BABA ZULA (London Jazz Cafe, 02/11/19)

Colourful Turkish psych that sadly failed to pierce the oppressive chatter of a Saturday night Camden audience.

PATTI SMITH (London Westminster Methodist Hall, 02/11/19)

Kinda wish I loved anything as much as Patti Smith loves ITV3 detective dramas (the most passionate moment of her Q&A was her raving about 'Vera'). Obviously, hearing her perform an acoustic 'Because The Night' was pretty cool too.

CAROLINE POLACHEK (London Hoxton Hall, 30/10/19)

Seen her in Chairlift, and as Ramona Lisa, and tonight under her own name, and every time Caroline Polachek has proved herself to be one of the singular alternative pop artists of our time. Electric atmosphere, killer new songs, clever visuals, a cover of The Corrs' 'Breathless'...good times all round.

KYUNGSO PARK & SB CIRCLE (London Purcell Room, 29/10/19)

A gayageum-tastic evening of Korean music, although I must admit Hey String's more experimental works held more appeal than the expertly performed, but slightly MOR, jazz of the headliners.

SWORDFISHTROMBONES REVISITED (London Barbican, 28/10/19)

Glad I got a last-minute ticket for this - it took a few songs to hit its stride, but obvious care had been taken to put together a band that would do Tom Waits justice, and all the vocalists acquitted themselves marvellously (particularly Nadine Shah who properly got into the spirit of things, and Dorian Wood, whose phenomenal star turn on Down, Down, Down got the biggest cheer of the night). Much better than the largely underwhelming Rain Dogs tribute in 2011.

WHY? (London Islington Assembly Hall, 26/10/19)

Always forget what a top-tier live band WHY? are - 21 songs in 75 minutes, several Q&A interludes, Josiah Wolf's phenomenal drumming and the best rendition of The Vowels Pt 2 I've ever heard. A Top 10 of the year contender for sure, and that's with them only playing two songs off "Alopecia"!

A TRIBUTE TO SUSUMU YOKOTA (London Union Chapel, 26/10/19)

An eclectic and imaginative selection of tributes to the late Japanese ambient composer- George Crowley took the ‘experimental looped sax’ angle, ISAN’s were pretty faithful to the original material (in the best possible way), The Imperfect Orchestra’s had the most ambition instrumentally and Seaming To’s electronics/Wurlitzer/vocal mix was the most charming. Was a nice touch that Susumu’s sister was in attendance too.

BATTLES (London EartH, 25/10/19)

Not entirely convinced by the two-man set-up, and it disappointingly fizzled out at the end thanks to tech issues, but if nothing else, John Stanier remains an absolute f'in machine.

WEYES BLOOD (London Rough Trade East, 25/10/19)

A dreamy solo show from Karen Carpenter reborn, who is surely destined to become one of the defining vocalists of our generation.

ANNA MEREDITH (London Somerset House, 24/10/19)

A real treat to witness a preview of the maximalist musical mad scientist's latest album- a bit rough round the edges, as you'd expect from the first performance of material this complex, but impressive nonetheless.

HOLY FUCK (London Moth Club, 23/10/19)

Time to party like it's 2008 with the Loveliest, Allen-iest electro-percussive-indie-rockers around, who remain an unassailable, unmissable force of nature all these years on.

CHARLOTTE ADIGERY (London Oslo, 22/10/19)

An immensely fun 40 minute set from the quirky Belgian-Caribbean electropop up-and-comer. She'll be playing venues ten times the size of this soon enough.

FUTURE DAYS (Birmingham The Crossing, 20/10/19)

Went to Brum to see some bands, and can report it was bloody brilliant. Apart from Jane Weaver, whose Sadier-esque dream-pop didn't really seem to fit, every act on the line-up knocked it out of the park, from the "Metric meets MBV" noise-pop of the Claque, to Black Country New Road's post-everything epics, to Flamingods' Bahrani psych odysseys, to Bo-Ningen's unabased noisemongering to the stronking dance party of The Comet Is Coming. Best line-up of the year, for sure.

CRAIG FINN AND THE UPTOWN CONTROLLERS (London Oslo, 17/10/19 and Rough Trade East, 18/10/19)

Old Steady Craig may increasingly look like the lovechild of Mark Francois and Timmy Mallett, but the dude sure knows how to front a band. The Uptown Controllers may be a little more sophisticated than The Hold Steady with their clarinets and flutes, but at heart, they're still masters at no-nonsense, hook-filled songwriting.

MELT-BANANA (London Dingwalls, 16/10/19)

Well, who needs hearing anyway?

FUJI YUKI (London Cafe Oto, 15/10/19)

Beautifully ethereal looped vocals, part Julianna Barwick, part Grouper, part Midori Takada. She's touring with her husband and baby, and I must admit I was slightly disappointed the kid didn't lay down 30 minutes of uncompromising drone.