It was very sad to hear about Benjamin Zephaniah who passed away this morning. Thanks to Gerry Hectic for letting us know about this great tune. RIP Benjamin Zephaniah.
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Category Archives: Shortwave radio
It’s just under a foot ain’t it?
Here’s the audio of yesterday’s imaginary stations show via Shortwave Gold called WS10S, a tribute to the 10 inch single. We’re not just talking 78’s we’re talking all speeds spread over a good few genres. It’s a great show and well worth listening to in its non-ionosphere reflected glory in stereo.
Also at 26.33 minutes in there is a mix from One Deck Pete called unsurprisingly “A ten inch mix”. Here’s the tracklisting:
Jasmine & Madtone – What is man? Dubplate
Zap Pow – Broken Contract
Ellis Island Sound – Republica Evescarra (played at 45rpm)
Marc Collin – Les Kidnappeurs (Main Theme) (Revisited By Jackson)
Nicola Conte – Jazz Pour Dadine (The Dining Rooms Remix)
So chill out and tune into last nights’s show without actually tuning in, if that makes sense.
Bass and drum plus some gurgling and groaning
Last night we found a wonderful track on Bill Laswell’s Trojan Dub Massive Volume One compilation on Bandcamp. It’s a version of Delroy Wilson’s Have Some Mercy (first heard on the John Peel show many years ago) and George Faith’s To be a Lover called Lovers Skank (Spanglers Clap) by The Upsetters. Crazy minimal dub with all sounds of strange things over the top.
This track also appears on the vintage King Tubby’s Hometown Hi-Fi recording from Jamaica in 1975 (Thanks to Who Cork The Dance for cleaning the tape up) at 11 minutes in. As the great U-Roy says while the track is playing “It’s kind of scratchy, very very scratchy but the brother asked to play…” Tune!
Here’s an excellent interview with the great U-Roy where he talks about King Tubby’s electronics wizardry at 11 minutes in.
We can’t control the weather but we can control the music
The above picture was the weather we had at the start of the week and by all accounts will return tomorrow. That’s all we need but the heating’s on at the moment and the stereo has been turned up high. The first tune of the night is Straight to Mad Professor’s head from the set Mad Professor meets Channel One: Round 2 by Mad Professor and Channel One. It is one subtle dub!
We heard a Hugh Mundell dubplate on this week’s excellent Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room on IDA Radio (Tallinn). While we were looking for it we found a great Augustus Pablo Dub of Feeling Alright.
And the best “out there” tune of the night is from a LP called Folk and Pop Sounds of Sumatra Vol.1 on the excellent Sublime Frequencies label from out of Seattle. No idea who it’s from or what it’s called, all it says on the notes is that it’s in the Sumatran Dangdut style. It has a hook that sounds like an interval signal from a numbers station which we can’t place, that is sometimes played on a rasping bagpipe sounding keyboard. The LP has a wonderful cover too, what more do you want? Wonderful stuff which will worm its way into your brain as it’s so catchy.
Let’s temporarily forget the crap weather and dark times and listen to some decent tunes to soothe, inspire us and give us a break so to speak.
It is October and what is that tune?
Well things should be coming towards an end in a couple of week’s time and all that outside gardening fun may be slowing down but we still can grow stuff on our windowsill. The chillies we got in a plant swap are still going well. If it gets the heat and the protection from frosts it may survive and give us more hot chillies. Even the butternut squash outside is still cracking on.
Also the other day we relistened to the B side of a compilation we bought a couple of weeks ago and found (at 17 mins in on the above) a 1970’s Bunny Lee/King Tubby’s sounding cut of the wonderful Shirley & Lee’s – Lee Goofed. There’s versions out there by John Holt & Hortense Ellis (So long Baby) and The Love Children/The Marvels (Lee Goofed) on youtube but nothing sounding as heavy as the one on the Little Axe Compilation (A label which releases some wonderful tunes by the way and worth checking out). Any ideas on what the version on the compilation is? Any ideas appreciated.
