Inspired by some stuff a Latvian friend played me I went onto Discogs and bought some Latvian dance music.
The albums are:
'Blue Planet Chill' - Selffish
'Gas of Latvia in 13 Exhalations' - Various Artists
'Electronica@*.lv' - Various Artists
'Lagunamuch Sampler' - Various Artists
It's certainly a lot more experimental than I was first expecting. The source of inspiration was Selffish, a Latvian musician who flits between experimental soundscapes and more conventional electronica. He has recorded sounds around his native Riga - church bells, trains, shipyards to create ambient pieces that challenge the listener to listen to the sounds that we normally block out from our consciousness. His album 'Blue Planet Chill' is, as it suggests, also ambient but this time from a studio rather than natural surroundings. Unfortunately I can't find any of this album on the web to link to but this track is fairly typical of the high level of quality you can expect from him.
I'd encourage you also to explore his website http://www.selffish.org/, you won't be disappointed, I'm sure.
The sampler also interests me greatly. There's so much packed into this that I'm not sure where to begin. It was a freebie gift from the seller and features what I presume to be Russian/East European musicians. It could easily be one of those quarterly CDs from Wire magazine, it's remarkably listenable considering that it is so experimental. Andrei OID is definitely one to bookmark for the future.
Flexkids is another name from the album I'd never heard of before. This is a beautifully jazzy little number reminding me of Wiseguys.
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