NSRD – Workshop For The Restoration Of Unfelt Feelings

I'm a Latvian-American, went to Latvian school on the weekends and Latvian camp in the summer and while I was always proud of my nationality and my heritage, I was always under the impression that the "coolest" band from the country was Prata Vetra, a mega huge brit-pop-inspired group that slowly went away from that and just became arena pop-rock. Everything else seemed to be schlager inspired and used too much accordion. Even as I grew older and dug deep into arty and experimental music through this website and others, I never could find anything that tickled my fancy from Latvia. Everything was either trying too hard to replicate successful American or UK artists or again, was schlager or schlager-adjacent. I do love Jumprava but yeah, they're basically Latvian Depeche Mode and deeply inspired by them and the other darker synth-pop stuff from the UK in the 80s.

Around 2017 when Stroom started to release underground Latvian music from the 1980s, I finally found what I was after for years. I did find NSRD independently at the same time but I don't think it was a coincidence that I was able to find that at the same time Stroom really pushed this really cool music that was suppressed and only traded via reels during the Soviet era. Suddenly I had numerous friends messaging me about NSRD, Dzeltine Pastnieki and Ingus Bausknieks and this cool experimental music from Latvia finally found a broader, more international audience.

This as well as the other comps Stroom put out and the Dark Entries comp of Dzeltenie Pastnieki really made me proud to know this really cutting edge music came out of Latvia. And while there's influence like all music does, this movement that happened in Riga really stands alone and there's not much out there that sounds like it.

Please do a CD version, this is essential stuff, deserves all kind of media

please release this masterpiece in CD, i would buy it in one sec

Just an absolute masterpiece. Every track here is something a bit different. You've got catchiness; sweet USSR-instrument powered arrangements, excellent vocal delivery. Don't put this on the dancefloor (instead of check out the NSRD 12" for some sick, banging acid), but just put the record on and enjoy yet another quality release from the Stroom camp.