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Show notes for the 255th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Relikc – Take the Blame
This band has been a favourite of MMI podcast listeners since they first appeared a couple of years ago. I like their tight pop rock sound and they are quite radio friendly. Come the end of the this year, I have a feeling that this track will be among the highest ranking listeners’ picks for 2011 singles, or whichever category I’ll have nominated it for.

TroffaHamra y los Mechones – In the Streets of Barcelona
It’s not often that I play music in my podcast that surprises me as pleasantly as I’ve been by the sound of this Barcelona-based outfit. The connection with Malta comes in the Troffa Ħamra in the name of the band, who is none other than Ruth Abela, perhaps best known for playing clarinette with Brikkuni or sax with The I-Skandal. The bossa nova you hear here, along with the other tracks they’ve released on their MySpace page are simply delightful.

Genn & Mayo – Princesses In Dungarees
Annemarie Mayo and Janice (that’s Genn to you) Ellul came together as a duo after meeting in the ŻĦN’s Strummin’ Home annual concert a couple of years ago. With a little help from some friends (including some musicians from Relikc) they’ve made some public appearances as well as recorded some tracks, including the one you can hear on this week’s podcast. Mayo’s voice is the first of two great new voices on the Malta music scene. I hope to hear (and share with you) more of this in the coming months and years.

Monobrow MP – Wet Roads
A couple of weeks ago this duo released a limited edition of their online only 5-track EP featuring what is clearly some of their best work, even though most of it is their version of songs you already know (and possibly like) from worldwide stars; their version of Gnarls Barkley’s Who’s Gonna Save My Soul is blindingly good. Since I so rarely play covers on the MMI podcast, I thought I’d pick Wet Roads instead since I’ve been assured that it’s actually one of their original songs. Still, I think I’ll include their Gnarls Barkley cover on a future edition of the MMI podcast anyway.

Divine Sinners – Cactus Rose
I’ve been fascinated by the DIY, almost simplistic, sound of this duo. I was therefore thrilled to see that they’ve now even extended this to a new video for one of their songs. It’s a superb rendition of life on a Gozitan farm today, even if there’s very much a firm tongue in cheek approach to the whole thing.  Watch the video and if, like me, you like this brand of quasi-anarcho-folk you’ll certainly appreciate that this band is on its way to make an indelible mark on the local music scene.

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 254th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Brooke – Love Not War
One of Malta’s better pop exports has been making the round on radio stations for several weeks with this song. So I thought it’s about time that I include it on my podcast too. As pop dance tracks go, this is quite a catch one, with quite an appropriate timeless cliche that has stuck with us for over forty years now, but somehow still sounds as fresh as ever.

Christabelle – Everything About You
Although she is probably better known as a singer, Christabelle will forever remain to me as the first Maltese model to be prominently featured in a photo at Malta’s Addolorata Cemetery. It’s an interesting mix of pop, glamour and gothic asthetics in a way that were probably unthinkable (at least in Malta) just a generation ago.

South Central – Paris in the 20th Century
Just in time for their live set after tonight’s concert by Fat Boy Slim in Ta’ Qali, Malta’s most high-profile incognito electronica duo appear on my podcast with a track off their new album Society of Spectacle, which they’ll be launch officially in Malta on the 4th of June at Gianpula.  More about that in the coming weeks as it also coincides with the next major series of M3P events in Malta.

Carlo Gerada feat. Scott Walker & Azazel – Can’t Stop
After a couple of months in the pop/dance radio charts in Malta, with two consecutive weeks  at the top of the Malta’s Top 10 on 89.7 Bay earlier this month, I thought it’s the right thing to do including this multi-talented release on my podcast, especially since I would be totally amiss not including it among the nominations for the 2011 MMI Listeners’ Picks later this year.

Malcolm Pisani – Day of Evolution
My good friend Mario Axiaq told me that he liked this song very much when he first heard it. I wasn’t as impressed as he was on first listen, but then I heard it a couple more times and found it better than it seemed on first listen. Malcolm Pisani repertoire tends to have that affect of me and I wish I could put my finger on what sort of singer he really is. Perhaps he’s still looking for the style that best suits him, unless he plans to make this ambiguity his hallmark for the rest of his singing career.

