For Strings Inn – Revolution
They’re back with a new song. Here’s the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK9IGnAxK4g
Cable 35 – Rental Sunshine
New EP coming out soon, followed by an impressive international tour. Here’s the video for this song:
Lauren Aquilina – Wanderlust
Comic Relief 2013 release. Pay what you will download (donations for Comic Relief, actually) available. Here’s the video for this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WefROG2BGUo
Ġenio l-Majċa – It-Tmiem Wasal
One of two tracks in Maltese on this week’s podcast. Did you really think I’d pass up an opportunity to play some decent hip hop in Maltese. Il-Majċa is getting better all the time.
Divine Sinners – Jekk Tfakkarni Ismek
They’ve finally released a new song in Maltese. I like it and hope they give up more songs in Maltese over the coming months and years.
Melbourne Ska Orchestra – Lygone Street Meldown
During my recent visit to Australia I met Nicky Bomba’s family but not the man himself as he was away while I was there. Keeping himself busy as ever he has now released an album with the Melbourne Ska Orchestra featuring several classic-style ska numbers, both old and new. This is one of the new ones while the video below shows one of the standard reworkings.
Thomas Hedley – Almost a Miricle
Yet another catchy single from Thomas Hedley who continues to delight pop fans everywhere, even though he has never really thrown himself into any serious limelight. This should receive some decent airplay in Malta and judging by the local PRS charts it looks like it’s already doing a fair bit of that.
FellowFish – Happiness
The long awaited debut album from FellowFish (wait, I could have sworn they’ve already released another one!) is available to download from the Bandcamp site for a modest price. This track is being billed as the third single from the album and will possibly even have a video in the coming days. If it appears you can rest assured that I’ll include it here.
Skimmed – Isobel
Ronnie (see video below) is the official single from Skimmed’s album Summer Lovers, which was released just a few days ago in Valletta. As I’ve already played that track on a previous edition of the MMI podcast, I thought it would be appropriate to include another track from the album. So I’ve picked this one. As alternative rock from Malta sung in English goes these days, it really doesn’t get much better than this.
The Creepers – Woman
One more track and one more band from the 2013 Hard Rock Rising offerings hoping to be the local offering for the Global Battle of the Bands. This band has a very crisp classic blues revival sound reminiscent of some early Clapton work or even Fleetwood Mac from the Peter Green era. By nature, new blues songs are not very original but this one still sounds quite good.
Sensitive Skin – Sweet Sister
Don’t really know much about this duo because their Facebook page and Reverbnation profile have very little information on them other than some photos of the band and details about some gigs and this debut release. The video for it looks rather good so they don’t seem to be a flash in the pan. Let’s hope they release a follow-up soon, along with some details about the band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV_JG8dAaCw
Mojo – Shut Within
Another new band I’ve been wanting to feature on my podcast for a while. They’ve released this song for the 2013 Hard Rock Rising contest, hoping to be the entry from Malta for the Global Battle of the Bands this summer. I think they stand a good fighting chance, and even if they don’t this song is well worth listening to, as will be anything else they’ll release in the coming months and years.
Emanuel Anthony – Change
Emanuel Anthony Camilleri released this song several weeks ago. I actually think it was late in 2012 when this release came to my attention. By any rate, it’s been a while that I’ve wanted to include it on one of my podcasts and finally here it is. It’s quite a good song, and is especially delicious for any one who like this style of soft rock.
The Counterbalance Project – Inception
This is another new band that contacted me to tell me about their debut release. I really appreciate performers who do this, as it give me access to things I may otherwise not notice on YouTube, Facebook or some other online channel among all the clutter and junk that’s out there. This is a self-proclaimed experimental project from Aaron Dimech & Conrad Dimech, who are not related, even though they share a family name. As you can see from the video, they’ve enlisted Danielle Ciantar as a singer on this track and Jean-Luc Camilleri from the band Sugar Rush plays drums. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from them this year.
Ascendor – In the Hand of the Enemy I’ve pick one more band from the 2013 Hard Rock Rising Contest to close this week’s podcast. This is a new metal band from Gozo who contacted me about this debut release before I knew they were taking part in the local contest for the Global Battle of the Bands. For a first outing they have some really interesting things going on in this song. The recording could do with better production values but I’m sure that this will come around sooner or later, if they stay together long enough.
Sophie Debattista – Up the Wall
Sophie Debattista has grown up. Seriously. This is not a song by a juvenile performer. The Junior Eurovision Song Contest jars in the context of this song. She still looks like a cute child but her voice her shows its grown up potential fully. It’s a pity that her promoter/s are still pushing saccharine-covered cover of such great classics as Sunny. Seriously, only Boney M could top the original. Instead I sincerely hope that this song, which was actually released without much fanfare about a year ago, is the shape (or should that be sound) of things to come for Sophie.
Funk Initiative – Architects
Now that singer Gianluca Bezzina is a household name across the Maltese islands, his band have done what they were planning to do anyway, or what any savvy act would do: they’ve released a new single with an accompanying video. This one, written by keyboardist Paul Torpiano, has clearly been a long time in the making. The video features the annual Architecture vs Law Student waterfight that takes place at the University of Malta. The song was officially release last Tuesday.
Caravana Sun – The Bottle
Luke Caruana was one the musicians I didn’t manage to meet during my recent visit to Australia. This song was released just before Christmas and now there’s also a video for it so I thought I’d include it. Truth be told I still need to process all the encounters and interesting experiences I had during my visit down under, and this is a good way to get me in a moos for that. If none of this means anything to you, I have a feeling you’ll still like the video.
Bletchley Park – Planets Move Faster
Released as a second single from last year’s album My Body Fighting, this is another typical song from Bletchley Park. I’d have thought there would be a video for it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one appeared on YouTube in the coming weeks. If it does you can be sure that I’ll add it here. Meanwhile you can expect that this new release, so to speak, will secure some much coveted radio airplay for the band. If you like English-language contemporary rock by Maltese bands, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Gozo Drum Tribe – Sansales
So called World Music has been gaining popularity in the Maltese islands over the past decade or so. It’s therefore not surprising that yet another band sporting a didgeridoo has hit the local music scene; they’ve actually been active for a couple of years. This is a genuine, bone fide percussion ensemble as you can see from this video. It is lead by Eugene Bajada, who is also known as the percussionist from the Divine Sinners, who’s Bipolar Overdrive was voted Top Online Release in last year’s MMI Listeners’ Picks Poll. You can catch the Gozo Drum Tribe live tonight (as I write this!) at the Captain’s Table in Xlendi.
Roderz – Peppered Spray
As promised, I’m rounding up this week’s podcast with yet another track competing in the Global Battle of the Bands: Hard Rock Rising 2013. Roderick Micallef records as Roderz and he has released a number of tracks through Reverbnation. Here’s the one he has entered for this contest and it’s quite a good piece of electronica. Sounds great with good bass enabled headphones. Try it!
