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Inside this issue:

Excess All Areas: Sometimes a little just isn’t enough... over 22 pages The Wire’s writers explore instances in modern music where too much is exactly the right amount.

Including:

We Lived By Night: Amid the all night revelries of the late 1980s London club scene, discoveries of sexual liberation and new modes of hearing. By Louise Gray

Celestial bodies: With police in attendance, 2000 punters locked outside and an endless ovation, Alan Silva’s Paris performance of Seasons was the most epic free jazz blowout of them all. By Alan Licht

High Emission Zone: In the face of performances with helicopter-borne quartets, globetrotting orchestras and discarded plastic, how much is too much? By Tim Rutherford- Johnson

Louis Andriessen. By Andy Hamilton

Everything All At Once. By Julian Cowley

The Clones Of Dr Funkenstein: George Clinton’s kaleidoscopic vision of P-funk extended to epic stage spectacles, a swarm of pseudonyms, and much metafoolishness on the One. By Greg Tate

Bomb Culture: A brief history of explosives in music. By Dan Wilson

Anthony Braxton's intergalactic symphonies. By Tony Herrington

Shreds Of Evidence: The density of fusion and prog. By Angel Marcloid

The Sweet Science: String arrangements added to jazz, soul and country music were treated with suspicion but acted as gateway drugs to other sounds and states. By David Toop

Crazy Collages: By Vicki Bennett

Orchestras In The Club. By Jacob Arnold

Speaking In Tongues: The overflowing desires of REM’s ninth album Monster explore the queer aspects of human nature. By Claire Biddles

Rudolph Grey. By John Olson

Flash Of The Axe: Learning to love the guitar solos of Hendrix, Television, Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets and more. By Simon Reynolds

Home On Derange: The effects of the acid overdose of psytrance. By Michelangelo Matos

Big Band Power. By Brian Morton

Written In The Stars: The massive song book of Sun Ra and his Arkestra contains multitudes. By Alexander Hawkins

Prog Rock Rhythms. By Dave Mandl

Point Of Collapse: Japanese punks Gaseneta lived harder and faster than anyone in their quest to bend the laws of physics. By Jennifer Lucy Allan

Danger UXB: The Bomb Squad’s productions for Public Enemy set new levels for density and intensity in hiphop. By Michael A Gonzales

Knocking On Heaven’s Door: The epic struggles of John Coltrane’s late music represent his last thwarted attempts to commune with the creator. By Tony Herrington

Crude Awakenings: The gross-out humour of Frank Zappa, Ween and Blarf is a counterweight to the sophistication of the music. By Spenser Thomson

Endless Boogie: Australian guitarist Marco Fusinato plugs in and plays from the moment a venue opens until it finally closes its doors. By Phil Freeman

Extreme Vocals. By Diamanda Galás

Also inside this issue:

Daniel Blumberg: The GUO member and former Yuck frontman brings naive sketches and playful songwriting to the world of improv. By Abi Bliss

Invisible Jukebox: Gilles Peterson: Will the broadcaster and label founder still be talkin’ loud by the end of The Wire’s mystery record selection? Tested by Yewande Adeniran

Unlimited Editions: Splitrec

Unofficial Channels: Sound Tapes

Sun & Sea (Marina): It’s endless summer for opera director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė and composer Lina Lapelytė. By Emily Bick

Valentina Magaletti & Julian Sartorius: Italo-Swiss percussion duo get bold with bric a brac. By Clive Bell

Mountain/Full Edition: Osaka performance group tackle taboos with sly wit and shapeshifting jams. By James Hadfield

Global Ear: Audium: Multi-channel sound is explored to the fullest in the San Francisco venue. By Tom Welsh

The Inner Sleeve: Sarathy Korwar on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly

Epiphanies: Prog rock operas convince Ergo Phizmiz to be unafraid

Soundcheck: AACM Great Black Music Ensemble, Siavash Amiri, Marcia Bassett/Manuel Mota/Margarida Garcia, Pierre Bastien, Lea Bertucci, Blarf, Laura Cannell & Polly Wright, Adrian Corker, Dale Cornish, Deadbeat & Camara, Equiknoxx, Luís Fernandes, Fire-Toolz, Mark Fisher & Justin Barton, The Flaming Lips, Fly Pan Am, Debby Friday, Ben Frost, Keiji Haino & Sumac, The Holy Circle, Justin Hopper & Sharron Kraus with The Belbury Poly, HTRK, Dean Hurley, Juarta Putra/Putra Jaya Melati, Imperial Teen, Sharron Kraus, Bobby Krlic. Laraaji/Merz/Shahzad Ismaily, Lolina, Lungbutter, Magma, Kali Malone, Efrim Manuel Menuck & Kevin Doria, Sei Miguel, Jeff Mills, Monte Espina, Drew Mulholland/Delia Derbyshire, Mr Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Nastie Band, Odd Nosdam, Oh Sees, Sandro Perri, Pharmakon, Andrew Poppy, Rangers, Rien Virgule, Shellac, Richard Skelton, Steven R Smith, Torche, Tronos, Alexander Tucker, Uzeda, Yatta, Various Black Sabbath Vol 4: The CVLT Nation Sessions, Various CRXSSINGS (Fundraiser For City Plaza), Various Zona Confusa: A Slice Of The Barcelona Underground

The Boomerang: ‘Blue’ Gene Tyranny, ‘Blue’ Gene Tyranny & Peter Gordon, Roy Budd, Cabaret Voltaire, Care Of The Cow, Coil, Mike Cooper, The Deontic Miracle, Detail, Bill Dixon & Cecil Taylor, Isaac Hayes, Merzbow, Pauline Oliveros, Pauline Oliveros & Guy Klucevsek, Pan-Afrikan People’s Arkestra, Popol Vuh, Patrice Rushen, Tangerine Dream, Horace Tapscott Conducting The Pan-Afrikan People’s Arkestra, Horace Tapscott With The Pan-Afrikan People’s Arkestra, Horace Tapscott With The Pan-Afrikan People’s Arkestra & The Great Voice Of UGMAA, Various Spectra Ex Machina: A Sound Anthology Of Occult Phenomena 1920–2017 Vol 1, Various The World Of Keith Haring

Print Run: Henry Cow: The World Is A Problem by Benjamin Piekut; Sonic Writing by Thor Magnusson; Hush: Media And Sonic Self-Control by Mack Hagood; William S Burroughs And The Cult Of Rock ’N’ Roll by Casey Rae; Azimuth: The Ecology Of An Ear edited by Patrick Farmer; Psychopomp For MTV Ultra Sounds: The Sonic Art Of Polish Radio Experimental Studio edited by David Crowley

On Screen: Peter Webber Inna De Yard; Dieter Kovačič In Trout We Dust

On Site: Caramoor Takes Wing!, Katonah, US; Takis, London, UK

On Location: A Midsummer Night’s Happening, London, UK; Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Kongsberg, Norway; Le Marteau Sans Maître: Musarc Folk Meet On A Midsummer Day Until Dusk III, London, UK; Vision 24, Brooklyn, US; Istanbul Jazz Festival: Vitrin Showcase For Contemporary Music From Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey; Master Musicians Of Joujouka Festival, Joujouka, Morocco; Yximalloo, London, UK; SPOR, Aarhus, Denmark