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 253rd Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Bridget Bone – Monkey Role
During my most recent visit to Malta I meant to attend the filming of what is presumably the upcoming video for this song, one Saturday afternoon. However, I was caught up in all sorts of other meetings, mostly relating to the M3P in one way or another. This is a cracking pop rock song and I’m sure it will receive considerable airplay on Maltese radio stations – possibly even making it to the very top of one or two top 10 charts. It’s exciting enough that I’m more than pleased to open this week’s podcast with it.

KulTural – Irraprezenta
Here comes what is probably only the second band from Malta to include a didgeridoo. Unlike the other ethnic appropriation of this indigenous Australian instrument, KulTural marries this sound (and others) with the Maltese language in a delicious way. While this new sound comes from Malta, or rather Gozo (produced by Keith Anthony – of Chasing Pandora fame), it can be classified as a very Maltese-Australian vibe, but that’s only because of the distinctive sound of the Aboriginal instrument of choice. Even without that, KulTural is one of the most exciting new things to come out of the Maltese islands this year.

Marc Galea – Innu Malti
Equally exciting, but only for slightly different reasons, is a new recording by guitarist Marc Galea, which is a cool jazz take on Malta’s national anthem. This track is lifted from his forthcoming CD album, which is set to be released on the evening of the next M3P conference at St James Cavalier on Friday 3 June 2011. More about that in the coming weeks, of course, but meanwhile listen to this wonderful recording and you’ll never hear the national anthem in the same way ever again.

Footprints – My Saviour
When the album 777 came out earlier this year from one of Malta’s foremost Christian rock bands, I played the track that was released to promote it, which appeared with an accompanying music video. To mark the Easter celebrations this year, Footprints are releasing this track from the album. This is quite appropriate for obvious reasons, but I would have liked to see a companion video too…but maybe I just missed it and it’s out there, or the song is simply too long for a video. In any case, Happy Easter y’all!

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 252nd Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

Ellie & the Oscars – Dancing in the Rain
Last year Ellie & the Oscars debut on the Malta music scene with a solid release that some pundits felt could catapult them firmly into the hearts and minds of their audiences not only locally but also overseas. Now they return with this new song possibly to have another stab at the unfulfilled potential from last year. I may be reading more than there is in terms of the fortunes this group seeks but perhaps 2011 will be the year when they get noticed by a broader audience, which will certainly find their songs enjoyable.

Sounds United (Malta) – Life Goes On
I’m not a great fan of songs that seek to replicate the original formula made famous by Geldolf/Ure with Band Aid back in the 1980s. This new song in aid of Red Cross relief efforts in Japan following this year’s devastating earthquakes and tsunami, however, may prove to be an exception to my dislike of songs cobbled together quickly featuring various singers pushing a cause that someone else thought would be good to add their names to for the purpose of attracting attention to the (good) cause. Perhaps what has made this outing a little more palatable for me is the choice of singers featured for the Malta (not Maltese, mind you) version of this song: Thea Garrett, Mel Portelli from Chasing Pandora, Jotham from Scream Daisy, Matt from Red Electrick, Mike Spiteri, Eleanor Cassar, Thomas Hedley and Aaron Benjamin, among others.

Ivan Filletti – Sticks and Stones
One of Malta’s most prolific singer-songwriters in relatively unknown, even though he has been gigging for over 20 years. Filletti is known to many followers of Malta’s varied music scene and his songs have been receiving good radio airplay ever since he started recording. However, for someone who’s a marketing man by profession, it’s surprising to see that he doesn’t sell himself and his brand of music more actively. I say this mostly because I hardly saw any promotional material coming my way to inform me about his latest album from which this track was released as a single.

Freddie Portelli – We’ve Got Music
It would seem that Freddie Portelli’s thirst for good old fashioned rock ‘n roll is unquenchable. His first release for 2011 is a two-track EP, from which the song We’ve Got Music is lifted. His vocal bravado and rockabilly guitar style is unmistakable. Here is a veteran doing what he knows best and in the process delighting his thousands of fans across the world in the process.

Clandestine – She’s the One
Cover versions of Maltese songs are not very common unless they’re old-time pop hits (like Xemx from The Tramps) or Eurovision songs. The occasional exception is therefore often greeted with some relish from the sophisticated connoisseurs of the local music scene. She’s the One is a Bark Bark Disco song, which makes it quite an obscure choice for a cover, but perhaps not so much from a band that’s fronted by one who may soon become the new darling of the alternative music scene in Malta. This recording is among the first that any one has heard from the Clandestines but I have a distinct feeling that they’re poised to hit the local scene with noticeable impact quite 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: 20:28 — 14.1MB) | Embed

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