Philip Clark muses the death of composer Steve Martland and the identikit obituary.

Steven Warwick's quick stop tour of his favourite bits of reading, watching and listening online, taking in drone aircraft technology, hybridisation and queer actor and director Fred Halsted.

Clive Bell looks at the threatened ecology of instruments and the people who still play them.

Fetishising female pioneers of electronic music risks banishing them to glass cases, away from the main exhibits in the museum of musical history, says Abi Bliss.

Mark Pilkington speaks to the man behind a book exploring the crossovers between insect noises and synthesized sounds.

In his latest column, Philip Clark asks whether the piano is still relevant – have things dropped off since Debussy, Ravel and Janáček?

Follow Ashley Paul's top choice picks of the web. The US multi-instrumentalist was featured in The Wire 350, in an interview with Nick Southgate.

Dennis Johnson's newly recorded piece November, which inspired La Monte Young's The Well Tuned Piano, rewrites the history of minimalism. Clive Bell talks to the elusive mathematician.

In his first column for The Wire online, Philip Clark looks at unhinged egos, unanswered emails and other occupational hazards of life as a working composer – and musicians who don't want to be noticed.

Little Annie Bandez spreads the word about her top websites. Annie is in The Wire 349 featured in an Invisible Jukebox, tested by Dave Mandl.

Jazz organist, improviser and interlocutor Alexander Hawkins takes us on a web journey through the work of Henry Threadgill and his Zooid group.

The historian and radio broadcaster talks about the power of eavesdropping and the roar of the crowd, as heard in Noise: A Human History, his new 30 part series for BBC Radio 4. By Nathan Budzinski.

As musicians at the forefront of the Athenian music scene, Coti K, Ilios and Nikos Veliotis triangulate drones, strings and oscillations. Sophia Ignatidou interviews the trio.

Alex Neilson, author of The Wire 349 Collateral Damage article on the connections between folk music and the future promised by digital culture, chooses five highlights from the newly digitised Topic label.

Abi Bliss takes a look at the recent plethora of live soundtracking and the Sturm und Drang that kicks off when musician meets movie.

The Wire Salon in February – The Way Of The Hacker – brought together contemporary experimental musicians to discuss the practice of designing and building new audio interfaces. Here, two of the panelists, Tom Bugs and Sam Underwood spread online knowledge for hackers in training.

Swedish power jazz dynamo and vinyl-addict Mats Gustafsson shares his six essential links for the burgeoning "discaholic". Gustafsson is on the cover of The Wire 349 in an article by Daniel Spicer.

Ergo Phizmiz's choice links of the web. The rogue collagist and radio artist is featured in an interview with Clive Bell for The Wire issue 349.

Simon Reynolds introduces a series of seven essays on his idea of a Hardcore Continuum. The essays all originally appeared in past issues of The Wire.