Laugh Till It Hurts
The best music is as serious as your life, which is why laughter is one of its most important components. In a 14 page special, our squad of correspondents get their laughing gear around a century of sonic wit and musical jesters from Aphex to Zappa. Plus: David Stubbs explains how humour and music make for unlikely bedfellows, and David Toop muses on the comedy of the grand piano and the misery of Max Wall

Tod Dockstader
Ken Hollings meets a reclusive American tape music pioneer enjoying a new lease of digital life

Mark Stewart
The Bristolian godfather of punk-funk learns to cope with The Wire's blindfold challenge. Tested by Phil England

The Books
Matthew Ingram subscribes to the sample library of this literate upstate New York duo

Cooper-Moore
Andy Hamilton has a run-in with the veteran NYC freedom jazz multi-instrumentalist

Clemens Gadenstätter
Brian Marley enjoys the wit and wisdom of Austria's latest comic sensation

Global Ear
Jorge Luis Fernández catches up with ex-Reynols member Alan Courtis in Buenos Aires

Epiphanies
Writer and comedian Stewart Lee learns how to laugh from Derek Bailey

Print Run
Country Fried Soul: Adventures In Dirty South Hiphop, by Tamara Palmer; Leonardo Music Journal Volume 14 - Composers Inside Electronics: Music After David Tudor, edited by Nicolas Collins; Smile: The Story Of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece, by Domenic Priore

Cross Platform
Kenneth Atchley - Julian Cowley explores the deluge of sounds emanating from the sound artist's homemade fountains.
Plus: reviews of Derek Bailey, Ryoji Ikeda, Low, Sonic Outlaws and Living Cinema on DVD, and Christof Migone in print. The Inner Sleeve features Julian House on the BBC's Movement, Mime And Music

On Location
Domino Festival, Brussels, Belgium; Ornette Coleman, London, UK; Shaman Voices, London, UK; ESG, London, UK; Einstürzende Neubauten, London, UK