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Book Extract

Unsound: Future Shock Zine extracts and tracks

October 2011

The folks at Krakow's Unsound festival are putting together a publication that they'll distribute during the fest (9–16 October, supported by The Wire). Below, read contributions and listen to tracks from artists who will be performing at Unsound, including William Bennett, Christelle Gualdi aka Stellar OM Source and Natural Snow Buildings.

The Mire

The Return of Johnny Yesno

As a short British post-punk film noir, Johnny Yesno is in a category all on its own. Filmed in and around Manchester and Sheffield, and released in 1983, the film disappeared almost immediately and has remained off the radar ever since, the only evidence of its actual existence being Cabaret Voltaire's original soundtrack album. CV were also responsible for issuing the now ultra-rare VHS of the film, back in 83, on their short lived video label, Doublevision. But now news breaks that Mute Films are finally due to issue Johnny Yesno on DVD this summer, as part of a box set that will also include additional footage, a new edition of that original soundtrack album, plus notes by author and Wire contributor Ken Hollings (who introduced a rare screening of the film in April 2010 at the Sensoria festival in Sheffield)....

Essay

Scanner: Interference Patterns

September 2011

For seven days in May [1995], Liverpool reverberated to the signal of the UK's first experimental radio station. That media-styled 'telephone terrorist', Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner, tuned in. This article was originally published in The Wire 137 (July 1995).

The Portal

Hieroglyphic Being Portal

September 2011

Chicago based electronic music producer Hieroglyphic Being aka Jamal Moss is featured in The Wire 332 in an article by Robin Howells.

The Mire

Korean internet broadcasts: Where silky pop ballads still roam

Internet radios spider the internet for stations: algorithms track down broadcasts. Spinning a dial means I don't head for a particular target, I browse. Channel surfing by location, I stumbled (and stuck) to South Korea. Not regional or national stations, but ones that seem to be broadcast from a user generated platform a little like Fnoob , and are called things like Coffee, Music, And Emotion , Little House Under The Stars, and Lamp Of Love. I say seem, because I don't really know much about these stations. What I do know is that these stations are solely interested in a type of seriously emotional manufactured pop: tales of teenage heartbreak, epic adolescent sagas, and intense melancholic ballads. At least, that's what it sounds like. My radio only goes so far in translating the Korean text (and Google hasn't proved much more useful), so ticker lines and track names get scrambled...

The Portal

Militant Tuning Portal

September 2011

Philip Clark's Primer on Militant Tuning in The Wire 332 looks at how Just Intonation, microtones and overtones are used as secret weapons in the fightback against the sonic tyranny of equal temperament.

Essay

Fela Kuti: Chronicle of A Life Foretold

September 2011

When Fela Anikulapo-Kuti died in August 1997, Nigeria lost one of its most controversial and inspirational cultural figures. Here, the Africa-based writer Lindsay Barrett maps the extraordinary trajectory of Fela's life, detailing the emergence of his patented brand of Afrobeat, his anarchic lifestyle, and the ongoing battles with the Nigerian authorities. This feature was originally published in The Wire 169 (March 1998).

Essay

Collateral Damage: Robin Rimbaud

September 2011

Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner hails the new community spirit of social networking sites that encourage direct communications between artists and listeners.

Essay

Collateral Damage: Robin Rimbaud

September 2011

Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner hails the new community spirit of social networking sites that encourage direct communications between artists and listeners.

The Portal

Jon Brooks Portal

September 2011

Jon Brooks's Music For Dieter Rams (out on Cafe Kaput) and As The Crow Flies (recorded under his The Advisory Circle moniker, released on Ghost Box) are reviewed by Mark Fisher in The Wire 321.

The Mire

Paradise Lost And Found

[caption id="attachment_1316" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Larry Levan working the deck at the Paradise Garage"] [/caption] Not many mixes demand to be prefaced by an hour long documentary, but this is an exception. The BBC radio series Legends Of The Dancefloor: A Piece Of Paradise featured a four hour radio broadcast from the Paradise Garage's second birthday, recorded by the young Lenny Fontana and on his dad's reel to reel tape deck back in 1979. Tucked away on the BBC radio schedules in July to run through the night, it almost passed me by, although perhaps I thought that a four hour recording from the Paradise Garage was just too good to be true. Amazingly, the set is just as good as you might hope, so much so that it begs the question of how the hell it came to light in the first place, and how it remained hidden for so long. The broadcast was accompanied by an...

Essay

Collateral Damage: Amanda Brown

August 2011

This month: alienated from her computer, baffled by download culture, Amanda Brown laments the rise of the faceless uploader and the attendant decline of the DIY underground.

Essay

Collateral Damage: Amanda Brown

August 2011

This month: alienated from her computer, baffled by download culture, Amanda Brown laments the rise of the faceless uploader and the attendant decline of the DIY underground.

The Portal

Jan Anderzén Portal

August 2011

Jan Anderzén, the Finnish frontman of Kemialliset Ystävät and Tomutonttu is featured in The Wire 330 Invisible Jukebox, tested by Daniel Spicer. Anderzén's newest release is Nääksää nää mun kyyneleet by Tuusanuuskat, a collaboration between Tomutonttu and Es, aka Fonal Records’s Sami Sänpäkkilä.

The Portal

Global Ear: Kiev Portal

August 2011

The group are well-known in the Ukraine, and released their most recent album Dolce Vita in spring last year. They have been touring it for the last year across the Ukraine, Russia, Western Europe and America.