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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Underneath the Stars

The Cure were the guest band on Jonathan Ross' chat show last night. They released an album towards the end of last year. I was quite amazed to see that Robert Smith still wears the same hairstyle and make-up as he did almost 30 years ago, and yet he didn't seem like a nostalgic throwback to the 1980s. Perhaps I was very tired after a long week at work, but I saw him as unusual and unlike anything else as ever.

I'm becoming morbidly fascinated by the aging process and how different people deal with it. An old teacher of mine told me today (in a Facebook message) that he wishes he was professionally where he is now at 66 when he was 40. And yet, so many of the artists I admire were already dead by the time they were 40 or thereabouts. Aging gracefully is not the same as living in an aging body as if your spirit refused to grow old.

Ok, enough belly-button gazing. On to this week's podcast, which is the 152nd in the weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor series. Following on from last week's episode, I've picked another 5 brand new tracks to play this week. The first three come from bands who although relatively new on the local scene are each making a splash in their own way.

Cable 35 have released a single called Mary, with an accompanying video (available on YouTube) ahead of the upcoming launch of their limited edition EP entitled Hygene. The launch party will take place at the Poxx Bar on the 14th of March and features Areola Treat as a guest band on the bill. Red Electrick follow-up on last year's successful debut single The End of It All with a single called Black 8 release for radio airplay the day before yesterday. And Colourblind return with a new single called Spectre as they announce an album, which should be "out soon".

I'm always thrilled when Maltese performers contact me to tell me about their latest recordings. The thrill is even greater when its someone I haven't heard from in a while. Sasha Vella contacted me a few days ago about the new recordings she and Sam Hayman have released on their new website. I love every one of the songs I've heard from Sasha and Sam. From the new batch I've selected Lullaby for Two, which as some beautiful echos from Erik Satie's piano style. Sasha's voice is so unusual on the local scene that I'm surprised that more people haven't already heard her sing. The new songs and website should help greatly in possibly rectifying that. I'd love to see them live some day.

Last week I mentioned Antonio Olivari's album Dark Ages, which has been released as a free download from Pinkpube. Following the preview I played from it in June 2007 (that's not a typo!) it's great to see that Olivari's music is finding a new audience through this Pinkpube release. Today I've picked The Link, the opening track from Dark Ages. I would have loved to hear the set he and saxophonist Carlo Muscat played at the book launch party for Pierre J. Mejlak's Qed Nistenniek Nieżla max-Xita last week.

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. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here.

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