Category Archives: Songs to sow seeds to

Have you seen me record middle? Part 2

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Bells Group – Kingston 13 (Blank) 1962 (B side to Derrick Morgan In My Heart)
A lovely little number from the Bells Group on a Jamaican (President) blank 7″ (later to be released on the Prince Buster label in 1962) found in a bunch of tunes this evening. We haven’t heard this for a long while!

The blank at the top above is our copy but unfortunately not the one directly above, which has the legendary “Beverley Ice Cream Parlour, 135 Orange Street, Kingston” stamp on it. That’s a bit of musical history there.

That one goes very well with this one below which we pulled out as well. Top tunes from yesteryear.

Does anyone remember Radio Rentals?

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This weekend the second episode of TV on the Radio by Imaginary Stations was beamed over the shortwaves in monochromatic colour in 405 and 625 lines, thanks to the services of the great Shortwave.de

Above is the studio version up on Mixcloud which features all sorts of theme tunes and cathode ray tube business from DJ Frederick and the crew. There are mixes from the Mysterious Kit at 02.02 and One Deck Pete’s “Alternative Television” at 27.24 minutes in, featuring audio memories from the good old days of the coin-operated TV set.

Tunes featured on “Alternative Television”:
The Tony Hatch Orchestra – Theme from Crossroads
Midnight Television – Commercial Dreams
The Lost T shirts of Atlantis – Theme from Crossroads
Ron Grainger – The Prisoner
Mice Parade – Stereolab Remix – Warm Hand in Farmland
(which samples The Persuaders theme tune)

Gardening is a collaboration

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Cheers to our good mate Gerry Hectic for letting us know about Gardener’s World Episode 29 where as he says, “Never thought we’d get electronic music on Gardener’s World – about 30 mins in…” “Join Jason Singh for an unusual journey through the garden, exploring the hidden sounds of plants.” The episode is available here.

It really is bonkers stuff as Jason uses a biofeedback device to come up with some ambient soundscapes by hooking up plants to a laptop. Tune in above and below for some top biosonification business.

 

And we love this tune. Thanks again Gerry and wonderful stuff Jason, it’s well up our street!

 

Keep watching those northern skies

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Cheers to Rich up in the Lake District for sending us some pics taken above his house when trying to capture the latest aurora activity up there. He may not have caught the northern lights but the milky way counts as some heavy stuff. Lovely pictures Rich!

He was telling us that last week was wet and windy in the week. I wonder if we’ll be getting some of that weather down here this week?

And a couple of skyward related tunes for you.

More polytunnel business

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We managed a few hours in the garden this afternoon and it was nice to be able to spend some time out there. We picked our beef tomatoes (above) from the polytunnel, and a couple of hours later a sauce was made (then later frozen) with a couple of chillies added to give it some heat.

In the tunnel we gave the workbench a bit of a wipe down, as we’re a bit paranoid that diseases and the like can spread quickly so we always check there isn’t a build-up of water on the plates below the plant pots, cut off anything that looks dead or damaged and also check any that we may have missed out while watering. The tunnel is starting to fill up now as we’re bringing in anything that could be damaged by the frosts (in a few weeks’ time?) and starting off some vegetables including parsnips, carrots and some onions and garlic in large tubs.

We also stuck some onion bulbs outside (above) after clearing an area in the side bed and made sure to put down protection from any birds and squirrels who fancy nicking them.

And we just seen on Facebook that Bez has just got himself a polytunnel, good stuff. That’s a nice sized one!

Morschen43 on the wire

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A big thanks to Steve Barker, Fenny and Jim from the excellent On The Wire for playing Morschen43’s Dark Dread / Toi … , L’Homme … at 1 hour in on the show earlier this morning. Cheers Steve for mentioning Weeds up to me knees also!

The track is off Spike’s new album available on Bandcamp here.

The track above was the tune played before it which is of the crazy dubby trumpet variety. Cheers again Steve!

To listen to the wonderful eclectic programme that is On The Wire check the blogspot here.

It’s also on Totally Radio on Sundays at 6pm here. It’s well worth a listen to say the least.

And back over to France again

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Here’s news about the new album from our gardening mate Spike Morschen43 from Le Puy-en-Velay, France called Retour En Force!!!

 

The set released a few days again on Bandcamp features 12 tracks featuring some heavy guitars, some whistling on Noir Y Voir (which would fit in on the Imaginary Stations WSTL show), a version of MV Ross Revenge For Ever (UK), which initially made us to get in touch with Spike through the pirate radio connection, and a great version of Madtone’s Dark Dread called Dark Dread / Toi … , L’Homme…

 

Give it a listen and name your price. Cheers Spike!

And then back up north to the lakes

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Cheers to Rich up in the Lake District for sending us a couple of pictures of his back garden. “The fox and cubs have taken over but look quite nice.” He was saying there is a theory that the Romans originally brought them over which makes interesting reading.

“There used to be a Roman road crossing right past the village. Historically the road we live in was called Watery lane though not anymore. That was because of all the natural springs (that are still bubbling out of our front gardens now). It would’ve been a good place for Roman soldiers to water horses. As these flowers are all over the hillside along with fig trees, they may have been brought here 2000 years ago by the Romans as flowers and figs are native to southern Europe”. Interesting idea Rich and ta for getting in touch.

By the way what are the figs like Rich? We are still not sure if you can grow ones that are edible and a decent amount of them as we’ve heard conflicting reports. We love a fig here and even have a soft spot for a fig roll with a cup of tea. Answers on a postcard please gardening friends if you’ve heard otherwise too.

Preparation, preparation, preparation

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This afternoon we cleared an area (which once housed a greenhouse many moons ago) in preparation for a polytunnel which will arrive sometime this week. Thanks to Alan C who gave us some great advice about purchasing one, as we didn’t know much about what was on offer out there.

We weren’t the only ones that were excited today, there were a Blackbird and a Robin who swooped down a few times even when we walked a little way away, we must’ve disturbed some food in the area or someting.

Anyone want any tomatoes?

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A bit thanks to Alan C who sent us up some great pictures of his harvest from his Corfe Mullen allotment down in Dorset. First off is his polytunnel that looks so abundant with growth even with this heatwave and lack of rain.

“The polytunnel is a bit messy as you can see (above) but the picture is after I had harvested so there will be plenty more. This is the side with cherry-type tomatoes (toddler), the plum ones are on the other side. You can just about see a couple of Midas chilli plants in pots at the back as well.”

He went on to say, “The extreme weather and ongoing drought hasn’t been good for some things, the peas and beans are struggling, and the potato crop was down with a lot
smaller spuds, but the squash don’t seem bothered.”


If you remember Alan has lots of tubs of potatoes on the go, which is a great idea. “I harvest twice a week, and this is today’s return (above) – over a kilo of spuds from the one tub I emptied (about 15 more tubs left to go) and nearly 1.5 kilos of tomatoes.  Plus, a slightly overgrown cucumber and a nice onion and beetroot.”

“We were already struggling to eat the tomatoes I picked last week so I now need to come up with some new recipes for them, we can give some away, but the neighbours don’t want any more and my daughter is allergic to them.”

Cheers for the pictures Alan and everything is looking brilliant down there and I imagine he’s put in a lot of hard work with everything, especially with watering.

Anyone on here know any good recipes for a glut of tomatoes? We’re thinking of a big pasta sauce and freeze it but it’s all about what space is available in the freezer isn’t it?