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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Burn Baby Burn

Show notes for the 208th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast:

  • The Lesser Gods - Iconoclast
    This new band was scheduled to open for UK-band Paradise Lost along with Knockturn Alley tonight but the volcanic ash that has suspended most air travel across Europe this weekend has meant that the gig had to be postponed. Luckily they've release a couple of demo tracks ahead of the show and this is one of them. The band members are individually well-known on the local music circuit, some since the 1980s. If this is what their debut recording sounds like I can't wait to hear what they'll be producing in the coming years.

  • Nicky Bomba - Rock Ya Mama
    One of the most colourful Maltese-Australian acts returns with a new track available as a free download along with a cool music video. Nicky has been touring outside Australia for some time but he is still to make a splash in the Maltese islands. I'm sure that if more people knew him in Malta he'd really attract the kind of following he deserves from his ancestral homeland.

  • Akalé Wubé - Kokob / Mètché Dershé
    Oliver Degabriele is a Maltese bass player who has appeared on several other MMI podcasts. This time he reappears with a new French band specializing in reworking Ethiopian. Their debut CD is due to be released on the 5th of May on the ClapSon label. Listen to the track I've picked from this collection and you'll get a good sample of the sort of thing you can expect from this band. I have a feeling that they look and sound great live too.

  • Jeremy T feat. Raquela - Loved and Lost
    My good friend Mario Axiaq drew my attention to this track from late 2009, which I had previously missed completely. It's a delightful euro-disco song in a style reminiscent of the early work of Giorgio Moroder. It was with this song that Jeremy T participated in last years Battle of the DJs. I like Raquela voice on this track and I certainly look forward to more in this vein in the near future.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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  • Saturday, April 10, 2010

    I Put My Ring Back On

    A couple of weeks ago I started thinking about the idea of changing the format of my weekly blog entries to match the basic show note page I also create for my weekly podcast feed. Last week I followed up on this but mostly because I was in Poland and had set things up to publish automatically. Now I'm back to a live routine so I think I should really give this idea some more thought to see if it has any proper legs to stand on.

    If I were to write an unrelated blog entry this week, it would most probably be about the pope's upcoming visit to Malta and the controversy the Catholic church is enshrined in right now. Still, I'm not back into my regular swing completely, so that will have to wait at least a few more days. Meanwhile here's the entry about the 207th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast:

  • Toby & Scott Walker, featuring Taya Cade - Blame
    Toby returns with a new track that opens with a sound that's quite similar to the Traces theme song he produced with Kristina Casolani in 2008. Still, Blame is quite a different song and Taya Cade's voice really takes it to a different place. In case you're wondering, this Scott Walker is not the legendary baritone voice from the Walker Brothers.

  • Lyndsay Pace - Zip It Up
    One of the most enjoyable Maltese pop voice returns with a follow-up to the sensational System Overload from just a few months ago. The best thing about this young singer is that she seems to be above the drivel associated with pop music in Malta, which seems to gravitate a little too much towards the Eurovision Song Contest.

  • Different Strings - Victims of Love
    Victims of Love is a new EP by Chris Mallia. Proceeds from this CD are designated for the family of Noel Cauchi who died in a fatal accident at the Malta International Airport last November, while working on a cherry picker. I've picked the title track from this EP and it's quite refreshing to hear the voice of Errol Cutajar on this song. This is by far the best material from Different Strings to date.

  • Divine Sinners - Rattle Snake
    I first heard about this Gozitan duo made up of Charles J Attard and Frank Buhagiar several months ago but I had only heard them do covers of songs written by others. Now that I've finally heard them do an original song I'm gladly including them on my weekly MMI podcast. As it happens their sound works well back to back with that from Different Strings.

  • Tony Scott - Soul Searching (Let it Flow)
    Anyone above the age of 40 familiar with the Maltese music scene will remember Tony Scott as a prominent name in the 1980s. It's heart warming to see that he's still producing music after all these years, finding a new audience online, mostly via MySpace. He seems to be working on a new album as he has recently released a couple of new tracks on his MySpace page. This is one of them and I'm sure it will go down well with anyone who likes instrumental music of a symphonic rock variety with a tinge of new age sounds.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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  • Friday, April 02, 2010

    April

    This month six years ago I started blogging. Throughout this time I've used Blogger to enable me to publish my new posts in my personal website. For the last several months, however, I've become a WordPress user for everything but my own blog. It's time to switch. 

    I'm being shoved towards a faster switch by the simple fact that Blogger will no longer allow me to creat blog posts to my website in exactly the same way I've done since April 2004. I love change but I prefer it to come on my own terms. 

    This post goes against the experimental thought I expressed in my last blog post but I can assure you that it's only the Easter holidays that are keeping me away from embracing that idea completely. 

    Meanwhile here are some details about this week's podcast. I'll sort it out as soon as most people aren't able to see another figolla.

        Toni Sant presents the 206th in a series of podcasts featuring music by performers in or from Malta. [in Maltese]

    Artists featured in this podcast:

  • Christabelle Curmi
    |
  • Hooligan
    |
  • Sandro Cassar
    |
  • Tony Gauci
    ||

    >> Details about this podcast [in English]



    See also:
    - MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page

    - More links to music websites from Malta

    - Toni Sant on MySpace.com | @tonisant on Twitter

    - MaltaMedia Online Network

    (MP3 filesize: 13 MB)

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  • Saturday, March 27, 2010

    Don't Know Much

    As an experiment: I'm thinking of changing the format of my weekly blog entries to match the basic show note page I also create for  my weekly podcast feed. I'd still like to comment on the acts I pick for each podcast, but I'm thinking that a separate entry with bloggy type entries that are not necessarily related to my podcast would be a better way to communicate those thoughts. 

