Johnathan Cilia
As The Music Industry Changed, The Wedding Present Remained True
The music industry rises and falls with trends, and no-one knows this more than David Gedge, sole remaining founding member and singer of The Wedding Present. Having formed his band...
Johnathan Cilia
Glitch Festival 2017: Malta’s Techno Stronghold
It’s easy to see the success of the Maltese techno and electronic music scene in 2017. With more and more foreign artists coming to the island, bigger festival names entering...
Johnathan Cilia
The Glitch House and Techno Fortress Returns
As Malta’s house and techno scene approaches its saturation point, with top level DJs being brought to Malta nearly every weekend for a slew of underground parties, there is one...
Johnathan Cilia
Malta’s Most Colourful Musical Contributions
Malta's national discography is varied and, sometimes, just sometimes, a thing of true beauty. In recent years especially, a lot of Malta's music - for better or for worse - has...
Johnathan Cilia
Sliema Arts Festival Cancelled Due To The System
Since 2013, the Sliema Arts Festival has been a major highlight of the summer, with multiples stages for live performances and DJ spots as well as art exhibitions and cool...
Johnathan Cilia
One World: An International Fusion of Reggae and Hip-Hop
Malta has historically been a meeting place for different cultures - whether it is President Bush and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev ending the Cold War between the East and the...
Johnathan Cilia
Prepare For Rock The South 2017
You can’t fight organic growth, especially when there’s ample sunlight involved. Who would expect a standard gig that you had organised for some visiting buddies would blossom into a highly...
Johnathan Cilia
TS interviews Annie Mac from Lost and Found Festival
Annie Mac Presents: Lost and Found returns for it’s third year on the Maltese islands. Lost and Found has quickly become a staple of the local electronic dance events, heralding...
Johnathan Cilia
Malta’s music community reacts to Dax J’s Tunisian prison sentence
It’s standard for DJs to try and dig around for a unique track to play when performing to a new crowd in a new country. Maybe a local hit, or...
Johnathan Cilia
An Ambient World
Creating a spellbinding soundscape isn’t very straightforward - the open format, overlapping bars, and emotional input needed are all combined to create a challenging predicament for the producer. Forget the...
Johnathan Cilia
VA Album Announced in Memory of Microlith aka Rhys Celeste
Last week brought some of the worst news the Maltese electronic music scene has ever had - 24-year-old producer Rhys Celeste, known as Microlith, was taken in a tragic road accident....
Johnathan Cilia
Trackage Scheme’s Services Portfolio
Over the last few years Malta’s alternative music c event scene has seen its star rising, with quality events happening every weekend, spoiling the local audience for choice. With an...
Johnathan Cilia
Strummin’ 2016: Let’s Dance
Every year, a horde of guitarists ascend upon a hall to raise funds for charity and rock out. Strummin’ is Malta’s annual guitar fest, a night dedicated to guitars, music,...
Johnathan Cilia
Statix Festival – Malta’s Own Homegrown Talent
Statix Festival burst onto the scene in 2011, bringing something rarely seen in Malta’s electronic circuit: multiple stages featuring different genres right next to each other, with a line up...
Johnathan Cilia
Dazed & Confused with Dean Demanuele
Any budding producer or DJ would tell you that they want to perform in Berlin. Many others would also tell you that they would like to open their own record...
Johnathan Cilia
The Search for the Oldest Record Store in the World Ends
Check out Part 2 of our Search for the Oldest Record Store in the World here. I wonder if Thomas Edison realised what he was unleashing when he created the...
Johnathan Cilia
The Search For The Oldest Record Store in the World Continues
Missed part 1? Check it out here. In the National Archives in Mdina an old metal structure stands that is a testament to the human desire to be heard. Bigger...
Johnathan Cilia
The Search For The Oldest Record Store in the World
Wouldn’t it be just great if the oldest record store in the world was actually found in Malta? I mean, the Megalithic Temples are claimed to be the oldest free-standing...
Johnathan Cilia
Women in Popular Music: Part 2
Read Women in Popular Music: Part 1 here Maltese women in popular music have sometimes garnered more mainstream appeal than male musicians, with some female artists garnering enough support to tour internationally...
Johnathan Cilia
Twitchy Fingers
In a time when any 'self-respecting' DJ uses vinyl for breakfast, lunch, dinner - and afterhours - it is easy to forget that to many purists, using vinyl is still not...
Johnathan Cilia
Sick Alternative Music
2015 was a good year for alternative Maltese music. With great new releases from the likes of Dolls for Idols, Lucy’s Last, Acidulant, Digby, and weird new groups like Crux...
Johnathan Cilia
Say, How Big Is Your Living Room?
In a time when live gigs are a dime a dozen, it is possible to see world class musicians performing practically every week, and the shows of all your favourite...
Johnathan Cilia
Following the Alternative: An interview with Michael Bugeja
It’s all well and good to talk about Malta’s music scene growing, improving and diversifying, but the barriers we have are still clear to see. Some popular radio stations won’t...
Johnathan Cilia
Spotlight On: Oddball and vaxxine
For some in Malta, as indeed with many parts of Europe, techno is the answer. The perennially repetitive instrumental music is both a form of release and catharsis, as it...
Johnathan Cilia
Electronic Music Malta
It’s a sign of the times when a genre of music gets its own Voluntary Organisation to promote and kindle its spread in a country. Music has the power to...
Johnathan Cilia
On The Issue of Performing
You spend weeks looping a track through your headphones. You can’t get enough of it, the bassline and the melodies are so complementary and superbly delivered that you are not...
