Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

Oh sweet mother of [insert your favorite deity here], I heart The Wire. After a month of waiting - this is what I get for subscribing to their email update and not living in the U.K. - I finally got my hands, last night, on the October '03 issue, which includes The Wire Tapper 10, a double CD of avant-garde shiznit. And lemme tell you, this block is hot. I don't know the majority of the artists included, from SatanicPornoCultShop to Animal Collective to Gunter Muller & Toshimaru Nakamura. [The ones I do know are David Sylvian, Four Tet, Laibach, Ui, Jah Wobble, and Faust.] The sounds range from sound collage to free jazz to modern classical to glitchronic hip-hop to, well, Laibach (who, really, are a sound unto themselves, sorta-kinda). And the magazine is, as always, impeccable, with features ranging from Peaches's Invisible Jukebox to a behind-the-scenes on the recording of Miles Davis's Jack Johnson. Who wants to get me a subscription for my birthday? :-)