wave
as well as reggae
in the former Soviet Union
. The music has ranged from guitar
/bass
/drums
-based post-punk
to minimal synthpop
to experimental tape manipulation.
The constant core members of the band have remained Ingus Baušķenieks
(bass, keyboards, vocals) and Viesturs Slava (guitar, keyboards, vocals), with Zigmunds Streiķis (keyboards) and Ilgvars Rišķis (drums) completing the "classic" line-up. Most members of the band, past and present, are alumni of the school currently known as Riga State Gymnasium No.1
(formerly Leons Paegle Riga Secondary School No.1): Ingus Baušķenieks (1974), Viesturs Slava (1974), Andris Kalniņš (1974), and Mārtiņš Rutkis (1975).
Their first six albums (1981–1987) were home-recorded
using consumer tape recorders
, and distributed by means of magnitizdat
, on 1/4" reel-to-reel tape and compact cassette
, with no artwork. Despite popular demand throughout the 1990s, none of these albums was released properly until 2003, when Baušķenieks began issuing them on compact disc
on his own label, IB Ieraksti.
Contemporary Latvian composer Mārtiņš Brauns has said that Dzeltenie Pastnieki influenced the entire Latvian scene, including himself, and even Raimonds Pauls
.
The band's work of the 1980s has often been praised by leading Russia
n music critic Artemy Troitsky
. Also, DzP were the only Latvian-language artists featured in Alexander Kushnir's book 100 магнитоальбомов советского рока (1999, "100 Tape Albums of Soviet Rock"), with dedicated chapters for two of their albums - Bolderājas dzelzceļš
(1981) and Alise
(1984).
, Bob Marley
, Blondie
, and The Police
, among others. In the spring of 1981, while under an early name, Jaunais Sarkanais Karalis ("The New Red King", in reference to King Crimson
), the band recorded a half-hour long demo album entitled Madonas galerts (The Meat-Jelly of Madona). Photographs from the recording session show the band at this point consisting of Baušķenieks, Slava, Andris Kalniņš (keyboards, saxophone), and Mārtiņš Rutkis (guitar).
Songs from Madonas galerts were re-recorded later the same year for the proper Dzeltenie Pastnieki debut album, Bolderājas dzelzceļš (The Railroad of Bolderāja; usually misspelt as Bolderājas dzelzsceļš, even on the 2003 CD release). A majority of songs on it were written or co-written by NSRD
core members Hardijs Lediņš and Juris Boiko, and date back to material recorded earlier by Seque - a pre-electronic version of NSRD and also the name of their record label. Additionally, it was Lediņs who named the band, after an early song, "Dzeltenais viltus pastnieks" ("The Sham Yellow Postman").
For their second album, Man ļoti patīk jaunais vilnis
(1982, I Really Like New Wave), Dzeltenie Pastnieki added Roberts Gobziņš
(vocals, lyrics), whom Streiķis had met at a choir rehearsal, and partially gave up the guitar/bass/drums setup for a more synthetic sound. The album boasts the first-ever Latvian-language rap performance (by Gobziņš) in the song "Bezcerīgā dziesma" ("The Hopeless Song").
Following a period of inactivity, the band were asked to compose the music for an amateur stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
and Through the Looking-Glass
, directed by Andris Zeibots. However, according to Baušķenieks' recollection, there was only ever a single performance of the play. The resulting album, 1984's Alise (Alice) adopted a considerably more minimal electronic sound, largely due to its modest recording circumstances.
Leftovers from Alise as well as even earlier sessions formed the basis for the fourth album, Vienmēr klusi
(also 1984, Always Quiet). Perhaps the band's most stylistically diverse work to date, it demonstrates both their guitar-based and electronic inclinations, and contains their populist calling card, "Milžu cīņa".
Depresīvā pilsēta
(1986, The Depressing City) was assembled of out-takes, alternate versions, and even several proper solo tracks by individual members of the band.
Naktis
(1987, Nights) could be seen as a 'back to the roots' effort that at the same time made use of the progress of home studio trickery made by Baušķenieks over the previous years. His ever-increasing dominance in the collective also reached its peak on this album, and was most obvious in that Naktis contained only one song with Viesturs Slava on lead vocals (who had sung around half of the tracks on each prior album). Nevertheless, Naktis has had the best overall reaction from both critics and fans.
