Wonderful stuff found this week while doing a shortwave mix from Céline Dessberg with a track called Сэлэнгэ “Selenge”. For a second the start makes you think of PIL’s Flowers of Romance and it’s even got a bit of the Get Carter’s about it.
As it says on her Bandcamp: “Selenge is an enchanting instrumental in which Céline’s Yatga (traditional Mongolian harp) takes the spotlight, weaving haunting melodies over a foundation of groovy soul instrumentation” and they’re not wrong!
We’re ashamed to say we’ve never heard this tune before. It’s from the great King Sunny Ade and it’s a dubby version of Ja Funmi and it is wonderful 7 minute piece of music.
We found out about this tune from listening to a great mixcloud show called Jah Wobble’s 10 Commandments of dub. It’s just a collection of the tunes, no interview with Wobble or anything but the tunes are all good ones! For the full track listings see here. Well worth listening to if you like a bit of dub.
On Saturday afternoon after our Mystic Meg-like prophetic dream, the “vibes” (or more than likely the guilt) forced us out in the garden to do some tidying up. We only did a couple of hours but it was a pleasure to spend some time out the back.
We tidied up the patio and moved the carrots in the big pot we found in the street from the bottom of the garden up nearer the house. It’s all tops and does need thining out but there are baby carrots there and the decorative foilage ain’t bad. If anyone asks we’ll them they’re some sort of exotic microferns.
And we finally cleaned the leaves off the pond netting and gave it a good once over around it and it does make a difference to the look of it. With this weather God only knows when we’ll be able to get out there again though next Saturday is looking dry.
And finally we retrieved some beetroots, not many but enough to boil and to fill a small bowl and stick in the fridge to eat this week. Cheese and beetroot in a white bread sarnie, a treat you can’t beat!
And here’s a few random tunes for a Sunday evening.
The above programme was supposed to be aired last Sunday but WRMI was down all evening last week on 9395kHz. Fingers crossed the Imaginary Stations 45th Parallel Midwinter Broadcast will now be on in a few hours time (Sunday 19th February 2023) on 9395 kHz at 2300 hrs UTC. At 20 minutes in One Deck Pete presents “A 45 mix” with tracks from Borealism, Boca 45, mndbd, Jah Wobble and Mad Professor. Tune in and get on that circle of lattitude and enjoy! If you haven’t a shortwave radio do tune in on this online SDR here on 9395kHz on AM mode.
We popped down the compost heap with some tea bags and kitchen peelings this morning. Even in this freezing weather, it’s a chance to stretch the legs and see what’s happening in the garden.
There ain’t much going on at the moment so we decided to give the heap a turn with a garden fork, not sure if it’s the right thing to do at this time of year but fork it we did. The brandling worms are still at work and the decaying waste is looking good. Work never stops for the worms (unless perhaps a giant fork appears from above).
We felt sorry for the worms (who will just return to the heat of the lower part of the pile we hope) so we covered the heap with some sheets of cardboard and to hold them in place we stuck a plastic tray and a jug on top. There was no specific reason for the jug apart from it was the only thing we could get our hands on at the time. Perhaps we could start a new trend in the gardening mags of “household items on top of compost heaps”. You saw it here first!
While we were writing this piece we’ve had on the excellent new bandcamp set from Jah Wobble – The bus routes of south London. To say it’s good is an unstatement. It’s great that the 35 and 12 routes have been represented on here as they are ones we’ve been on often and in the direction stated. Two buses which weren’t featured on here are the P4 and P12, they are not bad buses when they do arrive but they certainly have their moments and we just don’t know how inspirational they’d be musicwise. 35 Towards Clapham Junction is our favourite tune at the moment and we’d love to know what the instrument/sample is at 3.30 on the track as it’s one mad sound especially when it goes up a pitch. Top stuff!
In a couple of hours this evening Sunday 23rd October 2022 at 2200 UTC/2300 UK time the imaginary station WREN goes flying into the ionosphere on shortwave on 9395 kHz thanks to those big cage-like antennas at WRMI.
Expect all sorts of great bird related tunes from all genres throughout the show and at 43.33 minutes in One Deck Pete spreads his wings with Are you feeling Chirpy? It’s a 15 minute mix featuring Jiony, Hawk, Mr Bird feat John Skweird, Lee Perry and Mighty Sparrow.
This show is especially for all the twitchers out there! Bird watching slang of the day is Pish pronounced Fish – A noise made with the lips for the purpose of attracting birds and having them come closer to you so they can be identified.
If you haven’t got a shortwave radio no problem, just tune in to 9395 kHz on AM mode at 2200UTC/2300 UK time using this SDR here. This is not a fly by night radio show. Tune in or listen again.
STOP PRESS The show is now up online here:
There’s not much to see in the garden at the moment but the compost heap is still composting, the fish are swimming at the bottom of the pond and there’s protection all around the garden for the forthcoming cold snap(s). Apart from the odd bit of tidying up we haven’t done that much apart from visiting the compost heap with the odd teabag and veg peelings. When we can remember we always stick a small layer of already made compost on the heap from the dalek bin beside it which will hopefully help the whole process.
We’re also in the process of looking through our seed tin. Even if we can’t do anything in the garden at the moment at least we can plan for the spring.
And if you’re finding the cold is getting to you, get your stereo/headphones on and have a listen to the studio version of Radio Clarion for an hour of trumpet based delights, well worth listening to. It also features at 8.40 minutes in a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” with tracks from The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook.
And thanks to our good friend Gerry Hectic here’s a great trackfrom Telefís ‘Falun Gong Dancer’ with Jah Wobble – Donkey’s Gudge Dub. Excellent stuff with a nice video too.
A week tomorrow (and the Sunday after) Radio Clarion takes to the shortwaves via Channel 292 with a trumpet themed broadcast. Tune in on your shortwave radio or by clicking here at 1200 UTC on Sunday 23rd/30th January on 9670 kHz.
There will be a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” featuring The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook. After the broadcast the audio of Radio Clarion will be posted up here. #shortwavesnotdead #trumpetsnotdead
This gem from the great Jah Wobble (off his new LP Dream World) was heard on the other week’s On The Wire. Influenced by a visit to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, the tune starts off with a dirty bassline sounding not unlike The Knack’s “My Sharona” pitched down to minus 8 then into a tune capturing all our favourite bits off the Young Marble Giants Test Card EP. Wobble’s tune defies classification and is one to listen to in a doctors surgery while thumbing through out-of-date issues of Reader’s Digest and Horse and Hound. Lovely stuff!
We’ve been away for a week in southern Turkey for a well needed break and here’s some nice examples of what was about in the gardens of the village we stayed at. If only we had a little more heat over here in Forest Hill and we could grow a bit of what was on offer there including (above) a lovely selection of flowers and (below) one of the many prickly pear cactus and pomegranate trees in the village. The fruit was used by the local cocktail bar for their classic Pomegranate Martini, now that was a fine tipple!
While we were away it was very sad to hear that Holger Czukay the madcap bassist of Can, Jah Wobble collaborator and musical pioneer passed away aged 79. He was the creator of some classic shortwave radio sampling tunes that influenced the weeds related music project Madtone. When we first heard those tunes many moons ago they blew us away! Here’s some of our favourites. RIP Holger Czukay!
Weeds up to me knees 