Rashied Ali
The New York drummer launched into interstellar space with John Coltrane and lived to tell the tale. Now, a later generation of avant rockers are paying tribute to Ali’s talent for survival. By Howard Mandel

Ruined Pianos
Led by Australian Ross Bolleter, a secret society of scavenging pianists is engaged in a project to draw new life from the corpses of rotting and abandoned instruments. By Ed Baxter

Wire
Colin Newman, Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey are springing back from some high-profile live dates, and their wall of noise sounds better than ever. Ian Penman celebrates their 23 year art attack

Richard H Kirk
Since dissolving Cabaret Voltaire in the mid-90s, this committed Industrial veteran has stuck it out in Sheffield, using electronica to crack authoritarian codes. By Ken Hollings

Invisible Jukebox: Bill Laswell
The New York studio impresario tries to identify ‘material’ by Herbie Hancock, Funkadelic, Mati Klarwein, William S Burroughs, Fela Kuti, John Coltrane and more. Tested by Peter Shapiro