I can see clearly now

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Empty patchesHere’s a pic of a bare patch of earth down the bottom of the back garden. Up until last week that area was piled high full of cuttings and prunings collected over a few years (including two years worth of christmas trees no less.) Now thanks to Lewisham Council’s new garden refuse bin filled over a four week period, it’s all gone. Result!

To celebrate this historic achievement here’s two tunes. The first is a super piece of electronica from Niccolò Cupo called Panta Relics I (Luv*Jam Xylo Remix) heard on Jose Padilla’s Essential Selection from last year (a great mix by the way, available here.)

The second is the other side of Beam Up’s Gerrup (that was played on the excellent BBC Radio Lancashire show On The Wire a few weeks ago.) Vibin’ is a cracker out on the recently discovered 45Seven label (one well worth looking into/hearing on their soundcloud here.) Big up the brown garden refuse bin!

 

Rebel without a greenhouse

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kirk brandon rockThe last post about Bauhaus reminded us of a gig many moons ago in Birmingham when they supported Theatre Of Hate. While the headline band were playing, we could see from the circle above there was some sort of chaos developing in front of the stage. A man in distress was frantically shouting at Kirk Brandon but couldn’t be heard through the roaring din of the band playing their garden fire classic “Incinerator.”

Were people getting crushed? Could somebody be seriously injured down there? Kirk Brandon waved his hands to the band to stop playing immediately, the tune coming to a crashing halt, the band members and the audience wondering what the hell was going on.

There was now silence in the venue, the worried punter shouted again and was picked up by the lead singer’s microphone and his voice relayed throughout the venue. “Kirk, Kirk, I’ve lost me shoe. Can you see it from up there?”

Mr Brandon didn’t see the funny side and carried on with the set visibly fed up (after being upstaged by a single-shoe wearing punter.) I always wonder if that bloke ever found his piece of footwear.

Pic above: A stone originally found on the beach at Camber Sands rediscovered while cleaning up around the pond a few years ago (left.) What a ringer for Kirk’s band’s logo eh? (right.)

(Pete) Murphy’s Law

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This week the above tune was discovered after a discussion at work about the band Bauhaus. It’s called Salahadeen by Jajouka Sound System which was a project by Dub Gabriel and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians of Jajouka plus one David J of Bauhaus.

I honestly never knew this at the time about Bauhaus and their love of Reggae: “How big an influence was reggae on the development of Bauhaus’s music? PM: Massive. We were listening to toasting music all the time, and David brought in a lot of bass lines that were very lead riffs. You can see how those basslines really formed the basis of the music, especially on Mask. We were more aligned to The Clash than anything else that was going around. We had no idea how to play reggae, but that was to our advantage because we expanded on that.” (from an interview with Pete Murphy here.)

And tonight on Youtube we found a lo-fi version of Salahadeen from Keith Levene which has a guitar hook around 0.51 for a minute or so (before it goes off on a tangent) that’s very very reminiscent of PIL’s “Poptones.”

Isn’t it funny what you find out through a discussion at work…

Still hoeing after all these years

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All chores were done early tonight and then it was straight out the back for some 8pm hoeing as all those potato peelings are still coming up (see here). Also did a bit of watering with comfrey liquid and generally getting bitten by the midges from the pond. Thank heavens for late daylight.

Here’s a tune to be playing while doing the hoeing late into the evening or in fact anytime and it’s from the great Protoje called “Flight Plans.”

The track is off a free downloadable set called Royalty Free (available here) which utilises some great samples/influences throughout. “Flight plans” uses the great Yabby You produced “Baby don’t go” by Patrick Andy. The others, snatches of “You can ring my bell” and the great John Holt on “Used to be my life.” Download it for nowt and do yourself a favour!

https://soundcloud.com/protoje/sets/royalty-free

Hold tight all garlic crew…

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GarlicaLast autumn I bought a small number of Garlic cloves from Shannon’s and stuck them in the ground over winter and last night I pulled a good few of them out to harvest. I’ll be leaving them against the kitchen wall to dry out a bit. Not a bad harvest for something you don’t have to bother too much with once they’ve been planted. There’s still even a couple of rows left in the ground too!

