Ken Hollings
Issue 352
June 2013
On The Cover: Babble On! – In a 20 page special, Wire contributors assess and rethink the relationship between underground music and words, text and language. Including Rob Young on songs about themselves, Ken Hollings on Cage’s pulverised language, Derek Walmsley on dread talk, Alasdair Roberts on verbal jousting, Daniel Spicer on hip semantics, David Toop on Improv words and gestures, Nina Power on female machine voices, Hua Hsu on vocalese, Marcus Boon on profane rappers, Rory Gibb on Footwork’s vocal science, and more.
Undercurrents - The Hidden Wiring Of Modern Music ed. Rob Young
Welcome to Mars by Ken Hollings + CD
Issue 331
September 2011
On the cover: My Cat Is An Alien - Ken Hollings visits the Italian duo’s Alien Studios in Turin to hear how they harness the music of the spheres with rayguns and cosmic drones. Plus Alan Howarth's Invisible Jukebox, Prurient, Fela Kuti in London, Herb Diamante, Andy Stott and much more.
News
Global Communication & Ken Hollings At The British Library
Global Communication & Ken Hollings At The British Library
Issue 323
January 2011
On The Cover: The Wire’s essential review of the year’s best music, including the Top 50 Records of the Year, writers’ and musicians’ reflections, and essays on 2010’s key developments. Plus: Giuseppe Ielasi, Electronic Voice Phenomena, Scanner's Invisible Jukebox, Peter Christopherson, Lichens, Pat Maherr and much more
Issue 318
August 2010
On the cover: Chris Watson - Ken Hollings meets the sound recordist and Cabaret Voltaire founder whose mic penetrates the wild places humans can't reach. Plus: Howard Riley, Surgeon, Chicks On Speed, Rhodri Davies's Invisible Jukebox, Peter Shapiro on Cosmic Disco, Julian Lynch, Helena Gough, Terror Danjah
Issue 315
May 2010
On The Cover: Excepter - Electronic body music and consciousness-altering improvised marathons collide in this Brooklyn sextet’s discordian disco noise. By Phil Freeman. Plus Daniel Carter, Sweet Seoul Music, August Darnell's Jukebox, Jahtari, Lil B, Toro Y Moi, Craig Baldwin in Cross Platform, Aaron Dilloway on Drunks With Guns, John Wiese on the Haters, Virgo and more
Issue 314
April 2010
+ The Wire Tapper 23
On The Cover: Konono No 1 - In Kinshasa, Nick Richardson meets the group who amplified the African thumb piano and their extended 'Congotronics' family, including Kasai Allstars. Stuck To The Cover: Wire Tapper 23 - free 20-track CD featuring The A Band, Raymond Dijkstra, Rolf Julius and more. Plus: Joanna Newsom's Invisible Jukebox, Giacinto Scelsi Primer, Edgard Varèse, Eleh, DJ Stringray, Stefan Goldmann, The Gaslamp Killer and more
The Portal
Ken Hollings's Portal
December 2008
Tracks from Issue 299
Ken Hollings: Martian Chronicles
December 2008
Hear the 'soundtrack' to Ken Hollings's book Welcome To Mars
Essay from Issue 215
Cabaret Voltaire: Decoding Society
May 2007
In 1982, Cabaret Voltaire began to mutate from the hardcore Industrial noise of their early years into a new phase of electronic body music inspired by proto-sampling technology and a tradeoff with the emergent beats of Chicago House. Ken Hollings analyses Richard H Kirk and Stephen Mallinder's Virgin years. This article originally appeared in The Wire 215 (January 2002).
