Inside The Wire 275 January 2007

Regulars

The Masthead 4 Letters 6 Bitstream 8 Trawling for gossip withThe Wire’s news net. PlusTrip Or Squeek Global Ear 14 Steve Barker charts the Beijing underground’s bewilderingly rapid developments

Charts 50 Out There 92 The pick of the month’s festivals, concerts, club spaces, radio and more Subscribe 96 Back Issues 98 Epiphanies 106 A flawed history of Jewish punk prompts Alan Licht to check his roots

12 months of The Wire shredded and photographed by Köörner Union

Features

Carla Kihlstedt 10 The San Francisco violinist tells Clive Bell about Tin Hat group and her customised ‘trumpet-violin’

Peter Evans 12 The New York based trumpeter’s solo debut injects microtonal dramas into horn Improv. By Philip Clark

Cross Platform Strange Attractor 16 Crop circles, conspiracy theories and psychic deceptions – Ken Hollings enters the weird world of Strange Attractor

Invisible Jukebox Faust 18 Jean-Hervéé Peron and Zappi Diermaier pick up the vibrations in tracks by Henry Cow, Tony Conrad, Plastic People Of The Universe and more. Tested by David Stubbs

Gary Smith 22 The London improvisor unlocks the mysteries of the ‘stereo guitar’, and talks about his work with Mass, The Acme Quartet, Bill Fay, Powerfi eld and more. By Julian Cowley

Matt Valentine & Erika Elder 28 From their base in Vermont, MV & EE have embarked on a woozy reassessment of American roots music with The Bummer Road and Medicine Show. By David Keenan

Rewind 2006 34 The Wire’s review of the year’s best music, including Top 50 Records Of The Year, writers’ and musicians’ refl ections, and surveys of the state of sonic art in 2006

Reviews

Index 51 Soundcheck 52 This month’s selected CDs and vinyl, including Dredd Foole, Pandit Pran Nath, Iannis Xenakis 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 77 Chicks On Speed and friends on The Slits’ Cut Print Run 78 New music books, including 2006’s best music writing, a collection of John Szwed’s essays and more On Screen 80 New music DVDs and film, including The Pixies and a compendium of British avant garde film On Site 81 Installations and gallery events, including Music Is A Better Noise in New York On Location 82 Concert and festival reviews, including the London Jazz Festival, Avanto 2006 in Helsinki and more