Stephen O'Malley & Greg Anderson's drone project opens Heavy Metal to the realms of cosmic jazz, experimental rock and spectral music. Joseph Stannard meets the meta-Metal masters.

Actionist Noise musician Joke Lanz tells David Keenan how his son's birth and his father's suicide continue to influence his visceral performance art

Keith Moliné on the maxed-out virtuosity, invented language and black sci-fi influences of Christian Vander's volcanic free French rock unit

The Portishead guitarist proves he's no dummy when confronted by our mystery record box. Tested by David Stubbs

The Norwegian electronic chanteuse explains the allure of being a cover girl. By Daniel Spicer

Shou Wang and Shenggy's Chinese rock superduo come with Blixa Bargeld's blessing. By Lisa Blanning

Joe Muggs meets the prolific South London protodubstepper, exorcising his rites via Ghost Recordings

Pop Art surrenders to total war in British film maker Jeff Keen's collage meltdowns. By Mark Fisher

Simon Fisher Turner on the pocket-sized potency of portable recorders

In Puerto Rico's capital city, Angélica Negrón finds underground artists breaking the language barrier

Marine biologist Stefan Helmreich submerges into the ocean to ponder the mediated nature of undersea ambience

A track by track guide to this month's free cover mounted CD

The People Band, NMC Recordings, a Sunny Murray documentary, reggae soundclashes

Felix Kubin on Ich Bin’s Obéis!

Secular Devotion: Afro-Latin Music And Imperial Jazz by Timothy Brennan
Money Will Ruin Everything: Second Edition edited by Rune Kristoffersen
21:100:100: One Hundred Sound Works By One Hundred Artists From the 21st Century edited by Alexie Glass & Emily Cormack
Playing With Words: The Spoken Word In Artistic Practice edited by Cathy Lane

Maher Shalal Hash Baz with Masami Shinoda Koshi Kudake No Inu (DVD)
A Necessary Music (Film)

Grúpat, Dublin, Ireland
Voodoo: Hoochie Coochie And The Creative Spirit, London, UK

Big Ears, Knoxville, USA
Dopplereffekt, London, UK
Flower-Corsano/Arrington de Dionyso/ Zun Zun Egui, London, UK
David Grubbs, London, UK
Audio Poverty, Berlin, Germany
Parts & Labor, Brighton, UK
New Year New Sounds, London, UK

Adventures In Sound
Tomomi Adachi
AGF/Delay
Tetuzi Akiyama/Kevin Corcoran/Christian Kiefer
AMM with John Butcher
Ashtray Navigations/Family Battle
Snake/Stellar Om Source
Baku: Symphony Of Sirens
Mark & Stephen Beasley featuring
Nicholas Bullen
BiP_HOp Generation Volume 9
Harrison Birtwistle/Jonathan Harvey/
Javier Alvarez/Mira Calix
The Black Dog
Bushman’s Revenge
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
Nels Cline
Cloama + Blutleuchte
Steve D’Agostino/John Foxx/
Steve Jansen
Death
J Dilla
DOOM
Phil Durrant/Lee Patterson/Paul Vogel
Ata Ebtekar & The Iranian Orchestra
For New Music
Ekkehard Ehlers & Paul Wirkus
Family Battle Snake
Faust
Fred Frith & Arte Quartett
GOL & Charlemagne Palestine
Malcolm Goldstein
The Grandfather Paradox: An Imprudent Journey Through 50 Years Of Minimalistic Music
Jon Hassell
The Heliocentrics & Victor Herrero
Hanne Hukkelberg
Insayngel
The Invisible
I Woke Up One Morning
The Juan MacLean
Kilhets
Andrew King & Brown
Locrian
Francisco López
Magik Markers
Martyn
Mikhail
Marissa Nadler
Nana April Jun
Liam Noble Trio
Alexander Nut
Oh, Graveyard You
Always
Charlemagne Palestine
Pendle Coven
Michael Peters
Prefuse 73
Quartetto
Revolutionary Ensemble
Alasdair Roberts
Christopher Roberts
The Roots Of Nick Cave
Harayuki Suzuki
Sweet Billy Pilgrim
Taj Mahal Travellers
Trio 3 + Irene Schweizer
Two Fingers featuring Peter Walker
Caroline Weeks
Yximalloo