Far beyond novelty or experiment, 2025 was the year that crossover projects rejected genre labels for endless sonic possibilities, writes Stewart Smith in The Wire 503/504. Read the full article here: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

In The Wire 503/504, Xenia Benivolski writes that as the speed of events and information flows increases, drone based slowness offers another mode of perception Read the full essay here: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

Traditional instruments, folk cultures and mythic ideas of futurity offer slip roads exiting AI’s highway to a hollow future, argues @darylworthington.bsky.social in The Wire 503/504 Read the full essay online: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

London’s extensive railway infrastructure is both a refuge for DIY nightlife and under threat from gentrification, writes Deborah Nash in The Wire 503/504 Read the full article online here: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

In The Wire 503/504, Lucy Thraves argues that luxury labels and conglomerates' attempts to purchase some avant garde glory comes at a cost to experimental music and the ecosystem that supports it Read the full article online here: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

Michael Uzowuru: Broken Soul and Broken Minds In his latest Secret History of Film Music column, Philip Brophy explores how the signifiers of Black musics in Swarm are fragmented to indicate its main character’s psychosis www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/c...

"Loops of attention and algorithmic recommendation function as a form of soft power, subtly dictating what is culturally legible..." AI complicates the boundaries between listener, artist and music in troubling new ways, argues DeForrest Brown, Jr. Read in full: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

Hey, you can view all of our heartfelt top 10 charts of the year over at @thewiremagazine.bsky.social. Always a nice little treasure trove for discovering new stuff. www.thewire.co.uk/issues/chart...

Looking for a last minute present? Give the music lover in your life the gift of The Wire this Xmas. Subscriptions start from just £16. www.thewire.co.uk/subscriptions/

Always so much gold in the bumper Rewind issue of @thewiremagazine.bsky.social So many 2025 highlights plus I review Semibreve festival, new Agnes Haus &Penelope Trappes albums & unreleased Patrick Cowley 🪩 Pick up a copy for £8.95 (Or the music nerd in your life may love a subscription from £55)

From the mainstream to the margins, bands were once again in decline in 2025, writes Antonio Poscic Read the full essay here: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

2025 Rewind: Contributors' Charts The Wire’s Releases of the Year chart for 2025 was compiled from the individual votes of the magazine’s staff and contributors – these are now on The Wire website to read in full www.thewire.co.uk/issues/chart...

DIY online radio stations allow humanity and personality to surface in a tide of soulless and reductive algorithmic playlists, argues Paul Rekret in The Wire 503/504. Read the full article online here: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

Listen back to last night's episode of Adventures In Sound And Music, which was hosted by Shane Woolman and featured music from The Wire's Top 50 Releases of the Year, including Natural Information Society, DJ Haram and Valentina Magaletti & YPY www.thewire.co.uk/audio/on-air...

Tonight on @resonancefm.bsky.social & Resonance Extra, Shane Woolman hosts The Wire's weekly show, playing a selection of tracks taken from the magazine's Top 50 Releases Of The Year. Tune in from 9pm GMT extra.resonance.fm/schedule

2025 Rewind: Contributors' Charts The Wire’s Releases of the Year chart for 2025 was compiled from the individual votes of the magazine’s staff and contributors – these are now on The Wire website to read in full www.thewire.co.uk/issues/chart...

1: aya - hexed! (Hyperdub) We said: "hexed! cranks up the bass wobble of 2021's im hole into something more violent, as her electronic palette becomes ever more expansive..." The full top 50: www.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

At The Wire website, listen to a selection of tracks from our Top 50 Releases of the Year, as voted for by The Wire’s team of staff and contributors. www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks...

2: billy woods - Golliwog (Backwoodz Studioz) We said: "A series of bad dreams rendered both asleep and awake... his work tends to emphasise dread vibes... though never with the consistency he attempts here." The full Top 50: www.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

Listen back to last night's edition of The Wire's weekly radio show, which was hosted by @saving-throw.bsky.social and featured music by Martin Dupont, Brandy Dalton, Lolina, Los Thuthanaka and more www.thewire.co.uk/audio/on-air...

3: Los Thuthanaka - Los Thuthanaka The debut from the sibling duo of Chuquimamani-Condori and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton reimages traditional Andean musical forms from their Aymara heritage in experimental electronic settings. www.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

Wire playlist: Archiving anarcho-punk Seth Wheeler curates a playlist of tracks connected to the anarcho-punk archive in London’s MayDay Rooms www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks...

On this week’s edition of The Wire’s radio show on @resonancefm.bsky.social, @saving-throw.bsky.social takes the broadcasting baton to present music by Pascal Comelade, Los Thuthanaka, @xcrswx and lolina (pictured), plus some seasonal surprises. Tune in from 9pm GMT: extra.resonance.fm/schedule

4: The Necks - Disquiet (Northern Spy) We said: "["Ghost Net" is] the uneasiest thing that The Necks have done in years... two separate tracks defy the efforts of pattern-seeking brains to fit them into a groove." The full Top 50: www.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

Invisible Jukebox mix: Ikonika Listen to the music we played to Ikonika during their Invisible Jukebox interview in The Wire 503/4. Featuring Introspekt, Loraine James, Peter Gabriel and more. www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks...

5: DJ Haram - Beside Myself (Hyperdub) We said: "Channelling her raw, unflinching energy ... the album incorporates rap, live instrumentation and a range of bpms, murmurs and screams, forming an aural documentary of sorts." The full Top 50: www.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

Print and digital subscribers of The Wire can now stream and download the latest edition of Below The Radar - our regular subscriber only compilation of experimental underground music. Vol 49 features Hilary Woods, Lo Egin, Nika Ticciati & Beth Veasey and more www.thewire.co.uk/audio/btr/be...

