We are longtime musicians coming from the Latvian underground scene. The stage is where we test our ideas, experiment, get inspired, and energized. For that reason we have formed a synth-rock duo Oil x Gas to play shows all over Europe any time we can.

“Oil x Gas, an synth rock due from Latvia, provide yet another truly astonishing and deeply, wildy entertaining set. Immediately, there’s a huge crowd stood before the stage, bathing in a wash of deep gurgling electronic noise, and immediately dancing as their robotic, motorik rhythms finally kick in. Both clad in blue boiler suits, the whole performance is tinged with a faint surreal air, trying to reconcile the mundane gas-man chic with their unhinged yet accessible music. That moment had to be the climax of the day for me”

– London-based independent music magazine Echoes And Dust on Oil x Gas performance at Bear Stone festival in Croatia.

Latvia’s audio-electronics and musical-instrument manufacturing industry rests on deep technical roots. As early as the 1920s and 1930s, companies such as VEF Radiotehnika RRR, founded in 1927 in Riga, built radio and audio gear with high-quality wooden finishes and precision production. The Musical Instrument Factory of Riga (RMIF) became a major manufacturer of electronic organs and synthesizers in the Eastern Bloc.

In more recent decades a new wave of independent Latvian makers, now including Mentha Works, has emerged and is actively contributing to modern professional audio gear and electronic musical instruments.

Internationally respected brands such as Erica Synths, Gamechanger Audio, Sonarworks, BLUE Mics and JZ Mics are strong contributors in a Baltic-Nordic electronics block alongside our neighbours Teenage Engineering, Elektron, Darkglass, Neural DSP, and others.