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The Saturdays, Royal Concert Hall, NottinghamM83, Koko, London

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

In pop, a little personality goes a long way. When it's forced – as it was with the Spice Girls and the five reductive, misogynist "characters" they were each allocated – it's an irritant. But when it shines through naturally, it's a joy. That, surely, isn't too much to ask.

Album: Stackridge, A Victory for Common Sense (Helium)

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Stackridge's brand of folk-prog-rock proved a little too parochial and well-mannered to follow in the footsteps of Jethro Tull and Yes back in the 1970s, though they can claim the distinction of being the very first band to play Glastonbury.

Album: V.V. Brown, Travelling Like the Light (Island)

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

With her striking, idiosyncratic sense of style – part Grace Jones, part Andrews Sisters – and a musical approach for which she cites Ruth Brown, Elvis Presley and video game sounds as influences, rather than the standard R&B checklist of Whitney, Mariah and Beyoncé, young British singer V.V. Brown makes a refreshing alternative to the general run of production-line soul divas.

Album: Jim Byrnes, My Walking Stick (Black Hen Music)

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Canadian bluesman Jim Byrnes cites the approach of the pre-blues "songster" tradition – in which the blues would be but one part of a repertoire that also encompassed gospel spirituals, country, folk and popular songs – as indicative of his intentions on his own albums.

Album: Acoustic Ladyland, Living with a Tiger (Strong and Wrong)

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Since 2006's 'Skinny Grin', nu-jazz combo Acoustic Ladyland have lost a couple of members, the remaining duo of saxist Peter Wareham and drummer Seb Rochford being joined by new bassist Ruth Goller and guitarist Chris Sharkey.

Album: Dan Black, 'Un' (A&M)

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Widely hailed as one of pop's brighter young things, Dan Black is best known so far for the single "Symphonies", which brings to mind the young Beck.

Album: Busdriver, Jhelli Beam (Anti)

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

"Be real," says Busdriver at the start of 'Jhelli Beam', "conscious rap failed us."

First Night: Elbow and the Halle Orchestra, Manchester Festival

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

During the course of their illustrious 150 year history the Halle Orchestra have enjoyed their fair share of pinnacle moments. Premiering work by Edward Elgar and Gustav Mahler must rank up there in the working life of Britain's longest-serving professional symphony orchestra.

Mr Hudson, The Roundhouse, London

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Here's a statement of intent: call your second album, the big one, the one you have more money for, the one where you really try to win over the general public, after Thelonious Monk's Straight, No Chaser, one of the most famous jazz albums ever made.

The Killers, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

You're not ashamed to be seen with us, are you?" asks Brandon Flowers, a touch coyly, five songs in to a hit-heavy, 20-song set.

Wireless Festival, Hyde Park, London

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

A dance music festival in a royal park sponsored by Barclaycard shows how deep into the mainstream the once outlaw scene is now. Headlining on Saturday night, Basement Jaxx bring out the omnisexual disco roots of rave's "'avin' it" hedonist culture, and add tropical rhythmic heat. The madcap 1940s nightclub they conjure for "Do Your Thing" show how they view dance in its broadest, most encompassing sense. Digital dub vocals, squealing rock guitar and the slow flamenco strum of "Romeo" are followed by trumpet-led electronic jazz that late-period Miles wouldn't have found strange. They could have morphed genres and moved feet all night.

Bella Union, ICA, London

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

In the first of a week of gigs to celebrate Independents Day, what better label to start off proceedings than Bella Union, founded by Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde, and home to Midlake and Fleet Foxes. Tonight is about showcasing the rising stars of the music industry: four lesser-known names hoping to follow in the footsteps of the bands that have made it to the indie mainstream.

Café de los Maestros, Barbican Hall, London

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

It's a shame Café De Los Maestros are so often referred to as the Argentinian Buena Vista Social Club, because the description only goes a fraction of the way to describing the charm of the orchestra's loose collective of tango musicians from the genre's heyday in the South America of the 1940s and 50s. Accompanied by an orchestra featuring seven violinists, cello, double bass and grand piano, the artists who shuffle on to the stage are largely some distance into old age. With the tango in full flow, and bandoneóns bobbing up and down on the musicians' skinny knees, it's easy to feel like the Barbican has been transported back in time. In a sense, that's what's happened: many of the evening's pieces have only survived through transcriptions of the old 78s on which they were originally documented.

Kraftwerk, Velodrome, Manchester

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The sweltering heat and permanently swishing fans in the clammy hands of an ever moistening crowd made it feel more like the suffocating cauldron of the Plaza de Toros rather than the Manchester Velodorome. This suitably futuristic setting for Kraftwerk's only UK indoor concert this year was a typically brave and exciting choice to mark the first night of the Manchester International Festival. But if there were fears that the prevailing conditions could unbalance the kind of cold-blooded and rational appreciation required of this, perhaps the most revered of all groups still plying their wares on the global concert circuit, it was not to be.

Blur, Hyde Park, London

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Lord, I need to find/ someone who can heal my mind," Damon Albarn lamented on his crestfallen gem "Tender". The emotional, mostly thirty-something, 55,000-strong Hyde Park crowd lamented it right back at him. It felt like Blur's "Hey Jude" moment, everyone chanting "come on, come on, love's the greatest thing" and finally, it seems, we're all healed.

Take That, Wembley Stadium, London

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The knotty problem for bands playing a venue as huge as Wembley Stadium is how to make every single one of the 80,000 fans feel a little bit special. For most of the audience, their idols look no bigger than a grain of rice and if a band's not careful, everyone will leave wondering if it was worth the bother.

Album: Dan Black, Un, (A&M / Polydor)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

An Englishman in Paris, Black balances symphonic pop with laptronica, putting him roughly equidistant between Patrick Wolf and Sam Sparro.

Album: Florence & the Machine, Lungs, (Island)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Anyone who witnessed her extraordinary shimmy up the scaffolding in stilettos at Glastonbury last weekend will know that Florence Welch is not like other girls.

Album: Nouvelle Vague, 3, (Peacefrog Records)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Third time around, Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux's loungecore collective needed to try something different.

Album: Bombay Bicycle Club, I Had the Blues..., (Island)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Island Records has pulled out all the stops with the advertising budget for Bombay Bicycle Club, a band so profoundly nothingy that one suspects the label of running a Producers-style scam.

Album: 6 Day Riot, 6 Day Riot Have a Plan, (Tantrum Records)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Fronted by Glaswegian Tamara Schlesinger, 6 Day Riot are a band for anyone who won't run a mile at the thought of daisy chains, hair-braiding and folk festivals.

Album: The Duckworth Lewis Method, TDLM, (Divine Comedy/1969)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The DLM is an arcane cricket scoring system.

Album: Dan Black, Un, (A&M / Polydor)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

An Englishman in Paris, Black balances symphonic pop with laptronica, putting him roughly equidistant between Patrick Wolf and Sam Sparro.

Album: Law, Burgess, Sirkis Congregation, (33 Jazz)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Reminiscent of Don Pullen's Ode to Life, or a Keith Jarrett ballad without the grunting, "Chorale", the final, astounding track on this second album by pianist John Law's co-op trio, is a work of real grace and beauty.

Album: Dengue Fever, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, (Real World)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Since this group recently played live in London, this album is the necessary adjunct.