The Wire Tapper 41 Your track by track guide to this month’s free CD

1 Lixo “Writer’s Block” Previously unreleased (GETME!) London based DJ Lixo is the founder of GETME!, the club night turned record label whose roster of leftfield artists and producers includes Dam Mantle, Slime and Kit Grill. Lixo himself released his debut EP in 2015. In September he plans to release the follow-up he has since recorded as a further reflection of his tastes and influences. Lixo hosts a monthly NTS Radio show exploring the electronic music that interests him most from the UK and beyond. thisisgetme.com, thisislixo.com 2 Jam Money “Away Inside” From A Gathering Kind (Alien Transistor) Jam Money’s Mat Fowler (Bons) and Kevin Cormack (Half Cousin, Harry Deerness) first worked together at the Blank Tape Spillage Fetes celebrating small, dynamic, homespun DIY art and music activities at London’s Cecil Sharp House in 2006 and 2009. They became Jam Money and released their 2014 debut album Blowing Stones, which was inspired an accompanied by Aimee Henderson’s minimal abstract paintings. Her work also features on their second album A Gathering Kind, set for release by Alien Transistor in November. alientransistor.de, spillagefeterecords.com 3 Nour Sooska & Andro El Hawy “Marmagha” From a forthcoming release (100Copies) Nour Soska and Andro El Hawy belong to a third generation of musicians rising out of Cairo’s vibrant electro shaabi scene. Hawy’s name means magician in Egyptian dialect; Soska is a 22 year old producer and DJ. Together, the duo have devised a different instrumental approach to electro shaabi’s familiar form, the twist in their beats restoring an element of surprise to dancers now thrown out of step and forced to listen to the music anew. 100copies.com 4 AMBIQ “The Spur” From AMBIQ 2 (arjunamusic) AMBIQ are a newish Berlin instrumental trio formed by musicians burdened with different histories: Berlin electronica veteran Max Loderbauer, drummer Samuel Rohrer and clarinettist Claudio Puntin, both Swiss jazz players. Taking a shared pool of influences as a starting point, they found fertile common ground in their overlapping enthusiasms for free improv, early electronics and spaced out dub for the making of AMBIQ’s self-titled 2014 debut album. That shared creative urge proved as strong when they reconvened for its 2015 sequel AMBIQ 2. arjunamusic. com, samuelrohrer.com 5 LEVELZ “Worship” From LVL 11 (LEVELZ) The 14 core members making up the maverick Mancunian bass music/MC collective LEVELZ are BIOME, BLACK JOSH, BRICKS, CHIMPO, CHUNKY, DUB PHIZIX, FOX, JONNY DUB, METRODOME, RICH REASON, SKITTLES, SPARKZ, T-MAN and TRUTHOS MUFASA. As group activities go, they enjoy making and touring music, regularly upsetting security and drinking the bar dry. In January they released a mixtape, LVL 11, which generated such a positive reaction that they’ve since been booked to play nonstop at parties and raves all over the UK. twitter.com/ LEVELZMCR, levelzmcrbandcamp.com

6 Alessandra Eramo “Roars Bangs Booms” From Roars Bangs Booms (Corvo) Inspired by Luigi Russolo’s use of onomatopoeia in his 1913 Futurist manifesto Art Of Noises, Berlin based composer/sound artist Alessandra Eramo carries out intense explorations of past industrialised and deindustrialised sounds summoned up and articulated in the here and now by her naked voice. Backed by a theremin, tape machine and contact mics, she transforms her utterances into harmonious miniatures that reveal the rough beauty of her recovered industrial sounds. corvorecords.de, ezramo.com 7 Ahmed Fakroun “Falah” From Ahmed Fakroun (PMG) Libyan singer and songwriter Ahmed Fakroun is a pioneer of modern Arabic world music. Born in 1953, his early fascination with rhythmic harmony led to him choosing the Fender Precision electric bass as his first instrument. This was soon flanked by harmonica, guitar and piano, and traditional instruments like the oud and saz. Satisfying an appetite for new listening experiences didn’t stop Fakroun developing his own unique style from the global variety of influences he has exposed himself to. ahmedfakroun.com, audio.cd 8 The Jazzfakers “Phantacusis” From Hallucinations (Alrealon Musique) The Jazzfakers are a New York based quartet featuring David Tamura (Ex, Von LMO), Raphael Zwyer, Robert L Pepper (Pas

Musique) and Matt Luczak. Their music is a mind bending trip of sonic experimentation mixing avant jazz, krautrock and noise. Since 2008 they have made four records with New York producer Martin Bisi, all released by Alrealon Musique. alrealon. com/thejazzfakers.html, alrealonmusique. bandcamp.com 9 Giulio Aldinucci “Candles (Tuscany, Spring)[alternate edit]” From Goccia (Home Normal) Born in Siena, Italy, in 1981, composer Giulio Aldinucci has been long active in the fields of experimental electroacoustic music and soundscape research. Indeed he is the curator of the Soundscape Practice section of the Italian Archive of Soundscapes (AIPS). Aldinucci has composed music for theatre, video art, documentaries and short films. He has released four albums on an international array of labels: Home Normal (UK/Japan), Time Released Sound (US), Dronarivm (Russia) and Nomadic Kids Republic (UK/Japan). Finally, he has made two album collaborations, one with Francesco Giannico, the other with Pleq. giulioaldinucci.com, homenormal.com 10 Ben Lukas Boysen “Selene” From Spells (Erased Tapes) Born in 1981, Berlin based producer Ben Lukas Boysen is the third child of opera singer Deirdre Boysen and actor Claus Boysen. He began classical music training on piano and guitar when he was seven years old. Now a music producer, he has explored everything from ambient to breakcore over the nine albums he recorded as HECQ since 2003, before releasing Gravity and Spells under his own name on the UK label Erased Tapes. He is also a sound designer, film and video game composer. benlukasboysen.com, erasedtapes.com Jody Hartley (5)

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