THE SUN RA ARKESTRA (London Cafe Oto, 25/10/15)

One of the great things about watching the Arkestra perform during daylight hours was watching people walk by Cafe Oto and gawp in bewilderment at the be-sequined free-jazz space wizardry contained within. Of course, there's a whole load of other great things about watching the Arkestra, not least Marshall Allen's forceful, eccentric presence, which remains undimmed at 91 years of age.

REVERE (London Lexington 23/10/15)

Nine years ago, I went to see a short-lived Hope of the States spinoff band at the London Water Rats (remember that place?), and to be perfectly frank they were dull as hell. Their support, however, was not. Revere trod an intriguing line between post-rock and orchestral indie-pop (my two favourite genres at the time), and although nearly a decade later I'm not so in love with that sound as I used to be, on the evidence tonight they're still a band that deserve to be much bigger.

EZRA FURMAN (London Shepherd's Bush Empire, 22/10/15)

I never thought when I saw Ezra Furman at the Sebright Arms last February he'd be selling out Shepherd's Bush Empire 18 months later, but it's a (rare) credit to Britain's music fans that he is. One could argue that the first half of the set was not quite up to his usual gleefully anarchic standards, but when he started throwing out the hits (and there's quite a few of these now) "My Zero", "Body Was Made", "Wobbly", "Lousy Connection"- it swiftly became the chaotic, gloriously celebratory experience that's become his hallmark. And of course, there was that set-closing cover of "Crown of Love", that was essentially the most perfect thing ever.

SON LUX (London Village Underground, 21/10/15)

"It's a show that flits between haunting, echoey balladry and full on barrages of Boredoms-esque noise rock, a show that's cerebral yet also dancey, a show that on paper is the epitome of Pitchfork hipsterism, yet also delivered substance to back up the style." That's how I described Son Lux's 2014 show at the Lexington, which remains one of the best introductions to a band I ever did see. Needless to say, they're ever better now.

METRIC (London Kentish Town Forum, 14/10/15)

Although the heyday of alternative Canadian music is sadly long past, it's good to see some of the leading lights from back then are still doing their thing. Metric are a tiny bit older, quite a bit more theatrical, and sound a lot more like Goldfrapp these days, but what hasn't changed is that Emily Haines is still one of the most magnetic frontwomen around.

KYARY PAMYU PAMYU (London Roundhouse, 11/10/15)

Given that the first thing one thinks of when considering "Harajuku-style" is a balding Polish-Algerian blogger of minimal renown, I naturally had a duty to put on my most fluorescent crop top and join the gothic lolitas and pervy otaku to experience one of J-Pop's most engaging and quirky stars in the flesh. I must admit £35 was somewhat steep for what was a glorified karaoke show, and Kyary isn't exactly blessed with the most varied compositional range, but hey, the choreography was impressive and it was certainly lively.

DAHKABRAKA (London Village Underground, 01/10/15)

I've not seen many self-described "ethno-chaos" bands in my time, but if they're all as good as this Ukrainian four-piece, then perhaps I've been missing out. Marko Halanevych's vocals, veering between a high-pitched falsetto and an guttural Eugene Hutz-ish growl is quite the experience in itself, but it's the stunning Slavic-style harmonies of Olen Tsybulska, Iryna Kovalenko and Nina Harenetska that really mark out DahkaBrakha as something special.

THE OCTOPUS PROJECT (London Shacklewell Arms, 29/09/15)

Anyone who has ever had to endure my awful views on music may know that I reckon Austin's The Octopus Project to be one of the most underrated live bands in the world. Tonight's show at the Shacklewell Arms did nothing to undermine this opinion. Like a psychedelic take on Holy Fuck with additional theremin, they deliver an electrifying fusion of propulsive percussion and kaleidoscopic progginess, and if there was any justice in the world they'd be headlining the Brixton Academy rather than the back of a pub in Dalston.