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The Mire

The Bob Medley

Following its reissues of Robert Wyatt’s UK solo albums, the Domino label is about to release His Greatest Misses , a 2004 Japan-only compilation. If you're looking for a one-stop comp that distills Wyatt’s unique essence, this is it, right down to the sleeve art, which reproduces a number of cute crayon drawings by the six year old Robert. It pulls key tracks from all the solo records from Rock Bottom (1974) to Cuckoo Land (2003), plus it contains a number of Wyatt’s inspired cover versions, including "At Last I Am Free", originally written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers for Chic's 1978 C'est Chic album. In his glittering history of disco, Turn The Beat Around (Faber And Faber, 2005), Peter Shapiro devotes a whole chapter to illuminating the ambiguous emotional and socio-political...

The Mire

Plastic People under threat

The big news doing the rounds of London club culture last week was concerning the future of Plastic People, the longstanding home of the FWD>> club and a key part of dubstep’s history. The Metropolitan Police have applied to review the license of the club, citing reasons of prevention of crime and disorder and public nuisance. DJs such as Kode9, Theo Parrish and Mark Ernestus have regularly appeared there, and it’s one of London’s most intimate venues, a small space designed for close listening. An organisation called The Friends of Plastic People has been formed, which aims to help the PP management to comply with the licensing conditions. On a personal note, I find this disturbing and bizarre news. Plastic People is certainly one of the most welcoming and most trouble-free places I've ever been to. Compare with the rest of the Shoreditch area – one of the most densely populated places for strip clubs and...

The Mire

Parallel Voices: Missing Link - tix on sale now

Tickets for the Carsten Nicolai curated Parallel Voices: Missing Link at London's Siobhan Davies Dance Studio (sponsored by The Wire ) will be going on sale from 8 February. The three day event, which features talks and performances from Blixa Bargeld, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Christian Fennesz and Chris Carter amongst others, takes place 17 - 19 March with tickets priced at £15/£10 (multibuy ticket) or £9/£6 per night... Get them while you can as there is very limited space available at the venue! Click here for more information

The Mire

Arkestra Get Busy In London

After being grounded in London by an erupting volcano in Iceland, the Marshall Allen-led Sun Ra Arkestra, added two extra evenings to their residency at Café Oto, both of which sold out in hours. Now, news from the BBC Radio 3 twitter feed tells us that they're continuing to make the most of their London, Earth-bound hours by heading in to the Jazz On 3 studios to record a special "Volcanic Session" for the show...

The Mire

Mad, stupid, fresh

If you're in NYC today, this talk/discussion/crate-digging session featuring Dave Tompkins (plus old hiphop sparing partner Hua Hsu), celebrating the launch of Dave's book How To Wreck A Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II To Hip Hop – The Machine Speaks . looks fantastic. A real one-off for sure... here's what Dave says: I'll be doing a vocoder book reading TODAY, 7 p.m., at McNally Jackson on 52 Prince Street in Soho, near Lafayette. Expect missiles, Muppets, asthma attacks, and vanishing staircases. It will be hosted by New York Times critic Jon Caramanica and Hua Hsu. Jon is a big fan of "Nasty Rock," the only vocoder hit out of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. Hua Hsu writes for the Atlantic Monthly and has been subjected to just about every freaking hare-brained scheme that went into this thing. The legendary EMS-3000 Vocoder will also be in the house, still coherent after running around with the Cylons,...

The Mire

The Wire Salon, Sonic Warfare: 
The Politics Of Frequency

The Wire ’s monthly series of salon-type evenings continues with author and The Wire contributor Ken Hollings (author of Welcome To Mars and Destroy All Monsters and presenter of the Hollingsville series on Resonance FM ) and Steve Goodman ( Kode9 , author of Sonic Warfare ), discussing the uses and abuses of sound and noise from sonic bombs to soundclashes. Below is a short online reading and listening list in anticipation of the event (mostly via Ken Hollings ) •Stream Hollings's Radio 3 programme From Gameboy to Armageddon on the Military Entertainment Complex •Hollings's Radio 3 programme, All Your Tomorrows Today on the RAND Corporation . •PDF download of Theatres Of War: The Military-Entertainment Complex ...

The Mire

Flying Lotus 4/20 Broadcast

Flying Lotus will be DJing an internet broadcast to mark " 4/20 ", an annual celebration of the Cannabis plant taking place today (20 April). Lotus will be joined by members of his Brainfeeder crew, including The Gaslamp Killer, Ras G, Daedelus, Teebs, Matthewdavid, Dr. Strangeloop and more. Tune in to the session at flying-lotus.com/radio , 20 April, 12pm in Los Angeles, 3pm in New York, 8pm in the UK and 4am in Japan. The set is also in anticipation of Flying Lotus's forthcoming album, Cosmogramma , out 4 May on Warp Records . Cosmogramma is on pre-sale for 24 hours from the time of the broadcast. Buyers of the album also get a free art print by Flying Lotus along with the chance to win the original.

The Mire

Extended Sun Ra Arkestra Residency @ Cafe Oto

As reported here last week, the Sun Ra Arkestra were grounded by the clouds of volcanic dust still looming over Europe. As a result of ongoing flight cancellations, the Arkestra have added yet another date to their popular residency at London's Cafe Oto in order to pay for their hotel costs. Tickets for the performance tonight (19 May) are available now for £10, but be quick as the last night sold out in two hours! Now sold out!

The Mire

Extra Sun Ra Arkestra performance @ Cafe Oto

Due to a large cloud of volcanic ash, the Sun Ra Arkestra have been grounded in London. As a result they've decided to add an extra night of their residency at Cafe Oto, tix are £10, but get them asap as the previous 3 nights sold out fast. Doors at 8pm Update: Advance tickets are now sold out, but there will be some available on the door tonight.