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Show notes for the 280th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Talitha with Jesper Ejrup – Why
Jesper Ejrup returns to the local music scene in this collaboration with Talitha. I must say straight up that I like the sound they make together and I honestly hope there’s more of this in the pipeline. It’s refreshing to get some new blood into the local pop rock sound. Unfortunately this didn’t make it in time for my nominations on the MMI 2011 Mużika Mod Ieħor, and certainly not because it doesn’t deserve to be there. There’s always at least one good track that gets away.

Mama Kin – To My Table
I’ve been wanting to play something from the Australian trio for a while; well, at least since my good friend Marlene Galea pointed me to them. I must say that the Maltese connection here is quite strong given that both Danielle Caruana and Michael Caruana are members of this band. Regular followers of the Maltese music scene will more likely know brother Nicky Caruana, better known as Nicky Bomba. In any case, this is good stuff that deserves repeat listening. I’ll be watching out for new material next year, and you can rest assured that I’ll be bringing Mama Kin back to the MMI podcast in 2012.

The Areola Treat
One of the perennial favourites on the local alternative scene has recently started plugging this song from the Pleasure Machine collection. They’re among the Maltese bands you can vote for on the MMI 2011 Mużika Mod Ieħor, which is currently headed by fellow alternative rockers nosnow/noalps. Still, there’s more than two weeks of voting to go, so anything could happen.

Tony Grimaud – Shine On Me
My good friend Tony Grimaud has made this recording from a couple of years ago available online earlier this week. I thought it too good to pass up the opportunity to play you anything by the man who remains one of Malta’s iconic singer-songwriters from the past 30 years. This is quite a downer of a song, but it’s done in such a way that unless you pay close attention to the lyrics being sung, you don’t really get the sense of doom and gloom that can only be rivaled by sixth form poetry.

Dry_Connections – Right From the Start
Fresh from their triumphant Best Upcoming Act award at the 2011 Malta Music Awards, this new band has now released a new recording of the song they performed on the awards night. Incidentally, they were featured on a previous edition of the MMI podcast and they’re also nominated in the Top Online Releases category of the MMI 2011 Mużika Mod Ieħor. Feel free to vote for them and/or whoever else strikes your fancy.

Davinia & Muxu – Feel Good Song
To be quite honest I’ve heard better stuff from both Davinia and Muxu this year and I doubt I would have included this song on the MMI podcast at all if it wasn’t for the video that accompanies it, which raises it above the ordinary output that seems to be flooding the local scene aimlessly from time to time. Anyway, perhaps it’s just a matter of taste…so please feel free to vote for this video on the MMI 2011 Mużika Mod Ieħor if you disagree.

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 279th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

K.O.I. – Give It All Away
This duo made up of guitarist Wayne Camilleri and Airport Impressions frontman Errol Sammut returns after their fabulous Tears In Your Eyes debut with an equally steering song. As you’d expect this track is nominated on the 2011 MMI Listeners’ Pick poll, which is now open for your votes. And just in case you’ve forgotten, K.O.I. stands for Knowledge Over Instinct.

Scream Daisy – Alive
One of the more established rock bands on the local music scene return with another new song that makes it to the 2011 MMI Listeners’ Pick poll. This new song bodes well for another creative round from Scream Daisy and I’m sure that their many fans in Malta will be hoping for more in the coming months.

Jean Claude Vancell – April Symphony
I’ve always liked this young singer songwriter, mainly because he breaks away from most of the established modes he could be feeding on (and into) from the local scene. While this song may not be as striking as others he’s given us over the years on first listen, it shows that he’s exploring new territories without diverging too much from what he knows he’s able to do best.

Corazon Mizzi – Looking for You
When Corazon’s name was announced as one of the finalists for the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012, I must say that I was surprised that this Maltese singer songwriter would still find that scene to her liking. Still, she’s collaborating with a songwriting duo who have given us some of the better songs on the local contest in recent years. Anyway, before that announcement she had actually released this self-penned song, produced by Dean Muscat and Boris Cezek.

