Sonic Youth
The veteran New York rockers tell Nick Cain about the raw power of 'Rather Ripped', and give us an update on their myriad activities, past, present and future

Ekkehard Ehlers
The Berlin conceptualist reconfigures blues, jazz and African musics in an attempt to reconnect the dead voices across continents. By Will Montgomery

Yellow Swans
The prolific Portland, Oregon noise duo mull over method, motivation and manifestoes for a better world. By Jon Dale

Primer: John Fahey
David Keenan picks his way through a user's guide to the phantasmagorical folk blues of the original American Primitive

Invisible Jukebox: Rob Mazurek
The ex-Chicago Underground cornettist grapples with sweet and vicious tracks by Tom Zé, François Bayle, Hecker and others. Tested by Dan Warburton

Terry Day
The former People Band drummer talks Julian Cowley through his interrupted Improv history

Harry Rag
From Düsseldorf punk to pastoral futurism via Wim Wenders and Can with the SYPH vocalist. By David Stubbs

Cross Platform: Jutta Koether
Lina Dzuverovic unravels the personae and multiple media activities of the New York artist and painter

Global Ear
Sophia Ignatidou takes comfort in Athen's experimental music scene

Epiphanies
Tom Perchard is conflicted by exposure to Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum

Print Run
Odense, By Hans Peter Kuhn; Where Rivers And Mountains Sing: Sound, Music and Nomadism In Tuva And Beyond, By Theodore Levin; Noise Orders: Jazz, Improvisation And Architecture, By David P Brown; The Resisting Muse: Popular Music And Social Protest, Edited by Ian Peddie

On Site
Aileen Campbell, London, UK; Debris Field, Bolton, UK; Linder, London, UK; Evolution 2006, Leeds, UK

On Screen
Screaming Masterpiece; The Velvet Underground Under Review; Captain Beefheart Under Review

On Location
Tom Zé, London, UK; Subcurrent, Glasgow, UK; Burning Star Core + Prurient + Consumer Electronics + Leopard Leg, London, UK; Maher Shalal Hash Baz with Bill Wells + Tenniscoats + Kama Aina + Kazumi Nikaidoh, London, UK; De Sonis Volume 5: Peter Wright + Alexander Tucker + James Blackshaw, London, UK; Karlheinz Stockhausen/London Sinfonietta, London, UK; Rhythm In The Kitchen, New York, USA; Kelley Polar, New York, USA; Patti Smith, Glasgow, UK; Second Annual Ustad Vilayat Khan Memorial Concert; London, UK; Frances-Marie Uitti, London, UK; Terrastock 6, Providence, USA