That was my mistake, that was my mistake

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Everything has gone green

Big gardening mistakes of all-time – number 5 in an ongoing series.

Never fill a compost trench with the contents of a compost bin that has lots of potato peelings in it. The above picture taken earlier this evening is proof why. If you look closely there is a courgette and a pumpkin plant in there somewhere. You live and learn…

compost trenchMore on why the compost trench (above) was originally dug in April here (you will laugh!)

Ladybird, ladybird

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poppy appealThis morning before the sun started whacking out some serious heat this nice poppy (above) showed it head.

We must be getting boring in our old age as once we used to be obsessed with obscure seven inch reggae singles. The other year it was mint plants (including chocolate mint, pineapple mint and Eau de Cologne mint, god forbid!) now this year it’s the humble poppy. It’s not unknown for us to walk around the front and back garden in the late evening with a packet of poppy seed giving it a pinch here and there in an anarchic fashion. Fingers crossed this anti-social behaviour will pay off when we have all sorts of mad varieties springing up out of nowhere later this year. Dutch flag in the frontThe obsession started when we discovered this gem of a poppy, the dutch flag the other year and what a flower it is! We’re presently waiting on the postman who if all goes well will be bringing us some seeds for the Welsh poppy, papaver oases and Californian poppy sun shades. Expect more pics of the results from our evening clandestine poppy sowings.

This post was written while listening to this great chilled out mix from our mate Phil Mison (a.k.a the balearicbailiff/toothgrinder/facepainter) with the back doors open celebrating the sun we had earlier today as you never know what it will be like tomorrow!

https://soundcloud.com/know-wave/phil-mison-1-june-2016

What will that weather bring?

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Heading for a heatwaveIt was officially summer on the 1st of June but you wouldn’t have thought it what with the cold blustery weather at the moment. Everyone still keeps on saying about this expected heatwave. Don’t hold your breathe…

Here’s a couple of tunes to bring some sunshine and warmth. The first is a West African Disco crossover called Ta Lassa (Hide & Smile Edit) from the International Soleil Band from Guinea. It’s from the early 1980’s and out on a 12″ on Soundway records as heard on the Tom Ravenscoft show last week. It’s one seriously good tune!

The second is one I originally heard on a cassette tape of Red Dragon‘s Rambo Mango Sound system from Jamaica in August 1989 bought in Brixton for a few quid around that time. The tune featured on it, is from the great Frankie Paul called I Want You on the classic Mister Bassie rhythm. Recently bought on 7″ for £8 inc p+p on discogs. A bargain for such a big tune!

How do you make a Zen garden?

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A big shout to Dr Strangedub and DJ Baby Swiss from the excellent radio show Echo Chamber on KFAI who every Wednesday from the crack of dawn play the best in reggae, dub and downbeat.

On this week’s show they played Dr Strangedub’s “In the garden of dub” mix (above) from a couple of years ago celebrating the “pleasures of gardening, the roots of life and the seasons of nature.” We here think it’s great stuff and includes Singers & Players (ft. Prince Far I), Madtone, Leroy Sibbles, Jah Wobble, Lee Perry and lots more, dedicated to the late great Peter Sellers (aka Chauncey Gardner). More proof that music and gardening do mix!

The rebroadcasting of the mix comes at an apt time where last week Graham Porter on Gardening with Tim Crowther on BBC Radio Leeds said that we’ve now reached the point where tender plants can be now put out. But that’s after the plants have had a period of being hardened off, a good watering and some slug protection has been put down first. But do keep that fleece handy just in case and watch those weather forecasts as you never know if/when those damn frosts will reappear.

When’s that heatwave coming?

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Tune of the week here at Weeds HQ, the title track from Mark Pritchard’s new album on Warp records. One to listen to on headphones while waiting for this heatwave that’s supposedly soon coming.

Big shout to Graham Porter for giving the green light for those bedding plants and frost-hating vegetables to go in on Sunday’s Gardening with Tim Crowther on BBC Radio Leeds. But do keep that fleece handy as you never know!