- Dzeltenie Pastnieki
Infobox musical artist
Name = Dzeltenie Pastnieki
Img_capt = Dzeltenie Pastnieki live in 2006. From left: Viesturs Slava, Ilgvars Rišķis, Ingus Baušķenieks.
Img_size =
Background = group_or_band
Alias =
Origin = flagicon|LatviaLatvia
Genre =Synthpop
New WavePost-Punk
Years_active = 1981–1987, 1989, 2002-present
Label = IB IerakstiMikrofona Ieraksti
Associated_acts =NSRD 19 gadi pirms sākuma Eastbam (Roberts Gobziņš )11Y1
URL = http://music.draugiem.lv/music/musician.php?mid=4031
Current_members =Ingus Baušķenieks Ilgvars Rišķis Viesturs Slava
Past_members =Roberts Gobziņš Andris Kalniņš Mārtiņš Rutkis Zigmunds StreiķisDzeltenie 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 asreggae in the formerSoviet Union . The music has ranged fromguitar /bass/drums-basedpost-punk to minimalsynthpop to experimental tape manipulation.The constant core members of the band have remained
Ingus Baušķenieks (bass, keyboards, vocals) andViesturs Slava (guitar, keyboards, vocals), withZigmunds Streiķis (keyboards) andIlgvars Rišķis (drums) completing the "classic" line-up. Most members of the band, past and present, are alumni of the school currently known asRiga 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). Rusmane E. "Pirmā skola." Rīga: Avots, 1989. p.108-111]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 andcompact cassette , with no artwork. Кушнир А.И. "100 магнитоальбомов советского рока: 1977-1991 - 15 лет подпольной звукозаписи." АГРАФ, 2003. ISBN 5-85929-061-6] Despite popular demand throughout the 1990s, none of these albums was released properly until 2003, when Baušķenieks began issuing them oncompact 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 evenRaimonds Pauls .The band's work of the 1980s has often been praised by leadingRussia n music criticArtemiy Troitsky .Stundiņš, Jānis (2005). "Ingus Baušķenieka mūža postmodernisms". "Mūzikas Saule" 27: 23.] Also, DzP were the only Latvian artists featured inAlexander 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).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 Numan ,Bob Marley , Blondie, andThe Police Stundiņš: 25.] , among others. In the spring of 1981, while under an early name, Jaunais Sarkanais Karalis ("The New Red King", a reference toKing 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), andMārtiņš 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 membersHardijs Lediņš andJuris 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 addedRoberts 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 byAndris 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 withK. 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 'sLow Spirit label, and later signed a five-album deal with MicRec (now called Mikrofona Ieraksti and representingEMI andSony 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 byUģis Vītiņš , with all vocals re-recorded in a professional studio by Baušķenieks, Slava andEdīte 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 timeStundiņš: 26.] , 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 .Songs covered by other artists
*
Expatriate Latvian bandAkacis covered two songs: "Kāpēc tu mani negribi" and "Svešā malā".
* Former band member Roberts Gobziņš did a dub-styled cover of "Vienmēr klusi" on his 1998 album, "Rīta Radio ", in collaboration with engineerEdijs 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 featuringMidis , a former member ofTranzīts and futureRiga Records in-house producer.
* "Nāc ārā no ūdens", covered by Kramskis (pseudonym ofAinars Micītis )
* "Sliekutēva vaļasprieks", covered by Tumors on their debut album "Ideoti" (2007).Equipment
Guitars
* Unknown blue Stratocaster clone, used by Slava from 2003 until 2006
*Jolana Alfa, used on at least one performance in 2004
* Fender Stratocaster, since 2007Basses
* Jolana Iris Bass
* Orfeus (Höfner replica)
* Unknown headless/bodyless (Steinberger replica)Electronic instruments
* Casio CZ-101
*Casio VL-1
*Commodore 64
* Dynacord drum pads
* Estradin-11drum machine
* Matador organ, made inCzechoslovakia , heavily modified by Kalniņš, who at the time studied electronics.
*Roland JX-8P , together with theRoland PG-800 programming unit
=MIDI sequencing =* Atari STE
*Ensoniq KMX-16 MIDI patch bayEffects
* An ЭХО-1 analog tape 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
* Roland GR-20 guitar synthesizer, used live by SlavaDiscography
tudio albums
Other releases
References
See also
*
Latvian rock
*
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