    What you see below for the 204th MMI podcast is simply a reproduction of the regular podcast feed entry for this edition. I clearly need to give the idea I expresssed at the top of this blog post some more thought. So perhaps this is just a thought experiment.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     

    Toni Sant presents the 205th in a series of podcasts featuring music by performers in or from Malta. [in Maltese]

    Artists featured in this podcast:

  • Muxu
    |
  • Hadrian Mansueto
    |
  • Instincts
    |
  • Salt
    ||

    >> Details about this podcast [in English]



    See also:
    - MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page

    - More links to music websites from Malta

    - Toni Sant on MySpace.com | @tonisant on Twitter

    - MaltaMedia Online Network

    (MP3 filesize: 15 MB)

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  • Saturday, March 20, 2010

    Beside You

    One of the joys of academic life comes in the form of conferences and similar gatherings. The last couple of days I've been at the Inaugural Interdisciplinary Conference of the Virtual Communication, Collaboration and Conflict (VIRT3C) Research Group at the University of Hull. We heard a couple of inspirational keynotes, and it was quite pleasant to see Alex Grech present his PhD research project in public for the very first time.

    An event like this makes me see that things are coming along nicely in terms of bringing together my academic activities and my non-academic creative interests into closer dialogue. As you would imagine (if you follow this blog regularly) my weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is an essential part of this equation, so I gladly return to it regularly every weekend.

    The 204th MMI podcast is a potpourri edition featuring different types of songs and acts that give a cross-section view of the current Maltese music scene. Opening with Richard Edwards' new pop song Diesel, we swiftly move on to Tini Kanzunetta from Freddie Portelli's new album Xammar, which was recently launched in Australia.

    A new version of Porn: the Musical is slated open April 6 and run until May 1 with a non-Maltese cast at the London fringe venue Theatre 503 in Battersea Park Road. I thought this called for a song from Kris Spiteri's pre-Porn repertoire, so I've picked Here Comes the Band, which probably showcases his music prowess to the full.

    Pink Pube has issued it's first release for 2010. Lucid Dream's is a dark debut offering from the new duo May We Ask You All For Silence...? The opening track is called Into for Asylums and for all I know there's no typo in that name. As with all other Pink Pube releases, this EP is also available as a free download from the net label's website.


    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, March 13, 2010

    This Charming Life

    These last couple of weeks I spent a substantial number of nights away from my cozy bed. It's great to sample various hotel chains and get a large city buzz from time to time but I certainly wouldn't enjoy living the rat race again full time. I enjoyed meeting people and going places in Malta, Glasgow and London, but now it's back to reality on the holodeck until the next adventure.

    Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast 203 comes up right away among the things that help give my life some structure and what you could call a routine of some sort. This week's edition is packed with tracks that have accumulated in my inbox in recent weeks, starting off with the new song by Dolls for Idols. Dance the Dance is very catchy and comes with a cool music video too. This is undoubtedly one of Malta's foremost pop rock bands right now.

    Areola Treat have released a couple of tracks from their upcoming second album, featuring their new bassist Steve Shaw, who replaced Matthew Cuschieri a few months ago. 100 Silhouettes is also getting some airplay in Malta right now and I'd expect the other track (Second Coming) to get similar treatment once the new album Pleasure Machines comes out.

    During my recent visit to Malta I finally managed to meet that delightful pianist Clifford Borg. He's currently working on his third album, but gave me a copy of his second CD called Origin, as a token of his appreciation for my support for his music over the years. As sophisticated pop music goes, you'll be hard pressed to find anything finer than Clifford Borg emanating from Malta. Worth Waiting? is the tune I've selected from Origin.

    There are some songs and singers that sound better removed from the environment within which they are originally presented. Franklin Calleja is one such singer and his song Give Me Time falls squarely in this category. This teenage singer-songwriter has demonstrated admirable promise as a pop artist and I'd hate to see him swallowed up by misguided delusions of grandeur as has happened to so many others before him. I guess only time can really tell. I hope to come back with more on this in the coming years.

    One of the endearing qualities of the MMI podcast is that it includes quirky stuff that no radio station mindful of retaining its mindless masses dares to include on its playlist. This week we tick this box with a new recording by British ex-pat Ron Cheevers, who made Malta his new home several years ago. You may remember him on a previous edition in this series as part of Mekon Delta, here he gives us a new guitar soundspace to wrap our ears around in Don't You Hear Me Cryin'.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, March 06, 2010

    I Don't Want To Go Out

    Having once again witnessed the devastation property development in Malta has leveled at green areas and small towns across the islands, I am glad to see that a group of environment NGOs are taking to the streets to raise awareness about various issues that have ruined the country's environment. Encroachment of urban areas, illegal hunting and trapping, illegal occupation of public land, loss of biodiversity, air pollution, and water conservation are issues that have gone on for far too long.

    Birdlife Malta, Nature Trust Malta, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Ramblers Malta, Friends of the Earth, Moviment Graffiti, Greenhouse, and MOAM are leading a National Rally in Valletta at 10am on Saturday the 13th of March 2010, calling on the Government for effective law enforcement. Protests along the main streets of Valletta seem to be coming thick and fast this year. This one is at least as important as lowering utility tariffs and certainly as significant as free speech. If nothing else, let's hope that the government comes to see that something's rotten in this age of hope. Then again, change is inevitable...even if it's not always the sort of change we're after.

