Subscriber Special: Below The Radar Vol 2

▲ Carlos Giffoni

▲ Mazen Kerbaj & Sharif Sehnaoui

▲ Leisure High

▲ The Haxan Cloak

▲ Leyland Kirby

▲ Mattin

▲ Marina Rosenfeld

▲ Blood Stereo

▲ Skull Defekts & The Sons Of God

▲ Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith

▲ MV & EE with Willie Lane

With this month’s issue, The Wire releases the second instalment in its series of free new music downloads

▲ Gary War

▲ Zavoloka vs Kotra

Compiled by The Wire staff, Below The Radar is a showcase for all manner of underground, outsider and experimental musics. The compilations are issued as a series of free downloads, complete with specially commissioned artwork and liner notes that contain biographies and images, links and contact information for all the featured musicians.

The Below The Radar series is available exclusively to all The Wire’s subscribers, both print and digital.

For information on how to get access to all the downloads in the Below The Radar series, go to thewire.co.uk/subscribe

Below The Radar Vol 2 contains:

Exclusive tracks by Carlos Giffoni, The Haxan Cloak, Mazen Kerbaj & Sharif Sehnaoui, Leyland Kirby (aka The Caretaker), Leisure High (aka Blevin Blechdom and Eugene Robinson), Mattin, Marina Rosenfeld and Skull Defekts & The Sons Of God.

Plus new or forthcoming tracks by Blood Stereo, MV & EE with Willie Lane, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Gary War and Zavoloka vs Kotra.

irdcore image by We

C over Inside The Wire 311 | January 2010

2009 Rewind photographed by Thomas Adank

The Masthead 4

Letters 6

Bitstream 8 News and more from under the radar

Trip Or Squeek 9 Cartoon strip by Savage Pencil

Bites 10 Jad Fair, The Ex & Brass Unbound, John ‘Drumbo’ French and more

Charts 50

Out There 90 Festivals, concerts, gigs and club listings

Below The Radar + The Wire Tapper 96 Free downloads and CDs

Subscriptions 97

Reviews Index 51

Soundcheck 52 This month’s selected CDs, vinyl and downloads, including Richard Skelton, Vindicatrix, Grind Madness At The BBC, PiL and more. Plus avant rock, critical beats, dub, electronica, global, hiphop, jazz & Improv, outer limits, unusual formats and reissues

The Inner Sleeve 73 Graham Dolphin on Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation

Print Run 74 New music books: Steve Goodman’s Sonic Warfare, a compendium of graphic scores, a collection of Krautrock writings and more

On Screen 76 Sunny Murray, Isaac Julien’s Young Soul Rebels and audio-visual works from Optofonica on DVD

On Site 77 Gallery and mixed media events, with Susan Philipsz and a homage to Åke Hodell

On Location 78 Festival and concert reviews including Colour Out Of Space in the UK, Poland’s Unsound, Incus Festival in New York City and more

Position Normal 12 English eccentric and audio collagist Chris Bailiff puts David Stubbs under heavy manners

The Village Orchestra 14 Glaswegian producer Ruaridh Law feels the force of soft Techno and hard Ambient with Lisa Blanning

Yan Jun 16 The sound artist, writer and unofficial godfather to the Chinese underground talks drinking games with Clive Bell

Global Ear Leipzig 18 Biba Kopf reports from the German city’s musical front line

Cross Platform Paul Rooney 20 Audio ephemera and the spoken word unlock hidden social histories for the London multimedia artist. By Julian Cowley

Invisible Jukebox Josephine Foster 22 The Colorado born, Spain based singer and songwriter gathers round the gramophone to sample The Wire’s mystery record selection. Tested by Rob Young

Janek Schaefer 26 The architect turned turntablist discusses his sound art and pre-school discos with Chris Sharp

Monolake 30 Groove designer, software evangelist and sound fetishist Robert Henke talks circuitry with Derek Walmsley

2009 Rewind 36 The Wire’s essential review of the year’s best music, including Top 50 Records of the Year, writers’ and musicians’ reflections, and discussions of the state of the art in sound

Epiphanies 98 Cathi Unsworth navigates the noirish streets of London with Gallon Drunk as her map