  We compute the spectra associated with various semiclassical string states
that propagate over $\mathcal{N}=2$ Gaiotto-Maldacena backgrounds. As an
interesting special case, for the Abelian T- dual solution, we discover giant
magnon and single spike configurations while imposing appropriate boundary
conditions. However, for Sfetsos-Thompson backgrounds, one has to adopt a
different string embedding which reveals ``modified'' dispersion relations both
for magnons and spikes. These results boil down into the standard dispersion
relations in the limit when the rank of the associated $SU(N_c)$ color gauge
group becomes large enough. We further generalize our analysis in the presence
of flavor D6 branes. Our analysis reveals a new set of dispersion relations,
which shows that both magnons and spikes are ceased to exist in the presence of
flavor excitations.
