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Show notes for the 310th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Tenishia – As It Should
Following last year’s success with the album Frozen Roads, Malta’s foremost electronic dance music duo return with a new album entitled Memory of a Dream. This particular track features the voice of Jan Johnstone and comes with a video that makes life in Malta look much more glamorous than it really is for most people. Perhaps this is indeed as it should be.

Toby feat. Marilyn Mifsud – Mitluf
It’s admirable that Toby Farrugia is acknowledging his Maltese heritage on his new album with this track. The album is called Traveling Without Moving and will be released tomorrow, 2 September 2012, at the Lovesexy event taking place at Ta’ Qali. Perhaps one day Toby will get even more adventurous and stop playing the tourist among the glorious wonders of his land of birth. Meanwhile this new offering will surely delight his many fans.

Duo Blank – Stars on Mars
After this song was released as a single last year, I was delighted to see it not only return as a track (with a variation) on Edwin Balzan and Frank Cachia’s Propeller album earlier this year, but now also as a rather unusual video featuring the ever-delightful Undine LaVerve, directed by Ramon Mizzi, who is no stranger to the local music scene. Well, at least the release of the video has given me the opportunity to play this song again on this edition of the MMI podcast. Perhaps in time we’ll come to see this as one of the classic tracks on the local music scene. Why not?

Ethnamorte – Belt is-Seħer (Tissabbat m’Alla mix)
This is another song I’ve feature on a previous edition of the MMI podcast. However, this remix is simply to outrageous to pass up, so I’ve gladly included it on today’s show, even though I actually prefer the original by far. Perhaps it will serve to introduce this rather eclectic band to a new audience looking for something rather different from the usual sights and 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 enjoy listening to the podcast on the player right below this text. Perhaps you’ll like it!

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Show notes for the 309th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Maria Lewis – Caccini’s Ave Maria
Maria Lewis is no ordinary Maltese singer. Aside from the fact that she is half-Welsh, she has always operated on the fringes of the Maltese music scene, even though she may be known to die-hard pop audiences through her various appearances with her sister Stephanie as the duo Starbrights. I remember them well in children’s song contests and making their first national debut at the 1991 Malta Song for Europe. More recently (about 4 years ago) they were also featured on the MMI podcast with their folksie pop. Finally Maria seems to have found her true calling in music. This is a veritable showcase for her lovely voice and I hope she keeps going in this new direction in the coming years.

The Sylvan Aaron Massacre – Tear
Sylvan Borg and Aaron Sammut return with another offering following the songs they released previously, which were featured on the MMI podcast. This song is made even more interesting by the video they’ve produced for it. I honestly doubt it would attract half the attention it’s going to get over the coming weeks were it not for this video, so I think the duo have done well to invest their time and efforts on making sure that the video is released along with the song rather than later.

Criminal Kiss – Freedom Call
There’s been some anticipation for this debut from this new Maltese band. It’s not a bad debut but I expect their best work to be ahead of them. The song has a pleasant bridge and the band have great potential in their vocal harmonies. I hope their next song plays up these strengths.

Hunters Palace – Hats Off (to Mintoff)
I couldn’t pass up playing this track (and the next) on this week’s podcast to mark the death of Dom Mintoff. The event is not only historical by phenomenal in ways that most people under 25 will find hard to understand. Comparisons are odious but Mintoff was undoubtedly one of the most significant people to ever lead the Malta. It’s remarkable that Hunters Palace had the hutzpa to namecheck him in this piece of music from 2001/2002 just a couple of years after he had been vilified by those who had previously proclaimed him as Malta’s saviour.

Tony Gauci – Ma Tagħmlu Xejn mal-Perit Mintoff
Of all the Maltese political songs, this is possibly the one that will still be around a hundred years from now. This version by seventies pop sensation Tony Gauci made the rounds on thousands of cassette tapes in the run-up to the 1981 General Elections. The paradoxical lyrics are simply delicious for any ethnomusicolist, particularly anyone willing to contrast them with the bile that’s customary in much of the Maltese hip-hop that’s been recorded over the past decade or so. Apologies for the sound quality on this song, but I suspect that it’s simply pulled raw from a cassette tape that spent one too many days in a scorching hot car stereo. I wonder where the original master tapes for this (and many other recordings of note) have ended.

