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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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Thursday, December 31, 2009

See Saw

2009 is history. For the last six years I've been blogging about the ups and downs at the end of every year. Although my blog has been taken over almost completely by show notes for my weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast, I still manage to sneak in all sort of (seemingly) unrelated comments and entries on a regular basis. In any case, this whole exercise continues to simply be a collection of snapshots gathered at specific moments in time rather than a detailed chronicle.

This year, my partial and most subjective list of blog entries from the year gone by, continues to be inflected almost completely by my podcast show notes. So, in random order, here's the list of highs and lows in my year, as captured on my blog throughout 2009:

UPPERS

  • 5 Years since WPW Syndrome diagnosis and I'm still here!

  • Pierre J. Mejlak's Qed Nistenniek Nieżla max-Xita

  • MySpace lives on

  • The resurgence of Twitter as an alternative social networking utility

  • Catching up with live music in Malta: April + October

  • Discovering No Bling Show

  • Music video from No Bling Show's Lucija u Samwel

  • The MMI Podcast is now brought to you by Vodafone

  • Free Wi-fi on National Express trains

  • Visiting Moscow + Isle of Man + Hungary

  • Hello Wordpress!

  • High hopes with/for Obama

  • The joys of December

  • AHRC Sabbatical Award for 2009/10

  • Waterloo Sunset

  • 20 Years since 1989


    DOWNERS
  • 40 Years since 1969

  • The eye-watering rise of Facebook

  • Malta Eurosong 2009

  • Malta at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest

  • Failure of the Green uprising in Iran

  • January takes Mike Francis too

  • Rest in Peace, my teachers:
    Augusto Boal - Charles Camilleri - Charles Clews - Brooks McNamara

  • Rest in Peace, my friends:
    Dennis Vella - Remo Mifsud - Niki Falzon

  • ...and the icons too:
    Wendy Richard - Michael Jackson - Les Paul - Farrah Fawcett

  • So much to do, so little time

    Putting these lists together has become a wonderful way for me to reflect on the highlights and the lowpoints of the year gone by. It is one of the few things that remained consistent throughout the life of this blog. I say this mainly because I know that this blog will once again be undergoing some transformation/s in the coming weeks and months.

    Until then, I'd like to thank you for reading my blog and/or listening to my podcasts in 2009 and a special thanks if you contributed to all that in any way...I wish you a very happy new year!

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  • Tuesday, December 22, 2009

    Gone Gone Gone

    At about this time of the year for the past 9 years, Mario Axiaq and I have been putting together a list of obituaries for people known for their public life in Malta. It is an exercise that works hand in glove with Mario's AboutMalta.com project to chronicle Malta day by day and MaltaMedia's round-up of the year gone by.

    While countless tributes will be made to Michael Jackson, Mike Bongiorno, Farrah Fawcett and other well known figures outside Malta, it behooves us remember the many Maltese personalities who passed away during the past 12 months.

    Here's the list for this year, so far:

    Charles Camillieri, Composer & Musician
    (Died: 3 January 2009)

    Charles Clews, Actor & Broadcaster
    (Died: 29 January 2009)

    Alexandra Borg Olivier, Former Prime Minister's Wife
    (Died: 27 February 2009)

    Victor Tedesco, Football Club Manager
    (Died: 17 March 2009)

    Antoinette Soler, Actress
    (Died: May 2009)

    Nikki Falzon, Composer & Musician
    (Died: May 2009)

    Dennis Vella, Art Curator
    (Died: 28 July 2009)

    Clifford Micallef, Cyclist
    (Died: 30 July 2009)

    Jennie Psaila, Equestrian
    (Died: 4 August 2009)

    Desmond Vella, Entrepreneur & Promoter
    (Died: 25 August 2009)

    Joseph A Sacco, MFA Secretary General
    (Died: 9 September 2009)

    Lawrence Mintoff, Architect & Politician
    (Died: 14 September 2009)

    Remo Mifsud, Entrepreneur & Promoter
    (Died: 14 September 2009)

    Victor Diacono, Sculptor
    (Died: 22 October 2009)

    Joe A. Grima, Politician
    (Died: 2 November 2009)

    Twanny Buhagiar, Sports Journalist & Broadcaster
    (Died: 18 November 2009)

    Daniel Piscopo, Politician & Medical Doctor
    (Died: 14 December 2009)

    Angelo Fenech, Entrepreneur
    (Died: 16 December 2009)

    Lilliana Bencini, Radio Announcer
    (Died: 19 December 2009)

    Edwin Busuttil, Politician & Law Professor
    (Died: 20 December 2009)

    Victor Agius, Councilman
    (Died: 21 December 2009)

    If you think there's anyone else we should include in this list, please contact me. We'd also appreciate any corrections to dates of death as listed here, because we don't always get things 100% right.

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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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    Friday, September 25, 2009

    So Far, So Good...So What!

    I've compiled a list of alternative music from Maltese recording artists released so far in 2009. This is the fourth year that I'll be polling my blog readers and Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast listeners towards establishing the top favourite releases of the year.

    The number of new releases is already slightly larger than it has been in any year since 2006, even if, as ever, I have a feeling my list is not complete. Please let me know if you think there are any additional titles I should add to this list before starting the voting via Facebook. The list is not meant to be fully comprehensive - I am selective - but I would like to include as many titles as possible at this stage, so please don't hesitate to contact me if you think I've missed out on your favourite 2009 release. I'm also aware that there are some more releases still to come over the next few weeks. I'll be releasing a final list before the voting starts in late November.

