Category Archives: Reggae

“No WSTLing at WORK” said the foreman

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Here’s the audio of the weekend just gone Imaginary Station show WSTL/WORK in a whistling while you work tip. Expect all sorts of tunes from related genres (including Heavy Whistling and Gainful Employment-core) and at 22.30 there’s a mix by One Deck Pete called “Work while you whistle”.

Here’s the tracklisting:
The silhouettes – Get a job (excerpt) (00.01)
コディ – Clocking In (00.19)
Nexotica – Whistlin’ Blues (04.21)
Whistling Kettle in dub (6.40)
The Secret Whistle – Lebensmittelvergiftung (07.00)
Paul Blackford – Night Shift (11.20)
Phoenix City All-stars – Career Opportunities Dub (excerpt) (14.03)

Tune in and enjoy the sound of WSTL/WORK!

Make your own luck (and muck)

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The other day we used the tip that Alan mentioned a few posts ago about adding some home-made garden compost into peat-free seed compost to give it a bit of added goodness. We looked at our compost heap thinking we’d have to clear the many layers of rotting vegetables, cardboard and egg boxes to get to the bottom and then remembered last year we found a way to the bottom from the side of the heap (above). All we did was move an old floor tile and voila we were rewarded with some fresh “Black Gold” (below), wonderful stuff!

We only put a few handfuls of it with the remaining peat-free seed compost we had left as we didn’t want it too nutrient heavy and kill the seedlings but just enough to make a difference. Once we mixed it up we filled one of the seed tray, tray lid and bottom set we got from a large DIY supplier (their name rhymes with T&Q) for the bargain price of £4. You can’t even get a pint for that sort of money these days.

In the tray went some self-saved seeds of sweet pea we grew last year, some jalapenos, the black moon tomato we got from Thompson & Morgan and also from T&M, “great stuff” peppers that grow to the size of a human hand! We’ll keep you posted when the seeds germinate and we’d love to hear what you’re starting off at the moment. Remember it’s only February.

What is (your) neem?

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The other week we were chatting with a gardener friend about those damn fungus gnats that in the summertme usually plague our plants on the kitchen windowsill. She recommended using some Neem Oil which we’ve never heard of before and brought some for us the other day. We have no idea if it will work, how it works and what you do with it apart from diluting it and putting it on your plants. Any ideas? Does it work and what’s the best way to use it? Do drop us a comment.

From Beatles to Bigfoot to Aetherius

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Here’s the audio of Imaginary Station’s From Beatles to Bigfoot broadcast last weekend via Shortwave Gold, a show full of the songs of Lennon/McCartney covered in a way you’ve never heard before. Also beatles soundalikes, plus UFOs, flying saucers and a Yeti Choir (*subject to availability). It’s a odd mixture but a very nice odd mixture featuring contributions from all of the Imaginary Stations crew.

At 14.04 mins in One Deck Pete brings you a UFO themed mix called “A pint of lager please Earthman”. The tracks are:
Tena Stelin – UFO
Jah Warrior – Unidentified Flying Dub
The other self – Men from Venus
The Psychedelic Aliens – Blofonyobi Wo Atale
Meridian Brothers – Guaracha U.F.O (No Estamos Solos…) (excerpt)

Yoga, not yoga

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A big thanks to our musical mate Gerry Hectic for this ode to “a mind and body practice that can build strength and flexibility”. It’s by the wonderfully named Odion Livingstone and called simply Yoga. Excellent stuff which will make you smile, the mention of “Do the handstretch” and “Chest expansion” cheered us up no end. And as it says on his Bandcamp “Odion Livingstone is a Space Station chanelling signals and sounds from the past to the future.” Now there’s a nice description of an artiste.

And another Yoga influenced track by The Dubvisionist with Deva Dub.

 

And let’s not forget Tai Chi which is not Yoga. Here’s a nice bit of pushing hands with Lou Reed and Master Ren.

Can we have a bit of freedom (blues) please?

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Here’s a couple of cuts of the classic tune MPLA, the first from The Revolutionaries on the Channel 1 record label and a lovely horns cut it is too.

The second is a banging dub cut of Freedom Blues (aka MPLA Riddim) on 1st Rasta Records out of Camberwell SE5 7ZJ. We’d love to know more about the label as the location of 1st Rasta Records is in an area (with a bus garage) that is very close to our hearts There’s next to nothing on the label on Discogs except a few records by artists including Frankie Paul, Tommy Trouble (great name) and Johnny Rodgers.

Many moons ago we had a PO Box at the same place and used to collect records every Saturday, in the days promo companies would send out those things called vinyl records. One cold winter’s morning, a 12″ promo in a very warm card envelope was handed over to us by a whistling postman (wearing shorts of course) from said SE5 sorting office. When we took it home we found it was warped as anything and had been left next to the radiator for a couple of day we reckon. As the song goes “What can you say, who can you blame?” Anyone know more on 1st Rasta Records?

And here’s where it all started:

Limited copies come with an extra “via the ionosphere” mix

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A big thanks to DJ Frederick and Imaginary Stations for broadcasting Downbeat on Shortwave last weekend via the transmitters of  Shortwave Gold. The show featured two 15 minute mixes in a downtempo style back to back from Jesse Yuen (Australia) and One Deck Pete (London, SE23).

We’ve posted up two recordings of the show. The first is the stereo studio recording and below that, the off-air recording via the shortwaves recorded in glorious mono. Fading and extra noises thanks to the ionosphere/groundwave.

Big shout to Jesse Yuen for getting involved and into the spirit of this shortwave radio project of ours.

Starting them early my friend

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It’s still only January but we’ve started some seeds already. Last year everything seemed to go wrong with the seed sowing as they germinated and then just stalled for a good few weeks and then died. We have no idea what it was, was it to do with the cheap compost we got at a supermarket? Was it those damn aphids who feasted on the basil plants on the kitchen windowsill later in the season? Was it some sort of delayed damping off?

 

Who knows but we weren’t best pleased as the batch contained some rare chilli and some choice tomato varieties. We ended up buying some chilli plants and a nice bushy tomato plant from B&Q in the end which all done well but it’s not the same.

We’ve now wiped the slate clean and put the memory of last year’s failings out of the way and started afresh with some proper seed and cutting compost in pots in a heated propagator we received as a present a few year ago (cheers Maz and Marc!)

Seeds sown this week: mint, dill, basil, chives, parsley, san marzano tomato, cerise tomato, chilli habanero, chilli Jalapino (the last 3 out of packs that say sow by 12.2023) and some seeds we dried off our chilli apache plant last year. We also sowed some catmint even though we were warned years ago that “you’ll have every cat in the neighbourhood in your back garden”.

In a few weeks every windowsill will be full with pots on saucers, jam jars and plastic freezer bags on top of plant pots as cheap alternative to greenhouses.

 

Anyone know any good tips for stopping those aphids? Someone the other week mentioned neem oil and we’ve just looked online and may try it. Anyone ever used it? Any tips to one deck pete at Gee mail dot com please.

Even council gardeners love a bit of ambient

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Here’s a long and lovely track from Irrelevant called Touches. This is the Ambient Council Worker Mix from Gordon Strange. Excellent stuff, glad to see that council employees get a namecheck! Are there any tunes specifically about council gardeners you reckon?

And we think it’s cold in London!

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Cheers to Rich R for sending us these great pictures from quite a cold Lake District at the moment. It may be cold but wonderful views though, cheers Rich! Do keep warm up there.
Thanks to Rich sending us this great record too Fish, Goat and Sufferah with Warm the Nation. Great stuff.