Essential gig guide

The Horrors

On tour 1-13 April

Band members include Coffin Joe and Joshua Von Grimm, but while such pseudonyms and a list of influences that includes Boris The Spider conjure an act to be taken with a pinch of salt, The Horrors are the real deal. Big on pummelling garage rock, psychotic-sounding vocals, spooky organ and Munsters-friendly guitar-motifs, they have garnered much acclaim with curious little mention of the words "Goth revival."

Joan As Police Woman

On tour 11-15 April

Indie music doesn't get much more sensual or soulful than "The Ride", one of the best tracks from JAPW's debut album, Real Life. It's been great, too, to see Brooklyn-based songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Joan Wasser emerge as a star in her own right after talent-for-hire shifts with the likes of Nick Cave and Antony and The Johnsons. These dates are your chance to see why Real Life made so many of 2006's Album Of The Year lists.

The Pipettes

On tour 17-22 April

A viable alternative to meat-and-potatoes bloke-rock, or three youthful Jenny Eclairs in polka dot dresses? Either way, Becki, Gweno and Rose, aka Brighton's The Pipettes, pack a rather nice in Shangri-Las-meets-Bananarama-style pop, lacing their bubble-gum harmonies with spiky, post-feminist lyrics.

Camera Obscura

On tour 30 March-4 April

Camera Obscura took a do-or-die approach on latest album Let's Get Out Of This Country, recording it in Stockholm with Jari Haapalainen (The Concretes, Ed Harcourt). Said producer took them out of their comfort-zone and into a magical, echo-soused space where front woman Tracyanne Campbell tips the hat to US songwriter Dory Previn and the former leader of The Commotions, Lloyd Cole.

The Kissaway Trail

Camden Crawl, London 19 and 20 April; 93 Feet East, London 23 April

This stirring young Danish quintet has two lead-singers, Thomas Fagerlund and Søren Corneliussen taking it in turns to pilot euphoric, escapist anthems that join the dots between Brian Wilson, Radiohead and Arcade Fire.

Far More Than Just A Sun Tan Festival

93 Feet East, London 22 April

This free entry event organised by fledgling London label Naked Man Recordings showcases six up-and-coming Spanish acts including Biggot (think Spain's answer to Will Oldham), space rockers Aeropuerto, pop sweethearts La Costa Brava, and "Casio-punk" dance act Mendetz. Factor in Spanish cuisine at reasonable prices, plus a photography exhibition and DJ sets from Domino Records and the rather fetching My Ex-Boyfriend Ladies, and your Sunday's looking good. The fun starts at 1.30pm.

Maria McKee

On tour 23 April-2 May

Best known for the somewhat unrepresentative "Show Me Heaven", Maria McKee is in superb form on her sixth solo album, Late December. The title track is a breezy, hip-hop-infused nod to Lou Reed, and together with her producer/husband Jim Akin she also revisits "A Good Heart", the 1985 Feargal Sharkey chart-topper that the Los Angeles-born McKee penned aged 18. Possessed of a magnificent mezzo-soprano voice, she remains a force of nature. These dates see McKee front a four-piece band.

Espers

On tour 25-29 April

Espers' music echoes their moniker's whispering assonance, the Philadelphia-based trio specialising in acid-folk that owes more to Pentangle and Elizabethan song-structures than their native Pennsylvania. In lesser hands, it's an approach that could easily derail into comic pastiche, but Greg Weeks, Meg Baird and Brooke Sietinsons are masters of their craft. Come hear beautiful, yet foreboding sounds in which to lose your self completely.

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