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...

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