Clive Bell on the recent glut of monumentally proportioned music, and imagining the person who forks out hard-earned cash for an "obese release"

As the Topic label prepares to put its vast archive online, Alex Neilson sees unexpected connections between folk music's pluralist roots and the new routes promised by digital culture.

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.

Follow Cara Tolmie's choice picks of the web. Tolmie is featured in an article by Louise Gray in The Wire 348.

Follow the sound artist’s choice picks of the web. Farmer is featured in an article by Daniela Cascella in The Wire 348.

Nick Cain examines the inward looking spatial sonics of Florian Hecker's recent piece Chimerization.

Mark Fell argues that the limits of technological systems do not frustrate creativity.

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.

Mark Fell argues that the limits of technological systems do not frustrate creativity.

Mark Fisher's unedited transcript of his interview with underground dubstep artist Burial

Follow Kemper Norton's choice picks of the web. Norton is featured in Matthew Ingram's article on West Country electronic music makers in The Wire 346.

Follow Loki aka IX Tab aka Saxon's choice picks of the web. Loki is featured in Matthew Ingram's article on West Country electronic music makers in The Wire 346.

A collection of tributes to the late former editor of The Wire, who died August 2007

Follow the musician Holly Herndon's top links of the web. Herndon is the subject of an article by Jennifer Lucy Allan in The Wire 345, her album, Movement is released by RVNG Intl on 15 November. She'll also be performing at the Unsound festival in Krakow, Poland on 18 October.

After the extraordinary achievements of his early years, the great bassist/composer Charles Mingus faced crisis – and a nervous breakdown – in the mid-1960s. But his comeback in the 70s, though constrained by illness, led to a few late masterpieces. as Brian Priestley reports in the concluding part of our Mingus retrospective. This article was originally published in The Wire 76, June 1990.

As recording formats become obsolete, sound archivists are rethinking the paradigms around methods of preserving our audio heritage. By Will Prentice of the British Library.

As recording formats become obsolete, sound archivists are rethinking the paradigms around methods of preserving our audio heritage. By Will Prentice of the British Library.

Browse the improvising sax player's top picks of the web. John Butcher is the subject of The Wire 344's Invisible Jukebox, tested by Clive Bell.