Rodeo - Basque Rock Band; Gadget Guru - Smart Screws & Edible Tape

Basque band Rodeo may be the only stoner rock band on the planet that sings in ‹Euskara›. The band began to work on their music in 2014 and they have since released a couple of albums and EPs. They have toured and played live shows consistently since their beginnings, although these were brought to a halt by the pandemic. They used this time off the road to record new album "MOIRA", released through Basel record label Sixteentimes Music. The label brought them to Basel and a short tour around Switzerland in April 2022, with continued touring planned for this year.

We talked to vocalist and guitarist Mikel Illarramendi when the band stopped by Radio X for a live session on music show Metal X (which is also broadcast on Tuesday evenings, like The English Show) in April. You can get Rodeo's new album on Bandcamp or through Sixteentimes Music. Listen to the interview here.

Next time someone asks you if "you've got a screw loose", don't laugh! They may not be calling you crazy - instead they may be referring to the safety of a bridge you're about to cross. How so? Well, Ian the Gadget Guru joined us on tonight's programme to tell us about technology developments at the Frauenhofer Institute (Germany's world-leading applied research organisation), where they've announced a "smart screw". Smart screws combine sensors and a radio connection to secure screws that are integrated into critical infrastructure like bridges, skyscrapers, tunnels, wind turbines, and so on. Rather than the tedious, error-prone and costly effort of inspecting these key elements of structures, smart screws inform stakeholders that it's time for an inspection as they've come loose or have lost their structural integrity.

And, in a completely different category of technological solutions, students at Johns Hopkins University have come up with "Tastee Tape". No doubt they had grown weary of their clothes always being stained by burrito and food-wrap fillings when they decided to do something about it. They came up with a water-soluble, food-safe tape that can keep the fillings where they belong: inside. Parents everywhere are rejoicing as laundry detergent sales are set to plunge. Listen to the segment here.

Our music theme was rock and stoner rock, inspired by our guests Rodeo. We played:

Rodeo - Geras

Rodeo - Therion

Clutch - Power Player

Queens Of The Stone Age - First It Giveth

Stonefield - Dead Alive

All Them Witches - Dirt Preachers

Kyuss - Green Machine