In 1988 Bauškenieks released his first solo album Mājas dzīve (Life at Home). He claimed that by 1988 he had amassed enough equipment to be able to work without a full band. However, the lineup of Baušķenieks, Slava, Streiķis and Rišķis reunited and went on a national tour with K. Remonts in 1989.
As a solo artist, Roberts Gobziņš became a national star of the 1990s. He released the first Latvian-language rap 12" single Aka Aka on Westbam
's Low Spirit
label, and later signed a five-album deal with MicRec (now called Mikrofona Ieraksti and representing EMI
and Sony BMG).
The only new Dzeltenie Pastnieki release in the 1990s was Mēness dejas
(1995, "Moon Dances"), a collection of the band's past classics reworked by Uģis Vītiņš, with all vocals re-recorded in a professional studio by Baušķenieks, Slava and Edīte Baušķeniece.
An album of new material finally appeared in 2003. Kaķis
featured Baušķenieks, Slava and Streiķis, with Gobziņš writing most of the lyrics. Rišķis was absent on the album due to living in the countryside at the time, as well as their inability to properly record live drums in the home studio. Following the release, Baušķenieks, Slava and Rišķis resumed live performances as a power trio
.
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
. Their name means "the yellow postmen" in Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
, and is sometimes abbreviated to DzP. They were among the pioneers of new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
as well as reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
in the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The music has ranged from guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
/bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
/drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
-based post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
to minimal synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
to experimental tape manipulation.
The constant core members of the band have remained Ingus Baušķenieks
Ingus Bauškenieks
Ingus Baušķenieks is a Latvian musician known as a member of Dzeltenie Pastnieki and as a solo artist. He is a multi-instrumentalist, with the bass guitar being his primary instrument in band engagements...
(bass, keyboards, vocals) and Viesturs Slava (guitar, keyboards, vocals), with Zigmunds Streiķis (keyboards) and Ilgvars Rišķis (drums) completing the "classic" line-up. Most members of the band, past and present, are alumni of the school currently known as Riga State Gymnasium No.1
Riga State Gymnasium No.1
Riga State Gymnasium No.1 , the oldest school in the Baltic states, offers secondary education in Riga, the capital of Latvia....
(formerly Leons Paegle Riga Secondary School No.1): Ingus Baušķenieks (1974), Viesturs Slava (1974), Andris Kalniņš (1974), and Mārtiņš Rutkis (1975).
Their first six albums (1981–1987) were home-recorded
Home recording
Home recording is the practice of recording in a private home, rather than in a professional recording studio. A studio set up for home recording is called a "project studio" or "home studio". Home recording is practiced by indie bands, singer-songwriters, hobbyists, podcasters, documentarians,...
using consumer tape recorders
Reel-to-reel audio tape recording
Reel-to-reel, open reel tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette....
, and distributed by means of magnitizdat
Magnitizdat
Magnitizdat is a term used to describe the process of re-copying and self distributing live audio tape recordings in the Soviet Union that were not available commercially...
, on 1/4" reel-to-reel tape and compact cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
, with no artwork. Despite popular demand throughout the 1990s, none of these albums was released properly until 2003, when Baušķenieks began issuing them on compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
on his own label, IB Ieraksti.
Contemporary Latvian composer Mārtiņš Brauns has said that Dzeltenie Pastnieki influenced the entire Latvian scene, including himself, and even Raimonds Pauls
Raimonds Pauls
Raimonds Pauls is a Latvian and Soviet composer and piano player who is well-known and respected in Latvia and the former Soviet Union.-Music:...
.
The band's work of the 1980s has often been praised by leading Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n music critic Artemy Troitsky
Artemy Troitsky
Art, Artem, Artemiy or Artemy Troitsky is a Russian journalist, music critic, concert promoter, broadcaster, and an academic who has taught classes on music journalism at Moscow State University. He was born in Yaroslavl, then in the Soviet Union...
. Also, DzP were the only Latvian-language artists featured in Alexander Kushnir's book 100 магнитоальбомов советского рока (1999, "100 Tape Albums of Soviet Rock"), with dedicated chapters for two of their albums - Bolderājas dzelzceļš
Bolderajas dzelzcelš
Bolderājas dzelzceļš is the official debut album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, following the demo recording Madonas galerts. It was released through magnitizdat in 1981, and 'officially' in 2003. The name of the album is Latvian for "The Railroad of/to Bolderāja" and is commonly misspelt as...
