The Wire's latest 20 track CD, free to all readers.

1
Matthewdavid
“Make Your Own 2007”
(Leaving)
Matthewdavid made the move from Southern US to Los Angeles and was immediately embraced by the local community. His gentle presence and generous talents made him a welcome addition to internationally applauded LA creative circles: dublab, Poo-Bah, Low End Theory and Brainfeeder. Collaboration with these collectives helped inspire Matthewdavid to a build a platform of his own. His Leaving Records label has an ear to the next and an eye on the original. Through all these outlets, he is dedicated to sharing elevated sounds and visions.

2
Captain Miki
“Do Pok” (extract)
from The Solar Anus
(Migro)
Captain Miki is a warlord in Kurosawa’s film Throne Of Blood. “Do Pok” is a piece about unhelpful self-help, featuring recordings from anti-war marches. It is part of an unreleased album called The Solar Anus. Panos Ghikas is Captain Miki. Panos plays in The Chap, improvises with Jennifer Walshe and uses music as a professional tool and as a force for good.

3
After The Rain
“Distance III”
from The Night Must Fall
(ATfield/Memoirs Of 
An Aesthete/Bang The Bore)
After The Rain was formed in 2009 in Southampton, UK, by instrumentalists/composers Hossein Hadisi (Iran), Ignacio Agrimbau (Argentina) and Joe Kelly (UK). They met at the University of Southampton, where they studied composition under Michael Finnissy. Originally emerging as the last mutation of The Hola, an eclectic ensemble founded by Agrimbau in 2005, After The Rain’s sound combines elements from electroacoustics, ‘free’ improvisation, and DIY aesthetics. More importantly, the group uses performance practices and creative methods derived from Persian classical music, which is at the centre of Hadisi and Agrimbau’s research projects.

4
Center Of The Universe featuring Easy
“Astral adjustments”
from Astral Harassment
(Metronomicon Audio)
Inspired by folk music and rhythmic excesses from all over the world, Center 
Of The Universe made his first recordings 
in 2000. This solo project by Jørgen Skjulstad combines heavy bass, odd meters and exotic elements with lo-fi recording methods. He has been active in the Norwegian underground scene for a long time and has released a host of albums, mostly on his own label Metronomicon Audio. Astral Harassment can be downloaded free from metronomiconaudio.net/astral.zip

5
Andrey Kiritchenko
“Fly Above Where Leaves Do Not” 
(Wire Tapper edit)
from Chrysalis
(Nexsound)
Andrey Kiritchenko, from the Ukraine, began in 1991 as a singer-songwriter in a rock group, but has been active in electronic music since 1996. Kiritchenko combines acoustic and digital aesthetics, tiny melodies and noise. He has released more than 40 albums under many aliases on Staalplaat, Ad Noiseam, SPEKK, Bip-Hop, Neo Ouija and more; performed at major festivals through continental Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan; collaborated with Francisco López, Kim Cascone, Anla Courtis and others; and won an award at the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards.

6
Wires Under Tension
“Landscape Architecture”
from replicant
(Western Vinyl)
Wires Under Tension is a duo based in New York’s South Bronx. Combining homegrown audio sampling instruments with ferocious beats and adventurous orchestration, WUT’s angular gymnastics reflect the raw energy of their home turf. Multi-instrumentalist, classical composer and software engineer Christopher Tignor switches dextrously between violin, keyboards, bass and the rest of his arsenal, while Theo Metz extracts brutal truths from the kit.

7
David Coulter & Ralph Carney
“Did You?”
from Secret Language
(Trestle)
Secret Language is the first collaboration between the UK’s David Coulter and the USA’s Ralph Carney. The pieces were originally initiated some years ago with Coulter sending Carney a series of solo meditations as sound files, and asking him to respond. Aside from Secret Language, Coulter and Carney have played together on a variety of projects including Plague Songs, Twisted Christmas and various Hal Willner-related projects. Among the numerous instruments is the didgeridoo, 
for which Coulter has respectfully developed his own vocabulary during the 20-plus years he has been playing it.

8
Manuella Blackburn
“Switched on”
from Formes audibles
(empreintes DIGITALes)
Manuella Blackburn is an electroacoustic composer who specialises in acousmatic music creation. However, she also has composed for instruments and electronics, laptop ensemble improvisations and music for dance. Each piece is based on sound materials carefully selected and delicately processed: from the electric guitar to electronic switches and traditional musical instruments. In these bursts of sound remains an emphasis on pitch, uttering a reference to tonal musical history, keeping the listener drawn into the narrative.

9
Tudor Acid
“The Sound Of Raindrops” (Wire Tapper edit)
from Wrong Side Of Day – Part 08
(Tudor Beats)
Tudor Acid was born near London and studied at Sheffield, and was greatly inspired by its steel Techno. Settling in Bristol, Tudor Acid developed music which worked on the dancefloor. Gigs with Luke Vibert, The Doubtful Guest, Posthuman and Keith Tenniswood followed. Out of this came Merri Portland (2010), remixes from Vibert and Tenniswood. With the Wrong Side Of Day EP series, he has gradually moved towards angular beats, three-dimensional sounds and greater abstraction.

