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The Wire 477

November 2023

+ The Wire Tapper 63

Current issue in shops now

On the cover: Irreversible Entanglements: With a new album in the can, the US quintet discuss freedom, community and dismantling the mechanisms of oppression. By Phil Freeman. Plus: The Primer: Jazz & Poetry: A user’s guide to the ongoing conversation between mighty music and vibrant verse. By David Grundy; Vanishing Twin: The London based art pop trio take a playful approach to retrofuturist psychedelia. By Claire Biddles; Invisible Jukebox: Matana Roberts: The Chicago born musician and multidisciplinary artist faces The Wire’s mystery record selection. Tested by Teju Adeleye. Also inside this issue: Carol Robinson; Tom Mudd; Hearsay; Marina Herlop; Unlimited Editions Gin&Platonic; Unofficial Channels Chocolate Monk Top Tens; Global Ear: Oaxaca; The Inner Sleeve by Val Wilmer; Epiphanies by Raphael Rogiński; many pages of reviews and much more.

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Tracks

Unreleased music by Tom Mudd

Unreleased music by Tom Mudd

Listen to previously unheard experiments by the composer who uses synthesized physics engines and algorithmic models to extend the possibilities of guitar music

Tracks

Global Ear: Beijing

Global Ear: Beijing

After the body blows of the early 2020s, eclectic spaces in China’s capital are platforming a new generation of players and listeners. Josh Feola selects tracks by some of the musicians involved

Tracks

Unlimited Editions: Red Hook

Unlimited Editions: Red Hook

To accompany his article on Sun Chung’s Munich based imprint in The Wire 476, Philip Watson selects standout tracks from the jazz and electronic music label’s past and future releases

Tracks

Office Ambience 476

Office Ambience 476

Stream a selection of tracks from releases we listened to during the making of our October 2023 issue

Tracks

Wire playlist: Blevin Blectum

Wire playlist: Blevin Blectum

California based Bevin Kelley aka Blevin Blectum compiles an annotated playlist plucked from a mind-melding back catalogue of experimental sound that stretches back over 25 years

Video

Watch: Paul Rooney “In My Head”

Watch: Paul Rooney “In My Head”

The Liverpool based artist presents a video from his new album Surface Industries II – the latest in a series of works themed around service industry occupations

The Portal

From The Archive by Frances Morgan

From The Archive by Frances Morgan

Contributor Frances Morgan compiles an annotated list of some of The Wire's Once Upon A Time In... special features that tell the stories of significant and localised scenes in underground music history. All selected articles are available to read in The Wire’s digital library with a print or digital subscription.

Mix

Wire mix: Aho Ssan

Wire mix: Aho Ssan

The Paris based composer and producer compiles a mix featuring tracks by international fellow music travellers and a previously unheard cut from his upcoming album Rhizomes

Download

Below The Radar 43

Below The Radar 43

Volume 43 includes tracks by Dhangsha, Rocheman, Fiesta en el vacío, Selvhenter, Outside House, Ecka Mordecai, and more

Tracks

Unlimited Editions: Pakapi

Unlimited Editions: Pakapi

To accompany his report on Pakapi Records in The Wire 475, Alonso Almenara selects tracks from the Argentinian label’s back catalogue and talks to its curator Juan José Calarco

Essay

Love is the Message: Don Cherry hymns Albert Ayler

Love is the Message: Don Cherry hymns Albert Ayler

The cover story of The Wire 475 contains 18 pages of essays on Don Cherry and his organic music family. In an adjunct to those essays, Harmony Holiday listens to the trumpeter’s 1971 elegy for his friend Albert Ayler.

The Portal

From The Archive by Marc Masters

From The Archive by Marc Masters

Contributor Marc Masters selects ten of his favourite Invisible Jukebox interviews from The Wire’s back pages featuring Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Jaimie Branch, Lydia Lunch, and more. All selected articles are available to read in The Wire’s digital library with a Wire print or digital subscription.

