Archive

A very English voice combines with wholly un-English sentiments in the idiosyncratic songs of Robert Wyatt, who is about to break a six year silence with a brilliant new album. Published in The Wire 163, September 1997.

In the early 2000s, increased bandwidth allowed recombinant artists to enter the gift economy. It’s a freedom we should defend at all costs, argues Vicki Bennett aka People Like Us

Don’t confuse online culture with digital culture, argues Terre Thaemlitz, whose latest project pushes the MP3 format to its absolute limits.

Inspired by the article The Top 50 Rhythms Of All Time which appeared in The Wire 98 April 1992, this series of 50 further mini-essays was commissioned specially by The Wire as part of the ICA's Rhythm Section event, November 2010. Listen to an accompanying YouTube playlist of (most) of the rhythms featured below.

Bulk giveaways of music online make it impossible for listeners to make any sense of an artist’s work, argues James Kirby

In response to The Wire's two previous Albert Ayler pieces (in The Wire 3), Mike Hames reveals the true circumstances of the saxophonist's death, and reassesses his controversial experiments with soul, R&B, and gospel music.

Two life long Albert Ayler enthusiasts – Bill Smith and Brian Case – remember the legendary, lost tenorman. This feature first appeared in The Wire 3, Spring 1983.

File sharers uploading rare and out of print records challenge official histories of music by confronting hand-me-down narratives with the source artefacts, argues Mutant Sounds blogger Eric Lumbleau.

The culture of copying is intrinsic to all music, argues Marcus Boon. So get over it – copyright buccaneers are roadtesting creative alternatives to obsolete capitalist models.

Brian Morton examines the history of composition by computer. This article was originally published in The Wire 96, February 1992.