Summer in Malta means parties, concerts, gigs – all things music. This weekend was no exception as Malta hosted the Ministry of Sound Connection Festival – featuring among others Timo Maas, Funkagenda, Desyn Masiello, Antoine Clamaran, and the almighty Brodinski. Set in the Monte Kristo Wine Vaults, Malta was host to some six thousand clubbers and some of the world’s best DJs. The venue was truly inspiring – leading the crowds through ancient tunnels housed beneath an 18th century chateau that boasts decadent chandeliers and grand ceiling beams that tower above marble floors. Fat Gold and friends were there with DJ sets by Kenji, Mathematikal and DonDisko’s Squeak. The night was hot, the music fresh and the morning hung over…
For more photos of the madness that ensued check out our Facebook pages.
It’s hot and sticky… I’m talking about the weather. Yes, summer has arrived in Malta as the temperatures soar together with the humidity. Semesters finish, schools wind down, and partying like there’s no tomorrow every night becomes the order of the day. I just checked out my Facebook account and the sheer number of photos of friends partying mid week makes me jealous (while I am busy rehearsing with the band).
This particular time of the year reminds me of 80’s Italian synth pop electro whateva-you-wanna-call-it music. Italy was just the hub for this kinda thing. Big hair, bright clothes, colours you didn’t even know existed found their ways on one-hit-wonder celebrities on TV all the time. This was the time of ‘Festivalbar’ and ‘Superclassifica Show’. So for those who remember those days, this is Sandy Marton’s “People from Ibiza”. All in extreme playback mode… The smashing hit was released in 1984 and became the anthem for Summer ‘84.
Last saturday was the Live 105 BFD Festival in San Francisco California. BFD is a festival that takes place every year and is put on by San Francisco radio station “Live 105″. My good friends from the band Audrye Sessions were sweet enough to give me and my girlfriend backstage passes which is always a huge plus. We started out the day early, getting to the festival grounds at around 12 PM. The first Dj`s to kick off the event were Omar and Paparazzi. Paparazzi killed it, no other way to put it. Next was a local band from here in San Francisco called The Tenderloins. They blew. Enough said. The rest of the day was a bit redundant, Villains, Designer Drugs, Steve Aoki (pictured above), Dj AM, Mike Relm, and Crystal Castles. We left a bit early due to us all being exhausted, so we missed AM and Crystal Castles. After seeing Steve Aoki`s amazing set I felt I could leave fulfilled for the day. He had the crowd going insane playing remixes such as Bloc Party`s “Helicopter”. Every few tracks he would pick up the microphone and scream some crazy shit into it which made his set a lot different and more exciting than the others of the day.
This is not the Mixtape you say? Well this is who mixed Mixtape oh! Five for us. This dude specialises in making the crowd bounce. He goes by the name of Dj Squ-acid but friends call him Squeak. We did something a little bit different for this Mixtape, have a listen.
1. Squeak’s Mr. Nice guy’s Intro
2. Don Rimini – Let Me Back Up (Crookers)
3. Digitalism – Home Zone (Proxy)
4. Les Petits Pilous – Wake Up
5. Bloody Beetroots – Warp
6. Dusty Kid – The Cat (Crookers)
7. MSTRKRFT – VuVuVu
8. From Monument to Masses – Beyond God & Elvis (Felix Cartal)
9. Gtronic – Suck My Lollipop
10. The Bloody Beetroots – Bluto Fucks Popeye
“You stole our crowd!” That’s what we (Mathematikal) told these guys when we saw them in Rennes for the Transmusicales gig last year. They’re moving on going strong. Have a look at ‘You Came Out’ by We Have Band, directed by David Wilson and produced by Blinkink. Vimeo told us this..
“Shot over 2 days and stop frame animated from 4,816 still images without a single moment of video footage! Take a look at our Flickr page to see every single frame uploaded in high res -flickr.com/photos/39167181@N06/.”
Peter Bjorn & John have been smacking us in the face with their super-tunes since 2002, and their latest album, ‘Living Thing’, does not let them down. Their recent tracks ‘Nothing to worry about’ and ‘Lay it down’ are both brilliant, with their hot lyrics, groovy beats are everything that the boys are best known for, and their videos are just genius. Their latest song: ‘It don’t move me’ is worth giving a listen to. It’s chilled yet funky at the same time, not to mention the video features some sweet ass jives.
Also, thanks to Miki, one of my favorite songs at the moment is Metronomy’s ‘This could be beautiful’, which is just that. Definately give this a listen to. Click here for the ‘This could be beautiful’ Video
