20 years of radio fun

More shortwave radio fun coming this weekend on the 75 Metre band courtesy of Channel 292. A transmission to mark the 20th anniversary of All Indie Radio (WAIR) will be broadcast this Sunday 7th February 2021 (and repeated on Sunday 14th February 2021) at 1700 UTC/UK on 3955 kHz. Tune in for some great music.

The programme features our good friends from across the pond DJ Frederick, Justin Patrick Moore and a mix from One Deck Pete called “Thank You John Peel” (more on the late great John Peel here) with tracks by Mogwai, McCarthy, Young Marble Giants, Stereolab and Orange Juice.

No shortwave radio? No bother, tune in here at the allotted time.

An alternative to lockdown lumbago

Last week wasn’t the best this end what with sciatica raising its ugly head followed by a bit of lockdown depression combined with the cold weather. And the dahlia tubers are still in the ground (hopefully not rotting away), their frost-blackened foilage a constant reminder that they have to be dug up. But in this weather? We think not. It’s better to stay in listen to some music and think of what seeds we’re going to be buying very soon as spring is not that far away!

Because of the bad back we’re still catching up on a couple of episodes of the great This is a music show that goes out on the shortwaves. If you click here you’ll be treated to the 100th edition of the show featuring 2 hours of the best in thrift shop classics, across the board genre-wise and some great reggae. A big shout to Your Host for getting the show to the landmark number! Tune in and turn on. And check their new website here and if you fancy donating a few quid/dollars to pay for airtime there please do as it’s a wonderful show!

And still on the theme of shortwave, if you’ve visited a supermarket masked up a few times this lockdown here’s a broadcast (below) that might interest you called KMRT. Listen out at 27.45 for a mix by One Deck Pete called “Buy one get one free” featuring tunes by Tyler Newman, Allen Ginsberg, Anima Universalis, Japanese Sound Portrait, Beatz for Food, Lullatone, Cantoma (Phil Mison) and Z Lovecraft. So break open a big tube of Voltarol and work yourself up into a shopping frenzy. #Supermarketsarethenightnightclubs #shoppingconnectsusall

https://soundcloud.com/user-25048993/kmrt-one-stop-shortwave-shopping-experience-9395-khz-3112021

Dub gardeners of the world unite

A big shout to Jesse Yuen who presents the excellent RTM.FM show North of the River Swan that specialises in downtempo dub and low end business on the second Sunday of the month from 4-6pm. Thanks to Jesse for sending us some pics (Thanks to Dee for taking them) of his great looking indoor planting scheme. The space is so bright and alive!

There’s a good variety of plants here even though us at Weeds are not the best when it comes to looking after plants of the indoor variety (we tend to overwater them then forget about them we’re ashamed to say.) There’s all sorts here including Kentia Palm, Chinese money plant (sometimes known as the UFO plant!), Prayer Plant, Tropic Snow, Mother-in-law’s Tongue, Devils Ivy, Parlour Palm, Umbrella Tree, Yucca, Mistletoe cactus (that looks well interesting) and the well hardy Spider Plant. (By the way whilst we’re on the subject of houseplants we have to mention a podcast to start following if you love gardening of the great indoors. It’s Jane Perrone‘s On the Ledge available here.)

And Jesse sent some of his favourite tunes from the North of the River Swan record boxes below to get stuck into. We didn’t know a lot of this stuff and that is what’s good about this music lark, once you open up that can of worms it’s never ending. There’s a ton of excellent tunes played on the show too so peruse the show’s mixcloud site here.

And do listen to the last episode of the show from 2020 featuring Jesse and Dubplate Pearl as it’s excellent stuff and full of some cracking tunes! Includes Prince Fari, Yabby You, Tradition, the great Depthcharge from Keith Hudson (What a tune!), a dub of Play fool get wise by Johnny Clarke and lots more great music.

Thanks again Jesse for sending the pics and the tunes!

Pigeons have a voracious appetite for brassicas

A big shout to Jon and George of the excellent Coughing Pigeon Radio Show on Brum Radio that plays “Not just sounds from across THE spectrum, but sounds from across EVERY spectrum” as the Brum Radio website desribes the show and they’re not wrong there!

On last week’s show they played at 19 minutes in Jazz’min & Madtone’s “Return to the branches” and at 42 minutes Stefanosis with Remembering Augustus off the great FREE Echo Chamber – Around the World in Dub Volume 11/12 on Dan Dada Records available here. Cheers Jon for plugging the compilation! Give Coughing Pigeon a listen if you’re looking for a great cross-genre listening experience!

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

We all love free stuff! And if it’s dub, even better!

And just as we’d finished writing the last post, we’ve just heard on the 18th of this month (4 days away!) is the release of the FREE Echo Chamber – Around the world in Dub Volume 11/12 via the Dandada Records Bandcamp here.

An action packed 28 track dub set including The Process Skip McDonald, Trevor The Technician McKenzie, The Mutant Frogs, Plastic Culture & Dubby Doo and a brand new number from Jazz’min and Madtone called Return to the branches. 

Get on the site on the 18th and download it for FREE!

Don’t touch that dial (again)

DJ Frederick‘s Free Radio Skybird is back on the 49 Metre shortwave band again this Sunday October 25th (and repeated the week after) as part of the station’s tenth anniversary. The broadcast goes out at 1200 UTC on 6070 kHz via Channel 292. Expect the usual mixture of stuff with DJ Frederick, The Radiophonic Laboratory and Weed’s own One Deck Pete. Tune in! #shortwavesnotdead #freeradioskybird

Can’t live without my radio

We’re a week and a bit behind on This is a music show and this afternoon listened to show number 084 and there were some great tunes played (including thrift store finds and more Polish records too) alongside a shout for Free Radio Skybird too (Cheers Your Host!) We loved The Lost Generation with The Sly, Sick and the wicked. We’ve never heard of it before and it’s one hell of a tune!

https://soundcloud.com/thisisamusicshow/this-is-a-music-show-084

And then a few records later Your Host plays the Leroy Sibbles version of Ain’t No Love which is another belter! The 12″ we own was obtained for a couple of quid a few years ago from the market around the back of Vauxhall Sainsbury’s which was not a place for the faint hearted! The only flea market that has heavy heavy security. God forbid it can’t be still there now.

Hearing that Leroy Sibbles tune we were brought back to a time when we used to own a cassette of the great Mikey Dread on his radio show in Jamaica from Christmas 1978. What a tape! Here it is in all it’s glory.

So do yourself a favour and tune into This is a music show if you like good tunes and across the board business! #thisisamusicshow #freeradioskybird #dreadatthecontrols

It’s Reggae time!

Big shout to Jesse Yeun for including One Deck Pete‘s “Weeds up to me Knees dub mix” (at 59.29 on the mixcloud below) on his great North of the River Swan show on RTM:FM yesterday. There’s a right old mixture of great downbeat on the show from Karminsky Experience, Tortoise and even one from a duo called One Deck & Popular. Have a listen in…

Dubbing is a must

Next Sunday 11th October 2020 One Deck Pete will be presenting an hour’s “Weeds up to me knees dub mix” on Jesse Yuen‘s excellent North of the River Swan (a show featuring music of the downtempo, dub and bass variety) show from 4pm-6pm on RMT.FM Radio Thamesmead. Pete’s mix will commence around 5pm and to tune in click here. Expect dub of the old and new. Here’s the last show from July below to give you a sample of the top tunes played.

And this excellent tune from Tyler Ov Gaia called A Portal into another world will be thrown into pete’s mix for go measure. Tune in next week!