    Here's the list so far, with respective categories in square brackets:

  • 8 Ugly - Goodbye [ Single ]
  • Aaron Benjamin - On My Mind [ Single ]
  • Abysmal Torment - Omnicide [ Album ]
  • Airport Impressions - Seeing With Eyes Closed [ EP ]
  • Airstrip One - The Ghost [ Overseas ]
  • Andrew Zammit - When All Is Gone [ Online ]
  • anti- - Tufts [ Album ]
  • Antonio Olivari - Dark Ages [ Album ]
  • Billy Lee - Don't Give Your Heart Away [ Online ]
  • Black Aura - Heavy Breathing [ Video ]
  • Bletchley Park - Fake Smiles [ Online ]
  • Brian Vassallo - In the End [ Video ]
  • Cable 35 - Hygene [ EP ]
  • Cable 35 - Mary [ Video ]
  • Carra - album? [ Overseas ]
  • Carrie Haber - It's Complex [ EP ]
  • Chiara - What If We [ Single ]
  • Chris Enriquez - Closest Thing To Love (Because of You) [ Single ]
  • Christabelle - Flame [ Single ]
  • Claudia Faniello - Wild Flower [ Video ]
  • Clement - 909 Invasion [ Online ]
  • Colourblind - Spectre [ Album ]
  • Corrupted Minds - Why Be Normal [ Online ]
  • Cygna - Kuintaar [ Online ]
  • Daniel Cassar - Around the Day in 80 Worlds [ Online ]
  • Danjeli - Kolla [ Online ]
  • Denny Falzon - This Dance is Forever [ Overseas ]
  • Demis - Senspiration [ Album ]
  • Dolls for Idols - Through the City at Night [ Online ]
  • Doubt - Floating Free [ Online ]
  • Droned - Sky Mines [ Single ]
  • Effetti Kollaterali - 33 RPM [ Online ]
  • Elyk Elymur - Dismantle and Destory [ Album ]
  • Ethnamorte - Shades of Beauty & Madness / Belt is-Seħer [ Overseas]
  • Eve Ransom - Soundtrack To A Smile [ Single ]
  • Explicit - Shame [ Single ]
  • Fire - Thrill Me [ Album ]
  • Forsaken - After the Fall [ Album ]
  • Fraser Gregory - A Garden At The Top Of The Tree [ Overseas ]
  • Freddie Portelli - Tonight [ Single ]
  • Hadrian Mansueto - Catch You [ Video ]
  • Ira Losco - Mixed Beats (The Remix Album) [ Album ]
  • Item - Give Up The Ghost [ Online ]
  • Jean Claude Vancell - Ain't Good Enough [ Single ]
  • Joe Mizzi - Age of Decay [ Overseas ]
  • Jon Lukas Woodenman - Better Man [ Overseas ]
  • Julie Ann Zahra - No One in Heaven [ Single ]
  • Kartridge - Wild Crazy Nights [ Single ]
  • Knockturn Alley - Medusa [ Album ]
  • Krafteknique - Thousand Needles [ Online ]
  • Lappalie - Sydneymoon [ Overseas ]
  • Laura Zarb Cousin - You Bruise Me [ Single ]
  • l urk - didj [ Online ]
  • Lyndsay Pace - Addicted [ Single ]
  • Macropode - Convergence [ Online ]
  • Manwel T - Virtual Dub [ Album ]
  • Manwel T Meets Mind's Eye Dub - At the Temple of Dub [ Album ]
  • Marilyn Mifsud - Where My Head's Been [ Single ]
  • Mark Axiaq - Sleeplessness [ Overseas ]
  • MC Frans - Funky Frans [ Video ]
  • Melchior Sultana - Recognize the Real [ Album ]
  • Milk Mi - Disappear [ Single ]
  • Miriam Christine - Alone Today [ Video ]
  • Muxu - Drop It (Say No No No) [ Single ]
  • Muxu - Gone [ Video ]
  • No Bling Show - Stejjer Mill-Bandli (tal-Mosta) [ Album ]
  • No Bling Show - Lucija u Samwel [ Video ]
  • NV - Envy [ Album ]
  • NV - Reason for Denying [ Single ]
  • Oliver Degabriele's Trio - Asteroid 612 [ Online ]
  • Original Cast Recording - Porn: The Musical [ Album ]
  • Pamela - Whispers [ Album ]
  • Paul Giordimaina - A Letter to Bernie [ Album ]
  • Pete Molinari - "Today, Tomorrow & Forever" [ Overseas ]
  • Plato's Dream Machine - Journey Man [ Single ]
  • ReBorn - Chew My Plasticine [ Online ]
  • Red Electrick - Black 8 / 10 Years Too Late [ Single ]
  • Relikc - Tomorrow [ Online ]
  • Renee Cassar - Live and Learn [ Overseas ]
  • Renee Cassar - Dreary Day [ Video ]
  • Retrophytes - Retrophytes [ EP ]
  • Richard Edward - Basking in Baghdad [ Single ]
  • Salt - Star [ Single ]
  • Sasha and Sam - Lullaby for Two / Nina [ Online ]
  • She2s - Bubblegum [ Video ]
  • Simon Vella - Unspoken: Sounds from Within [ Album ]
  • Skimmed - Your Head Is Too Big For Your Crown [ EP ]
  • Skullcakes - Dive [ EP ]
  • Sonitus - Asphixetamol [ Online ]
  • Stefanos - Little Thoughts / Zero Plus [ Online ]
  • Stimulus Timbre - Flowing in Your Mind [ Online ]
  • SunSatION - Disappear [ Online ]
  • Soundscape Foundation - Savannah [ Online ]
  • Sylvan Borg - Mouse by Day (Hero by Night) [ Single ]
  • Synthact - Aer [ EP ]
  • The Does - My Better Side [ Single ]
  • The Myth - Dream [ Single ]
  • The Myth - Animal [ Video ]
  • The Rifffs - Moonstomp [ Album ]
  • The Rifffs - Champagne Charlie's Ghost [ Single ]
  • Thea Saliba - On the Dancefloor [ Single ]
  • "Thomas Hedley," - In Ecstacy [ Single ]
  • Thy Legion - Sadism Through Holy Intervention [ Online ]
  • TokinToker - Elevator to the Moon [ Online ]
  • Tom Caruana - Rebel Withou Applause [ Overseas ]
  • Totema - Till I Die [ Online ]
  • Tribali - The Elephants of Lanka [ Album ]
  • Twenty-Six Other-Worlds - Incubus [ Online ]
  • U-Bahn - Beautiful Girl [ Single ]
  • Uncharted - Blame Me [ Single ]
  • Various Artists - Malta Eurosong 2009 [ Album ]
  • Various Artists - Malta Hit Song Contest 2009 [ Album ]
  • Various Artists - Tumult and Squak [ Album ]
  • Victims of Creation - Chapter 22 [ Online ]
  • Victor Chetcuti - Together Free [ Overseas ]
  • Victoria Osbourne - Filling Days [ Online ]
  • Wayne Micallef - Open Road [ Single ]
  • X-Vandals - Breach the Silence [ Album ]