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 enjoy listening to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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Show notes for the 308th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Cryptic Street – Indecisive
A new all-girl pop rock group on the local music scene will certainly go a long way to diffusing the testosterone saturated environment. They look good and sound fresh enough to attract mainstream attention so expect this song to be played on the radio in Malta over the coming weeks. Let’s hope they’re not a one hit wonder and at least make a dent on the local scene if not beyond.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfFVfnH41ns

Wyrd Animals – The Beach Song
Not a particularly impressive band were it not for the fact that they’ve managed to release a recording of their debut gig as a name-your-own-price download on Bandcamp. Recorded live at Coach & Horses where they appeared supporting Hey Sus on 4 August, the EP was released on 12 August. I expect to be wowed again by this band but not necessarily with their ordinary sounding songs.

Myopic Destiny – A View Upon the End
Another debut release from the metal scene this time. The Harsh Cold Reality is set for an official release at V-Gen on 1 September 2012 during gig this band will be giving with X-Vandals. The have some refreshing sounds to offer within their genre, as you can hear from this song, but it would be safe to assume that their best work is still ahead of them.

Plato’s Dream Machine – Qawsalla F’Nofs Ta’ Triq
Why didn’t anyone tell me about this new song from PDM? Perhaps it’s because it was widely circulated on Facebook and YouTube so it’s assumed that I’ll get to it somehow anyway…perhaps by osmosis. Robert Farrugia Flores and Justin Galea have written a gem of a song here and while I doubt it will become a classic, it certainly shows that the band have come a long way from their early days of sounding like a cheap Dylan cover band. More please!

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 enjoy listening to the podcast on the player right below this text.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:53 — 18.3MB) | Embed

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Show notes for the 307th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Thingybob – The Man I Used To Be
Robert Carbonaro has reinvented himself as Thingybob and produced this track in collaboration with Keith Anthony and a few other friends. I liked the song so much that I picked it to open my podcast this week. Thingybob will also be playing his debut gig at Coach and Horses in Valley Road on the 24th of August, so if you like this song go see him live.

Alex Alden – Seeds of Change
I’ve had this song in my inbox for many months but for some reason or other I have put off playing it until today. It’s certainly not because I don’t like the song – quite the contrary, it’s a lovely song and this is a good singer-songwriter I’d really like to hear more from. If you like trivia, you’ll also be interested to know that Marc Storace is her uncle and Marie Borg Alden from Stolen Creep is her cousin. Now how about some more songs. Was there mention of an EP?

The Myth – Sadness in Your Eyes
They’ve been active on the local scene since 1990 and in recent years they’ve matured into a recording band. So now comes this song along with a shoddy looking video that fits the song rather well. It’s exactly the sort of thing I’ve come to expect from this band and if their history is anything to go by we should expect them to be doing this until they’re older than the Rolling Stones.

Clinton Paul – Robot
Although he is not everyone’s cup of tea, particularly because he is too camp even for most people who like mainstream dance music, Clinton Paul frequently impresses everyone with his music video. This song is taken from his debut album I Know Who I Am, which is a very fitting title for such a dedicated pop performer. The resources he seems to have at his disposition certainly make up for the lack of international success, which seems relatively elusive. Then again, you really never know! The next big Europop sensation could be just a few months away among his next offerings. Don’t write off Clinton Paul, even if you can’t appreciate what he has had to offer us so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFLY_VvLV7I

Jay Zinga – Thirteen
Most recently known as half the duo Mathematikal, who have been featured regularly on the MMI podcast, Jay Zinga has recently uploaded this track to his YouTube channel along with video clips taken from Ti West’s 2009 movie The House of the Devil. Johnny boy has certainly come a long way since the days of Hidden Sun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5CWRlwBO4sThe

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 enjoy listening to the podcast on the player right below this text.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:29 — 18.8MB) | Embed

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