Dub gardening from around the world

Cheers to our good mate in Germany Phil Harmony for sending us these two pictures this morning of a suprise he got when he cut a tomato this morning for breakfast. We only found out through the magic of the internet that this is called Vivipary and “occurs in overripe fruit when seeds have reached maturity and the natural hormone, abscisic acid (ABA), is reduced.” Well you learn something new every day!

And also a pic from a while ago of what he found in his kitchen sink after coming back from a ten day holiday. Big up the guerilla pepper!

And cheers to another gardening/music friend of ours Dr Strangedub for playing Jazz’min & Madtone’s LP Livicate on the 2nd March’s Echo Chamber on KFAI (which is a show well worth tuning into every week!) and for playing One Deck Pete’s “Give a little whistle” mix (featuring tracks by Joakim, Marcel, Roscoe Wethers and Felix Laband) on the show to at 71.35 mins in. Big shout to Dr Strangedub and DJ Baby Swiss! Click here for the archive of recent shows.

Where have all the flowers gone?

Tomorrow evening Wednesday 9th March 2022 at 5pm UK time there will be a transmission to Europe of The Scented Garden (a nod to gardeners and gardening music lovers everywhere) on 3955 kHz. If you haven’t a shortwave radio at 5pm tomorrow tune in here. After the broadcast the audio will be posted up here.

At the start of the programme is a 15 minute mix from Weeds’ own One Deck Pete called “A tribute to council gardeners everywhere” featuring tracks by Dudley Perkins,
Hugh Masekela, Beyond The Wizzard’s Sleeve and Dennis Brown. Expect some gardening related tunes, pruning advice and more. Onwards and upwards!

WSTL whilst you work

This Sunday coming 13th February (also the launch day of Cities and Memory’s Shortwave Project here) sees WSTL on the shortwaves via WRMI at 2300 UTC on 9395 kHz. The transmission features a whistling themed mix from One Deck Pete called “Give a little whistle” featuring tracks by Joakim, Marcel, Roscoe Wethers and Felix Laband.

Put the kettle on and tune into some clear, high-pitched sounds by forcing breath through a small hole between one’s lips or teeth (or from a kettle, a bird or a train etc etc). Have a listen via an SDR online here, one of those shortwave radios or after transmission here. #shortwavesnotdead #whistlingsnotdead

It may be cold outside but inside there’s always music

There’s not much to see in the garden at the moment but the compost heap is still composting, the fish are swimming at the bottom of the pond and there’s protection all around the garden for the forthcoming cold snap(s). Apart from the odd bit of tidying up we haven’t done that much apart from visiting the compost heap with the odd teabag and veg peelings. When we can remember we always stick a small layer of already made compost on the heap from the dalek bin beside it which will hopefully help the whole process.

We’re also in the process of looking through our seed tin. Even if we can’t do anything in the garden at the moment at least we can plan for the spring.

And if you’re finding the cold is getting to you, get your stereo/headphones on and have a listen to the studio version of Radio Clarion for an hour of trumpet based delights, well worth listening to. It also features at 8.40 minutes in a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” with tracks from The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook.

And thanks to our good friend Gerry Hectic here’s a great trackfrom Telefís ‘Falun Gong Dancer’ with Jah Wobble – Donkey’s Gudge Dub. Excellent stuff with a nice video too.

The trumpets sound, the angels sing

A week tomorrow (and the Sunday after) Radio Clarion takes to the shortwaves via Channel 292 with a trumpet themed broadcast. Tune in on your shortwave radio or by clicking here at 1200 UTC on Sunday 23rd/30th January on 9670 kHz.

There will be a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” featuring The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook. After the broadcast the audio of Radio Clarion will be posted up here. #shortwavesnotdead #trumpetsnotdead

Good times never seemed so good

Here’s a great tune from a few years ago but just discovered the other night. It’s called Clarion from Handbook from the cassette and bandcamp set called Junky and it’s a tune. If all goes well it’ll be broadcast as part of a wind-instrument heavy mix called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” on the aptly named Radio Clarion over the shortwaves soon. Keep them peeled!

