Tramplīni, a Latvian indie rock band, has released its third EP, Ziepju trauks. The compact disc appeared in Rīga stores on Dec. 16.

Just 500 copies of the disc are available (we picked up No. 154 at the Upe music store on Valņu Street in Rīga).

Tracks on the album include:

1. Zibspuldzes
2. Mazā paciņa
3. Labi draugi
4. Biezpienbumba
5. Par lietu

Members of the band include Jānis Birznieks on vocals and guitar, Anete Kozlovska (keyboards and vocals), Māris Peterlēvics (drums, guitar and violin), Janis Barlo (guitar), Uldis Kozlovskis (bass), and Aigars Celms (metalofone, minipops, triangle, backing vocals). Several guest artists perform on the EP.

“We recorded this album in places like hotels, offices, church, home, in the wild. We wanted to make it organic in every sense,” Birznieks said in a press release announcing the release. The album was

Tramplīni was formed in 1997 in Liepāja. The band released its first EP, Planetas, in 1998. The band’s second EP, Hallo, mazie!, appeared in 2006.

For more on the band, visit its Web site, www.tramplini.lv or its MySpace page.

Latvian pop and jazz singer Laima Vaikule is teaming up with pop singer Jānis Stībelis for a 12-city North American tour geared toward Russian-speaking audiences.

Known for her long collaboration with Latvian composer Raimonds Pauls and Russian poet Ilya Reznik, Vaikule has found success in Russia since the mid-1980s. Stībelis, who also uses the English stage name Jay Stever, has performed with Vaikule in concerts in Latvia and Russia. His most recent album, released in December, is the English-language Secret Mission.

Concerts are planned in:

• California at 8 p.m. Jan. 9 in the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, 4401 W. 8th St., Los Angeles. For ticket information, visi www.ebellla.com.
• California at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 10 in the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon St., San Francisco. For further information, visit www.palaceoffinearts.org.
• Colorado at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11 in the Teikyo Loretto Heights Theater, 3001 S. Federal Blvd., Denver. For further information, visit www.gorizont.com.
• British Columbia at 8 p.m. Jan. 13 in the Gateway Theatre, 6500 Gilbert Road, Richmond. For further information, visit www.vancouver.ru.
• Quebec at 8 p.m. Jan. 15 in the Salle Jean-Grimaldi, 1111 rue Lapierre, porte #4, LaSalle. For further information, visit www.westeast.ca.
• Ontario at 8 p.m. Jan. 16 in the Metro Toronto Convention Center, 255 Front St. W., Toronto. For further information, visit www.torontovka.com.
• Michigan at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17 in Millenium Centre Theatre, 15600 J.L. Hudson Dr., Southfield. For further information, visit www.djlafemme.com.
• Illinois at 7 p.m. Jan. 18 in Christian Heritage Academy, 315 Waukegan Road, Northfield. For further information, visit www.bomond.com.
• Massachusetts at 8 p.m. Jan. 22 in John Hancock Hall, 180 Berkeley St., Boston.
• Pennsylvania at 8 p.m. Jan. 23 in Lower Moreland High School, 555 Red Lion Road, Philadelphia. For further information, visit www.russianphilly.com.
• New York at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 24 in Millenium Theatre, 1029 Brighton Beach Ave., Brooklyn. For further information, visit www.myconcert.us.
• Florida at 8 p.m. Jan. 25 in the N.M.B. Performing Arts Theater, 17011 N.E. 19th Ave., North Miami Beach. For further information, visit ticketvisa.com.

For more on Stībelis, visit www.jaystever.com.

For more on Vaikule, visit www.laimav.ru.

What’s on your iPod? What, you don’t have the complete Čikāgas Piecīši catalog?! Now you can, thanks to Platforma Music. The Rīga-based recording company is offering digital downloads of all Piecīši albums.

Platforma announced the availability of the MP3 files on Dec. 17, just weeks after the legendary Latvian-American band completed a November tour of Latvia—complete with a Nov. 18 concert in Rīga.

Single songs cost 47 santīms and full albums cost LVL 4.72.

Ten albums ranging from the 1963 debut Čikāgas Piecīši sveicina to this year’s retrospective compilation Čikāgas Piecīšu zelts are already online. Platforma promises that an album of children’s stories and other recordings will soon follow.

Platforma’s television commercial featuring the group can be viewed on YouTube.

For a look back on the history of Čikāgas Piecīši, see Egils Kaljo’s article from November 2007.