The cut reminded us of those 1970’s old singles on the Grounation label like these two corkers below. Now there was a good label.
Rocking all over this Earth
Here’s Sunday night’s transmission of Skybird Radio International which was broadcast through the services of Shortwave Gold. There’s tracks from all over the map and genre’s galore.
At 45 seconds in is One Deck Pete‘s third mix for Skybird Radio International and here’s the track listings:
Madtone – Diamonds in the Sky (Excerpt)
Les Maîtres Fous – La Mort d’Icare
Aselefech Ashine & Getenesh Kebret – Wegenne
Narcy – Nehaya
Wilmoth Houdini – Blow Wind Blow
Unknown Track off “Cantos Oscuros” from Little Axe Records (at 05.18 in on Side 1).
Enjoy the sounds from all around this Earth of ours!
Pets Win Prizes
Here is the audio for KPET which went out on Shortwave Gold on Sunday 8th October 2023. Have a liston to a great show that has lots of pet related tunes and dedications going out to collie dogs, guinea pigs and budgies owners.
Beginning the show at 00.00 is a 15 minutes mix called “A tribute to Fido, Twinkie and Sheba” from One Deck Pet(e) and here’s the tracks:
oofoe – goldfish
Naslah – Cats & dogs
Cat Stevens – Was dog a donut
Benhayyi Al Baghbaghan – Salute the parrot (excerpt)
Soothsayers/Victor Rice – Glass fish dub
So fill up the dog bowl, put the cover over the parrot cage and enjoy the show!
On the shortwaves this weekend
The Imaginary Stations Crew present a couple of radio shows on those shortwaves of ours this weekend. On Sunday 8th October 2023 at 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz we have KPET beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold. This show goes out to all pet owners and will feature lots of pet related tunes for collie dogs, guinea pigs and budgies owners everywhere. One Deck Pet(e) contributes a mix called A tribute to Fido, Twinkie and Sheba with tracks from oofoe, Naslah, Cat Stevens, Benhayyi Al Baghbaghan and Soothsayers/Victor Rice.
And via WRMI on Monday 9th October in the small hours we have WSTL first at 0200 UTC on 9395 kHz and then repeated at 0300 UTC on 9455 kHz . Expect tunes that feature whistling and we also have a choir of whistling sports referees coming in live doing a rendition of “Sitting at the dock of the bay”*. It should be a shrilling show!
*subject to availability
Stars on 45
Here’s the Imaginary Stations show WS7S – The Skybird Seven Inch Vinyl Special a show in praise of the humble seven inch single that was broadcast on Sunday 10th September 2023 via WRMI. There’s some gems on here with some light scratches and a little bit of off-centre pressing madness.
At a few seconds into the audio One Deck Pete brings you a mix called The Skybird Single Club. Here’s the tracks:
Rotary Connection – Like a rolling stone
Weekend – The view from her room
Earl Curry – One whole year baby
Felice Taylor – I feel love comin’ on
Toby Nelson – You don’t need me (Version)
Have a listen to the show and rediscover the world of the humble seven inch single.
Talking of radio shows this Sunday 17th September 2023 we have two imaginary station related programmes on the shortwave. At 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz via Shortwave Gold we have DJ Frederick’s Shortwave Music Library where he picks some choice classics and rarities not usually aired heard over the wireless. Expect all sorts of eclectic stuff.
Talking of wireless, at 2200 hrs UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI the Imaginary Stations crew bring you WTAB. A trip back in time where trebly voices and music flowed through horn type loudspeakers and when it got too loud a spare sock would dampen the sound. Expect some old tunes from way way back in the day!
A song for a hot Sunday
Here’s a tune we found by accident and it’s a grower. It’s on the fantastic Cosmic Spy Music label out of New Jersey and it’s called Don’t Blame it on Elvis by Fabulous McClevertys. Enjoy!
