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The Mire

Into The Vortex tickets on sale now!

Get your tickets now... The Wire presents Into The Vortex , a three day festival (9-11 October) featuring some of the best music out there curated by The Wire and hosted by London's excellent Vortex Jazz Club. Regular tickets are available at £12 a night or £30 for the entire weekend here . But, if you're a subscriber to The Wire , we've organised an exclusive discount of £10 a night or £25 for the weekend! Click here if you're a subscriber to get your discounted tickets (Please bring along your subscriber number with you to the event along with your discounted tickets) 9 October: NEW PLANES OF ECSTASY Richard Youngs & Heather Leigh Murray Astral Social Club The Skaters 10 October: NEW STATES OF SONG The One Ensemble Band...

The Mire

MJ

Amid news that Michael Jackson's death has led to the biggest record company payday in years, we've stumbled across surely the weirdest and most subversive Michael Jackson related compilation. No MJ himself, but all sorts of extraordinary cover versions, hiphop and R&B; namechecks, etc etc. More of a collage than a mix per se, plunderphoning the vaults of the King of Pop. Download here

The Mire

British Visionary Jazz

Rob Young has put together an excellent playlist for his British Visionary Jazz primer which was in the August issue of the mag. You can check it out here .

The Mire

The excellent Wayne And Wax blog on the RIAA versus Joel Tenenbaum case. For those not in the loop, Tenenbaum has been found liable of sharing copyrighted music at a cost of $22,500 per track. That's not a typo - $22,500 per track. Wayne Marshall took part in the case as a witness, it seems, and his insider info is well worth your time. I wonder if there any tracks I pay that much for? I guess "Fight The Power" by Public Enemy, Hallogalo by Neu!, "Fisherman" by The Congoes, "Warpdrive" by DJ Crystl, "Good Morning Captain" by Slint. Perhaps one of those ultra-long John Coltrane Live In Japan tracks – at least that might help get my $22,500 dollars worth.

The Mire

Exclusive ticket offer: Tatsuya Yoshida live in London

Tatsuya Yoshida is one of the most innovative drummer/composer/improvisors in the Japanese avant garde, pushing a unique brand of high energy music that is a mixture of contemporary composition, hardcore and Prog rock. Best known for fronting the drums and bass duo Ruins, Yoshida has led many other groups and collaborated with John Zorn, Fred Frith, Derek Bailey, Keiji Haino, Otomo Yoshihide, Acid Mothers Temple and many more members of music's experimental jet set. Over the weekend of 8 & 9 August, Yoshida takes up a two day residency at Cafe Oto in East London, where he will be playing solo (drums, vocal, electronics) as Ruins - Alone, and collaborating with various special guests drawn from the UK underground. Tickets for each night normally cost £8, or £14 for a two day pass. But in an exclusive offer, readers of The Wire can get a special discount on tickets,...

The Mire

Happy 15th

What better way to celebrate London radio institution Rinse FM's 15th birthday than with this legendary grime set from 2005? Logan Sama's last show went down in underground history not just because it featured around 20 guest MCs (take that Wu Tang!), but because of the truly incredible amount of special, one-off dubplates Logan cut for the occasion, with dubs of Vibez Cartel over Danny Weed rhythms, and all sorts of mad mash-ups. It's an incredible listen on so many levels - Wiley and Ruff Sqwad unexpectedly appear around half way though, as if drawn to the studio by the subsonic shocks extending through East London. You can also see the set on the extra DVD with the Rinse FM six CD set, but somehow it's better just heard. The set can be downloaded here , and was uploaded by blackdown and forwarded on by Dan Hancox .

The Mire

Mercury ire rising

Among the many music commentators noting the weakness of the UK's Mercury Music Prize shortlist for 2009, I liked this admirably researched and rather damning case for the prosecution from Toby Frith of London's Bleep43 webzine/club. Only four electronic nominations in over 15 years? Sheesh.

The Mire

The Dead C in Seattle

You can check out some pretty cool footage of The Dead C performing and an intriguing interview with the group in Seattle here . I understand it's all from 2008 – worth checking out.

The Mire

Below The Radar & Into The Vortex

CORRECTION!!! As posted here last week , The Wire will be joining forces with one of London's top music venues The Vortex to present an unmissable lineup of new music in October (with appearances by The Band Of Holy Joy, Richard Youngs & Heather Leigh Murray, Alasdair Roberts and The Caretaker amongst many others). But, well, in our haste to let everyone know about it, we posted the title Below The Radar .... which has actually now been taken up exclusively by our brand new subscriber-only download series, Below The Radar (click to find out all about it)! So now with great pleasure... and even greater resolve than before, we can reveal the new and true event title [queue drum roll]... INTO THE VORTEX 9, 10 & 11 October... Stick it into your diaries now and stay tuned for further information! ...

The Mire

Adventures In Modern Music 16/7/09

My Resonance FM show from last night with The Wire contributor Joe Muggs playing and chatting about UK Funky is now online and available for download here .