Le Tigre
With roots in Riot Grrl but advancing into electropunk, IDM, and interventionist art, Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman and JD Sampson's trio are agitating at ground zero of a female music explosion. By Joy Press

Cabaret Voltaire
In the wake of their pioneering Industrial cut-ups of the late 70s, Sheffield's post-punk outfit slimmed to a duo, signed to Virgin and tuned into the vibrations emanating from Chicago and Detroit. By Ken Hollings

Don Letts
Everyone's favourite West London punk rude boy, video artist and DJ tries to identify tracks by Big Youth, Angelic Upstarts, Bad Brains, Vivien Goldman, Rhythm & Sound, DJ Scud and more. Tested by Ben Watson

2001 Rewind
The Wire's survey of the past 12 months in music and beyond: charting the best releases of 2001 in all genres; plus musicians and writers deliver their verdicts on a turbulent year

Badawi
Deploying desert musics, Middle Eastern trance, dub and turntablism, Raz Mesinai's Badawi project shadows the violent forces that have shaped global history. By Marcus Boon

Zeitkratzer
Julian Cowley explores the wide and varied domain of this ten piece ensemble performing works by Merzbow and Stockhausen in the same concert

Sand
The British group speak to Mike Barnes about how their musical arguments influence their work and fuel performances with livestock

No-Neck Blues Band
Downtown New York avant fringe would not be the same without them, finds David Keenan

Global Ear
Akiko Hada chills out to sonic eruptions in Reykjavik

Epiphanies
Jim Haynes ascends Coil's anal staircase

Print Run
On Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures And Other Secret-Flix Of Cinemaroc, by J Hoberman; The Beautiful Book, by Jack Smith; A Purchase In The White Bohemia: The Collected Poetry Of Piero Heliczer, edited by Gerard Malanga & Anselm Hollo; Bill Evans: The Pianist As An Artist, by Enrico Pieranunzi; The Thelonious Monk Reader, edited by Rob Van Der Bliek; Banda: Mexican Musical Life Across Borders, by Helena Simonett; Yellow Music: Media Culture And Colonial Modernity In The Chinese Jazz Age, by Andrew F Jones; Les Portes Ouvertes Ouvertement, by Henri Chopin

Ether Talk
Nobukazu Takemura's whimsical electronica is so close to nature, Sony asked him to create a voice for their new canine cyborg. By Tim Haslett

On Location
Avanto Festival, Helsinki Kiasma/ Gloria, Finland; Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Huddersfield Various Venues, UK; Uri Caine Trio, London Vortex, UK; Thalia Zedek, London Monarch, UK; Six String Object: Digital Guitar Microfestival, San Francisco Cafe Du Nord, USA; Manitoba + Eardrum + Gorodisch, London Cargo, UK;