Wire Magazine 493 - March 2025

Inside our brand new issue:

Masma Dream World: Devi Mambouka channels the voices of the spirits on new album PLEASE COME TO ME. By Emily Pothast

Louis Laurain: The French cornettist cooks up fresh brass constructions on new album C(or)N(e)T. By Clive Bell

Caxtrinho: The Brazilian guitarist maps Rio’s outer regions through his dense, cubist songwriting. By Derek Walmsley

Able Noise: The European duo forge meticulous deconstructions of rock’s conventions. By Abi Bliss

Polonius: Soundtracking the imagination. By Miloš Hroch

Macie Stewart: Moving staircases. By Peter Margasak

Chris Cundy: Wild flowers. By Julian Cowley

Invisible Jukebox: Lydia Lunch: Will the no wave legend get jerked around by The Wire’s mystery record selection? Tested by Claire Biddles

Unlimited Editions: Pointless Geometry explores every angle of the Polish underground scene. By Daryl Worthington

The Inner Sleeve: Jules Reidy on Chris Abrahams’s Play Scar

Global Ear: Tijuana’s Static Discos label sits at the crossroads of electronica in the Americas

Against The Grain: In a new opinion column, George Rayner-Law argues folk music has always been an act of storytelling

Epiphanies: Sachiko M experiences a creative reboot at a European festival

Soundcheck: Ambrose Akinmusire, Marshall Allen, aya, Pierre Bastien & Louis Laurain, Mari Boine, Califone, Xhosa Cole, Daimon, Richard Dawson, Dream Brigade, DSR Lines, Hugues Dufourt/Marilyn Nonken/NYU Contemporary Orchestra, David Edren, Lawrence English, Nina Garcia, General Magic, Golem Mecanique, Phillip Golub, Darin Gray/Pak Yan Lau/Steve Noble/Alan Wilkinson, Keiji Haino & Jun Morita, Keiji Haino & Natsuki Tamura, Bridget Hayden & The Apparitions, Tim Hecker, Immersion & Suss, Jones Rowden, Jacob Kirkegaard, Cindy Lee, Edvard Graham Lewis, James Brandon Lewis Trio, Damon Locks, Mike Majkowski, Joe McPhee, numün, Orion Music Workshop, Maja Osojnik, Charlemagne Palestine & Seppe Gebruers, Han-earl Park/Lara Jones/Pat Thomas, Park Jiha, Ivo Perelman & Tyshawn Sorey, Rangers, Rattle, Peter Rehberg, Jules Reidy, Jules Reidy & Andrea Belfi, The Residents, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Zach Rowden & Laurentju Coţac, Bruce Russell & Thierry Monnier via Fermata Ark, Saint Etienne, Shelter & Orion with Turner Williams Jr, Sunfear, Sun Ra Arkestra, The Third Circle, Tone Vitmn C, Alex Ward/Dominic Lash/Mark Sanders, Wardruna, Die Wilde Jagd & Metropole Orkest, Nate Wooley, Raed Yassin

The Columns: Avant Rock by Edwin Pouncey; Dub & Reggae by Steve Barker; Electronics by Steph Kretowicz; Global by Francis Gooding; Hiphop & R&B by Mosi Reeves; Jazz & Improv by Stewart Smith; Size Matters by Byron Coley

The Boomerang: Robbie Basho; Peter Brötzmann/John Edwards/Steve Noble/Jason Adasiewicz; Marilyn Crispell; Dub Syndicate; You Ishihara; Annette Peacock; Gianfranco Reverberi; Terre Thaemlitz; Various Bonus Beats: Rare & Unreleased Finnish Electro 1990–2002

Print Run: A Year Of Deep Listening: 365 Text Scores For Pauline Oliveros edited by Stephanie Loveless; I Feel Famous: Punk Diaries 1977–1981 by Angela Jaeger; Forever Changes: The Authorized Biography Of Arthur Lee & Love by John Einarson; Peter Jefferies: The Other Side Of Reason by Andrew Schmidt; RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ (Racing For Thunder) edited by Maxwell Wolf & Jeff Mao; Semi-Conducting: Rambles Through The Post-Cagean Thicket by Nicholas Collins; Olivier Messiaen: A Critical Biography by Robert Sholl

On Screen: Scanner: Harry Smith At 100; Eva Aridjis Fuentes Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives Of Q Lazzarus

On Location: Lord Spikeheart + bela, London, UK; DJ Haram, Leeds, UK; GIOfest XVI: International Festival Of Improvisation, Glasgow, UK; London Contemporary Music Festival 2024, London, UK; Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Huddersfield, UK; Han Bennink, London, UK; Le Guess Who?, Utrecht, Netherlands; Unsound New York, New York, US; Arika Episode 11, Glasgow, UK; Jazzfest Berlin 2024, Berlin, Germany; Lunchmeat Festival, Prague, Czech Republic; Another Subculture: Attempting Something, London, UK; Always, Already There: An Incubator For Afrodiasporic New Music, Berlin, Germany

On site: Mike Kelley, Ghost And Spirit, London, UK; Andrew Chalk, Dreams Unseen, Manchester, UK

Plus: Letters, Charts, Out There