Written by Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore and filled with images from legendary Sub Pop staff photographer Michael Lavine, Grunge, out in September on Abrams Books, promises a "a real insiders look at the influential early '90s' scene".

Leafcutter and friend Tom Haines will be performing their first ever underwater gig (as part of Wet Sounds 09) tonight (Wednesday 22 July 2009). Also playing will be Francisco Lopez & Stefano Tedesco, and Sonic Fiction.
The inimitable musician writes in his email newsletter that "our music, split into desecrate scenes, can be heard half in the air and half under the water. I would think one ear in and one ear out of the water might be a good listening position". The mildly improbable venue for this event is Clissold Swimming Pool (63 Clissold Road, London, N16 9EX) and the advice is to get into the pool at 7.30pm in time for the gig playing at 8pm. Tickets here or you could chance it with limited availability on the door.

This event, organised by Faust’s Jean-Hervé Peron takes place on a farm in northern Germany with one of the best line-ups of the summer including Faust, Nurse With Wound, Helena Gough, Peter Blegvad Trio, James Johnston & Philippe Petit and more. Advance booking essential. Schiphorst Steinhorster Weg 2, 28–30 August, €60–€50/festival pass

The Lappetites, a collective formed in 2001 after a performance at NYCs now homeless Tonic club and currently comprised of Antye Greie (aka AGF) Blanca Regina Perez-Bustamante, Kaffe Matthews and Ryoko Akama, are set to perform their new collaboration, Fathers, at Berlin's HKW in November. The work, which utilises multichannel audio, three screens, a choir and opera singers, comes from the artists research into their fathers lives; intertwining the experiences of an English farmer, a Korean businessman living in Japan and a former officer in the East German Army to form a multimedia narrative. Berlin HKW, 25 November 2009.

Printed in white and black on a burnt orange shirt with The Wire url printed in white on the right sleeve. Limited edition of 100 shirts. Price (including postage and packing): £20 for UK, £22 elsewhere. Subscriber discount: £2 off per shirt. Click here to visit our online shop.

"A Lucky Thief In A Careless World" a recording made of a live performance by the Band Of Holy Joy during the recent William Burroughs Naked Lunch@50 celebration in Paris has been released as a limited edition CD single. The celebration, which marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of William Burroughs's beat classic published July 1959 by Olympia Press, was also accompanied by a collection of essays and other contributions on the work by over twenty writers, scholars, musicians and artists. Click here to get the recording directly from BOHJ. Click here for more information on the collection.

Media Art Bath presents Staging Sound 2.0, an exploration of new artistic activities which use DIY methods to produce, record and broadcast sound art and music and its relationship with the internet in sharing music and ideas. The hands-on programme focuses on three strands of DIY sound production: 'Field', 'Scavenged' and 'Homemade' and features a two day workshop with Chris Watson along with a new work by artist Matthew Olden amongst other events open to the public to participate in. Bath City Centre, 29 August, free.

London based Soul Jazz Records have launched a new label focusing on "roots-based deep, spiritual music from the four corners of the world". The first two albums on World Audio Foundation have already been released. Polyphonic Voices Of Georgia, recorded with the Anchiskhati Choir in Tbilisi documents the ancient polyphonic chants sung during Georgian Orthodox liturgical services, recognised by UNESCO as an Oral and Intangible Masterpiece of Humanity; Carnival Music Of Eastern Cuba is comprised of recordings of Conga De Los Hoyos, a carnival group active since 1902 which is made up of over 50 percussionists and singers local to the Santiago neighbourhood of Los Hoyos.

Have a sneak peek at just some of the great acts we've lined up for our forthcoming three day Below The Radar extravaganza of new music to be held at London's Vortex. As a bonus thank you, we'll be offering discounted ticket prices to all of our valued subscribers. Stay tuned for more information on when the tickets go on sale and further acts yet to be announced!

9 October: NEW PLANES OF ECSTASY
Richard Youngs & Heather Leigh Murray
Astral Social Club
The Skaters

10 October: NEW STATES OF SONG
The One Ensemble
Band Of Holy Joy
Alasdair Roberts

11 October: NEW REALMS OF THE UNCANNY
Broadcast (live) & Julian House (Ghost Box) (film)
The Caretaker
Thomas Ankersmit

All of this + The Wire Sound System DJs spinning selections of the best new sounds out there!

Saint Petersburg, Russia's music video festival returns in November 2009 for a second year focusing on new, experimental and investigative combinations of sound and video. Submission of work to be included in the festival is open to all video and media makers, using any technique but all submissions must be in the form of music video (and not using film) Submission deadline: 1 September. Click here for more information.