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    Saturday, September 05, 2009

    Here It Comes Again

    This time of the year is the part I prefer above all others. I like it far better than Christmas, Easter or even the start of summer. From American marketers (of all people!) I've learned to call it 'back to school' time. Since I moved to the UK it has also been time when I mark the turning years I've spent working and living here.

    Since 2005, immediately after what in the States we'd call Labor Day weekend, I've also always looked forward to the Theatre & Performance Research Association conference. It's one that I've come to appreciate above all other academic gatherings, mostly because of when it happens, rather than where it takes place or what goes on during the conference itself.

    Like many others, I'm a creature of habit. I'm not too keen on routine but I love my rituals. The end of summer ritual is quite special for me. Preparing for the new academic year feels like an intellectual springtime. This year I'm particularly blessed with time off teaching to focus on finishing my Franklin Furnace book. I'm sure I'll be blogging more about that in the coming weeks, so I'll leave it at that for now.

    Soon enough, I'll also be gathering the nominations for this year's Mużika Mod Ieħor Listeners' Picks poll. Meanwhile, new releases keep coming thick and fast. Last month I received no fewer than seven CD albums, which is quite a large number when you consider that this distribution format is supposedly dancing to the sound of its death knell.

    It give me great pleasure to introduce the 178th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast with music from Joe Mizzi's new album. It's entitled Age of Decay and features 12 excellent tracks. Regular listeners of my podcast will have already heard two pre-release tracks from this album, but not that the album is out you can hear Like the Wind as the opening song.

    On the 2nd of July, Eve Ransom released their single Soundtrack to a Smile. It has been receiving considerable radio airplay in Malta, even topping the current local chart on Bay Radio for two consecutive week. It great to seem Maltese bands being given due attention by mainstream media. At the same time I'm always saddened at how selective most radio stations tend to be when it comes to the range of musical genres they're willing to include on their play-lists. As I see it, this only makes for a homogenized sound where originality is rare. Having said this, I hasten to add that it's really good for bands like Eve Ransom, who deserve all the attention they can get.

    Last year's top MMI listeners' pick in the overseas-based category came down to Airstrip One, a British band fronted by Andy Hill, who is half Maltese. Andy is visiting Malta right now so it's most appropriate to play the new track from Airstrip One. It's called The Ghost and I'm sure it'll be nominated in the 2009 MMI Listeners' Picks poll.

    I'm always thrilled to hear from Maltese musicians via MySpace, Facebook or any other way people can make contact with me. I am particularly pleased when I receive messages from people I've never met or ones I haven't heard from in yonks. Franky Camillieri falls in the latter category. Back in the early 80s, Franky was a prominent presence on the Tigne rock circuit. He is mostly remember for played keyboard with Fluid, a jazz-rock fusion band the likes of Malta had never seen before or since. Franky left Malta for the UK many years ago and has now returned with recordings featuring Tarcsio Barbara and Rebecca. He never really stopped gigging and TokinToker is his current project, which will continue with other collaborators once he returns back to England. Elevator to the Sun is an excellent rough demo of the sort of music we'll be getting from TokinToker in the coming months. I'm sure I'll play another track from Franky on another edition of the MMI podcast 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 03, 2009

    Something

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

    Life has already reminded us how cruel it can be: I was very sad indeed to hear of Charles Camilleri's passing at the age of 77 today. Mro Camilleri's death was announced after I had already finished producing the 145th edition of my Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast. So I will produce a separate (non-MMI) podcast within the next couple of days to mark his passing. Charles was very kind to me over the decades that we knew each other, and he will always have a special place in my mind as the first person I ever interviewed on the radio at the very start of my broadcasting career almost 25 years ago.

    The Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast returns after a two-week break over the Christmas period. This week's edition features music from the 2008 Listeners' Picks poll, which we carried out on Facebook over the last five or six weeks. 574 people cast their votes on the 2008 poll. This is more than double the number of people who voted the previous year.

    55% of all voters cast their preference in the Top Album category. Ira Losco's Fortune teller received 18.5% of these votes but, as expected, Brikkuni's Kuntrabanda! was selected as the the Top Album for 2008, with 21.3% of the votes in this category. The track I've selected from Kuntrabanda! is the band's excellent version of Danjeli's Iż-Żufjett, which comes across as one of the most amazing Maltese songs ever written.

