On The Cover: Babble On! – In a 20 page special, Wire contributors assess and rethink the relationship between underground music and words, text and language. Including Rob Young on songs about themselves, Ken Hollings on Cage’s pulverised language, Derek Walmsley on dread talk, Alasdair Roberts on verbal jousting, Daniel Spicer on hip semantics, David Toop on Improv words and gestures, Nina Power on female machine voices, Hua Hsu on vocalese, Marcus Boon on profane rappers, Rory Gibb on Footwork’s vocal science, and more.

On the cover: Wolf Eyes: As the kings of US Noise regroup with a new album, cub reporter Marc Masters traces their feral family tree through multiple side projects driven by gonzo DIY aesthetics and a hunger for sonic exploration. Plus: Howard Mandel on Woodstock's Creative Music Studio, Rabih Beaini aka Morphosis, Oval's Invisible Jukebox, David Tudor, Pedro Reyes and more.

On the cover: Jakob Ullmann – Stasi interrogation methods and transcendent world religions inform the austere minimalism of this German composer. By Nick Cain. Plus: street dancer and Flying Lotus collaborator Storyboard P, Mika Vainio's Invisible Jukebox, Ashley Paul, Red Snapper, Metasplice, Liberez and more. Stuck to the cover: The Wire Tapper 31.

On the cover: Mats Gustafsson – Behind the Swedish saxophonist’s confrontational sound is a musician committed to collective action, from power trios to 30 piece groups. By Daniel Spicer. Plus: Ergo Phizmiz, Little Annie's Jukebox, a Primer on US hardcore, Lonnie Holley and more.

On the cover: Oneohtrix Point Never: Brooklyn synth explorer Daniel Lopatin talks technological illusions, video game theory and cinema for the ear with Derek Walmsley. Plus: Joshua Abrams, Amsterdam’s STudio for Electro-Instrumental Music, Ricardo Villalobos' Invisible Jukebox, Cara Tolmie, Mark Fell's Collateral Damage and more.

2012 Rewind: The Wire’s crucial review of the last 12 months in underground sound and music, including the releases of the year, opinions and reflections from a host of musicians and critics, and analyses of 2012’s most significant audio culture trends. Plus Bryan Ferry's Invisible Jukebox, post-quake Christchurch music scene and more.