    In spite of this, Malta remains as fascinating as ever. There's no way I'll stop following the complex cultural formations present there, as long as I'm alive and healthy enough to do so. This is why the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast has come to the 202nd edition. I'd like to think that if this podcast was a plant it would probably be an orchid.

    To shake out the Malta EuroSong earwigs out of my head, I've chosen to open this week's podcast with Petra singing All I Need by Keith and Andrew Zammit. This song stands out head and shoulders above most other new Maltese pop tunes I heard in the past weeks. I would have certainly included it on the MMI podcast if it had come to me by any other channel.

    I'm also very pleased to see the new album from Chasing Pandora. The Driver and the Dancer has already yielded two excellent singles - Running in Circles and Time - and now Escape has also been released with a cute music video to help promote the release of the album. It's also quite wonderful that the duo is receiving some much deserved attention from the alternative music media in the UK. So far, this is undoubtedly the most outstanding album released from Malta for 2010.

    From time to time I like to dip back into past episodes of the MMI podcast to catch up with acts I like who have not released any new material for a while. David Agius falls squarely in this category. The Sydney-based singer-songwriter plays a mean guitar and I'd really love to hear some new stuff from him in the coming months. His MySpace page is still active, but no new songs have been forthcoming for a while. While we wait, I've picked I'm Not the One from 2007.

    Closing off this week's podcast is a new release from Stefanos, ahead of the upcoming release of his album Zero Plus. Unlike most of his other recording, My Flower Girl is actually a song, and features the voice of Brendan Jackson, who many MMI podcast listeners will know as the singer from Eve Ransom. His tuneful voice makes this song well worth a listen and perhaps this track will be the highlight of Stefanos soon to be released album.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Sunday, February 21, 2010

    Dream On

    Malta's entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest was selected last night. Newcomer Thea Garrett will sing My Dream by Jason Cassar and Sunny Aquilina this May in Oslo. It was a relatively easy selection for the expert panel of judges and the televoting public to pick this act from the 20 entries in the final round of Malta's selection for this year's Eurovision. The local pop scene is tired and complacent but (as one of this year's members of the judging panel) I'm grateful that at least one song rose above all others in such a clear and undeniable way.

    For Thea Garrett and her team the road ahead has many twists and turns that need to be handled with care. I wish them all the best with their adventure, mindful of the fact that they will spread their wings enough to do the best they can with the resources available to them.

    Rather than harp on about this year's Malta EuroSong for the 201st Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast, I'd like to share with you an interview conducted by Marlene Galea from SBS Radio in Australia about a week ahead of the event, assessing the state of Malta's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. This is meant as constructive criticism towards a better understanding of how the Maltese music pop scene can make better use of the opportunities offered by appearing on a television show followed by hundreds of millions of viewers.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, February 13, 2010

    Long Hard Road

    Looks like we've made it! The weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor series has reached the 200th podcast. Starting way back in November 2005, it has taken just over four years to get here. When the 100th podcast was released it was clearly time to celebrate but now I feel that every new podcast is a celebration in itself. The 200th MMI podcast is a special edition but last week's podcast was just as special, and I hope that next week's edition will be special too.

    Three things have encouraged me above everything else to continue producing this series. The first is the incredible feedback I get from podcast listeners every week. This is coupled with waves of appreciation from many of the singers and musicians I feature from week to week. From these comments I can see that the MMI podcast is a significant element in the promotion of Maltese music around the world. I am also very grateful to Vodafone for sponsoring the podcast since last autumn. While I obviously don't produce the MMI podcast for financial gain, there are some associated expenses that must be covered and so the sponsorship is most welcome.

    The 200th MMI podcast opens with the song I Can't Take It written by Elton Zarb and Ira Losco for Amy Agius. Amy is a new arrival on the local music scene and it's understandable to think that this sort of song and singer would be an automatic fit for the upcoming EuroSong festival. However, to my knowledge, it's gone a different root and that probably helps some listeners appreciate it better. This is a good pop rock song and Amy's voice is pleasant enough to carry it. If this is her debut I'm sure that her next offering may make even more of a splash.

    Winter Moods have returned with new material ahead of the release of another album. The new song that's making the round on most local radio stations in Malta right now is called Last to Know. This is the band's first release as a quintet following the departure of founding guitarist Steve Caruana Smith (fondly known as Is-Serp) on amicable terms. Smith contributed greatly to the band's sound so it's understandable that they now sound slightly different. Their fans will undoubtedly appreciate the new sound particularly because it helps give them a way to reinvent themselves as one of the longest standing rock band on the Maltese music scene.

    I believe that much more needs to be done to preserve and disseminate recording by Maltese musicians not only when they are released but also, and especially, years after they're originally released. On the 7th of July 2007 (07/07/07) Jewls Verse released his debut album Taking It Easy, lifting two singles from the album to help promote it at the time. He continues to gig around the islands regularly and he maintains an online presence too, of course, but I don't how many radio stations (including ones that originally played tracks from the album when it first appeared) continue to include tracks from it on their playlists, which are otherwise filled with songs from non-Maltese acts from the same period. It's a complex issue and I am attempting to address it systematically even beyond the weekly MMI podcast. Meanwhile, I will also continue to play tracks released in bygone years on my podcast too; not for the sake of nostalgia but rather to ensure that we keep a sense of continuity going in the ever-growing output coming from the local music scene. Jewls Verse's Help Me appears on this week's podcast precisely in this spirit.