    Thea Saliba's popularity as the singer for Malta's entry at to the 2005 Junior Eurovision Song Contest helped her achieve a considerable number of votes in the 2008 Top Single category. 58% of all voters cast their preference for Top Single and Thea's Musilicious received 13.5% of these 333 votes. However, popular Christian rock band Salt managed to garner 15.9% of the preferences in this category with Jars of Clay. My personal preference was for The Rifffs Magic of the Sun, but I believe that Salt's Jars of Clay is a very worthy winner of the MMI 2008 Top Single accolade.

    Claudio Baglioni's version of L-Aħħar Bidwi f'Wied il-Għasel attracted 24.7% of the 198 votes cast in the Malta-related Overseas Release category. However, British band Airstrip One (whose Andrew Hill qualifies them in this category through his Maltese parentage) received 30.3% of the votes in this category for their EP Into the Silence. From this EP I've selected Crashing Cars, which is a much heavier offering from this band than most of their other songs. I have a feeling that Andy Hill will be making a splash on the Maltese alternative scene this year.

    291 votes were submitted in the Top Online Release category. Ezzy's Puzzle People is clearly the most supported selection here with 21% of the votes. Still, for the first 3 or 4 weeks, Synthax & Chemicals looked like they could be the winners in this category with their online release Next to Hell. In the end, they only managed to secure 14.1% of all the preferences in this category.

    I'd like to give an honourable mention to the outstanding Gozitan duo Chasing Pandora. I have a feeling that if rather than two EPs they had released an album during 2008 or just one EP they would be among the listeners' top picks. Two and Wide Eyed Beauty together received 23.8% of the overall votes, which is 2.5% more than Brikkuni's album. They clearly have a much deserved group of fans who adore them. The video for their song Memories (from the EP Two) received 3 more votes than The Beangrowers' Not In A Million Lovers, but 4 less than the 60 to Wax's Thoughts. Wax also won the 2008 Virtual Rockstar contest by Malta's XFM. I hope that the following and success they've built over the last year or so propels them into greater things in 2009.

    Back to the 2008 Top EP category, it looked like Baz and Max Cilia (as Spriggan Mist) were set to clinch this title for their Konditions of Change. They ran a vigorous campaign for votes on Facebook but in the end Just Rock by nosnow/noalps gathered 24.6% of the 321 votes in this category. Their song Headset -- which incidentally has a great video to go with it -- brings the podcast to a close. In parting, I should also mention that nosnow/noalps managed to attract the largest number of votes out of all this year's nominations, with 13.6% of the 574 total voters behind them...just 0.4% ahead of Chasing Pandora.

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

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    Wednesday, December 31, 2008

    See Saw

    2008 is history. For the last five years I've been blogging about the ups and downs at the end of every year. Things have changed somewhat since 2004 around here, mostly because my blog has been taken over almost completely by show notes for my weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast. I have no real regrets about that. If I had more (free) time I'd probably blog more often between podcasts.

    So, my annual partial, most subjective, list of blog entries from the year gone by, in random order is marinated in podcast show notes. In any case, this list is meant mostly as a simple way to mark the highs and lows in my year, as chronicled on my blog throughout 2008:


    UPPERS

  • Speaking about Performance in Second Life at the IOCT

  • Undergoing colonoscopy at Whitby Hospital

  • The 100th episode in my weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcasting series

  • Could I possibly ever live in Malta again?

  • The Maltese blogosphere is dead! Long live the Maltese blogosphere

  • Claudio Baglioni's version of L-Aħħar Bidwi f'Wied il-Għasel

  • Diana Gurtskaya singing Peace Will Come (Georgia's 2008 ESC entry)

  • I have one word for you: Facebook

  • Public transport in Malta will never be the same again

  • Best Dr Who episode, ever

  • Xtruppaw return to delight a live audience

  • Philip Auslander is not dead!

  • Being a student at Beached Academy

  • Appearing on Bondi+ via web-based video chat

  • Interview on SBS radio in Australia

  • CDs: Brikkuni's Kuntrabanda! and Magic of the Sun by The Rifffs

  • Marking 10 years since the first MaltaMedia production

    DOWNERS

  • Malta Song for Europe 2008 - semifinal

  • Malta Song for Europe 2008 - final

  • Hard disk meltdown!

  • 2008 Malta General Elections

  • Malta's entry at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest

  • Remodeling our kitchen

  • Christmas comes a little too early

    RIP: Roland Friggieri, Ebba von Fersen Balzan, Albert Hofmann, Sir Anthony Mamo, George Carlin, Bo Diddley, Kilin, and Manwel Borg.

    Not counting the departed friends and icons, this year seem to be considerably abundant in the ups and somewhat scarce on the downers.

    I'd like to thank you for reading my blog and/or listening to my podcasts in 2008 and a special thanks if you contributed to all that in any way...I wish you a very happy new year!


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  • Saturday, December 20, 2008

    Gone Gone Gone

    At about this time of the year for the past 8 years, Mario Axiaq and I have been putting together a list of obituaries for people known for their public life in Malta. It is an exercise that works hand in glove with Mario's aboutmalta.com project to chronicle Malta day by day and MaltaMedia's round-up of the year gone by.

    In compiling this year's list I became aware that Manuel Borg, a former colleague of mine at Radio Malta, passed away this summer. I was not only shocked that he died at such a relatively young age (he was just 57 year old) but also that somehow the news of his passing didn't reach me until Mario and I started comparing the lists we had put together separately since last Christmas.