Tenishia – Shores of Eden
Frozen Roads from this electronic chill out duo has got to be one of the more impressive albums released from Malta in 2011. Naturally, I’ve nominated it on the 2011 MMI Listeners’ Pick poll and I’m sure it will garner many votes in the Top Album category. Jovan Grech and Cyprian Cassar have really come of age nicely over the years and they’re now getting some of the much deserved international attention they deserve. In spite of this, or perhaps because of this, I suspect their best is still ahead of them.

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 278th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Freddie Portelli – Ġej il-Maltemp
Malta’s own king of rock ‘n roll has written his final will and testicle (as John Lennon would have called it) and this is what it sounds like. Reminiscent of one or two Leonard Cohen classics, but quite remarkable for the vocal arrangements that Freddie has perfected over many decades. Here we can also see that he is also a poet, which is something that those of us who have followed him closely for a long time have known all along.

Danjeli – Diska taż-Żibel
Taken from what is undoubtedly my favourite 2011 album, Danjeli’s KontroNatura, this has to be the next most outstanding song in this new collection, after Ġurnata Famuża, of course. In some ways, I think of this as the theme song for the many Parties taż-Żibel that Danjeli has organized in recent months. I’m sure this sort of stuff is not to everyone’s taste, but you’ll be hard pressed to find more sincere music/songs from Malta.

Semplicment tat-Triq & Marmalja – Radju Valium
Well, here’s some more sincere singing from Malta. This is yet another gem from the local hip hop scene. I’m sure that no radio station in Malta would dare play this, for obvious reasons. Well, obvious if you understand Maltese…if not, then perhaps you’ll think it’s because of the gratuitous use of samples from unlicensed pop songs. In any case, it seems like a very fitting song to play just before we open up the 2011 MMI Listeners’ Picks poll in the coming 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 enjoy listening to the podcast on the player right below this text.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:52 — 13.7MB) | Embed

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Show notes for the 277th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Red Electrick feat. Ray Mercieca & Rayvin Portelli – It’s A Shame
2010’s break through band have teamed up with the stalwarts from the Rifffs to record this song, which will undoubtedly be receiving considerable radio airtime in Malta between now and the end of the year. The veterans lend the young band considerable credibility through their experience, while the young ones pump some fresh blood into the old geezers. Still, it sounds like a match made in heaven.

Andre feat. IM – Can’t Be Friends
Andre Darmanin has never really featured on my radar until I heard this song. It is actually slicker than I thought it was on first listen. It’s really grown on me and I can certainly feel that he is maturing into this style of music. Pleasant enough to hear over and over but still not the sort of thing I would go out of my way to look for. Good thing it’s been front and centre enough for me to notice it.

FellowFish – Ordinary Madness
Fresh from years of experience with the formidable duo Chasing Pandora, Gozitan musician Keith Anthony is now fronting this new trio who are about to launch their debut album. The title track is featured on today’s MMI’s podcast but I had the opportunity of hearing an early pre-mix of the whole album over the past few weeks and it struck me as the sort of thing that will go down well with the people who like progressive acoustic music that’s not too pretentious.

Nicholas Haber – Hurry On
From time to time I come across young singers and/or musician from Malta who I would certainly never have heard of before the rise of the sort of exposure afforded to anyone by Internet. This one has some really good qualities and with time and some luck we may be hearing from him again in the coming months and years.

Crash Voltage – Crash Voltage
I don’t know much about this band. In fact, I’m not even sure what the name of this tune really is. All I know is that they recorded it on the 20th of February 2011 and that they are guitarist Evan Vassallo, bassist Neil Xuereb, and drummer Luke Micallef. The rest you can make out for yourself in this recording…or perhaps they (or someone who knows them) will care to elaborate on their M3P page sometime 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 enjoy listening to the podcast on the player right below this text.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:52 — 13.6MB) | Embed

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