    New releases from acts I've already featured on the MMI podcast series delight me on a regular basis. Heartbeat fall squarely into this category right now as they've released some new songs through MySpace. I really like Dorienne Cachia's voice and feel that she's a perfect fit for the type of music produced by this band. Forever By Your Side is one of the new tracks that clearly demonstrate this. I'm sure I'll be including another one of these new songs they've just released in a future edition of the MMI podcast.

    To close the 200th show in the series, I've picked something that's very special and dear to me. The 1989 TVM series Mill-Garaxx, which I created with my late friend Mario Ellul, will forever remain one of the most significant things I've ever done as a broadcaster. Bringing Maltese musicians to play live in the TVM studio was received well at the time mostly because there was a great lack of such space being given to live music (particularly rock music) on what was then the only Maltese television channel. Winter Moods were among the bands who appeared on that series. The opening music was written by Charlie Dalli and performed by his band X-Tend. It is the earliest specimen of rap in the Maltese language. That in itself makes it remarkable. Personally, I believe it provides the words I'd like on my grave:

    "Kemm hi sabiħa dik il-ħolma li xi darba mmiss l-istilel,
    imma kull valur jgħeb jekk kull ma mmiss isir deheb."


    This roughly translates to "What a beautiful dream to one day touch the stars, but a value melt away if everything you touch turns to gold."

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, February 06, 2010

    Almost There

    As I sat down to prepare the 199th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast this morning it dawned on me that next week's edition will be the 200th in the series. I recalled how the 100th edition was marked as a special occasion back in 2008, first by Michael Bugeja in The Sunday Times (of Malta) and then through the MMI podcast itself featuring a bunch of carefully picked tracks.

    Should I make the 200th MMI podcast into another special edition or is it enough of a celebration to acknowledge the fact that the series has reached 200? After all, my hope (and plan) is to go on for as long as I physically can with this series and it would be rather silly to "mark a moment" every 100 podcasts as if it's something special. I'd like to believe that people who follow the MMI podcast (or even one who stumble across it by accident) recognize the fact that this is a very special series by virtue of the focus it has and its longevity.

    The 199th MMI podcast opens with a debut track from Tape Division, which is a new project by Hadrian Mansueto. It sets the tone beautifully for today's podcast, particularly since it's not often that I open the show with a dance track. Apparently Heartbeat is still a work-in-progress, but it has already been paired up with a video on YouTube.

    New releases for 2010 keep coming at a steady pace, even though I would say that things haven't really picked up the pace for this year yet. Dubkey Records has just released an album of tracks by Mind's Eye Dub entitled A Different World; available as a free download here. There's a video to accompany the title track, which like most of the tracks on this album come from the early 2000s, when M.E.D. was presented to an online audience through the original MP3.com. There are however three tracks on this album that were not previously released through MP3.com. One of these is the one I've selected to play on this week's podcast. Nuff Respect features MC Trooper who was the resident toaster on Dread Connexion, a Sunday night live internet show originating from England, when this recording was made.

    This week's messages from podcast listeners included one from my old friend Mark Attard, known to many who follow the Maltese music scene as the keyboard player with Fakawi. Mark pointed out that the MMI podcast doesn't follow live gigs as rigorously as he would like it to. Fair comment, but as I explained to him, there are valid reasons for that. Furthermore, it's not as if we never refer to gigs. In any case, this week I wanted to highlight the fact that there are certain bands -- such as Fakawi -- who can only really be appreciated fully during their live shows. Video clips of live gigs can give you a glimpse of why certain acts don't translate well into a studio recording. The upcoming live concert featuring Fakawi, BNI, Dolls 4 Idols, Loose Ends, and others at the Nadur Carnival on Saturday 13 February is clearly one such gig. No recording can replace the experience of being there.

    The debut release from the new band Eggshell Black landed on my desktop a few days ago. I was immediately struck by the wide-reaching online presence created for the release of Unwanted. Not that it couldn't be better, but I don't remember ever seeing this much noise being made by a new band on the Maltese scene for their debut release. The song itself is slightly unimpressive at first, but it quickly picks up steam and develops into a song that tells the discerning listener that this band may be on to a bright future. Giving Eggshell's debut single a second listen is highly recommended. I overcame the initial reaction and I'm sure others will too. Bring on the next track.

    As you may have noticed on this links embedded in this blog post, all but one of the tracks included on this week's podcast relate to some sort of video clip. It's therefore appropriate to squeeze in one more track this week; one that's video related, of course. Veteran Maltese electronic musician Ray Buttigieg left Gozo many years ago. He has produced an impressive discography over the past 4 decades and now seems to be capturing some of his music through video clips on YouTube. Tripper Big Dipper is one such track from Buttigieg's catalog. Old and new fans will undoubtedly be looking out for more video clips in the coming weeks and months.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, January 30, 2010

    Don't Tell Me That It's Over

    While we can safely assume that the newness of 2010 is behind us, some of us may not be back on the grind in full throttle quite yet. Speaking from a personal perspective, I'd say that it was only last week that I really got back into the swing to things properly, but this is not to say that the days before that were filled with hours of lounging around doing nothing.

    One way I gauge whether we're back to "normal" at this time of the year is by the announcements I start receiving for upcoming album releases during the first quarter of the year. Two of these contribute to the contents of the 198th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast, so I'm pretty sure that we're firmly on our way now.

