David Toop has been appointed Chair of Audio Culture and Improvisation at University of the Arts London. As part of his new role he has started a series of events at Central St Martins's Granary Building, looking at concepts such as archives, and objects.

Dates are as follows: David Toop, Charles Hayward, Jennifer Allum, Lore Lixenberg, Adam Bohman, Rie Nakajima and others (31 March), Elaine Mitchener, Jason Yarde, Cathy Lane and others (5 April), Haroon Mirza, Lore Lixenberg, Nathaniel Mann, Daniela Cascella and others (12 April). More details incoming here.

Devo guitarist Bob Casale (aka Bob2), has died of heart failure, age 61. Casale was one of the original members of Devo along with his older brother, Gerald Casale. Bob wrote the guitar line for the track which became Devo's version of "Satisfaction", and programmed Devo's early sequencers. He originally trained as a radiologist but left his job to go on the road with Devo in 1977. In the 1990s he began working with fellow Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh as an engineer and technician at Mothersbaugh's music production company, Mutato Muzika, a stint that included working on the TV series Rugrats.

The co-creator of one of the most eponymous riddims of all time, Wayne Smith, has died aged 48. Smith produced “Under Mi Sleng Teng” with Noel Davey in 1984, and hailed a new era of digital dancehall productions which spread from London to Jamaica. Smith began his career in the early 80s at King Jammy's studio in Kingston. The track was first played by Jammy's sound system at a soundclash in Waltham Park Road in 1985, to rapturous reception.

Hot rats, it's them or us! Sounding like something you might pick up in 200 Motels, a new strain of acne causing bacteria has been discovered and named P Acnes Zappae by long time Zappa fan and Italian microbiologist Andrea Campisano. P Acnes Zappae is a unique strain of bacteria able to move between humans and grapevines, the first time that a micro-organism has been found to transmit between people and plants.

In other Zappa news: a book detailing the Mothers's man's vinyl singles has been published. The author, Dieter Jakob, has compiled images of every single, plus promotional releases, acetates and test pressings across the 530 pages of Vinyl Is Not Dead It Just Smells Funny.

[HT: Classicalite]

The Barbican has cancelled this Saturday's Just Jam event after concerns over public safety were raised by the City of London Police. The police have not specified what those public safety concerns are. Chris Sharp, Barbican Music Programmer, said: "The police have not shared the detail of their concerns with us. They have only advised us to cancel the event."

The Barbican statement says: "The Barbican has taken the decision to cancel the Just Jam concert that was scheduled to take place on 1 March 2014 on the grounds of public safety following dialogue with the City of London Police. As a responsible public venue we have to take police advice seriously and consider the safety of audience members, artists and our staff."

Scheduled to appear in the Barbican Hall (a seated event) were RP Boo, Omar Souleyman, Loefah & Chunky, JME & Big Narstie, Sophie, Mount Kimbie, Kurupt FM plus dancer Lightbulb.

Update: The City Of London Police have released a statement, in which they identify concerns as the fact "alcohol would be on sale at an event which would be allowing entry to anyone aged 16 or over" and that "there were worries about the lack of adequate measures in place to address potential issues that might arise, including overcrowding".

Bang The Bore celebrate their fifth anniversary this year and have an open call out for submissions, to form part of a composition which will be performed at the Arnolfini in June. The collective are asking out for submissions of 30 minute stereo field recordings of a sine wave made in enclosed, multi-storey or underground car parks. The composition will be called Twelve Tapes, made up of 12 of the recordings on C60 tapes of a sine wave (B: 493.88hz).

Guidelines and a recordings of the sine wave can be downloaded via Sendspace here. Deadline for submissions 1 May. For any more information, or to submit audio, email bangthebore@gmail.com.

Here it is, your quarterly call for electric guitar players to join in a performance of a Rhys Chatham piece, this time in Birmingham for Frontiers festival. Once corralled, the guitar orchestra will perform Chatham's A Secret Rose For 100 Guitars for the first time in the UK. The performance will take place on 7 June, and applications are open until 14 March. More details on applying here.

Frontiers festival also features Pauline Oliveros (with a talk with The Wire), plus performances of works by Robert Ashley, Steve Reich, Morton Feldman and more.

Reissue label Superior Viaduct is opening a temporary record shop in San Francisco for the month of March. The shop, which will be located at Steven Wolf Fine Arts (2747A 19th Street). An exhibition of work by photographer Ruby Ray will be installed, as well as Phill Niblock's films. A record swap takes place on 8 March, Roscoe Mitchell performs on 15 March, and Bill Orcutt plays on 22 March.

Musarc are running their annual Field Studies masterclass again, 14–17 April at London Met's Cass Faculty Of Art, Architecture And Design. This year, the four day course will be taught by Sam Auinger, Michael Kliën, Claudia Molitor, Akio Suzuki & Aki Onda, with workshops by Joseph Kohlmaier, Stefan Kraus and Melanie Pappenheim. The £350 fee (£290 for students) covers studio materials, recording equipment and lunch.

TUNNELS features artists appearing at Unsound’s New York edition (2–6 April 2014). It focuses on new music from Poland as well as international explorations of silence and dissonance, noise, modular synthesis and solo percussion.

The tracks include a number of projects specially commissioned by Unsound including a live excerpt of Oren Ambarchi’s Knots, a collaboration with The Sinfonietta Cracovia conducted by Eyvind Kang; and Andy Votel’s Kleksploitation, which reworks Andrzej Korzyński’s psychedelic score to the cult 1980s children’s film trilogy Pan Kleks. TUNNELS also previews a number of premieres that will be unveiled at Unsound New York, including a piece by Ben Vida created for performance using SubPacs and sound system; and Neotantrik (Sean Canty and Andy Votel) in collaboration with synthesist Suzanne Ciani. Full details here.

TUNNELS goes out to all subscribers with the April 2014 issue of The Wire. All subscribers to the print magazine receive the compilation as both a CD and download, while subscribers to the digital edition receive the download.

Anyone ordering a new print subscription to The Wire this month will also be sent a copy of the CD and download, while new digital subscribers will receive the download. Subscribe here