    I first heard of Manuel Borg's name as a radio producer on a multi-part rock documentary presented by Albert Zammit around 1981 on Radio Malta. Eventually, I caught his name again as co-producer on Twanny Scerri's various shows featuring Italian music. When I started my career in broadcasting just a few years later, Manuel was one of the technical crew I worked with regularly at Radio Malta. He and I became good friends and eventually co-produced a 13-part series commemorating the tenth anniversary since John Lennon's murder, starting on what would have been his 50th birthday in October 1990. It was the last year that Radio Malta enjoyed as the only radio station in the country. Manuel and I knew it was the end of an era. Just a few months later I quit my full-time job at Xandir Malta, which also meant that he and I never had the opportunity to work together again.

    Truth be told, after I had taken up my management job at Radio One Live, I had called on him to help me put together a decent collection of Italian music. I will always remember Manuel Borg whenever I hear a song by Lucio Battisti, I Camaleonti, I Giganti, Matia Bazar, or most other decent Italian acts And so should generations of Maltese radio listeners, particularly those who didn't watch much TV in the late 70s or 1980s. In any case, on a personal level, I'm most saddened by Manuel's death and I'm sorry I'll never see him again, even if the last couple of times we met we didn't really have much to say to each other beyond the obvious.

    Here's the list for this year, so far:

    ROBERT NAUDI, Politician
    (Died: 2 January 2008)

    EMANUEL FIORENTINO, Art Critic
    (Died: 13 January 2008)

    JOSEPH M. GERADA, Tradeunionist
    (Died: 30 January 2008)

    CARM LINO SPITERI, Politician
    (Died: 9 February 2008)

    GEMMA PORTELLI, Actress
    (Died: 21 February 2008)

    ALBERT RIZZO, Politician
    (Died: 29 February 2008)

    EBBA VON FERSEN BALZAN, Artist
    (Died: 15 March 2008)

    EMANUEL ABELA, Civil Servant
    (Died: 9 April 2008)

    SIR ANTHONY MAMO, President
    (Died: 1 May 2008)

    KILIN SPITERI, Author
    (Died: 8 July 2008)

    MANWEL BORG, Broadcaster
    (Died: 5 August 2008)

    JOE MERCIECA, Journalist
    (Died: 13 August 2008)

    GEORGE DOUGALL, Broadcaster
    (Died: 3 October 2008)

    KARL CHIRCOP, Politician
    (Died: 12 October 2008)

    ANTON AGIUS, Artist
    (Died: 19 October 2008)

    JADE BRINCAT, Musician
    (Died: 12 November 2008)

    SALVINU SCHEMBRI, Footballer
    (Died: 14 December 2008)

    EVELYN BONACI, Politician
    (Died: 15 December 2008)

    If you think there's anyone else we should include in this list, please contact me. We'd also appreciate any corrections to dates of death as listed here, because we don't always get things 100% right.

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    Saturday, December 13, 2008

    It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

    It may just be that this is the earliest I've ever been grabbed by the Christmas spirit. It feels quite odd, particularly because there's at least one whole week of lectures and meetings at our university before campus starts looking like a ghost town. If I stop and think a bit why I'm feeling Christmas in the air earlier than usual this year, I'd probably say it's the dark rum and pre-production on this week's Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast.

    For the first time in years there seems to be a steady flow of new Christmas music from Malta. Some of it is far too saccharine sweet for my taste but there are a song or two that I'm more than happy to include on my weekly podcast. The first of these is Shilloo's Tree Christmastime is Here. The lyrical twist is quite refreshing and all the British references are an excellent example of the strong influence the colonial years have had on contemporary Maltese culture.

    I didn't want to turn this week's podcast into a Christmas special, so I've also included one non-seasonal track. Hadrian Mansueto's music would have probably made it to my list of nomination for the 2008 MMI Listerers' Picks poll, if I had discovered it earlier. Voting is now underway via Facebook until the 3rd of January 2009 but I still wanted to sneak in Manseuto's music before the end of the year. Running Away has hints of The Doors' Riders on the Storm (if not an actual sample!) and it's as good as way as any to introduce this young musician to the MMI podcast listeners.

    Back to the Christmas stuff: I was very pleased to be included in the publicity drive for Muttley's latest project, now that he has returned to Malta. Recording as Mutt Ley, he has teamed up with Gianni Zammit and Chris & Moira to deliver a new yuletide song called Christmas Time. Better still, all money generated from this song will be given to away to charity.

    As Christmas is all about good cheer, I wanted to share one of the best Maltese musical moments from this season with my podcast listeners this week. X-Tend double CD Sbieħ il-Milied from 1991 was not only one of the most forward looking Christmas projects ever produced on the local scene, but also the very first double CD produced in Malta. My favourite track of all from that work is Il-Wasla tas-Slaten Maġi. It shows Charlie Dalli at his absolute best, both as a songwriter, a daring performer, and a collaborative maverick the likes of which I've rarely met.

    The alternative view of Christmas (finally) has its own champions too. I haven't managed to get my hands on the Jingle Punk CD released (recently?) by Pupi tal-Logħob, but I'm still able to close this week's podcast with their wickedly delightful Wasal il-Milied based on the traditional carol named after Good King Wenceslas. It's an excellent way to end this year's Mużika Mod Ieħor offerings.

    The next MMI podcast will appear on Saturday 3rd January 2009 and it will feature the top picks by my listeners and others voting on Facebook for the favourite 2008 Maltese music releases. Until then, over the next two weekend, 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. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here.

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    Saturday, November 29, 2008

    Power to the People

    It's finally time for all my Mużika Mod Ieħor listeners to vote for their top picks out of all the Maltese releases from 2008. This year's poll is once again being carried out via Facebook. James Attard has reactivated the Facebook app we created last year for yet another round of voting.

