Almost There

As I sat down to prepare the 199th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast this morning it dawned on me that next week's edition will be the 200th in the series. I recalled how the 100th edition was marked as a special occasion back in 2008, first by Michael Bugeja in The Sunday Times (of Malta) and then through the MMI podcast itself featuring a bunch of carefully picked tracks.

Should I make the 200th MMI podcast into another special edition or is it enough of a celebration to acknowledge the fact that the series has reached 200? After all, my hope (and plan) is to go on for as long as I physically can with this series and it would be rather silly to "mark a moment" every 100 podcasts as if it's something special. I'd like to believe that people who follow the MMI podcast (or even one who stumble across it by accident) recognize the fact that this is a very special series by virtue of the focus it has and its longevity.

The 199th MMI podcast opens with a debut track from Tape Division, which is a new project by Hadrian Mansueto. It sets the tone beautifully for today's podcast, particularly since it's not often that I open the show with a dance track. Apparently Heartbeat is still a work-in-progress, but it has already been paired up with a video on YouTube.

New releases for 2010 keep coming at a steady pace, even though I would say that things haven't really picked up the pace for this year yet. Dubkey Records has just released an album of tracks by Mind's Eye Dub entitled A Different World; available as a free download here. There's a video to accompany the title track, which like most of the tracks on this album come from the early 2000s, when M.E.D. was presented to an online audience through the original MP3.com. There are however three tracks on this album that were not previously released through MP3.com. One of these is the one I've selected to play on this week's podcast. Nuff Respect features MC Trooper who was the resident toaster on Dread Connexion, a Sunday night live internet show originating from England, when this recording was made.

This week's messages from podcast listeners included one from my old friend Mark Attard, known to many who follow the Maltese music scene as the keyboard player with Fakawi. Mark pointed out that the MMI podcast doesn't follow live gigs as rigorously as he would like it to. Fair comment, but as I explained to him, there are valid reasons for that. Furthermore, it's not as if we never refer to gigs. In any case, this week I wanted to highlight the fact that there are certain bands -- such as Fakawi -- who can only really be appreciated fully during their live shows. Video clips of live gigs can give you a glimpse of why certain acts don't translate well into a studio recording. The upcoming live concert featuring Fakawi, BNI, Dolls 4 Idols, Loose Ends, and others at the Nadur Carnival on Saturday 13 February is clearly one such gig. No recording can replace the experience of being there.

The debut release from the new band Eggshell Black landed on my desktop a few days ago. I was immediately struck by the wide-reaching online presence created for the release of Unwanted. Not that it couldn't be better, but I don't remember ever seeing this much noise being made by a new band on the Maltese scene for their debut release. The song itself is slightly unimpressive at first, but it quickly picks up steam and develops into a song that tells the discerning listener that this band may be on to a bright future. Giving Eggshell's debut single a second listen is highly recommended. I overcame the initial reaction and I'm sure others will too. Bring on the next track.

As you may have noticed on this links embedded in this blog post, all but one of the tracks included on this week's podcast relate to some sort of video clip. It's therefore appropriate to squeeze in one more track this week; one that's video related, of course. Veteran Maltese electronic musician Ray Buttigieg left Gozo many years ago. He has produced an impressive discography over the past 4 decades and now seems to be capturing some of his music through video clips on YouTube. Tripper Big Dipper is one such track from Buttigieg's catalog. Old and new fans will undoubtedly be looking out for more video clips in the coming weeks and months.

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