    After playing a track form the recently released Tea compilation Reloaded, it's a great pleasure to have the opportunity to have Marc Storace's voice heard on the MMI podcast. Krokus have just announced the release of their new album entitled Hoodoo, which is due out on the 26th of February. This new album features ten new tracks by the band and a rousing cover of Steppenwolf's classic Born to Be Wild. To promote the album ahead of its release Krokus have issued a single called Hoodoo Woman, which is undoubtedly destined to become a favourite with their fans.

    Staying with overseas-based bands sporting a Maltese singer this week we turn our attention to Fraser. This London band is fronted by Fraser Gregory who Malta music fans may remember as a founding member of the Beangrowers. Last summer we heard a track from Fraser's upcoming album A Garden at the Top of the Tree, which is set to be released on the 27th of March. The single chosen to promote this album ahead of its release is called Lay It On The Line. Aside from being included on this week's MMI podcast, it was also been selected as a single of the week by IndieLondon for the past week.

    Bark Bark Disco have just released a video for their Song for the Lovers from the 2009 album Your Mum Says Hello. The new video is a tribute to 70s Scandinavian porn star Brigitte Lahaie, featuring sequences from her classic film Six Swedish Girls in a Boarding School. Centre of My Heart is the track I've picked to play on this week's MMI podcast. The album remains available as a free download from the band's official website.

    This week's MMI podcast is heavily slanted towards acts that are either based outside Malta or have a strong overseas connection; Bark Bark Disco is actually half German. Mark Axiak is based in Norway and I've played his music on previous editions of the MMI podcast. His guitar-driven tracks are very untypical of what most people would expect from the quintessential rock 'n roll musical instrument. Somewhere in Between is delightfully different from what anyone who is not keen on exploring experimental sounds may have heard so far this year.

    For those who prefer guitars to sound like guitars, I close this week's podcast with a track from the hard-to-find 1994 Norm Rejection EP Subtly Mesmerized?, which has just been reissued on their MySpace page. As you listen to Distorted Visions you may be amused to figure out that this song was recorded 16 years ago. Expect new releases from Norm Rejection later this year, including the highly anticipated Kemm Hawn Dwejjaq fil-Pajjiż.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, January 23, 2010

    Firestarter

    My ears are still buzzing from last night's concert by The Prodigy at the Bridlington Spa's Royal Hall. It's almost incredible that this band has been around for 20 years and it was simply amazing to see young people in the audience who weren't even born back when they started out. The Prodigy is simply a massive band and their music is undoubtedly anthemic for a whole generation. There's a direct connection with The Prodigy in the 197th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast. I'll came to that when I get to the fourth track in this week's MMI podcast.

    Prolonging the shelf-life of their debut EP Your Head Is Too Big For Your Crown, released a couple of months ago, Skimmed have now released the song Shitty Jobs on their MySpace page along with some new band photos. This bodes well in terms of what seems to be a plan to ensure that people don't lose track of Skimmed's EP in the torrent of new material that's due out this year.

    Bletchley Park have just released their follow-up single to last year's debut Alien entitled Hold the Trap. This new offering is a solid pop rock song but I believe that this band is still to make a significant impact on the local scene, by which I mean to say that their best work is still ahead of them. They strike me as a hard-working band, so I don't doubt that we'll be hearing more from them this year.

    Wayne Camilleri and Errol Sammut seem to have great plans for this year. They've come together as a new duo called K.O.I. (Knowledge Over Intellect) releasing Tears in My Eyes as their debut song. Their sound has delightful 1980s undertones, which makes me think that they're (craftily) tapping into the retro groove de rigueur, as others have beautifully demonstrated in recent years.

    Back to that concert by The Prodigy. The reason I made it to the concert last night was thanks to my cousin Keith who is half of the duo South Central. How could I turn down an Access All Areas pass to such a great gig. It was an added bonus to be able to hear South Central do their live DJ set. The crowd truly enjoyed the music they provided and their affinity with Prodigy fans is enshrined through their official remix of Warrior's Dance, which was the second single of The Prodigy's Invaders Must Die album from 2009; the South Central remix is available on disc 2 of the special edition for this album. Their UK tour continues the rest of this month as they head to the south coast in the coming week (Plymouth and Bournemouth) followed by a stint in Scotland ending at the Glasgow O2 Academy. Watch out for them in Malta this springtime.

    To close off this week's podcast I've squeezed in a new release by K1nk featuring Thea Saliba. Luigi Lusini's music works well with Thea's vocals and it makes me think that this is possibly a better way for this young Maltese singer to break into the international dance scene than any of her previous attempts. I suppose only time can really tell whether this is the case or not.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, January 16, 2010

    Empire State of Mind

    Between the horrific events in Haiti and the banal nonsense emanating from Malta, I find myself considering what may actually be in store for us in 2010. More precisely I'm also thinking what's ahead for me personally as a continue with my AHRC sabbatical, which at the very least will yield a book I've written on Franklin Furnace.

    There was a time when I would have gone on to blog about these thoughts at length. For better or worse, my blog has clearly turned into a place to present the show notes for my weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast. I don't really mind this and I'm sure many of my blog readers wouldn't even have notice this if it wasn't for the fact that I tend to bring it up from time to time. Still, there are times when I wish I still was in the frame of mind to blog about more than my weekly podcast.

    The 196th MMI podcast opens with the first music video released in the Maltese music scene for 2010. Harry is a song from Cable 35's EP Hygene. Their youthful energy is infections and if they keep this up I believe that they will strengthen their fan-base considerably this year. While I imagine they have aspirations to reach new followers outside the Maltese Islands, I would love to see them somehow embrace their national identity. That would give them the edge of difference that can make them stand out from the plethora of other guitar-driven bands like them.