Also while looking through some old LP’s this evening we refound this tune, Darling Jeboza Macoo by Stranger Cole. It’s another version using the “Seeing is knowing” (by Stranger and Gladdy) and “Kimble” (by The Creators aka the late great Mr Lee Perry) rhythm. As we love those, we love this!

Second Annual Report

Here’s the audio of this morning’s broadcast on WRMI of the KMTS End of year transmission. This programme features two shortwave radio themed mixes from us at Weeds up to me knees. The first mix opens up the proceedings from 00.00:

“Keep it chilled for KMTS”
Grey Frequency – Chimes (Rai Internazionale)*
Audiovert – Another Universe*
Lapa – 45th Parallel
U Roy talking about King Tubby’s pirate radio adventures
KUNTARI–Orchid
(*Both tracks from the Cities and Memory shortwave project, more info here)

Then follows some eclectic programming from our good friend from across the pond, Ye olde DJ until 42.10 and then:

“The Circles of your mind”
Upcoast Channel 5 – CODAR
Lullatone – Sunday Morning Shopping with a Stroller
liloieee – Train tracks
Paul Davidson – Midnight Ridim (from the Jamaican release of the single Midnight Rider)
Gats – Schneewittchen 
Love Unlimited – Under the influence of Love

Hope you enjoy the show and do turn it up loud. As the station says on their mixcloud:

“The KMTS transmission service winds down our 2021 activities with this fast radio burst of test tones, sounds and songs.

So click on the radio, turn out the lights, and let exotic sounds from distant mountain top towers, take you on a trip to a land that is far away…”

There will be more to come in the following weeks and months so keep ’em peeled!

Reggae and radio, what a combination

Merry Christmas to all of our friends near and far and we wish you all a great festive season and a grand new year. We hope you have a great growing season next year, that all your veg and flowers do swimmingly well and your compost heap rots down well and gives you some great organic matter.

We were going to stick up the Mikey Dread “Dread at the Controls” live on JBC Radio recording from December 1978 as usual but just found some completely different show recordings with some excellent footage too. They’re a new one to us and there’s a few of them as well.

Have a great day today, keep safe and away from the endless Dad’s Army reruns and remember this is the only day you can officially have a glass of Bailey’s and some Cadbury’s Roses before lunchtime without people thinking you’re odd.

On the way to the peak of normal

Now we’ve reached the winter solstice we’re on the way to longer days and hopefully warmer ones too. This morning was a cold one and there was a frost. The dahlias need forking up, cleaned up and stored indoors and the garden needs a general tidy up before the real cold weather sets in.

For the first time in years we’ll be having Brussels sprouts fresh from the garden on Christmas day as the don’t look like they’ve “blown” (here) and/or nothing’s wiped their rear end on the stalks (see story here). Compared to the ones in the organic shops they’re small but who cares as they look good enough. They take a while to grow and we’ll let you know after Christmas dinner if they tasted alright.

Just after Christmas is the KMTS End of year broadcast on the shortwaves via WRMI on Monday 27th December 2021 at 0000 utc on 9395 kHz. There’s a couple of mixes from One Deck Pete including “The circles of your mind” featuring these two great tunes below. If you haven’t a shortwave radio you can always click here on the afternoon after for the listen again of the show.

Anyway a big cheers to all our friends around the globe (and around the corner) and hope you all have a great festive period and remember it won’t be long now until we can start sowing and get out again, let’s hope 2022 is lots better than 2021.

The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know

At the time of the passing of the great Lee Perry (“Our musical Papa” as the song goes) we posted up his very ahead of its time (1968) version of Burt Walter‘s Honey Love where he places Burt’s vocals played in reverse over the backing track. So bonkers it actually works!

We’ve just found the original version by sheer chance which was by The Drifters. Another case of “Well we never knew that”…