And now the end is near

The final Free Radio Skybird programme of this year (bar the repeat two weeks later) is on Sunday November 21st at 1200 UTC on 6070 kHz via Channel 292.

It features DJ Frederick, Justin Patrick Moore with The Radiophonic Laboratory and Weed’s own One Deck Pete with “Tunes to cheer you up.” Tune in!  #shortwavesnotdead #freeradioskybird

Blimmin’ eck the sun’s out!

https://soundcloud.com/thisisamusicshow/this-is-a-music-show-074

This blog post has been written whilst listening to this week’s This is a music show. We love the intro, over Max Greger and his orchestra’s Never Can Say Goodbye we hear Your Host with “Lot’s of different countries (played this week) including Germany, Brazil, The Cayman islands, Haiti, France…” Great stuff!

And we also love this tune by The (Fabulous) Wailers from Seattle (not Kingston, JA.) that was played at the beginning. That’s what’s great about the show, there’s always something great that you’d never heard before. Big shout to Your Host!

On a gardening note, we nipped out to the raised beds this morning to thin out the carrots (below) as it’s a bit of a jungle out there. We’re proud as punch as these were put in at the start of lockdown. We also found out the hard way that it was tons easier pulling out the carrots in the beds with the bought multi-purpose compost in them rather than the ones with London clay. We will rectify that come the spring!

We reckon that the carrots we pulled this morning were the early nantes free with Kitchen Garden magazine pre-lockdown in January. We’ll be getting some of them next year for sure. Anyone else having a bit of success with their veg? Do send us your pics! onedeck (@) gmail (.) com.

And on that note we have to say goodbye even if we can’t, we have gardening to do and the odd sunny interval to enjoy! #classiclockdowneweather #gardeninginlockdown

Radio connects us all, don’t it?

Here’s today’s recording of One Deck Pete’s “Radio connects us all” mix off an online SDR which was transmitted via Channel 292 earlier. Added percussion, noises and fading effects thanks to the groundwave propagation and that thing called the ionosphere. Tune in and drop out!

What you can actually do in ten seconds

A big shout to Gerry Hectic who told us about this compilation when they were originally looking for contributors. This compilation has over 200 10-second tracks and is released by ATTN:Magazine here. What’s great about it is that ALL proceeds from the sale of the set are donated to the charity Cool Earth who work alongside rainforest communities to halt deforestation and climate change.

There’s ten seconds from a variety of sources including Gerry Hectic, Justin Patrick Moore and Madtone amongst many many others! Cheers to Jack Chuter for including our track!

And my god we need cheering up…

The first in an occasional series by One Deck Pete called “Tunes to Cheer you up” which will feature every now and again on Free Radio Skybird on the shortwave via Channel 292.

Here’s the debut tune to cheer you up with, recorded off an online SDR located in Belgium earlier (here), the audio comes with added fading and noise which weren’t there on the original recording. Enjoy Funk Reverse with In & Out” (DJ Moy’s dub version) on Sound Exhibitions Records. A tune!

The lockdown’s just kicking in…

Free Radio Skybird’s last flight of 2019

The last transmission of 2019 from DJ Frederick’s Free Radio Skybird will be on Tuesday December 31st at 0900 UTC on 6070 kHz shortwave via Channel 292. The show will be rebroadcast on Sunday 5th January at 1100 UTC/UK on 7440 kHz. If you haven’t got a suitable shortwave set it can also be heard on the SDR link on Channel 292’s site here.

The programme will feature Justin Patrick Moore’s Radiophonic Laboratory and One Deck Pete (from Weeds up to me knees) presenting the Skybird Mailbag. There’ll also be an airing of Pete’s “Nine and a half minutes at ninety BPM” that has new tunes from: Frapp, Blundetto, Lama’s Dream and Mario Pinosa Trio. Mixes from previous shows are available at our audio podcast page here.

The programme will be available on DJ Frederick’s Soundcloud page a day or so before transmission date if you want to hear it in true stereo but we here prefer the show via the ionosphere. Tune in and turn on! #shortwavesnotdead #madtone #freeradioskybird

By the way we’re always looking for decent tunes to play on our spot on Free Radio Skybird. If you know of anything “up our street” so to speak, do contact us via the blog or at onedeckpete (at) gmail (dot) com and if we like it we’ll play it. Free Radio Skybird is now available via 5 FM stations in the USA WSCS, WMNB, KBOG, KOWS and WEJP as well as good old shortwave via Channel 292 and the above is the transmission zone when the conditions are good.

Bruce Lee, sea forts and a blimmin’ drone

We do love Time Team and Coast here at Weeds (alongside Aquarium RoadshowSinging midwives on ice and Don’t tell the Bus Driver of course!) and watched a combination of the two in Tony Robinson’s Hidden Britain by Drone. The one on the box tonight featured Red Sands Sea Forts at 21.15 minutes in. Excellent stuff if you love a Maunsell Sea Fort.

And thanks to our good friend Jazzmin Tutum here’s 9 minutes and 33 seconds of excellent downtempo chilled business. The track called Void City Arrival from Smooth Genestar appears in an interesting youtube about the great Bruce Lee that Jazzmin alerted us to. The clip is here and well worth watching!

Wobble meets Pablo in the waiting room of dub

This gem from the great Jah Wobble (off his new LP Dream World) was heard on the other week’s On The Wire. Influenced by a visit to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, the tune starts off with a dirty bassline sounding not unlike The Knack’s “My Sharona” pitched down to minus 8 then into a tune capturing all our favourite bits off the Young Marble Giants Test Card EP. Wobble’s tune defies classification and is one to listen to in a doctors surgery while thumbing through out-of-date issues of Reader’s Digest and Horse and Hound. Lovely stuff!

A Sunday night odd sausage

It’s been another weekend of non-gardening as the weather’s been of the “something to be desired” variety but never mind, here’s a lovely tune from Monster Rally called Sunny Sloth that’ll make you smile! It’s off their new LP The Flowering Jungle released just last week. If you like nice exotic sunny type loops over lazy beats and catchy melodies that’ll stick in your mind, this set is for you. For further investigation have a look at their bandcamp page here. 

Those dahlias that have turned black due to frost damage that should’ve been pulled up over the weekend and dried off for winter storage will soon be forgotten about after listening to Monster Rally! #musicforgardenerswholovesunshine

Primal stream

Big shout to Rob from Yesmate a great music sharing platform for mixes and playlists (Mixcloud, Soundcloud, Youtube, Spotify, etc). You’ll definitely find something to keep you happy never mind what genre you’re into. We’ve been listening since the weekend to some fine mixes including the great Blundetto, Mixmaster Morris and Jon More. Log on…