This playlist brings together many artists mentioned in the recent Global Ear report and a few more. It highlights the cooperative atmosphere of the Maltese scene, sometimes contending with indifferent or repressive governments. Not all artists in this tiny and relatively young European country are overtly political or engaged. However, many are exploring a nascent national consciousness through different means, notably through the immediacy of Maltese, the local language spoken by less than half a million people. This playlist ranges from adventurous pop to free improvisation, taking in experimental electronics, punk and beyond.

Brikkuni
“Alla Lliberani”

If the political unrest of the final months of 2019 had a soundtrack, this would be it. Brikkuni’s unambiguous political opinions have often riled those close to power, making the band underground heroes with a foothold in mainstream media and crowds. Somewhere between tropicália, alternative rock and punk.

REA x Funky Monkey
“Roulette”

Rapper REA is as influenced by trap music as she is by għana, Malta’s as yet unsanitised folk music. The “17 Black” mentioned throughout is a holding company owned by powerful figures close to the government, set up expressly to receive kickbacks. The track ends with a chilling reference to Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese journalist murdered in 2017.

Is-Semenza & Ix-Xudi
“Għanja fil-Għoli”

Although Malta’s homegrown folk music, għana, is increasingly finding itself in highbrow places, its natural home remains the każin – the social clubs of most villages. It has existed for centuries, in defiance of church and colonial authorities. This song, in a high-pitched singing style called la Bormliża or fil-għoli, is thought to have been recorded in 1932.

Hunters Palace
“KRT”

Seminal band hovering around angular kraut-like rhythms and diffuse guitar noise, now disbanded. Composed of author and guitarist/vocalist Alex Vella Gera, guitarist Peter Sant and drummer Vinicius Duarte. This track is taken from their Il-Palazz tal-Kaċċatur EP, released in 2011.

Krishna
“Golgotha” (extract)

Instrumental post-metal twosome dovetailing driving riffs with layered textures. This track is “about a journey taking a seemingly endless amount of time in a torturous environment”.

Sonitus Eco & Gabi Sultana
“Miġra l-Ferħa”

A collaboration between pianist Gabi Sultana and electronic musician Justin Meli aka Sonitus Eco. Inspired by a sea inlet of the same name.

Għajn il-Widen
“The Percussive Qualities Of Warm Blood” (excerpt)

Carla Said and I make nervous, pulsing ambient music centred around found sounds, field recordings and raw electronics. This series is based on melodic arrangements of body current, triggered by thumbing electric test cables.

Peter Sant
“Island Interiors”

Experimental film maker Peter Sant’s collection of altered sounds floating in and out of recognition, sometimes startlingly so. Noises and atmospheres from Malta are reworked and reimagined on The Interior album, from which this track is taken.

Robert Farrugia
“Tlellix”

A tender, expansive soundscape by Robert Farrugia, who has released several cassettes and LPs over the last decade. This is from Worn, freshly released in 2020. Courtesy of Rohs! Record/Lontano Series.

Nigel Baldacchino
“Hell Held Hostage” (excerpt)

An extract from an unreleased track by architect Nigel Baldacchino. Slated for release in 2020, this project sees him culling and deconstructing data from online audio sources into new ethereal forms.

Yews
“Musical Chair”

A musically and conceptually rewarding experiment by sound artist and singer Yasmin Kuymizakis, with tongue firmly in cheek. This is an actual musical chair, its seat replaced with chords. Pluck and play.

Timothy Garrett
“Always Remembering But Trying To Forget”

Laptop drone essayist Timothy Garrett is a member of multiple groups, with several solo works since 2013. His incursions touch upon multiple styles of machine music, often leaning towards the meditative.

Devil’s Breath
“Assimilate”

Wayward industrial music duo, frequently crossing into dub, techno and further afield.

Superlove
“Dmugħ”

A Berlin based indie-psych band, with garage rock and shoegaze tendencies, who have recently made the switch to writing music in Maltese.

Eyes To Argus
“Microcosm”

On “Microcosm”, post-rock quartet Eyes To Argus retain their underlying sense of atmosphere as they explore a grittier, more charged sound. Lyrically, themes of egotism and megalomania are explored.

Bila
“Il-Ħares Iħares”

Excitable grunge punk group Bila’s track is a puckish play on words that roughly translates to “The Ghost Peers In” and is partly about the “powers that be and the insidious nature of their presence in a citizen’s life”.

Luc Houtkamp & Hannes Budder
“Dingli”

Now resident in Malta, Dutch free improvisor Luc Houtkamp got together with guitarist Hannes Budder to record The Malta Sessions. This is “Dingli”, named after a cliff-edge town in the western end of the country.

Double Standard
“Among The Living”

A punk/hardcore outfit, occasionally partial to electronic improvisation, with members from Denmark, Finland, Italy and Malta. In this punk rock tale, an old vampire bemoans the ever-growing tedium of endless life.

Hearts Beating In Time
“Simone’s”

Dreamy pop ode by Rebecca Theuma about walking around Berlin at night. Features Tiffany Khalil, partner in crime in ‘sad bedroom gabber’ project MILFMAFIA.

Capitol K
“Goatherder”

Malta born Kristian Craig Robinson is an old hand, with releases as prolific as they are unpredictable – from IDM in the late 1990s to flirtations with cumbia in the late 2010s. His latest album, Goatherder, was composed and recorded in Malta.

Read Kurt Buttigieg's Global Ear report on Malta in The Wire 432. Subscribers can read in full via the online archive.