    One of the few Malta-related releases from 2009 that almost passed me by comes all the way from Switzerland. Marc Storace's old band Tea have released a compilation album of their best loved songs. Guilded Cage, originally off the band's third album Tax Exile from 1976, is possibly one of Marc's most heart-felt belters with an autobiographic bent. The 13 tracks on Reloaded show that this Swiss band should have done even better then they did in their day. In my opinion, the reason they're not better known is not because they weren't any good (quite the contrary, of course!) but because they didn't play up their difference in a rock scene where being different was greatly appreciated. Almost 35 years after they stopped recording and touring, this compilation will undoubtedly introduce them to new fans who will appreciate what was undoubtedly one of Europe's better rock bands in the seventies.

    Speaking of Maltese connections to European bands makes me want to play something by Polish ska masters Skambomambo. Regular listeners of the MMI podcast will remember that Skambomambo's singer is Mario Cordina, who was first featured in a special edition in the series in 2007. The band is set to play several gigs around Poland in the coming weeks into February. As it happens I'm visiting Poland later on this year and I'll certainly be looking at their show dates while I'm there. It would be wonderful to see them live, not only because they sound like a fun band to watch but also seeing Mario sing live would certainly be an opportunity I wouldn't want to pass up.

    Foreign acts play in Malta from time to time and one such gig is coming up at the MITP in Valletta on Saturday 6 February 2010. It features British singer Adem with new local band Stalko supporting. Sylvan Borg is set to open the show with a new acoustic set. He has just recorded a new song entitled Soft as Stone to promote his first gig for the year. I happen to like his songs, possibly for the same reason that drives radio stations to stay away from them: they sound quite different from anything else on the airwaves these days.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, January 09, 2010

    I Like It Rough

    I'm amazed at the recent developments on the case of young Mark Camilleri who is looking at the prospect of facing jail time because of Malta's outdated obscenity, censorship and blasphemy laws. Mona Farrugia (Malta's number one food writer) has published a very articulate reflection on the situation. She has also started circulating an online petition addressed to Malta's lawmakers asking for the following:

    1. For Malta's censorship, obscenity and blasphemy laws to be changed to reflect the year we are living in (rather than the Middle Ages)
    2. For our politicians to take their heads out of the sand (in general, but especially with regards to the above)
    3. For the Police to drop the case against Mark Camilleri, 21-year old student Editor of Ir-Realta', a University newspaper in Maltese. When he published a particular piece of fiction in Maltese, Camilleri was prosecuted through laws that make it possible for him to be imprisoned.
    4. For the University of Malta Rector and Chaplain to apologise in public for causing such ridiculous hassles and wasting Police time.

    It's undoubtedly the first remarkable petition in Malta for this year. I can fully see why some people may be offended by works covered by these ancient laws (and seriously doubt there will be any apologies coming from Tal-Qroqq) but it really is about time that Maltese lawmakers do something concrete to protect freedom of expression in Malta.

    Process seems to be the one word that describes most of what I'm doing and/or thinking about these days. The latest censorship petition in Malta and my weekly podcast are certainly clear examples of this, at least for me. The 195th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast features some of the first releases for 2010. If this is the shape of things to came this year, this could turn out to be quite an interesting year.

    The year's first release comes from metal rockers Fire who have issued a single from their album Thrill Me. Come with me is available as a free download on Reverbnation, which is sponsored by Microsoft. I must say that Kenneth Calleja's voice has never sounded better.

    The first album announced for release in 2010 is Xammar, a 13-track CD of new Maltese songs by Freddie Portelli. The CD will be officially launched in February to coincide with Freddie's next tour of Australia. These 13 songs now brings the veteran singer's total number of tracks released in the last 45 years to 257. This new album is therefore quite appropriately titled as anyone hoping to be as prolific really needs to roll up your sleeves to catch up with Freddie. The title track from Xammar is uniquely crafted to bring together rough classic rock 'n roll and the singers love for his dog Nina. In my book, Mojo Nixon has got nothing on Freddie Portelli.

    I'm always grateful whenever Maltese artists send me their CDs. One the ones I received over the Christmas break is With Stings Attached by For Strings Inn. I played a track from this EP before it was released last autumn, but now that I've actually received my own copy of the disc I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play a track from it. I've picked one called Strada Bar, which shows this new band as a force to be reckoned with on the local alternative rock circuit.

    As regular MMI podcast listeners know, one of the things I cherish most about the Mużika Mod Ieħor series is the prospect of discovering and promoting new acts. So the first podcast for 2010 featuring new music must include something from this category. As it happens I recently came across a young new band called Bridget Bone. As a debut release (available via their Facebook fan page), What if signals great potential for this band, particularly if they manage to start gigging regularly in the coming months.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.


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    Saturday, January 02, 2010

    Shout to the Top

    Happy New Year! Let's hope it's a good one.

    Now that the brief Christmas break is over, the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast returns with a special edition featuring music from the 2009 Listeners' Picks poll. Here are the entries voted as the listeners' top picks from the poll we conducted on Facebook throughout the month of December 2009. This year, the poll was facilitated by Kenneth J. Vella.

    2009 Top Album:
    The Rifffs - Moonstomp

    Maltese music fans have been waiting for more than 25 years. It's truly a case of better late than never. Pity it had to come out the same year as the fabulous Stejjer tal-Bandli (tal-Mosta) by No Bling Show, which was the absolute runner-up in this category this year.