(1981) and Alise
Alise
Alise is the third album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1984, and 'officially' as late as 2004.The album was based on the music the band recorded for an amateur stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass,...
(1984).
History
The earliest incarnations of Dzeltenie Pastnieki were formed in mid 1970s around Baušķenieks, and it is said that the band's early days were spent performing at dance events, playing covers of songs by Gary NumanGary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
, Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
, Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, and The Police
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
, among others. In the spring of 1981, while under an early name, Jaunais Sarkanais Karalis ("The New Red King", in reference to King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
), the band recorded a half-hour long demo album entitled Madonas galerts (The Meat-Jelly of Madona). Photographs from the recording session show the band at this point consisting of Baušķenieks, Slava, Andris Kalniņš (keyboards, saxophone), and Mārtiņš Rutkis (guitar).
Songs from Madonas galerts were re-recorded later the same year for the proper Dzeltenie Pastnieki debut album, Bolderājas dzelzceļš (The Railroad of Bolderāja; usually misspelt as Bolderājas dzelzsceļš, even on the 2003 CD release). A majority of songs on it were written or co-written by NSRD
NSRD
NSRD or Nebijušu Sajūtu Restaurēšanas Darbnīca was a musical group from Latvia. They played experimental/electronic music with influences of New Wave and New Age....
core members Hardijs Lediņš and Juris Boiko, and date back to material recorded earlier by Seque - a pre-electronic version of NSRD and also the name of their record label. Additionally, it was Lediņs who named the band, after an early song, "Dzeltenais viltus pastnieks" ("The Sham Yellow Postman").
For their second album, Man ļoti patīk jaunais vilnis
Man loti patik jaunais vilnis
Man ļoti patīk jaunais vilnis is the second album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1982, and 'officially' in 2003. The name of the album is Latvian for "I really like New Wave"...
(1982, I Really Like New Wave), Dzeltenie Pastnieki added Roberts Gobziņš
Roberts Gobzinš
Roberts Gobziņš , also known as Eastbam or East Bam is a Latvian musician, DJ, MC, radio personality and parliamentary candidate...
(vocals, lyrics), whom Streiķis had met at a choir rehearsal, and partially gave up the guitar/bass/drums setup for a more synthetic sound. The album boasts the first-ever Latvian-language rap performance (by Gobziņš) in the song "Bezcerīgā dziesma" ("The Hopeless Song").
Following a period of inactivity, the band were asked to compose the music for an amateur stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
and Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
, directed by Andris Zeibots. However, according to Baušķenieks' recollection, there was only ever a single performance of the play. The resulting album, 1984's Alise (Alice) adopted a considerably more minimal electronic sound, largely due to its modest recording circumstances.
Leftovers from Alise as well as even earlier sessions formed the basis for the fourth album, Vienmēr klusi
Vienmer klusi
Vienmēr klusi is the fourth album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1984, and 'officially' in 2004.-Track listing:...
(also 1984, Always Quiet). Perhaps the band's most stylistically diverse work to date, it demonstrates both their guitar-based and electronic inclinations, and contains their populist calling card, "Milžu cīņa".
Depresīvā pilsēta
Depresiva pilseta
Depresīvā pilsēta is the fifth album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1986, and 'officially' as late as 2007.-Track listing:#"Casio Song" Depresīvā pilsēta is the fifth album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1986, and...
(1986, The Depressing City) was assembled of out-takes, alternate versions, and even several proper solo tracks by individual members of the band.
Naktis
Naktis
Naktis is the sixth album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1987, and was the last one of the band's six 1980s albums to see an official CD release. Before the October 21, 2010 issue, the album was widely shared on P2P networks in several versions of...
(1987, Nights) could be seen as a 'back to the roots' effort that at the same time made use of the progress of home studio trickery made by Baušķenieks over the previous years. His ever-increasing dominance in the collective also reached its peak on this album, and was most obvious in that Naktis contained only one song with Viesturs Slava on lead vocals (who had sung around half of the tracks on each prior album). Nevertheless, Naktis has had the best overall reaction from both critics and fans.