    The categories remain the same as last year, with the slight difference that singles and EPs are now separate. The volume of releases has increased so much this year that this spilt will undoubtedly be welcome by all. The video section has been retained, even though there are considerably fewer nominations this year in that category.

    I have my personal preferences, of course, and if you're one of the first people to vote and/or you listen to my podcast regularly you'll know what they are. Alternatively you can wait until the first podcast of 2009, when the official picks are announced and I compare the public top selections to my own. Voting continues the the second day of the new year and the results will be announced in a special podcast on Saturday 3rd January 2009.

    Meanwhile my weekly MMI podcasting series continues regularly until the Christmas holidays. This week's edition open's with the music of an English singer-songwriter of Maltese descent. Victor Chetcuti's dad was Maltese but he was born in the UK to an Irish mother. I'm surprised that it has taken me this long to discover his work. He's been quite active in the last few years and is now on the verge of releasing his third album. From his 2007 CD I've picked a song called Thinking of You. Listeners can rest assured that I will be featuring a track or two from the new album next year.

    To announce the 2008 MMI Listener's Picks poll, I wanted to play something from one of last year's top vote recipients. Mathematikal received the most votes in the based-overseas category for their Electrophant EP. Now that they're back in Malta they've been as active as ever, even if they're not nominated in any of this year's categories. Their remix of the Beangrowers' Good Band Bad Name can be heard as the second track on this week's podcast. It also gives me the opportunity to mention that the album from which the original version of that song is taken, Not in a Million Lovers, is among those nominated.

    Incidentally, Mathematikal are appearing at the Poxx Bar in Paceville tonight in another evening of The Devil Digs Rave, along with Vinnie Vintage. Having attended a very similar gig last March I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to explore Malta's underground music scene.

    The inevitable releases I should have included on the 2008 MMI poll but didn't will now start dropping like flies, of course. The first of these is an EP called Extreme Dancefloor featuring tracks by Melchior Sultana and Kevin Call a.k.a. DJ Nojz. It was release last April, but I only became aware of it a couple of days ago when Melchior contacted me with some other tracks that he recorded more recently. Anyway, this is how it goes every year and I guess by now we've all come to expect this, regardless.

    For the rest of this week's podcast I've selected tracks by Melchior Sultana and DJ Nojz. The first is Melchior's The Life I Lived, which is not on the EP I just mentioned. The other, by DJ Nojz, comes from that EP and it's a techno number called Metobo.

    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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    Saturday, June 14, 2008

    Better Get To Livin'

    As the academic year winds to a gradual close I start looking at the best way to organize my summer. As you would expect, my 'to do' list is never-ending. However, for once in recent years I can see myself setting myself enough time to really feel that the summer has not passed me by once September rolls along.

    One thing you can certainly continue count on is my weekly podcast. A glut of releases will undoubtedly appear over the coming months. This will not only make for several action packed editions of MMI but also continue to validate my plans to look at working on studying various aspects of Maltese music and music-making in the coming years.

    The 118th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast opens with a song by Miriam Christine. She recently returned to the Malta Hit Song Contest, which I originally mentioned on an earlier edition of my weekly series last February. This TV contest is now approaching its final and Alone Today is one of the 11 songs that have made it to the final. I may actually return to this TV show to play you one more song in the coming weeks. As for the rest of the songs, I'd better not say anything else since I have very little that's useful to say.

    Moving swiftly on to the sublime, I'd like to draw your attention to the upcoming live concert of Danjeli's Kakofonija (his most excellent album from 2007, which you can still download for free here) at Warehouse Number 8 in Marsa on Saturday 21 June at 9pm. Joining Danjeli on stage will be several of his recent collaborators, including Jon 'Pen' Mallia (from Sixth Simfoni) as M.C., Mario Vella (from Brikkuni) on vocals, Andrew Alamngo (from Etnika), Jimmy Grima on alto sax, and Michael Galea on drums among others. This event is not to be missed if you're in Malta, especially if you'd like to sample authentic Maltese music for the early 21th century.

    From time to time I'm contacted by musicians I've featured on previous editions of my podcast. Brian Vassallo contacted me a few weeks ago to thank me for featuring something from his debut album from way back in 1998 in one of my podcasts. He is now about to release a new album called Angelique Beute. From it you can hear a track called The Eyes of Mercy. He's be releasing another track from this new album before it actually appears later this summer. All should be well received from anyone who likes popular instrumental electronic music.

    In last week's podcast I included a song from Ambulanza, the Polish funk band fronted by Mario Cordina. He drew my attention to the fact that one of his other Polish bands, Skambomambo has recently released a CD called Made in Polska. So, to close this week's podcast, I've selected Taxi Driver from this CD. I'm in awe of Mario and how prolific he is in his music activities in and around Szczecin. If you've never heard of him before I recommend that you listen to the special podcast I dedicated to him earlier on in the MMI series.

    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 add the latest episodes to your My Yahoo! page. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here.

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    Friday, March 21, 2008

    Lacrimosa

    On Good Friday morning I've taken to playing the double CD of Jesus Christ Superstar by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber: the original London concept version from 1969 featuring Ian Gillan before he became famous as Deep Purple's singer. It's a ritual that strangely connects me to my childhood in Malta during Easter time, particularly Good Friday, for a number of reasons, some of which I've already mentioned in a previous blog entry. My fraternal friend Immanuel Mifsud plays Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in a similar ritual on the first day of spring. Oddly enough, this year they both fall on the same day.

