Virgin Sampler
A guide to all the tracks featured on this month's free cover CD

Global Ear: Tokyo
At the foot of Mount Fuji, Japanese electronica comes out of the shadows

Einstürzende Neubauten
15 years ago, this German wrecking crew forged a devastating strain of urban blues from the debris of the city. Now Blixa Bargeld is singing songs of love and devotion. By Chris Sharp

Cristian Vogel
Peter Shapiro hears how this ex-pat Chilean composer washed up in Brighton to carve new, organic designs into the rigid structures of 90's electronic music

William Parker
Once an anonymous footnote in the story of New York free jazz, this low end theorist is on a quest to create the ultimate universal music. By Steve Holtje

A Guy Called Gerald
Holed up in a West London studio, surrounded by his infernal sound machines, Gerald Simpson reveals the secrets of black technology, ancient to the future. By Peter Shapiro

David Thomas
The story of how the ex-Pere Ubu frontman picked up an electric accordion, plugged into the collective unconscious, and created 21st century folksong. By Rob Young

Throbbing Gristle's Prostitution
Twenty years ago this month, a bunch of degenerate performance artists invaded London's ICA and created a moral panic. Simon Ford recalls a defining moment for Industrial culture

Invisible Jukebox: Henry Rollins
Steve Holtje listens as the hardman of fringe rock takes apart Miles Davis, Funkadelic, Einstürzende Neubauten, Joe Henderson, Sun Ra, and more

Russell Mills
The Edge, Kevin Shields, Bill Laswell, David Sylvain, Michael Brook, Robin Guthrie - Just some of the mates helping out on this graphic designer's audio odyssey. By Louise Gray

Jim O'Rourke Meets John Fahey
In the red corner: the Chicago guitar whizzkid who has worked with Faust, Gastr Del Sol, Oval and more. In the blue corner: Mr Blind Joe Death, the mystery man of spooked-blues folklore