Debut album from Rinalds Maksimovs

Based in Riga, Latvian drummer and composer Rinalds Maksimovs creates music in a space where improvisation meets electronic sound. Bringing together acoustic percussion and technology, the two opposing forces overlap in an exploratory vision, creating music that moves between ambient atmosphere, minimalism, avant-garde experimentation and the physical magnetism of dance music.

Rinalds’ highly unique style has been informed by a strong musical education across Latvia, Denmark and Sweden, where he studied jazz drumming and composition. That background provides a technical skill for an artistic practice driven by experimentation, allowing him to view rhythm not merely as a supporting element but as a space for discovery. His distinctive drumming style drives the music, interacting with electronic textures to create compositions that can feel at once organic and intricately constructed.

As a solo artist, Rinalds has taken this approach beyond Latvia, performing across Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the Baltic States, with those live experiences becoming an important part of his development, giving him the opportunity to test ideas through performance while continuing to map out the relationship between improvisation and electronic production. At the beginning of this year, Rinalds formally unveiled his solo project with “Dramadance”, offering the first window into an artistic world that’s now expanded significantly with his debut full-length album titled Rincore.

Developed over several years, the eight-track record represents the most ambitious expression yet of his musical language; created between 2022 and 2026, Rincore revolves around a continual conversation between acoustic percussion and electronic sound. By eschewing a choice between one side over the other, Rinalds allows the two worlds to become intrinsically linked, collide and reshape each other. Ambient electronics provide space and atmosphere, while acoustic percussion supplies an immediate physical presence, resulting a balance that feels at once experimental and rhythmically invigorating.

Since its release, Rincore has already appeared at number one on the Europe Jazz Media chart, providing an early indication of the attention surrounding Rinalds’ well-received output. Opening with “Print 2,” the soft bubble of synth notes forma an intriguing scene as the rustle of quiet percussion gently builds up. Developing with splashing cymbals, lively rolls and loose rhythmic structure, the track swells into a grooving soundscape where pulsing bass lines and punchy drums craft an engaging sense of momentum.

His debut single “Dramadance” follows with the thrum of low end texture as a steady rhythmic kick is met by tapped hi hats, buzzy synth elements and intricate piano, putting Rinalds’ extraordinary creativity and performance panache on full display. “Viegli nākamais liegums” forms with the soft boom of kick and brush of percussive textures, offering a drum-focused sound tinged with subtle instrumental flickers as Rinalds leans into an avant-garde, ambient sphere.

“Snake beat” forms with the bright dash of synth bleeps as a hypnotic beat sees a marching rhythmic energy delicately expand with bouncy bass notes and layers of immersive instrumentation. “AN” steadily builds from mesmeric synth pips towards a transportive and wholly absorbing synth-driven soundscape while “Smagi ejošais ātrums” pairs pattering percussive patterns with droning tones to cast a superb showcase of his highly original vision. On “Print 3,” Rinalds links up with Gatis Zaķis to deliver an engrossing eleven-minute voyage that plays out with gradually developing arrangement and subtly dissonant melodic elements, presenting an incredible foray into completely unknown musical areas.

Closing the album with “Panda,” the surges of hazy choral textures is met by the motion of pulsing drums which build with increasing intensity as bold synth bass tones inject energy to serve up an epic finale to Rinalds Maksimovs’ incredible debut record. Across eight tracks, he shows just what can happen when an instrumentalist treats technology as an extension of physical performance and with Rincore, he distils years spent studying, performing, experimenting and taking creative risks, bringing together the acoustic and electronic sides of his musical identity into one emphatic artistic statement.

Listen to Rincore below