    On this quiet day I can't fail to think about some of the deaths we heard about in recent days. First on the list is artist Ebba von Fersen Balzan who passed away at Mater Dei Hospital last Sunday. I only met Ebba a couple of times. Once at the home she shared with her husband Saviour in Naxxar at the the of the 1980s and then one other time at an art event in the early 1990s. It's always sad to hear of people who die young. Ebba was 50 and that's far too young to die. The same goes for film-maker Anthony Minghella, a former drama student and lecturer at the University of Hull, who lost his life unexpectedly mid-week at the age of 54. I'm sure they both still had a lot to offer in making other people's lives more enjoyable.

    Death is saddening whenever it comes. It's an irrevocable end like no other. It's one of the subjects that makes frequent appearances on my blog. I'm moved by death even when it befalls older individuals. Two such moments happened on Wednesday this week with visionary writer Arthur C. Clarke at 90 years old and actor Paul Scofield at 86. Both played a significant part in my creative imagination as a teenager. Scofield with his iconic film acting and Clarke with his TV series Mysterious World more than his futurist views on 2001.

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    Saturday, February 02, 2008

    Thank You for the Music

    Looks like we made it. It gives me great pleasure to announce the 100th edition of my weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast. It's really just another one in the series but because 100 has special significance in metric counting a celebration of one sort or other is in order.

    Aside from using the occasion to bring my podcast to the attention of a larger audience I'd also like to thank all the loyal listeners, especially those who have followed Mużika Mod Ieħor since it first appeared in November 2005. Podcasting has enabled my return to regular appointments behind a microphone. Regular broadcasting is something I hadn't done since about 1999, after many years listing "broadcaster" as my profession. Though the MaltaMedia Online Network, I've been exploring the possibilities of webcasting since 1998. My personal highlight in all the webcasting with MaltaMedia is undoubtedly the audio reports I recorded in response to the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Those webcasts appeared again in September 2005 as MaltaMedia's first podcasting series, which was undoubtedly the world's first series of podcasts in the Maltese language. Mużika Mod Ieħor started soon after that with the first podcast appearing on Saturday 13 November 2005.

    I was tempted to include my favourite tracks from the first 99 podcasts on this edition. As I'm not the nostalgic type I chose to open the podcast with a brand new recording from Fakawi, one of Malta's most entertaining bands. They've just released their Smart Song, which is a send-up of all the buzz surrounding the launch of Malta's Smart City. I didn't need to have my arm twisted to play this song on my 100th podcast. The fact that my old friend Mark Attard is the keyboardist for this band earned them enough points to make it to this week's playlist without any resistance.

    Making sure that the tracks I selected for this week's podcast were all special for one reason or another, I chose to include a rare recording by the late 80s band Ophidian Twin. As you may recall from a previous edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor, this band was among those that appeared on Mill-Garaxx, the TV series I produced and presented back in 1989, under the direction of my departed friend Mario Ellul. Cameron's Closet is one of two songs The Ophidian Twin played live in the main TVM studio all those years ago. It would be really great if I could get a hold of some of the other recordings that appeared on Mill-Garaxx. Unfortunately there's no official archive of the recordings at TVM, but I have a feeling that some people here and there may have VHS recordings they taped off the air when the programme first aired. If you have one of those recordings, please please please get in touch with me. I've included another track by the Ophidian Twin from Mill-Garaxx at the bottom of this blog entry, which I recently uploaded to YouTube.

    To my mind, it's hard to follow a recording from Mill-Garaxx with something that's not extremely outstanding. Danjeli's 2007 album Kakofonija does the trick beautifully. It's my top personal pick from all the Maltese recordings released last year. Appropriately, the track I've chosen for this week's podcast is called Interludju. If you haven't heard this brilliant album yet, just head over to Pinkpube.com where you can download a full copy at no charge.

    To mark my penchant for including music my overseas based Maltese musicians or musicians of Maltese descent I've included the track Filfla from the CD Temples of Devotion by Australian band Skorba. Andy Busuttil's band has been featured on a earlier edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor and their album received my personal vote for top overseas-based released in the 2007 MMI poll that appeared on Facebook a few weeks ago. It's wonderful to be able to add this band to the list of recommendations for anyone who likes Maltese combos like Etnika, Nafra, or even Tribali.

    A special MMI podcast such as the one I'm presenting today would not be complete without something from Xtruppaw. While we wait for their second album (currently still in pre-production) we can still enjoy the most excellent debut release, Is-CD tal-iXtruppaw. That album is a must-have in CD format for any fan of contemporary Maltese music. I've picked L-Għanja tal-iXtruppaw from it to close the 100th podcast with music from the same band that opened the very first podcast in the series. Interestingly, this recording had not been made when the weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast first appeared.

    So now on to the next 100 podcasts. At an almost weekly rate it should take just over two more years to get to the 200th podcast in the series. If all goes well, the 200th edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor should appear sometime in the spring of 2010. All I can add is that I'm really excited about all the new music and other rare recordings we'll be discovering together between now and then on this series.

    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 add the latest episodes to your My Yahoo! page. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here.

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    Saturday, January 05, 2008

    Jigsaw Falling Into Place

    2008 looks like it's going to be a very eventful year. And is it just me or does it seem like there's lots of things going on already? I've always thought that the new year takes a week or two to get back in gear after the holidays, but this year seems like the exception to prove the rule.

    Anyway, the true purpose of this blog entry is to bring you news of a podcast featuring the Listeners' Picks from Maltese music released in 2007. The songs selected to top each of the five categories are but a sample of the excellent releases from last year. I've already shared my observations about the smorgasbord on offer in 2007 elsewhere. I would not have been surprised if the final results on the poll for 2007 was different than what we've actually ended up with. In some cases the number of votes was very close.

