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In Writing
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Essay

The Wellness Trap

January 2025

In The Wire 491/492, James Gormley argues that redrawing the line between public and private space has coined a dubious new currency in sonic self-help and healing experiences

The Portal

David Lynch (20 January 1946–16 January 2025)

January 2025

The US filmmaker has died aged 78. As a tribute, we have made the extended cover feature on Lynch that appeared in The Wire 486 free to read in our online library. The feature includes a cover designed by Lynch, an interview with the director and his music collaborator Chrystabell, and 12 pages of essays exploring the unique sound world created by his films.

Essay

All Ears

January 2025

In The Wire 491/492, Louise Gray recalls developing a new relationship to sound while bed-bound in hospital following an accident

Essay

Let The Rhythm Hit Em

January 2025

In The Wire 491/492, Drew Daniel recounts a dream of a strange new music style, whose subsequent online virality revealed the need to test the limits of genres

The Portal

Zakir Hussain (9 March 1951–15 December 2024)

December 2024

The Indian tabla virtuoso died on 15 December aged 73. In December 2000 he was interviewed for the cover story of The Wire 202, discussing his work with John McLaughlin, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell and Talvin Singh. As a tribute, we have made the article free to read in our online library.

Interview

Charles Tolliver remembers Max Roach

November 2024

Ahead of his celebration of Max Roach, trumpeter Charles Tolliver talks to Gabriel Bristow about playing alongside the legendary drummer, studying at Howard University with Donny Hathaway and Stokely Carmichael, and the legacy of Strata-East Records

Essay

Feel the bounce: Roy Haynes (13 March 1925–12 November 2024)

November 2024

The great US drummer died on 12 November aged 99. In 2000, Philip Clark interviewed him, discussing some of the stellar moments in a jazz life that traversed the entire history of the music and encounters with Lester Young, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton and more

Book Extract

Read an extract from Two-Headed Doctor by David Toop

September 2024

In an exclusive extract from his new book, Two-Headed Doctor: Listening For Ghosts In Dr John’s Gris-Gris, David Toop follows anthropologist turned writer Zora Neale Hurston into the New Orleans of the late 1920s to sample the beliefs, tall tales and magical workings that comprise the mythopoetic substance of Dr John’s peculiar character and sound

The Portal

Dean Roberts (24 March 1975–10 August 2024)

August 2024

Dean Roberts died aged 49 on 10 August. As a tribute to the New Zealand born, Berlin based nomadic avantist, we have made Jon Dale's 2008 interview with Roberts free to read via our online magazine library.