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The Mire

Deadheads, Doors and live supercuts

Sounds that weren't meant to be recorded have an uncanny quality. It's these that superimpose scenes of animated yet soulless bodies on Oscar Powell 's recent 12"s, Body Music (Diagonal), and an untitled 12" (on Boomkat's Death Of Rave). Sounds taken from live bootlegs of New York No Wave groups – like chickens jerkily strutting around the yard with no heads – pure motor movements minus autonomy and intention. Talking to Powell for the March issue of the magazine got me thinking about these bits in between live sets. In Powell's music they are what makes his sound so uncomfortable – that which separates it, in terms of its construction, crowbarring apart beats and guitar twangs, and on a macro level, lifting it above the dense forests of hi-fidelity frequencies currently populating dancefloors. A trail of hyperlinks led inevitably to a series of live supercuts. The first, a year of The Grateful Dead warming up...

The Portal

Portal to Georgian sounds

February 2013

A selection of sonic impressions from the former Soviet republic of Georgia and its capital Tbilisi, selected by Matthew Collin, author of a Global Ear report on the city’s electronic music in The Wire 348.

Column

Bell Labs: Other Folks' Business

January 2013

In the first of a new series of columns written for thewire.co.uk, Clive Bell pitches an imaginary book about Westerners who rewired World Music as if they were saving the whale.