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  • Fade Like a Shadow

  • Vote for the Top 2010 Music Releases in Malta – poll open until 1 January 2011.

    • Show notes for the 237th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

    Scar – Untenable
    Scar front man Konrad Pulé was in the news this week due to a failed murder attempt on him while working at his office with fellow traffic expert Peter Ripard. Major Ripard has series injuries from the bomb that exploded in Konrad’s office at Malta Transport in Sa Maison, but thankfully Pulé sustained no substantial physical harm. I take this opportunity to wish them both a speedy recovery.

    Cable 35 – Boogie Man
    One of the very first tracks featured on this year’s MMI podcast was a video by Cable 35 for their song Harry. Now they return with a new video for another song from their Hygene EP, Boogie Man. I believe they’re working on new recordings, which I expect they’ll release sometime in the new year. When that happens you can rest assured that I’ll be featuring them in a future edition of the MMI podcast. Meanwhile, if you like this band you can vote for them on the 2010 MMI Listeners’ Picks poll via Facebook.

    The Meteors – They Call Me Creepy
    I’ve been wanting to including something by the kings of psychobilly for quite some time. They qualify for inclusion of the MMI series by virtue of the fact that the band’s lead singer and guitarist P. Paul Fenech is of course of Maltese origin. They’ve maintained their raw spirit for over thirty years and this may explain why they are not better known in Malta. This song is from their 2009 album entitled Hell Train Rollin’.

    For The Godless – Save Our Strength
    I saw Max Vassallo play drums during the M3P launch concert during Notte Bianca last September when he temporarily filled in the vacant drummer’s seat for Loathe. He struck me as an amazing force and the band was enriched by his precence, even though they are quite tight anyway, particularly in terms of their rapport with their die hard fans. Here we can hear him playing drums and providing vocals for his own band on a track that comes with an excellent video to showcase his talents.

    Stefanos – Don’t Fall Off the Edge
    Preparing for his second CD album to follow up on Zero Plus, guitarist Stefanos has released this track as a taster. He contacted me a few days ago to tell me that he’s also recording an acoustic number, which should be more to my taste than some of his MIDI-driven material. To be honest, I’d really like to hear him play with a live band as I think it would highlight his guitar playing skills even better than plonking along to a fully quantized drum machine. And the same goes for his producer Demis Fenech.

    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.

  • Station to Station

    Show notes for the 236th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

    Duo Blank – Stars on Mars
    Frank Cachia and Edwin Balzan are the members of this dynamic duo and they never disappoint. Playing this recent track from them on my podcast means that it is now on the list of nominations for the 2010 MMI Listeners’ Picks poll. The list of nominations is quite long this year but I never expect it to be shorter from year to year. If you’re reading this before the end of 2010, you can cast vote now for your top picks from this year. Once again, voting via Facebook has been made possible by Kenneth J. Vella.

    Wayne Micallef – The Parade
    I’ve already played all the singles this singer-songwriter released this year so it should surprise no one that I’m including this one too. Since it came to my attention after I had closed the nomination process on the 2010 MMI Listerers’ Picks poll I haven’t included this one, but I have included all the others. If you really like this singer now’s the time to really show it by casting your vote from him.

    Stolen Creep – Lector Spector
    I’ve been wanting to play something by this all-girl band ever since I first heard of them some months ago. When Nick Morales from No Sweat Productions contacted me to say that they’ve released this single with an accompanying video I knew that I had to not only included on today’s podcast but also make sure it made it to the 2010 MMI Listerers’ Picks poll. If you want to vote for this band/song you’ll find them in the videos category.

    I’n’I – Dubid ByeBye
    Reggae bands are not plentiful in Malta but this one seems to be made up of three people who want to embrace the whole culture that comes with the genre. This is fairly evident from the name of the band, which is a Rastafari term for the togetherness of the almighty Jah. This particular dub is relatively trippy and tend to make the sound more classifiable as psychedelic trance than anything else.

    Manwel T – This Is My Dub
    Following on the success of the Dubkey Records’ album Virtual Dub 2, Malta’s foremost dub master returns with Virtual Dub 3. This too is available as a free download from the Dubkey Records website. And, as you would expect, both these albums are nominated in the album category on the 2010 MMI Listerers’ Picks poll.

    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.

  • You Take Me Up

    Show notes for the 235th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

    Mystic Diversions – Lifestream
    Less than two years after Francesko Puccioni (aka Mike Francis) passed away, Mystic Diversion return with a new album. Aidan Zammit and Francesko’s brother Mario continue where they left off with their deadly departed fellow musician to present what sounds like another pearl in the string of albums they’ve produced together. Angel Soul is actually the sixth album from Mystic Diversion, and as much as Francesko will be missed, let’s hope that this will not be their last.

