Exotica RadioExotica Radio

Exotica started in 2018 as a run of multi-genre parties, became a short-lived pirate transmitter, and settled into a stream that has never had more than one person behind it. Miguel Angelo Ferreira does the digging, the sequencing and the broadcasting, and the station has moved with him from Portugal to Romania, the Philippines and now Malta — travel being the method rather than an interruption to it. Independent labels and artists post records in, and the fifth birthday was marked with events in Malta.

Every track is pinned to a world map by where its artist comes from, so an afternoon reads as a route: cumbia out of Colombia, salsa from Willie Colón and Celia Cruz, Afrobeat from Kaleta & Super Yamba Band, French boogie edits from the Funky French League. Daylight hours stay gentle and the selection climbs toward the floor once it is dark, which is the whole shape of the day.