In 1988 Bauškenieks released his first solo album Mājas dzīve (Life at Home). He claimed that by 1988 he had amassed enough equipment to be able to work without a full band. However, the lineup of Baušķenieks, Slava, Streiķis and Rišķis reunited and went on a national tour with K. Remonts in 1989.
As a solo artist, Roberts Gobziņš became a national star of the 1990s. He released the first Latvian-language rap 12" single Aka Aka on Westbam
WestBam
WestBam, real name Maximilian Lenz , is techno DJs in Germany. His brother is Fabian Lenz, also known as DJ Dick....
's Low Spirit
Low Spirit
Low Spirit Recordings was a German Techno Record Label. It wasfounded in 1986 by Maximilian Lenz , Fabian Lenz, William Röttger and Klaus Jankuhn.-Artists:*CIRC*DJ Dick*Eastbam*Genlog*Hardy Hard*Lexy & K-Paul*Marc de Clarq*Mark 'Oh*Marusha...
label, and later signed a five-album deal with MicRec (now called Mikrofona Ieraksti and representing EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and Sony BMG).
The only new Dzeltenie Pastnieki release in the 1990s was Mēness dejas
Meness dejas
Mēness dejas is a 1995 album containing eight songs by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki as reinterpreted by Uģis Vītiņš. Originally found on four of the band's 1980s album releases, the songs have been re-arranged radically, and have had all the vocals re-recorded by the original vocalists.Mēness...
(1995, "Moon Dances"), a collection of the band's past classics reworked by Uģis Vītiņš, with all vocals re-recorded in a professional studio by Baušķenieks, Slava and Edīte Baušķeniece.
An album of new material finally appeared in 2003. Kaķis
Kakis
Kaķis is the seventh album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released in 2003. It was their first album of new material in 16 years, and the first release, of any kind, in 8 years.-Track listing:...
featured Baušķenieks, Slava and Streiķis, with Gobziņš writing most of the lyrics. Rišķis was absent on the album due to living in the countryside at the time, as well as their inability to properly record live drums in the home studio. Following the release, Baušķenieks, Slava and Rišķis resumed live performances as a power trio
Power trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format where the traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords...
.
Songs covered by other artists
- ExpatriateExpatriateAn expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
Latvian band Akacis covered two songs: "Kāpēc tu mani negribi" and "Svešā malā". - Former band member Roberts Gobziņš did a dubDub musicDub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
-styled cover of "Vienmēr klusi" on his 1998 album, Rīta Radio, in collaboration with engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
Edijs Gņedovskis. This album also contained a revamped version of "Man ļoti patīk jaunais vilnis" (titled simply "Jaunais vilnis") that utilised the original backing track from 1982. - "Milžu cīņa", covered by Crazy Dolls, a one-time commercial project featuring Midis, a former member of Tranzīts and future Riga Records in-house producer.
- "Nāc ārā no ūdens", covered by Kramskis (pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Ainars Micītis) - "Sliekutēva vaļasprieks", covered by Tumors on their debut album Ideoti (2007).
Guitars
- Unknown blue StratocasterFender StratocasterThe Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
clone, used by Slava from 2003 until 2006 - JolanaJolanaJolana was a Czechoslovakian brand, producing electric guitars and basses from 1953 to 1989. Especially during the 1960s it supposedly gained popularity in the UK and George Harrison, Jimmy Page as well as Eric Clapton are said to have used the Futurama model. When the quality of Czech Guitars...
Alfa, used on at least one performance in 2004 - Fender Stratocaster, since 2007
Basses
- Jolana Iris Bass
- Orfeus (HöfnerHöfnerKarl Höfner GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, with one division that manufactures guitars and basses, and another that manufactures other string instruments....
replica) - Unknown headless/bodyless (SteinbergerSteinbergerSteinberger refers to a series of distinctive electric guitars and bass guitars, designed and originally manufactured by Ned Steinberger. The word Steinberger can be used to refer to either the instruments themselves or the company that produced them...
replica)
Electronic instruments
- Casio CZ-101Casio CZ synthesizersThe CZ series were a family of low-cost Phase distortion synthesizers produced by Casio mid-1980s. There were eight models of CZ synthesizers released: the CZ-101, CZ-230S, CZ-1000, CZ-2000S, CZ-2600S, CZ-3000, CZ-5000, and the CZ-1. Additionally the home-keyboard model CT-6500 used 48...
