On the cover: The Dead C – The New Zealand underground rock trio have been making music at the outer limits for 25 years. On the road in Europe, they tell David Keenan why Bruce Russell’s amp sound is better than sex. Plus: Rashad Becker, a Primer on Don Cherry, Pangaea's Invisible Jukebox, Arturas Bumšteinas, Paul Metzger, The Durian Brothers and more.
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.
On the cover: Wolf Eyes: As the kings of US Noise regroup with a new album, cub reporter Marc Masters traces their feral family tree through multiple side projects driven by gonzo DIY aesthetics and a hunger for sonic exploration. Plus: Howard Mandel on Woodstock's Creative Music Studio, Rabih Beaini aka Morphosis, Oval's Invisible Jukebox, David Tudor, Pedro Reyes and more.
On the cover: Jakob Ullmann – Stasi interrogation methods and transcendent world religions inform the austere minimalism of this German composer. By Nick Cain. Plus: street dancer and Flying Lotus collaborator Storyboard P, Mika Vainio's Invisible Jukebox, Ashley Paul, Red Snapper, Metasplice, Liberez and more. Stuck to the cover: The Wire Tapper 31.
On the cover: Mats Gustafsson – Behind the Swedish saxophonist’s confrontational sound is a musician committed to collective action, from power trios to 30 piece groups. By Daniel Spicer. Plus: Ergo Phizmiz, Little Annie's Jukebox, a Primer on US hardcore, Lonnie Holley and more.
On the cover: Oneohtrix Point Never: Brooklyn synth explorer Daniel Lopatin talks technological illusions, video game theory and cinema for the ear with Derek Walmsley. Plus: Joshua Abrams, Amsterdam’s STudio for Electro-Instrumental Music, Ricardo Villalobos' Invisible Jukebox, Cara Tolmie, Mark Fell's Collateral Damage and more.
2012 Rewind: The Wire’s crucial review of the last 12 months in underground sound and music, including the releases of the year, opinions and reflections from a host of musicians and critics, and analyses of 2012’s most significant audio culture trends. Plus Bryan Ferry's Invisible Jukebox, post-quake Christchurch music scene and more.
On the cover: Scott Walker – In a rare interview, the singer and composer talks Mike Barnes through his ambitious, brutal and absurdist new album, Bish Bosch. Inside: Peter Brötzmann redux, Wyrd sounds from the West Country, Jonas Mekas, David S Ware, Pinch, the Slowfoot label, Fontanelle, and much more.
On the cover: Peter Brötzmann: A two-part special on the visionary improvisor and visual artist who is still shaking the foundations of free music half a century into his career. Interview by David Keenan, Primer by Daniel Spicer. Plus: roots producer Niney The Observer, Loren Connors & Suzanne Langille's Invisible Jukebox, Beatrice Gibson and more.
On the cover: Britt Brown meets FlyLo at his Los Angeles home to hear how his sampladelic music inhabits a world of children’s stories. Plus: US drone collective Pelt; computer music pioneer Laurie Spiegel; John Butcher's Invisible Jukebox; radical video artist Aldo Tambellini; a Global Ear on Hanoi, Vietnam and more.
On the cover: Josephine Foster: After tracing a path through opera, lieder, folk and psych, the nomadic US singer finds her musical home in the charged landscape of Cádiz, Spain. By Clive Bell. Plus: a visit with Crass's Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher, Detroit Techno pioneer Robert Hood, Terror Danjah's Invisible Jukebox, Steve Beresford remembers Lol Coxhill, and more.
On the cover: Ariel Pink: Nick Richardson interviews the Haunted Graffiti artist, who gets mature with songs about Jewishness, nymphomania and the beta male revolution. Plus: Maria Minerva by Nina Power, Buddy Pipp by Val Wilmer, Peter Cusack Invisible Jukebox, Kassem Mosse, Peter Ablinger, Dani Gal, Bamako Global Ear and more.