    2009 Top Single: (tied)
    The Rifffs - Champagne Charlie's Ghost
    Relikc - Mindwreck

    Releasing another single from the Moonstomp album in 2009, The Rifffs managed to land a draw at the top place for this category, along with newcomers Relikc. While the old masters are clearly at the top of their game, the little youngs are obviously highly in tune with the new generation.

    2009 Internet Release:
    Relikc - Tomorrow

    It's quite fitting that this band should grab this category for themselves. Danjeli's Kolla was a close second and could have possibly won if we had been given more than an unofficial release on Facebook by the winner of the 2007 Top Album in the MMI Listeners' Picks poll.

    2009 Overseas-based Release: (tied)
    Joe Mizzi - Age of Decay [Album]
    Airstrip One - Into the Silence [Online release]

    Although there were no best selling acts in this category during 2009, I am please to see that Joe Mizzi's most recent album has managed to grab the top place. It is surely remarkable that Airstrip One retain their place at the top of this category for the second year running, even though they must share the title with Joe Mizzi this time around.

    2009 Top EP:
    Chasing Pandora - Running in Circles

    Chasing Pandora more than deserve the top spot in this category this year. Airport Impressions managed to attract a very respectable number of votes as runners-up with their EP Seeing With Eyes Closed. In the end, the beloved Gozitan duo managed to outshine every other EP released in Malta in 2009 by a factor of at least two to every one vote awarded to the other nominees in the same category.

    2009 Top Video:
    No Bling Show - Lucija u Samwel

    The same luck that befell No Bling Show in the Top Album category has fallen on Carrie Haber in this one. Her video for Me Oh My! would most certainly have garnered the largest number of votes (in all categories and not just this!) if it wasn't for No Bling Show's exception short film for Lucija u Samwel. As it is, NBS have clearly raise the bar higher than it has ever been for the local music scene.

    There's also an enhanced version of this podcast...coming soon.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, December 19, 2009

    Christmas Is Just Around The Corner

    Christmas is here once again. Don't you just love how the wheel goes round and round? I've just cracked open this year's dark rum, even if a nice bottle of Benromach Traditional Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whiskey I won in a local competition last summer has managed to beat it to the start line this year. What would life be like without the seasonal spirit?

    The steady flow of new Christmas music from Malta which started last year continues unabated this year. I stay away from the stuff that's too saccharine sweet for my taste but unfortunately this year there are even a song or two that I'd have liked to to include in the special edition of on my weekly podcast that reached me a little too late to be included. Is it just me or do some Maltese musicians and singers release their Christmas songs not as early as they should? You really can over do it in either direction on this.

    I'm quite excited about this year's MMI Christmas podcast because it's packed with very special material. The first track is has never been heard publicly before and it comes from one of my favourite Maltese band of all time, duo Particle Blue. Although the duo split a few years back, Antoine Vella has sent me an unreleased song from 2005 called Christmas Time Come On. These guys make me cry. This is the real deal. No sugar coated nonsense. Just raw emotions but still very appropriate for the season. What a gem!

    Fr Karm Debattista mssp has released an outstanding album of Christmas songs this year. It's called Min Hu dat-Tifel? (Who's This Boy?) and features traditional Christmas carols rearranged in a contemporary folk rock style played by Andrew Zammit on the lead guitar and bass, Edward Ellul also played on the bass, while Noel Grech played the drums, Jacob Portelli the violin, and Paul Giordimaina played the piano. Aside from singing, Fr Karm plays the recorder, rhythm guitar and keyboards on this album, which is nominated in the Top Album category for the MMI 2009 Listeners' Picks poll, which is open for votes on Facebook until Friday 1 January 2010.

    Andrew Zammit has released a Christmas song this year. I'd have loved to include Paċi fl-Art (Peace on Earth) on this week's podcast but it only reached me after I had recorded the show. I'll certainly play it on next year's Christmas podcast, but if you'd like to hear it now just go to Andrew Zammit's MySpace page.

    I'm quite please to be able to include quite an unusual Christmas song this year. It comes from the JMJ Project, which comprises John E. Zammit Pace (guitars, piano, harpsichord), Manny Cefai (bass, vocals, keyboards) and Joe "Peace" Camilleri (drums, percussion, vibes). This project is most remarkable because these middle-aged Maltese musicians contributed each of their parts for John lives in Malta, Manny is in the UK, and Joe il-Peace is based in Orlando, Florida. John and Joe sent their parts for Xmas on My Mind to Manny who put them all together in time for Christmas. This way of putting a song together is probably a first for the Maltese music scene. I hope to bring you other tracks from the JMJ Project (or the individuals involved in it) in 2010.

    The crowning glory for this year's MMI Christmas Special is a recording from 1989 featuring one of Malta's best ever musicial comedy duo
    Freeway. Toni Vella and Jesmond Tedesco Triccas have appeared on a previous edition of the MMI podcast from this 1989 edition of my Mill-Garaxx TV series. As the week they appeared on Mill-Garaxx happened to be a Christmas edition too they contributed their Pudina tal-Milied (Christmas Pudding) medley accompanied by Il-Merħla. Don't let anyone tell you that there was no fun to be had in Malta in the 1980s.

    The next MMI podcast will appear on Saturday 2nd January 2009 and it will feature the top picks by my listeners and others voting on Facebook for the favourite 2009 Maltese music releases. Until then, over the coming days we will once again be releasing Ġorġ Mifsud-Chircop's special christmas editions of his Tisqifa għall-Għana Tagħna featuring Karmnu Debono l-Pikipakk (from Birkirkara) and Frans Mifsud ta' Żaren ta' Vestru (from Żejtun).

