White Panther party co-founder and former MC5 manager John Sinclair will be hosting an Inauguration ball as part of a two day residency at Café Oto, Dalston, North London. He'll be reading his poems along with some celebratory jazz from Elliot Levin, Tony Bianco, Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, Dylan Harding amongst others. Dalston North London, Café Oto 18-22 Ashwin Street, 8PM, £8 (Doors only)

A call for work by Canadian radio art festival which aims to showcase current and emerging art including live performance, radio & web-based projects, sound poetry, installations, film and video screenings. Along with exhibitions, the festival will feature workshops and panel discussions. The deadline is February 15, 2009, click here for more details.

The 55th Oberhausen International Short Film Festival has announced a call for entries to participate in its forthcoming 30 April - 5 May 2009 series of screenings. The call is open specifically for music videos with unusual visual conceptions and stories, experimenting with all kinds of visual techniques – no matter what kind of musical genre" (the works should have been produced after January 1, 2008). The deadline for submissions is 2 March 2009. Click here for more information.

Hamburg-based Krautrock outfit Faust has returned from a creative kosmische aether, bringing with them a new studio album C’est com…com…compliqué due out April 13 on the Bureau B label. According to group member Jean-Hervé Peron's website www.art-errorist.de, the album was recorded in Hamburg during 2006 by producer Tobias Levin, and joining original members Peron and Werner “Zappi” Diermaier was Amaury Cambuzat of French post-rock group Ulan Bator (who first toured with Faust in 1996 as Collectif Metz/Faust, a project which also produced an eponymous album). Click here for more information.

Chris Forsyth January 09 Tour:

Fri 09/01 - Gabicce (PU), IT @ Diamond w/ Bob Corn
Sat 10/01 - Verona, IT @ Esposta
Sun 11/01 - Carpi, IT @ Mattatoio
Mon 12/01 - Roma, IT @ Fanfulla 101
Wed 14/01 - Anghiari, IT @ Mearivloutione
Thu 15/01 - Arezzo, IT @ Libreria Leggere
Fri 16/01 - Torino, IT @ tbd w/ My Cat is An Alien + Bob Corn
Sat 17/01 - Casalpusterlengo, IT @ Sala Prove Muzak w/ Bob Corn
Sun 18/01 - Arcore, IT @ Arci Blob w/ Bob Corn
Tue 20/01 - Amsterdam, NL @ VPRO Radio (afternoon)
Tue 20/01 - Amsterdam Noord, NL @ MS Stubnitz (evening)
Thu 22/01 - Antwerpen, BE @ Logement

Wire reader Luka Ivanovic has set up a new Last FM tag to follow the sounds of former cover beauties from past issues of The Wire. As of this article going live, the top artists playing are (in eclectic order): Radiohead: Björk: Sigur Rós: Aphex Twin: Michael Jackson: Cleveland Watkiss: DJ Shadow: Philip Glass: Sonic Youth: Portishead Click here for more info

A Petition to scrap the London Met's controversial Form 696 online at the website of the Prime Minister's Office number10.gov.uk has attracted over 10'000 signatures. Form 696 requires all club promoters and licensees within London's 21 boroughs to report to police 14 days in advance of their planned event with the names, addresses, aliases and telephone numbers of performers, and along with this applicants are asked to note the "music style to be played/performed (eg Bashment, R'n'B, Garage)". According to the petition creators, the form also requires "most worryingly, the likely ethnicity of their audience" and that "failure to comply could result in fines or imprisonment." at this time the form available from the Met website now simply asks "Who is the target audience? (Include here if Birthday Party)". The petition continues: "The 696 Form can only serve to deter the staging of live musical events - a positive form of activity in London and all cities - stifle free expression and quite possible penalise certain genres of music and ethnic audiences. It is an intrusion too far."

Belgian based label of things arty, Sub Rosa, are set to release a DVD documenting a tour through David Toop's record collection. Entitled "I never Promised You A Rose Garden: A Portrait Of David Toop Through His Records Collection" the portrait was filmed this past year at his North London home by the film-makers Guy-Marc Hinant and Dominique Lohlé over the course of three immersive days.

As well as the latest volume in our ongoing series of exclusive underground music compilations, Tapper 21 (due April 2009), subscribers ONLY will enjoy two exclusive CDs. With the February issue (#300) subscribers will get 21 tracks of prime Southern hemisphere noise, avant rock, psych-folk and beyond in a compilation produced by New Zealand's Audio Foundation and featuring artists like Greg Malcolm, Omit, Bruce Russell, Eye, Rory Storm and others. Meanwhile our March issue (#301) offers up the compilation [Reciprocess:+/vs.] bringing together Simon Fisher Turner, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Lydia Lunch, Jason Forrest and others to celebrate 10 years of Marseille's BiP-HOp label.

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The website collects different sonic ephemera from around the East London isle and links them together via an interactive website. The project was realised by the college along with Isle Of Dogs residents as part of an ongoing community music project which attempts to map out both the musical history and contemporary soundscape of the isle. For more information, click here