    Jason Sherri – My Spirit Flies
    I’m not sure how this singer-songwriter has managed to escape my attention on previous years of the MMI podcast. My good friend Mario Axiaq passed me a copy of this song, his latest, as he prepares to release an album of many of the songs he has previously released in Maltese and English in German. This is quite understandable seeing that he has made Germany his country. Since he is actually based in Düsseldorf, I wouldn’t be too surprised if I get to met him in person too when I visit that city next year.

    Relikc – Rollercoaster
    Grabbing the top spot on two categories in last year’s MMI Listeners’ Picks poll, Relikc return with a new release, seemingly in an attempt to grab the top spot on another category in this year’s MMI Listener’s Pick’s poll. They are yet another band to use BandCamp to release their new material, which gives me reason to believe that this online audio distribution site is about to become even more popular next year with Maltese acts.

    The Does – You
    Dirk Farrugia and Owen Grech have created what, to me, remains one of the most enigmatic acts aiming to get on the radio in the Maltese Islands. Their latest song You was released a few days ago along with a video on YouTube. It’s good enough to merit a place in the Top Music Video category on this year’s MMI Listeners’ Picks poll, which will open for voting by this time next week.

    Effetti Kollaterali – EK Nitolbu
    I’m really glad that Estelle Used (whose voice I believe is featured on this track from EK) contacted me via Facebook a couple of weeks ago to draw my attention to the most recent work by this hip-hop collective. I had included something from them on a previous edition of the MMI podcast last year, so it was high time that I featured one of their new releases. By the sound of things, they’re quickly becoming a force to reckon with in the local hip-hop scene, and so it should be. Explicit lyrics warning aside, they pack a mighty punch and certainly reflect the best that the contemporary vernacular has to offer for this genre or any contemporary use of the Maltese language in song.

    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.

    Mużika Mod Ieħor podcasts are brought to you by Vodafone.

  • Blue Skies

    Show notes for the 234th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

    Mikaela – Call Me
    I first featured this singer a few months ago, during MMI podcast 215. I said that the sort of things she was up to made her one to watch in the coming months…and here we are again. It feels like she’s on a journey of self-discovery or something like that. I’m sure that her best work is still ahead of her but its not surprising that she has been nominated for Best New Artist and Best Female Artist in this year’s MMA. I wonder how she’ll do on the MMI Listeners’ Picks poll, when voting opens on that via Facebook in a couple of weeks time.

    Doreen Galea – Inti ma Tarġax
    The CD album Ommi was one of the most underrated music releases from Malta last year. I’m thankful to its executive producer, Steve Borg, for sending me a copy of this album, featuring some of the best romantic poems in the Maltese language, which have been set to music by Dominic Galea. I don’t doubt that in years to come, this will be seen as Doreen Galea’s best work ever.

    Vince Fabri – Il-Fatat ta’ Strada Stretta
    Last March, Vince Fabri turned 50. To celebrate this milestone in his life, he presented a live (semi-private) concert of his songs at the MITP. We met casually this summer, as we always do whenever I visit Malta, and he promised to send me a recording from that night, but I forgot to remind him so I remain with it. Fortunately he has apparently uploaded several songs for what appears to be that show to Reverbnation and a couple of other places online. I hope he’ll read this and take it as a reminder to send me the entire recording from that 50th birthday concert, or perhaps he’ll uploaded it to the M3P.

    Chris Radium – Synchro
    Chris Farrugia has been active for a whole decade in the Maltese live electronica scene so I’m a little surprised that this is the first time I’ve really heard of him. He tagged me on a video for this track, which he uploaded to Facebook a few days ago. I hate it when people tag me on their uploaded videos or pictures when I’m not really in them. However, I’m glad that I discovered Chris Radium this way. I guess that every cloud really has a silver lining.

    Eugene Baldacchino – Deep
    This outstanding Maltese guitarist has been active in the local scene since the 1980s but never really received much public acclaim, for one reason or another. I was mighty pleased when I discovered that he is not only uploading video clips of himself playing some cool covers on his guitars, but also a small number of original tunes, which also appear on the OurStage website. In the new age of easy access to self-publishing, people like Eugene Baldacchino are finally beginning to reach the audiences they’ve always deserved.

    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.

    Mużika Mod Ieħor podcasts are brought to you by Vodafone.