10
Every Hidden Color
“I” (excerpt)
from Luz
(Streamline)
Federico Durand and Nicholas Szczepanik work together as the duo Every Hidden Color. Durand weaves simple melodies together with field recordings made in the heart of Argentina. He adores books, autumn, John Keats’s poetry, botanical prints and Earl Grey tea. Szczepanik’s audio narratives are influenced by contemporary philosophy and fiction, and address the modern human condition with maximum emotional impact.

11
Valgeir Sigurðsson
“Big Reveal”
from Architecture Of Loss
(Bedroom Community)
Previously descibed as “a dark and writhing battle between two opposing structures”, “Big Reveal” is a first glimpse into the third album by acclaimed Icelandic composer/producer Valgeir Sigurðsson, which features composer Nico Muhly, violist Nadia Sirota and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. Originally composed for the ballet by Stephen Petronio, Architecture Of Loss shows Sigurðsson working from a broad palette of absences: an album ranging from lyrical, folk-like melodies, spare acoustic sound and dense digital intervention.

12
Rhodri Davies
“questions of __________________________ middle distance”
from wound response
(alt.vinyl)
The third solo harp release by improvisor and composer Rhodri Davies – following Trem (2003) and Over Shadows (2007) on the Confront label – is a weighty departure for Davies. wound response is an attempt to work with volume, rhythm, distortion and pitches in an open and fluid way that is open to random occurrence.

13
Last Days
“If”
from Satellite
(n5MD)
Edinburgh based Graham Richardson has been recording as Last Days for six years. His music explores personal themes of stasis and flux, escape and acceptance. Last Days contrasts the intimacy of field recordings and elementary instruments with digital technology. The resulting mixes are often melancholy, but ultimately hopeful and always tell a story. Satellite, the fourth Last Days album, is close to completion and due for release next year.

14
Merzouga
“Fragment #2”
from Music For Wax-Cylinders
(unreleased)
Merzouga is a spot in the Sahara where Cologne based computer musician Eva Poepplein and electric bassist Janko Hanushevsky encountered the roaring silence of camel flies and sand trickling down the dunes. Since 2002 they have been performing improvised music and composing for radio, film and theatre. Working with field recordings from their travels is a central aspect of their practice, and their award-winning radio works have been commissioned by German broadcasters. In 2011 their sound composition Mekong Morning Glory was released on Gruenrekorder.

15
Food Pyramid
“Marsh Bar”
Wire Tapper exclusive
(Moon Glyph)
Food Pyramid is the collaborative project of C Hontona, M Weather, J Pfeff and C Farstak. The group began writing, performing and improvising in 2010. They soon discovered unforeseen musical forms and ideas. They have collaborated with dozens of likeminded musicians, artists and film makers, and have released six albums and numerous EPs.

16
Lind Bohm
“Klang Der Zeit”
from The Legend Of Alice & Anna Maria Cloroformo
(Avachorda)
This work is a series of creations performed live outdoors at places that have a special meaning for Lind Bohm. Inspired by the spectacular view across the Alps and blazing lights before sundown, this track was recorded after a ten-hour climb to the 3000 metre high summit of Mount Hochkoenig in Bavaria.

17
Ghikas & Walshe
“Al forno yeah”
from Good Teeth
(Migro)
Panos Ghikas and Jennifer Walshe have engaged in unreal-time surround Improv since 2010. Voice, viola, drums and trumpet improvisations are recorded, broken down into gestural material and then projected through the use of software onto an e-drum kit. The meta-instrument incites a different type of physical triggering of sounds from the original bodily gestures that produced them. The resulting performance is the outcome of real-time and non-real-time processes that blur temporal perception and offer a new gestural syntax to both the performer and the audience.

18
jealousy mountain duo
“leaf kickers”
from jealousy mountain duo no2
(blu noise)
The second self-titled album by Jörg A Schneider (drums) and Jens Berger (guitar) is a portmanteau of jealousy mountain duo’s disparate 60s jazz and noisy, math-rock influences. They take a deconstructivist approach, with guitars looping in conflicting melodies, drums working in and out of rhythms, eschewing any semblance of straightforward timekeeping for an abstract counterbalance to the swirl of notes and tones. The result is tightly controlled chaos, a sonic maelstrom where form doesn’t necessarily follow function.

19
Lasse-Marc Riek
“sleeping bull”
from Helgoland
(Gruenrekorder)
Lasse-Marc Riek is the co-founder of the German label Gruenrekorder. He uses field recordings, editing, archiving and presenting them in different contexts. Since 1997, he has participated internationally in exhibitions, concerts, lectures and projects, and given performances in galleries, universities, art museums, churches and museums. He has made contributions to public and broadcast media and has won awards, scholarships and artist-in-residence programmes in Europe and Africa.

20
Bersarin Quartett
“Perlen, Honig Oder Untergang”
from II
(Denovali)
Named after the commander of the Soviet tank forces occupying Berlin in 1945, Bersarin Quartett aka Thomas Bücker describes his music as “imaginary fictional film scores”. Bücker has also made club music as Jean-Michel, but here explores his love of emotional cinematic sound. Bersarin Quartett music is produced by him alone, although he uses extra musicians when performing live.