The Wire (magazine)

The Wire

The Wire #323, January 2011
Editor-in-Chief Tony Herrington
Categories Music magazine
Frequency Monthly
Publisher The Wire Magazine Ltd.
First issue 1982
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Website www.thewire.co.uk
ISSN 0952-0686

The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music.[1] Since then it has covered hip hop, modern classical, free improvisation, post-rock, and various forms of electronic music.

Richard Cook succeeded Anthony Wood as editor, and was himself succeeded in June 1992 by Mark Sinker. After Sinker was sacked in early 1994 (though he continued as a contributor for some years), the magazine has been edited successively by Tony Herrington, Rob Young and Chris Bohn, who also writes under the name Biba Kopf.

A series of new music compilation CDs called The Wire Tapper has been given away with the magazine since 1997. The magazine has used the strapline "Adventures in Modern Music" since 1994; on 14 December 2011 The Wire's staff announced on Twitter that the magazine's old strapline "Adventures In Modern Music" had been replaced by "Adventures In Sound And Music".[1]. In addition to the Wire Tapper CDs subscribers also receive label, country and festival samplers.

Apart from the numerous album reviews every month, the magazine is known for features such as The Invisible Jukebox, an interview conducted by way of unknown tracks being played to an artist and The Primer, an indepth article on a genre or act. It also features the avant music scene of a particular city every issue. In addition to its musical focus, the magazine also likes to investigate cover art and mixed media artistic works.

Owned for many years by Naim Attallah's Namara Group, it was bought out by its six full-time members of staff in 2001 and is now published independently.

Since January 2003 The Wire has been presenting a weekly radio program on the London community radio station Resonance FM which uses the magazine's strapline as its title and is hosted in turns by members of The Wire's staff.

The Wire contributors

  • Steve Barker
  • Mike Barnes
  • Clive Bell
  • Chris Blackford
  • Marcus Boon
  • Ben Borthwick
  • Leon Chew
  • Philip Clark
  • Mia Clarke
  • Julian Cowley
  • Christoph Cox
  • Alan Cummings
  • Lina Dzuverovic - Russell
  • Phil England
  • Kodwo Eshun
  • Phil Freeman
  • Paul Gilroy
  • Louise Gray
  • Jim Haynes
  • Richard Henderson
  • Tony Herrington
  • Ken Hollings
  • Hua Hsu
  • David Keenan
  • Rhama Khazam
  • Biba Kopf
  • Alan Licht
  • David Lubich
  • Dave Mandl
  • Brian Marley
  • Marc Masters
  • Jerome Manusell
  • Keith Moline
  • Will Montgomery
  • Brian Morton
  • John Mulvey
  • Anne Hilde Neset

References

  1. ^ Steve Jones (2002). Pop Music and the Press. Temple University Press. p. 58. ISBN 1566399661. 

External links