60
MUSIC
ManaTapu Pitstop IT DOESN’T TAKE MUCH TO STICK THIS LOCAL BAND AT THE TOP OF YOUR ABSOLUTE FAV LIST OF MUSICIANS. MANATAPU ARE HERE AGAIN, ONE YEAR AFTER THEIR IL-BIZZILL A DEBUT. KRISTINA CASSAR DOWLING GETS IN TOUCH WITH MALTA’S DARING YET FUN-LOVING BAND TO DISCUSS THE L AUNCH OF THEIR NEWEST ALBUM TUATARA.
T
here’s nothing better than sitting on a beach with a cold cerveza in your hand during the warmer months in Malta; but here on the rock, we’re always looking to make that summer vibe slightly better. The solution - ManaTapu. They’ve got this summer sound, a cool vibration that fills you with a surge of energy that soars through your veins urging you to dance, jump and party to their musical mastery. This summer they’re coming at us hard - with a good vibration album TuaTara; their second album release after their soaring success with their first EP, Timpana.
plans take shape - not to mention watching them jam out in their very own garaxx where the irie sounds of ManaTapu were conceived. Little did I know that things could get even better. ManaTapu are to me as catnip is to cats - I can’t get enough of them, I don’t know how to say no and they always get me ultra pumped; so when frontman Jogi dropped a little treat in my inbox I was psyched. “Here you go; wanted you to have this.” he wrote in reference to their full album, TuaTara, weeks before its release. As I picked my jaw off the floor; I sat back, hit the play button on my iMac and let their tunes fill the house. Gold.
Having devoured Timpana, fans were quickly asking for seconds that carried the same sweet sounds of ska, reggae and hip hop that they’d come to recognise as the ManaTapu sound. Some of the perks of coming to know these dudes include experiencing their passion while watching their
TuaTara is an expertly conducted album that captures the spirit of the band with the kaleidoscope of sounds they incredibly achieve in every five-minute track. It’s insane. Fans will recognise a good number of these tracks; tunes they revealed in their live gigs last summer, but some new songs