Global Ear: Budapest
In post-communist Hungary, musicians such as the charismatic violinist Felix Lajkó are now faced with the dilemma of acting locally or selling globally. By Dave Rimmer

Robert Wyatt
Emerging from a six year hibernation with his new album Shleep, England's most distinctive voice discusses humour, politics, depression and 30 years of music making after Soft Machine. By Biba Kopf

Stock, Hausen & Walkmen
The slapstick sampling duo from Salford leave egg on the face of serious music the world over with their random assaults on cheesy listening and other citadels of good taste. By Clive Bell

Silver Apples
Having suffered three decades of universal public neglect, the world's original oscillator 'n' drums duo are finally getting recognition for their pioneering electronic rock. By Edwin Pouncey

Current 93
From his early noise loops to his present avant folk hybrids, David Tibet's music has defined the post-inustrial underground as a psychic retreat from from a shopsoiled world. By David Keenan

Invisible Jukebox: Van Dyke Parks
Discover America through the back doors of Hawaii and the Caribbean as pop's most idisyncratic producer identifies Arto Lindsay, Martin Denny, Lord Kitchener and more. Tested by Richard Henderson

In The House Of Ra
Val Wilmer recalls her encounters with Sun Ra across three decades in New York, Philidelphia and Moers, and reveals both the human and otherworldly dimensions of a cosmic visionary

The Primer: Sun Ra
Sun Ra biographer John F Szwed provides a beginners guide to the recorded legacy of Saturn's most enigmatic citizen