- Casio VL-1Casio VL-1The VL-1 was the first instrument of Casio's VL-Tone product line, and is sometimes referred to as the VL-Tone. It combined a calculator, synthesizer, and sequencer...
- Commodore 64Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
- Dynacord drum padsElectronic drumAn electronic drum is an electronic synthesizer which mimics an acoustic drum kit.The electronic drum usually consists of a set of pads mounted on a stand in a disposition similar to an acoustic drum kit. The pads are discs with a rubber or cloth-like coating. Each pad has a sensor which generates...
- Estradin-11 drum machineDrum machineA drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
- Matador organ, made in East Germany, heavily modified by Kalniņš, who at the time studied electronics.
- Roland JX-8PRoland JX-8PThe Roland JX-8P was a 61-keyboard 6-note, velocity and aftertouch sensitive polyphonic synthesizer released by Roland in 1984 to compete against the Yamaha DX7. In many aspects, the JX-8P delivers classic "fat" Roland synth sounds just like instruments as Jupiter-8, Jupiter-6, MKS-80 and the...
, together with the Roland PG-800 programming unit
Effects
- An ЭХО-1 analog tape delayDelay (audio effect)Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
(made in the USSR) is seen in the photographs from the sessions for the demo album Madonas galerts (1981). - A regular three-head tape recorder was typically used as a delay effect unit on the band's 1980s recordings. Baušķenieks preferred such approach over the use of actual multi-head loop-based units because of the continuous deterioration of the single loop of tape.
- DigiTech RP50 modeling processor, used live by Slava
- RolandRoland Corporationis a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
GR-20 guitar synthesizer, used live by Slava
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Bolderājas dzelzceļš Bolderajas dzelzcelš Bolderājas dzelzceļš is the official debut album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, following the demo recording Madonas galerts. It was released through magnitizdat in 1981, and 'officially' in 2003. The name of the album is Latvian for "The Railroad of/to Bolderāja" and is commonly misspelt as... |
Released on CD in 2003. |
| 1982 | Man ļoti patīk jaunais vilnis Man loti patik jaunais vilnis Man ļoti patīk jaunais vilnis is the second album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1982, and 'officially' in 2003. The name of the album is Latvian for "I really like New Wave"... |
Released on CD in 2003. |
| 1984 | Alise Alise Alise is the third album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1984, and 'officially' as late as 2004.The album was based on the music the band recorded for an amateur stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass,... |
Released on CD in 2004. |
| 1984 | Vienmēr klusi Vienmer klusi Vienmēr klusi is the fourth album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1984, and 'officially' in 2004.-Track listing:... |
Released on CD in 2004. |
| 1986 | Depresīvā pilsēta Depresiva pilseta Depresīvā pilsēta is the fifth album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1986, and 'officially' as late as 2007.-Track listing:#"Casio Song" Depresīvā pilsēta is the fifth album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1986, and... |
Released on CD in 2007. |
| 1987 | Naktis Naktis Naktis is the sixth album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released through magnitizdat in 1987, and was the last one of the band's six 1980s albums to see an official CD release. Before the October 21, 2010 issue, the album was widely shared on P2P networks in several versions of... |
Released on CD in 2010. |
| 2003 | Kaķis Kakis Kaķis is the seventh album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released in 2003. It was their first album of new material in 16 years, and the first release, of any kind, in 8 years.-Track listing:... |
Other releases
| Year | Album | Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Madonas galerts | A 'demo' album. The band was called Jaunais Sarkanais Karalis at this point. |
| 1989 | Sliekutēva vaļasprieks Sliekuteva valasprieks Sliekutēva vaļasprieks is the first compilation album by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki, released on quarter inch tape and compact cassette in 1989... |
A double compilation album featuring several exclusive out-takes. |
| 1995 | Mēness dejas Meness dejas Mēness dejas is a 1995 album containing eight songs by Latvian band Dzeltenie Pastnieki as reinterpreted by Uģis Vītiņš. Originally found on four of the band's 1980s album releases, the songs have been re-arranged radically, and have had all the vocals re-recorded by the original vocalists.Mēness... |
Reworks/re-recordings of eight songs from the 1980s. |