Rat in Mi Kitchen

I'm in the middle of kitchen remodeling at home right now. This sort of thing must be up there on the list with the most stress inducing experiences in life: divorce, house moves, personal loss, etc. Although it's not cheap to put in a new kitchen these days (has it ever been?) living without the comforts of home-cooked food and putting up with all the skilled labourers can be even more stressful than the financial aspect. Apart from a kind invitation by my next door neighbours for a delightful supper, I haven't had a decent home-cooked meal in days. Yes, I am eating out but there's a limit to how pleasant an experience that can be when you're stressed out with other things.

Anyway, I'm probably making it sound worse than it really is. Like so many other things in life, it will pass quickly enough. At least with this one there will be a new kitchen to enjoy once all the hardship is over.

As you may expect, being covered in paint and the inevitable crankiness that comes with putting in a new kitchen wouldn't stop me from putting together my weekly podcast. This week I'm delighted to open it with the music of the trio Silence Kills You. For a moment I thought that I had never played anything by any of my family members on the Mużika Mod Ieħor series (but then I remembered Keith and South Central, of course). I bring this up because two of the three musicians in this band are my blood relatives: Izzy and Sean are my second cousins, their mothers are my first cousins on the Sant side of the family. Aside from this, the music is clean and simple showing that the band has the potential to be a different offering on the ever-expanding local scene. I hope they can now see beyond the rock masses and the radio contests they've taken part in over the last few years to continue playing and recording more original songs like No Button To Rewind. Their brand of pop rock is much needed locally to bridge the gaping chasm between Eurovision wannabes and underground rockers.

Speaking of underground rockers, I'm very pleased to hear that Cynic Pictures have recorded a well produced version of their song Aim High, which I played on an earlier edition of the MMI podcast. This and Skizzo their other song, demonstrate the energetic fervor with which this band is aiming to bring punk to the masses. To my ears, these recordings are rather radio friendly. I mention this because radio remains a very significant way for musicians to reach a wide audience in the Maltese islands. It is the main way all sorts of acts move from the underground into the more public sphere.

In spite of this, there are those who relish the underground. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that in my book. Prayer of the Dying, the multifaceted project by Martin Ciappara fits this bill perfectly. Who else would release an EP on a limited edition cassette only? Ghastly Laments follows up on last year's debut CD/tape Structures of a Dying Matter. Afterlife Beacon Productions from Iceland are involved in this release and if the track Anointing of the Sick is anything to go by, I'm sure it will be sold out very soon.

I'm always thrilled to hear from podcast listeners. When whoever writes in is also a musician I know I'm usually about to discover some new sounds to include on my weekly podcast. Baz Cilia contacted me a few days ago and introduced me to the recordings of Spriggan Mist, which is his current project with his wife Maxine. They're now based in Bracknell, here in the UK, but there's still close ties to Malta. I've selected two tracks from their new EP Konditions of Change - The Merry Mead and Lazy Stones - to bring this week's podcast to a rather different close than what I've been playing in recent weeks. They're now working on an album, so you'll most certainly be hearing from them again on the Mużika Mod Ieħor series in the coming months.

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