    Scream Daisy had Ira Losco hot on their tail for weeks in the 2007 Top Albums category. The band managed to outdo the former Eurovision singer with just 4 votes. On the other hand, Scream Daisy's Pretty was voted the 2007 Top Online Music Video garnering more than twice the votes of the next contenders on the list, who were Winter Moods with their video for Marigold beautifully shot at the Manoel Theatre. Scream Daisy were the runner-up in last year's Singles/EPs category, so I'm not surprised that they've swept the board in two categories this year.

    Two bands managed to get an equal number of votes at the top of the 2007 Singles/EPs list. Xtruppaw undoubtedly delighted thousands with their Forza Malta (B'Għajta Waħda) while The Rifffs more than made up for last year's position with Jack the Ripper, the follow-up single their comeback release Life of Crime from 2006.

    The top place in the 2007 Internet Releases category was also equally conquered by two acts. Ray Mercieca's other band, The Characters, hit the spot with their power track One In A Million, the second of their releases for 2007. Yet the great and pleasant surprise is to see newcomer Dean Saviour receive as many votes as the behemoth band. His Marshmallow Girl is a delightful song indeed. I always expect newcomers to do well in this category but now that established acts are also using the Internet to release new material it stands to reason that its not as much a foregone clear win for newcomers. The Areola Treat would have certainly picked up more votes had their been fewer well known names on this list. I have great expectations for this band in 2008.

    Mathematikal came out the clear victors in the 2007 Overseas-based Releases. Their Electrophant EP clearly shows why not everybody with a computer can produce electronic music worth listening to. Jon and Jay have a broad musical sensibility, which is something that can't escape any discerning listener. No other overseas-based released managed to receive more than half the votes they got. I'm very pleased that the 2007 list of overseas-based artists is much broader than the one we had the previous year.

    All in all, I'd have liked to seen Danjeli's outstanding Kakofonija album receive more votes, but I have a feeling that most people's taste in music is more conservative than mine. This poll is not about my personal picks but you can say that to some degree my choice of nominations flavors the whole process. We'll see what this year brings...but I'm pretty sure we'll find a number of releases to admire and rave about before this time next year. As that famous line for the old Bette Davis movie goes: "don't let's ask for the moon...we have the stars!"

    I'm quite satisfied with the way the voting worked out on Facebook. I'm forever grateful to my friend James Attard who developed the app that has enabled everyone to vote on Facebook this year. I'm sure we'll enhance it some more next year, whether we keep it on Facebook or not.

    Speaking of enhancements, this edition of the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is a special edition in that it presents the results of the Listeners' Picks from 2007. In keeping with a tradition I started last year in an attempt make it even more special by presenting it in an enhanced version. I'll be working on that over the next day and I'll post some more information about it as soon as it is available.

    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 add the latest episodes to your My Yahoo! page. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here.

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    Monday, December 31, 2007

    See Saw

    2007 is history. If you've followed this blog for more than a year you probably already know that I at the end of every eyar I take stock of the previous 12 months. This all started in 2004 and went on with slight variations the following year and last year. I've come to see it as a way to have a quck look at all (or most of) my blog entries in one go.

    So now, for the fourt consecutive year here's a partial, most subjective, list of blog entries from the year gone by, in random order. This list is only meant to mark the highs and lows in my year, as chronicled on my blog throughout 2007:

    UPPERS

  • Interview on BBC Radio York

  • World's first enhanced Maltese podcasts

  • Results of the 1st annual MMI Listeners' Picks + MMI podcast: 50th & 75th

  • Oliva Lewis wins the 2007 Malta Song for Europe

  • Easter in Malta

  • Visiting the National Media Museum with my students.

  • Lunar Eclipse + Eklissi Perpetwi

  • Pierre J. Mejlak's Riħ Isfel

  • Second Life - YouTube - Twitter - Facebook

  • Visiting Helsinki and the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest debacle

  • Post-Eurovision comments for Malta Today

  • The Simpsons Movie

  • Conferences: SL in London + SL-related in Salford

  • Discovering Drive + Dean Saviour

  • Patti Smith, Radiohead's In Rainbows + Danjeli's Kakofonija on my iPod

  • Taking the 2nd annual MMI Listeners' Picks poll to Facebook


    DOWNERS
  • Morrissey is not the UK Eurovision entry

  • RIP: Apakuki Coka - Jean Baudrillard - David Hatch - Bergman+Antonioni - Tony Wilson - Marcel Marceau - Karlheinz Stockhousen

  • My friend Ġorġ Mifsud-Chircop is dead

  • Olivia Lewis' drean turns into a nightmare

  • Big Brother (not the celebrity version)

  • 10th anniversary from Diana's death

  • Summer bummer

  • Radio Malta sinks to further low

  • Xtruppaw return on the scene with a football anthem

    In putting these two lists together I realized that there were a number of things in 2007 I'd have liked to blog about properly but didn't find the time or the muse to do so. At least most of them get a mention here and there, in unrelated posts. Here are the main ones (in random order): Frank Camilleri and Mario Frendo visit Scarborough, Pan's Labyrinth, Amy Winehouse, moving house, transliteracy, 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Steve Dixon's Digital Performance book, support for the Burmese monks, attending academic conferences in Birmingham + Leeds, the joys of organic gardening, Yoko Ono's Yes I'm a Witch, and Joni Mitchell's Shine.

    One thing I (very oddly!) didn't blog about was my interview with Clare Agius for her Mhux għall-Kulħadd on TV series. It's available on YouTube, of course. Perhaps that's why I forgot to blog about it.

    Anyway, many thanks for reading my blog and listening to my podcasts in 2007 and a special thanks if you contributed to all that in any way...I wish you a very happy new year!

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