Tracks

Wire playlist: Kramer

Wire playlist: Kramer

To accompany her interview with the US musician and producer in The Wire 474, Emily Pothast selects tracks from Kramer's vast and varied output

Tracks

Unlimited Editions: Guruguru Brain

Unlimited Editions: Guruguru Brain

To accompany his profile on Guruguru Brain in The Wire 474, James Gui selects standout tracks from the back catalogue of the Netherlands based Asian rock label

Tracks

Office Ambience 474

Office Ambience 474

Stream a selection of tracks from releases we listened to during the making of our August 2023 issue

Tracks

Wire playlist: Ina GRM

Wire playlist: Ina GRM

Following a round-up review of several recent Groupe De Recherches Musicales releases, the organisation's leader François Bonnet aka Kassel Jaeger compiles an annotated playlist showcasing the breadth of Ina GRM's associated labels

Mix

Wire mix: Ziúr

Wire mix: Ziúr

The electronic producer shares an exclusive mix in the run up to the release of their new collaboration-focused album Eyeroll

Mix

Wire mix: Shapednoise

Wire mix: Shapednoise

To mark the release of his latest album Absurd Matter, Sicilian producer Nino Pedone aka Shapednoise records a new mix featuring DJ Rashad, Death Grips, and more

The Portal

Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941–22 June 2023)

Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941–22 June 2023)
As a tribute to the German saxophonist who has died at the age of 82, we have made David Keenan’s epic two-part 2012 interview, as well as Daniel Spicer’s Primer guide to Brötzmann’s many recordings, free to read in our online library

Tracks

Unlimited Editions: Trost

Unlimited Editions: Trost

To accompany his Unlimited Editions profile of Trost in The Wire 473, Phil Freeman selects tracks from the Austrian label’s world of sound

Tracks

Office Ambience 473

Office Ambience 473

Stream a selection of tracks from releases we listened to during the making of our July 2023 issue

On Air

Derek Walmsley presents Adventures In Sound And Music

Derek Walmsley presents Adventures In Sound And Music

The 15 June edition of The Wire's weekly show on Resonance 104.4FM and Resonance Extra focussed on Slovenian “tiny bedroom label” Inexhaustible Editions, which over the last eight years has amassed a weighty catalogue extending the remit of improvisation, modern composition and experimental music

Mix

Wire mix: Eleni Poulou

Wire mix: Eleni Poulou

The former Fall vocalist and keyboard player presents Connect The Un Polka Dots; a 90 minute mix featuring tracks from many of her own recent projects and more

Tracks

Office Ambience 472

Office Ambience 472

Stream a selection of tracks from releases we listened to during the making of our June 2023 issue

Mix

Wire mix: Nondi_

Wire mix: Nondi_

Pennsylvania based experimental dance music producer Nondi_ shares an exclusive mix featuring “web folk” music from her own label HRR and beyond

Video

Watch: O YAMA O “Galo”

Watch: O YAMA O “Galo”

As Rie Nakajima and Keiko Yamamoto release their second full length album as O YAMA O, the group's percussionist Marie Roux shares a new video featuring footage recorded in transit between gigs

Essay

A Cry of Anguish: Eight Songs For A Mad King

A Cry of Anguish: Eight Songs For A Mad King

As vocalist Elaine Mitchener prepares to perform Peter Maxwell Davies’s explosive 1969 monodrama at London’s Wigmore Hall, David Grundy details past renditions and speaks with Mitchener about new intersectional perspectives on the piece

Mix

Wire mix: Erika

Wire mix: Erika

To mark the release of her first solo album in ten years, Interdimensional Transmissions co-founder and Ectomorph member Erika shares a recording of a three hour live mix. Plus, read The Wire's 1999 interview with Ectomorph on our online library for free.

Video

Watch: Laura Ortman live

Watch: Laura Ortman live

The White Mountain Apache musician shares footage from a 2018 performance at the opening of a Barbara Ess exhibition in New York

The Portal

Mark Stewart (10 August 1960–21 April 2023)

Mark Stewart (10 August 1960–21 April 2023)

Agit-Pop Group leader and sonic rule-breaker Mark Stewart died on 21 April aged 62. Read Mark Fisher’s interview with Stewart from The Wire 293 and Adrian Sherwood’s Epiphany from The Wire 445 free in our online library