Inside The Wire 277 March 2007

Grinderman photographed by Tara Darby

Regulars

The Masthead 4 Letters 6 Bitstream 8 Trawling for gossip withThe Wire’s news net. PlusTrip Or Squeek Global Ear 16 Steve Tromans reports on the nascent Improv scene in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Charts 42 Out There 84 The pick of the month’s festivals, concerts, club spaces, radio and more Subscribe 88 Back Issues 90 Epiphanies 98 Mego’s Peter Rehberg is still reeling from the impact of Cabaret Voltaire’s cut-up news broadcasts from the early 1980s

Features

Paul Burwell 10 David Toop celebrates the life of the Bow Gamelan founder, percussionist and instrument builder, who died last month

Polly Shang Kuan Band 12 Karen Constance tells Keith Molinéé how her female noise unit sits beside her work in Blood Stereo, Ceylon Mange and more

Robert Horton 14 The San Francisco underground veteran has just unleashed a deluge of discs and collaborations. By Nick Cain

Cross Platform Ray Lee 18 Julian Cowley heeds the siren call created by the whirling blades of the Oxford sound artist’s forest-like installations

Invisible Jukebox Rachid Taha 20 The expat Algerian singer identifi es tracks by The Clash, Archie Shepp, The Stooges and more. Tested by Dan Warburton

Once upon a time in Cairo 24 In 1944, the world’s fi rst piece of electronic music was composed in the Egyptian capital. Rob Young tells the amazing story of its creator, Halim El-Dabh

Grinderman 28 Nick Cave’s revitalised cowboy outfi t draws its rock power from improvisation, Warren Ellis’s violin loops and the spirit of ecstatic jazz. By Keith Moliné é

Peter Hammill 34 Since 1969, Britain’s most singular songwriter has been unfl inchingly addressing the Seven Ages of Man, both with and without Van Der Graaf Generator. By Mike Barnes

Reviews

Index 43 Soundcheck 44 This month’s selected CDs and vinyl, including The Stooges, Daphne Oram, LCD Soundsystem and more. Plus specialist columns on avant rock, critical beats, dub, electronica, global, hiphop, jazz & Improv, outer limits, reissues, compilations and unusual formats The Inner Sleeve 67 Vaughan Oliver wonders why he’s so taken with Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers Print Run 68 New music books, including Don Letts’s Dread Meets Punk Rockers and a study Dread Meets Punk Rockers and a study Dread Meets Punk Rockers of Mauricio Kagel On Screen 70 New music DVDs and film, including alva noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto, Semiconductor and the Quay Brothers On Site 71 Gallery and mixed media events, including Sound:Space and Robert Ashley’s new opera Concrete On Location 72 Concert and festival reviews, including All Ears Festival in Oslo and Plastic People Of The Universe in London