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Show notes for the 221st Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers in or from Malta:

Claudia Faniello – I Hate This Song
An album called Convincingly Better is forthcoming from one of Malta’s best-loved pop singers. This single was released to promote the album and it’s wonderful to see that this singer has musical ambitions beyond representing Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest. She certainly has a remarkable voice and an onscreen (and stage) presence to go with it, as you can see from the video for this new song.

Chasing Pandora – People
This new song comes from an upcoming EP and new band members for Chasing Pandora are providing a slight change of direction for this act from Gozo. The accompanying video for this new song makes the best of the unique atmosphere in and around the Victoria main square. You can also take advantage of the free download offer for this track from the official Chasing Pandora website throughout the rest of this month.

Chess – Stillettos
Muxu is slowly but surely gripping the Maltese pop scene in a very solid way. He’s clearly behind the idea of presenting Fran Galea as Chess with this new song of his. The way the word in the title of this song is enunciated here is a little annoying, but that shouldn’t diminish from what is a delightful pop song from a singer who hopefully has the best of her repertoire ahead of her. I’m really glad my friend Pierre Cachia brought this song to my attention.

Dimal ft. Maddee – Shake It, Shake It
The perfect combination of two musicians who have decided to make Malta their home enriches the local dance scene tremendously. Dimal clearly understands what fills a dance floor these days, while Maddee’s voice is a beacon of sophistication that many young Maltese hopefuls must and should look up to. It would be great to see them collaborating more directly and openly with others in the local scene.

Angèle Cristina – Stronger
Toby’s productions tend to have a distinctive sound to them. You can tell it’s one of his tracks almost immediately. What really distinguishes on song from the next in many cases is the vocal track. Here it’s the delightful and quasi-mysterious voice of newcomer Angèle Cristina, who I’m quite keen to hear again in the coming months.

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.

Show notes for the 220th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers in or from Malta:

Fire – Always There
Another single lifted from Thrill Me, the band’s second CD album. It seems that this one received some decent airplay in Malta in recent weeks. The classic rock sound of Fire is among those that blend in more easily with the sort of music on some of the radio playlists in Malta. It’s good to see that some of the better tracks on this CD are still getting played outside the bands live gigs. That’s probably always a good thing.

Indigo – Still Here
Following up on her debut album Struck, Marvic Lewis returns with Indigo’s second CD album. This one is entitled Dark Psyche and the single released to coincide with the album launch indicates that while the songs may be a little darker on this new collection, fans are in for more of the elements they enjoyed so much on the first CD.

Frenzy Mono – Vicious Circle
There’s a clear sense of maturity in O.B.E. the new album from Frenzy Mono. They’ve now really found their groove and it’s hard retro rock with a twist. The track I’ve selected is possibly even inflected by their alter ego activities in Nomad Son along with bassist Albert Bell where the retro groove gives way to a heavy tome of doom, the likes of which have become very popular with metal fans around the globe over the last couple of decades.

Saving Alexis – Lipstick Lies
Hailing from Imqabba, this new young band has a delicious pop rock sound that can only get better in the coming years. There are glimpses of a group that wants to do more than simply emulate the plethora of guitar bands that littered the pop scene since the 1990s. They’ve made quite a splash in Malta with this debut release, so unless they lose their way, I’m pretty confident that Saving Alexis will be around with more and better things in the coming months and years.

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.

Show notes for the 219th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers in or from Malta:

Scream Daisy – Last Goodbye
In preparation for the release of their third album Scream Daisy return with another track featuring a new guitarist. Tony Bartolo from the Retrophytes replaced Jeremy last year and the band are now on their way to return to the same level of public exposure they enjoyed with their previous album in 2007.

Kristina Casolani – Heartless
The queen of Maltese R&B releases her second single this year. Following up on last winter’s Get Out this new song shows her maturing beyond the abilities of many other Maltese wannabes. Surprisingly, this song sees her collaborating with Toby once again, but this is understandable when considering the fact that Kristina will also be releasing an album of all her songs so far (and some more) in the coming months.

Winter Moods – Sun Won’t Shine
One of Malta’s longest standing bands will be staging a mega-concert at The Granaries on Wednesday 28 July 2010. Few other Maltese bands would even dare attempt to host a show of their own on The Granaries and to my knowledge this is indeed a first. They have also recently released their fifth album celebrating their 25 years on the local scene entitled Argento. The song I’ve picked is the opening track from this CD.

Explicit – Daydreaming
Stephanie Chetcuti is one of the better Maltese rock singers. She makes her band sound a cut above most others on the local scene and shines beautifully when singing material that brings out the excellent quality of her voice. This new song may not grab you right away, but make sure you listen to it more than once, especially beyond the first minute or so. If you like what you hear, remember that you can also catch them live at the Farsons Beer Festival at Ta’ Qali on Tuesday 27 July 2010.

Skimmed – Napoleon
During my recent visit to Malta I had the good fortune of attending the launch of a new video by Skimmed at Rookies in Bugibba. Their live act is captured splendidly in their recordings and this video takes their quirky punky pop songs to a whole new level verging on the surreal. I’m really looking forward to more material from this band because they have something quite unusual about them and I believe that as time passes they’ll find new ways to make that what they’re remembered for.

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.

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I’m in Malta right now working on a new major project to be launched after this summer. During the last couple of days, various conversations I’ve had with people who follow the weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast have prompted me to repeat the release of one of my previous podcasts from the series every now and then. So, I’ve picked the first non-seasonal edition from 2010 to repeat this week.

Show notes for the 196th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers in or from Malta:

Cable 35 – Harry
The first music video released in the Maltese music scene for 2010. This is a song from the EP Hygene. This band’s youthful energy is infections and if they keep this up I believe that they will strengthen their fan-base considerably this year. While I imagine they have aspirations to reach new followers outside the Maltese Islands, I would love to see them somehow embrace their national identity. That would give them the edge of difference that can make them stand out from the plethora of other guitar-driven bands like them.

Tea – Guilded Cage
One of the few Malta-related releases from 2009 that almost passed me by comes all the way from Switzerland. Marc Storace’s old band have released a compilation album of their best loved songs. Guilded Cage, originally off the band’s third album Tax Exile from 1976, is possibly one of Marc’s most heart-felt belters with an autobiographic bent. The 13 tracks on Reloaded show that this Swiss band should have done even better then they did in their day. In my opinion, the reason they’re not better known is not because they weren’t any good (quite the contrary, of course!) but because they didn’t play up their difference in a rock scene where being different was greatly appreciated. Almost 35 years after they stopped recording and touring, this compilation will undoubtedly introduce them to new fans who will appreciate what was one of Europe’s better rock bands in the seventies.

Skambomambo – Banana Cake
Speaking of Maltese connections to European bands makes me want to play something by these Polish ska masters. Regular listeners of the MMI podcast will remember that Skambomambo’s singer is Mario Cordina, who was first featured in a special edition in the series in 2007. It would be wonderful to see them live, not only because they sound like a fun band to watch but also seeing Mario sing live would certainly be an opportunity I wouldn’t want to pass up.

Sylvan Borg – Soft as Stone
Sylvan recorded this new song to promote his first gig for the year; appearing ahead of Stalko and British singer Adema the MITP in February 2010. I happen to like his songs, possibly for the same reason that drives radio stations to stay away from them: they sound quite different from anything else on the airwaves these 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 click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

Mużika Mod Ieħor podcasts are brought to you by Vodafone.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download () | Embed

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