ON THE COVER: Mercury Rev - Ten years of turmoil, substance abuse and swirling guitars may sound like your typical sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll tale, but David Keenan hears how encounters with the US avant garde influenced their New York State of mind
FEATURES: Primer: Music of Islam, Invisible Jukebox: Kirk Degiorgio, Cornelius Cardew, Playgroup, Madlib, Axel Dörner, Alog, Jim O'Rourke, Coil, No-Neck Blues Band, Shoji Hano, DJ Shadow
ON THE COVER: Jim O'Rourke - His recent appointment as Sonic Youth's fifth member hasn't cured avant music's most workaholic producer. David Keenan hears about O'Rourke's new LPs of Southern fried boogie and Mego electronica, and why Chicago sucks
FEATURES: Invisible Jukebox: Lol Coxhill, Kaija Saariaho, The Soviet noise network, Bobby Conn, Nagisa Ni te, Blectum From Blechdom, Charley Patton, Dave Douglas, Manhattan Stories: Lee Ranaldo, Stephen Vitiello, Skiz Fernando, Alan Licht and more
ON THE COVER: Kid 606 - Oakland's hyperactive electronica whizz Miguel Depedro is a one man tiger economy, pumping out words almost as fast as he cranks out his giddy laptop beatnoise. Just don't call it ephemeral, he tells Peter Shapiro
FEATURES: Primer: Wu-Tang Clan, Christina Kubisch, Invisible Jukebox: Richie Hawtin, Techno Animal, Henry Flynt, Oneness of Juju, William Winant, Henry Cow, Aphex Twin, Coltrane's last date
ON THE COVER: Björk - Flitting between London, Reykjavik and Manhattan, Iceland's queen of the night has been singing round the digital campfire with Matmos, Matthew Herbert and others on her new Vespertine album. By David Toop
FEATURES: Q-Bert, Pandit Pran Nath, Stereolab, Mike Patton, Lester Bangs, Stephan Mathieu, Gregg Bendian, Radu Malfatti, Lightning Bolt, Patti Smith, Crass
ON THE COVER: Acid Mothers Temple - Beneath the psychedelic gimmickry, Makoto Kawabata's cosmic revellers are sky-kissing troubadours at heart. David Keenan unravels the 23 year trip that transformed teenage noisefreak Kawabata into AMT's high priest of drone
FEATURES: Invisible Jukebox: Laurie Anderson, Primer: Morton Feldman, Fennesz, Rune Lindblad, Prefuse 73, Hamid Drake, Delia Derbyshire, Björk, Sonic Youth, Sonar 2001
ON THE COVER: Radiohead - At their Oxford base, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood tell Simon Reynolds about dissent in an apathetic age, the secrets of their studio techniques and how to stay off-message while under corporate manners
FEATURES: MicroHouse, Arthur Doyle, Invisible Jukebox: Pauline Oliveros, Tangents: Metropolis and the Man-Machine, Jacques Attali, Four Tet, John Hudak, Fennesz, Chrome
ON THE COVER: Company Flow and beyond - New York's finest HipHop outfit may have ceased trading, but board members El-P, Bigg Jus and Mr Len have already laid separate plans for anti-corporate action via labels such as Def Jux and Sub Verse. By Mosi Reeves
FEATURES: Neu!, Primer: Fire Music, Invisible Jukebox: Fred Frith, John Duncan, Electrelane, Radiohead, Yoko Ono, Scritti Politti, Prix Ars Electronica
ON THE COVER: Generative Music - Oval, Brian Eno, Autechre, Evan Parker and Michael Prime are only a handful of contemporary artists whose approach to systems, evolutionary processes and technology are advancing the musical zeitgeist. By David Toop
FEATURES: Invisible Jukebox: Current 93, Tangents: Apocalypse poetry, Keith Tippett, Bardo Pond, 20 years of Touch, Artistic Heritage Ensemble, All Tomorrow's Parties, Håkan Lidbo, Cannibal Ox, Khan, Plastic People Of The Universe
ON THE COVER: John Cale - As more unreleased tapes finally surface, Cale spools back to his pre-Velvets experiences with New York's avant garde scene, revealing the secret behind the most influential group in rock. By Edwin Pouncey
FEATURES: Primer: Early Minimalism, Tom Zé, Keith Rowe, Matmos, Invisible Jukebox: Richard Norris, 2nd Gen, Antibalas, Lee Ranaldo on John Fahey, Robert Wyatt, Nick Cave, Autechre
ON THE COVER: Talvin Singh - With the release of his second album Ha, the multitasking tabla master has been promoted to the global music elite, hanging with cronies from Bill Laswell and Sakamato to Andrew Lloyd Webber. By Peter Shapiro
FEATURES: Ornette Coleman, Tangents: The Blank Generation, Invisible Jukebox: Stephen Malkmus, Phill Niblock, John Wall, Future Pilot AKA, Thighpaulsandra, Joy Division
ON THE COVER: Tortoise - Climbing out of their shells, Chicago's premier post-rockers reveal to David Keenan how their new album redefines their standards even as it reaffirms their hardcore roots
FEATURES: Primer: The Residents, Secret Museum of Mankind, Invisible Jukebox: Gary Lucas, Bob Ostertag, Lesser, Peaches, Japanorama live
ON THE COVER: Iceland's New Horizons - The ocean-size post-rock of Sigur Rós is detonating a musical volcano in Iceland's frozen wastes. Rob Young travels to Reykjavik to meet the group, plus the Kitchen Motors collective and composer Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson
FEATURES: Rewind 2000, Invisible Jukebox: Mark E Smith, Amiri Baraka, David Grubbs, Tangent: Smiling Faces Sometimes, Jah Wobble's Epiphany, Barbara Morgenstern, Thomas Lehn