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, December 12, 2009

    Everything In Its Right Place

    Last week I wrote about the way things seem to come together at this time of the year. Ritual and routine help give us a sense of who we are and where we are. It's quite wonderful really, even for someone like me who celebrates chaos most of the rest of the year.

    This blog and my weekly podcast are a central part of that routine for me. As one of my teachers once told me, I prefer to promote chaos through order. It's a paradox but I must admit that order is only really surface deep. Creativity and disorder are great (even if odd) bedfellows.

    The 192nd Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is the last one for this year to feature new music from 2009, before next week's Christmas special. The number of missing nominations from the 2009 MMI Lister Picks poll is much smaller than it has been in previous years. This week's podcast includes two of the songs missing from that list.

    The first is a duet featuring Muxu and Talitha called Still Missing You. Thankfully, if you're a Muxu fan, you can still vote for him on the 2009 MMI Listener Picks poll since his video for Gone is nominated in that category. Muxu continues to be an interesting enigma in the Maltese pop scene. My feeling is that he will be a huge role model for the next generation of male pop singers in the Maltese islands.

    The new album by Christian rock band Salt was only released a few days ago, but it did manage to make it to the Top Album category on the 2009 MMI Listener Picks poll. Less Noise More Love will give the band's ever-growing fan base an excellent way to appreciate what is undoubtedly Malta's most prolific act in this faith-based genre. Still, to see Salt only within that sphere is to miss what a tight band they really are. Stronger, the song I've picked to play on today's podcast, is clear evidence that this band has much more to offer than cool prayer beats.

    Being contacted by singers and musicians via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or directly through my website is one of the things I treasure most about the Mużika Mod Ieħor series. Different people have different ways of telling me about their music and I'm fascinated by the different ways people present themselves. Earlier this week I received a Facebook friend request from Dana McKeon. Nothing more. Like many other people on Facebook I get friend requests from people I don't know all the time. Before accepting them I take a look at their profile page to get a sense as to why they'd like me to have access to them via Facebook and vice versa. This was how I discovered Dana's song Voice in My Head, which is available in two versions on her MySpace page.

    Others send me their CDs in the post. I cherish each and every one of those little plastic discs, especially because I realize that in the not too distant future they will no longer be a viable way to distribute music. Manipulated by Twenty-Six Other-Worlds is a little metal gem. I think it's been underrated on the local scene, partly because their long songs are not very local radio friendly. And yet their melodic hard rock is among the best in the Maltese metal scene at the minute. I've played their songs on the MMI series a couple of times before, but I wanted to end this week's podcast with their song Lady Deadly. Manipulated is among the list of nominations in the Top Album category on the 2009 MMI Listener Picks poll. Voting is only open until the end of the year, so if you haven't voted yet please do so now before it's too late.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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    Saturday, December 05, 2009

    Time To Pretend

    December brings with it a bunch of annual occurrences that mark the end of the year. The first of these is the Maltese song festival organized annually by the YTC known as L-Għanja tal-Poplu. A couple of music awards events follow it within just a few days. Meanwhile two of the three public holidays the Maltese enjoy during this month roll around and clearly it's time to share season's greetings.

    Last week I was interviewed about the Malta Music Awards by Marlene Galea from SBS Radio in Australia. She actually broadcast my comments over two days. Throughout all this, Kenneth J. Vella was rebuilding the Facebook app that enables Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast listeners to vote for their top picks from 2009. Almost 100 people have already voted in the first few days that the app has been active on Facebook. We're expecting several hundred to vote over the coming weeks; voting is open until the end of the year. The top 2009 MMI Listeners' Picks will be announced during the first podcast for 2010.

    So the 191st MMI podcast attempts to capture all this, or at least some of it, since my podcasts tend to become even more eclectic in December. I've wanted to include something by The Areola Treat this year but it's only now that I've managed to come around to it. This is possibly because the band has been too busy touring and gigging to record any new material. So from the debut EP, released last year, I've picked 16, which is more than fit for purpose.

    There are a number of performers whose work has been nominated for the 2009 MMI Listeners' Picks poll, who have released more material than what has ended up on the list receiving your votes. Two such acts are featured next in this week's podcast.

    The Myth are nominated in the singles category for Dream and in the music videos category with Animal. Their most recent release is called Thank You and I've selected to included it as the second track on this week's podcast. Similarly, Stefanos is nominated for his guitar instrumentals released online via MySpace. A few weeks ago he sent me an acoustic track called Tears in My Heart and I must admit that I prefer this sound over his electric tracks, and it serves as a very appropriate segue for the songs from L-Għanja tal-Poplu I've picked to play during the rest of this week's podcast.

    Antonio Olivari D'Emanuele and Justin Galea have teamed up on a song called Attent, which placed third in this year's YTC song contest. They are both regular listeners of the MMI podcast, so I take great pleasure in not only congratulating them but also in playing their song. I haven't received my copy of the CD album with all this year's songs yet, nor are they freely available online, but I have managed to acquire the winning song in time to include it as the closing track of this week's podcast. The 2009 Għanja tal-Poplu was won by Corazon Mizzi and Walter Micallef, whose duet is called Tal-Aħħar. Maltese songs like this give great hope to the use of our mother tongue in years to come.

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text. This podcast is brought to you by Vodafone.

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