Issue 275
January 2007
ON THE COVER: The Wire’s review of the year’s best music, including Top 50 Records Of The Year, writers’ and musicians’ reflections, and surveys of the state of sonic art in 2006
FEATURES: Matt Valentine & Erika Elder, Faust, Gary Smith, Carla Kihlstedt, Peter Evans, Strange Attractor
Issue 273
November 2006
ON THE COVER: Joanna Newsom - On her new orchestral album Ys, the Californian harper's epic tales have been enhanced by collaborations with Van Dyke Parks, Steve Albini and Jim O'Rourke. By Rob Young
FEATURES: Lasse Marhaug, Haunted Audio, Christof Kurzmann, Invisible Jukebox: Om, Cross Platform: Mika Taanila, Victor Gama, Colleen, Tovah Olson
Issue 271
September 2006
ON THE COVER: Kool Keith - Hiphop's premier streetwise satirist and scatologist, Dr Octagon, is back - just one of the former Ultramagnetic MC's raft of comeback projects in 2006. By Peter Shapiro
FEATURES: Charalambides, Primer: AMM, Merce Cunningham, Invisible Jukebox: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Cross Platform: Ira Cohen, Digital Mystikz, Excepter, Jason Lescalleet
Issue 256
June 2005
+ The Wire Tapper 13
ON THE COVER: 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
FEATURES: Tod Dockstader, Mark Stewart, The Books, Cooper-Moore, Clemens Gadenstätter
PLUS: The Wire Tapper 13 - This month's free cover-mounted 20 track double CD is available in shops worldwide and features tracks by Matt Elliott, Kid 606, Nick Castro, Junkboy, Juana Molina, Alexander Hacke, Akinori, Pajo, Tu'M and more
Issue 239
January 2004
ON THE COVER: 2003 Rewind - The Wire's crack writing squad select the year's best records; plus critics', singers' and players' pros and cons
FEATURES: Arthur Russell, Jerome Noetinger, Paal Nilssen-Love, Matt Rogalsky, Invisible Jukebox: Damon & Naomi, Basil Kirchin, Matthew Bourne
Issue 238
December 2003
ON THE COVER: Raster-Noton - Sound sculptor and electro-minimalist Carsten Nicolai tells Ben Borthwick about the art of number crunching
FEATURES: Invisible Jukebox: Will Oldham, Z'ev, 'Blue' Gene Tyranny, Luigi Russolo, Larsen, Wolf Eyes, Busdriver, Ergo Phizmiz
Issue 233
July 2003
ON THE COVER: Michael Gira - From public sex god to Angel Of Light: Gira outlines how far he's come since flying away from Swans. By Alan Licht
FEATURES: Invisible Jukebox: Daevid Allen, Stereo and the Space Age, Off Site: Japanese whispers, Arne Nordheim, Borbetomagus, Animal Collective, Sam Shalabi, MF Doom, Lydia Lunch's epiphany
Issue 232
June 2003
ON THE COVER: Yo La Tengo - In New York, David Keenan sups with the 20 year old avant rock trio who got hip to free jazz
FEATURES: The Ex, Invisible Jukebox: David Sylvian, Mauricio Kagel, Primer: Soft Machine, Nina Simone, Asmus Tietchens, Sightings, Cliff Martinez, Semiconductor
Issue 224
October 2002
ON THE COVER: Suicide - Blank indifference, riotous mobs: for 30 years Alan Vega and Martin Rev have survived them all. In New York, Alan Licht hears how their latest album American Supreme ties up the loose ends separating proto-punk and electroclash
FEATURES: Invisible Jukebox: Tony Allen, John Stevens, Mr Lif, Video Arcadia, Alan Lomax, Deerhoof, Jazzkammer, BARK!, Hiener Goebbels, Derek Bailey
Issue 223
September 2002
ON THE COVER: Boredoms - Yamataka Eye and Yoshimi P-We's 16 year old avant institution has a new lease of life. They tell Edwin Pouncey how they've streamlined their anarchic punk into a disciplined percussion frenzy... by turning the group into a turntable
FEATURES: Atom Heart, Invisible Jukebox: Charlemagne Palestine, Primer: Miami Bass, Yasunao Tone, Earle Brown, Cheb i Sabbah, Eliane Radigue, Mike Westbrook, Ladyfest, Zappanale, RJD22
Issue 221
July 2002
ON THE COVER: Keiji Haino - Alan Cummings penetrates the universal consciousness of the Tokyo shaman, who has conducted a 30 year quest to outdo the Big Bang with his Fushitsusha and Aihiyo groups, solo guitar noise, percussion rituals and DJ sets
FEATURES: John Coltrane, Primer: Nurse With Wound, Wordsound, Philip Jeck, Invisible Jukebox: Simon Fisher Turner, DJ /Rupture, Goodiepal, DJ Spooky, Peter Brötzmann, Musique Actuelle
Issue 218
April 2002
ON THE COVER: Alice Coltrane - In an exclusive interview at her California home, Edwin Pouncey explores the cosmic jazz legend's ongoing quest for universal consciousness, from her part in Coltrane's ecstatic jazz through an illustrious solo career
FEATURES: Steve Beresford, Invisible Jukebox: David Grubbs, Bootlegs & plagiarhythms, Rebuilding Berlin Techno, Taylor Dupree, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunn 0))), Boards of Canada, Antipop Consortium, Reynols, Vinko Globokar, Frank Zappa
Issue 215
January 2002
+ The Wire Tapper 08
ON THE COVER: Le Tigre - With roots in Riot Grrl but advancing into electropunk, IDM, and interventionist art, Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman and JD Sampson's trio are agitating at ground zero of a female music explosion. By Joy Press
STUCK TO THE COVER: The Wire Tapper 8 - Our series of free new music compilations continues with new work from artists including Fog, Set Fire To Flames, Noxagt, 23 Skidoo, Cornelius, Xinlisupreme and many more
FEATURES: Cabaret Voltaire, Don Letts, 2001 Rewind, Badawi, Zeitkratzer, Sand, No-Neck Blues Band, Coil, Cornelius, Uri Caine, Evan Parker, Nobukazu Takemura, John Cale, Australian post-punk