6: Eiko Ishibashi - Antigone We said: "Glossy art rock that's in a profound state of metamorphosis... Antigone is everything that your overpriced city pop vinyl reissue promised but failed to deliver." The full Top 50: wwww.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

Before and after. Here's to 500 more issues. Thanks to all who have helped us along the way. (Cake made by Jill Tipping.)

The London based MayDay Rooms’ anarcho-punk archive is a valuable resource for radical cultures and politics today, writes Seth Wheeler in The Wire 503/4 Read the full article online: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/c...

7: Oklou - choke enough (True Panther Sounds) choke enough brings renaissance and baroque forms into sodium-lit electronic pop, its noughties-conscious aesthetic tailor made for the post-internet age The full Top 50: www.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

Time for one of my favourite things of the year, the annual Rewind edition from @thewiremagazine.bsky.social

Listen back to last night's edition of The Wire's weekly show on @resonancefm.bsky.social and Resonance Extra, which was hosted by @jjstannard.bsky.social and featured music by Rupert Hine, NOWHERE2RUN, Shudder To Think, Deliluh, Qasu and more www.thewire.co.uk/audio/on-air...

8: Vanessa Rossetto - Pictures Of The Warm South (Erstwhile) We said: "Listening to Pictures Of The Warm South is like being a guest in a strange house ... a portrait of the host, their tastes and personality." www.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

On this week’s edition of The Wire’s show on @resonancefm.bsky.social & Resonance Extra, join @jjstannard.bsky.social for a banquet of bewildering bangers including tracks by Shudder To Think, Deliluh (pictured), Nervio Cosmico, Dog Soup and more. Tune in from 9pm GMT extra.resonance.fm/schedule

9: Stereolab - Instant Holograms On Metal Film We said: "The spectre of war and violence hangs over Instant Holograms ... [Yet their] songs are not anthems of defeat and despair ... a prescription of inner work and spiritual cultivation as means of resistance." www.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

New @thewiremagazine.bsky.social is out! Proud to have contributed a Rewind essay + reviews of Unsound 2025, and records by Saint Abdullah/Jason Nazary + Rie Nakajima/David Toop. Whole issue is packed with great essays, articles and EOY gear Buy a copy/subscribe to support indie journalism in ‘26

I love writing about books. In the new issue of @thewiremagazine.bsky.social (the hotly anticipated annual end-of-year wrapup) I reviewed this excellent one about a tradition I never knew existed: 7" records issued in support of strikes and other labor actions: www.commonnotions.org/buy/strike-w...

The Wire's Top 10 10: Tortoise - Touch We said: "What a blessed relief they collectively still sound wholly and unapologetically like themselves... to listen closely, though, is to uncover minute surprises which, with patience, expand in depth and scope." www.thewire.co.uk/issues/503/504

Sending a huge thanks to @thewiremagazine.bsky.social for the very kind words on our new release with MJ Noble 🔊🔊 “Noble is becoming something of an auteur.” Grab the new issue or better yet, buy a subscription. Thanks to @msclairebiddles.bsky.social & @jjstannard.bsky.social @mjnoble.bsky.social

Allow us to REWIND you up as 2025 draws to its close. Here’s a big bouncing bumper issue for your festive (or otherwise) edification!

Yes! @thewiremagazine.bsky.social nails the top 50! For the issue, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Tristan Perich. I also profiled @adambdonoval.bsky.social's Warm Winters Ltd, penned the regular and year-end Avant Rock columns, reviewed the new Anna von Hausswolff, and reflected on 2025.

I put my writer's hat back on in this issue - I talked to Makaya McCraven then wrote an extended piece about his career & process go buy it! thank you to Makaya, @saving-throw.bsky.social & @jjstannard.bsky.social

The Wire 503-4 is out now! Featuring the Top 50 new and archive releases, critical analysis and reflections, plus Hilary Woods, Makaya McCraven, Anna Högberg, Tristan Perich, Derek Bailey’s Company, Ikonika’s Jukebox, and much more. Pick up your copy here: thewire.co.uk/shop/

The Wire’s final issue of the year is out tomorrow. Expect charts, analysis, reflections, plus reviews, features and much more. Subscribe here: www.thewire.co.uk/subscriptions/

Listen back to last night's episode of The Wire's weekly show on @resonancefm.bsky.social and Resonance Extra, which was hosted by Chris Bohn and featured music by Ipek Gorgun, Leslie Keffer, Anna Schnabel, Laibach, Hamid Drake & Pat Thomas and more www.thewire.co.uk/audio/on-air...

“Floats in a distant dreamworld of its own”: vari/ations: Ode To Oram reviewed At The Wire website, Abi Bliss reviews a new project that draws on the sound archive of BBC Radiophonic Workshop co-founder and electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

To accompany her report on glint music in The Wire 502, Misha Farrant explores a playlist of releases from the enigmatic South London label www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks...

Tonight on @resonancefm.bsky.social and Resonance Extra, Chris Bohn hosts The Wire's weekly show, playing music by Hamid Drake & Pat Thomas, John Butcher & Angharad Davies, Phew & Danielle de Picciotto, Laibach (pictured), and more. Tune in from 9pm GMT. extra.resonance.fm/schedule 📷 Dave Brown

“Floats in a distant dreamworld of its own”: vari/ations: Ode To Oram reviewed At The Wire website, Abi Bliss reviews a new project that draws on the sound archive of BBC Radiophonic Workshop co-founder and electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...