Appropriately for Halloween the Philadelphia based singer-songwriter Lizanne Knott casts a musical spell over her audience as she finishes her British tour at Lichfield Guilldhall.

Her latest musical project Hey Harley is a collaboration with the equally talented Bill Reveles, and their blended voices and guitar styles cover a lot of ground, from new age ambient to gospel, blues, and folk.

The duo play a set that's largely made up of their own quality songs, but they also find time for a number of covers. Although not household names, the duo have seen their songs feature in a number of top rating television programmes and films such as ‘True Blood’ and ‘Dawson’s Creek’. There's no-room within their compositions for solos or improvisation, but they took an almost painterly approach to their work, each note is carefully weighted to allow for the most impact, and their songs are largely of a narrative nature, ranging from tracks about parenthood to the environment.

Lizanne Knott’s, pure, clear pitched voice has made her a favourite with the Old Grey Whistle Test's Bob Harris, and the songs work on the radio, but in a room with the acoustic of The Guildhall, the songs have extra depth and lustre.

Starting with the hopeful, gospel tinged ‘Wonderful Day’ it's soon clear that we're in safe hands, and a life spent in concert halls has prepared the duo well. The economic situation is touched upon with ‘Die In This Town’ whilst the bluesy ‘Could Have Been My Man’ would have sounded at home on any mainstream blues album. Bill Reveles' first solo spot consists of the sad ballad ‘That’s the Way She Loves’whilst comedy song ‘Jesus or Elvis’ has its impact somewhat softened with the juxtaposition of a bed of minor chords though 1^st set closer ‘Carry You Home’, a song written for Lizanne Knott’s daughter, upholds a far deeper resonance.

Much of the same ground is covered in the second half, although at points to a far deeper level.

‘For Somebody’ and ‘Love Has Passed Me By’ were songs about the human condition and love lost, whilst Lizanne Knott gives full rein to the bluesy timbre of her voice during the traditional ‘Big Road’. The set closes with a full bodied reading of ‘Forgive Us’ a ballad that speaks of religion and redemption. Fittingly, a reading of Dylan’s ‘Knockin on Heaven’s Door’ is the encore, but a slightly different arrangement and shared vocal duties lifts it above the ordinary.

Kicking off with ‘Family Tree’ & ‘Modern Art’ from previous album Arabia Mountain, the Black Lips brought their Underneath The Rainbow show to a packed and very receptive Electric Circus just before Hallowe’en. Which explains the guy right at the front of the stage in the pumpkin helmet.

Having of late been surprised at the lack lustre nature of Edinburgh audiences tonight’s performance is strong enough to inspire scenes seldom seen since the closure of the much loved Venue – stage diving, crowd surfing, pole climbing & finally a full on stage invasion (forcing Jack Hines to remove a couple of punters lest he be squished).

Seemingly sponsored by Andrex, given the number of loo rolls being flung across the stage, the band took no time to whip the crowd into the seething mass that was required to birth the above mentioned interaction. Add to that their own balloons being bounced around all over the place and the atmosphere was ripe for raucous but good natured partying by all concerned.

Looking more clean-cut than when last seen three or four years ago in Glasgow, the quartet’s easy blending of Fifties attitude with punk from all eras saw later songs in the set (including ‘O Katrina’, recent single ‘Boys In The Wood’ and a slight tease of ‘Dirty Water’) successively meet with heartfelt cheers and resounding applause. Banter was in short supply but inter-city rivalry was stoked when the Glasgow crowd was unfavourably compared with tonight’s throng. This time though you could well believe that was no empty compliment.

True to the punk ethic there was no encore after they’d blasted through 60 minutes but all four of the guys were in evidence upon leaving the venue, engaging with passing fans & no doubt keen to try out a pub or two before closing time. If anyone in the city deserved a pint tonight it was them so fingers crossed they found plenty.   

From to De Sade to Ballard, the idea that the body is a system of organic cogs and connectors with a very basic set of primary instincts is an old one, and in the modern age of prosthetics, wearable tech and augmented reality it’s becoming increasingly hard to see the divisions between man and the machine. This is a subject that obviously concerns post-electro-stoner-pop-hardcore band, Death From Above 1979, essentially a throbbing mass of impulses so electronic in sound and industrial in action that it’s sometimes hard to tell which bits is the instrument. And to an almost Kate Bush-level of online furore (THERE WERE LOTS OF TWEETS IN CAPITAL LETTERS), after a 10 year ‘hiatus’ they have returned.

Camden’s Electric Ballroom plays sticky-floored host to the two-piece tonight, and watching their silhouettes yawning like snakes and moving up and down, both guitarist and drummer move like industrial pistons. New album The Physical World is loud anyway, and live it’s so uncomfortably loud that it sounds like one of them has slipped back into the venue half an hour after the sound check and turned all of the knobs up. Jessie Keeler’s bass moves hell for leather - particularly on debut album title track midway through the set, which opens with a bass riff so fast and punishing you think your eyes are going to fall out. ‘You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine’ is not so much a wistful declaration of emotional coldness as it is an aggressive statement of intent. Combined with which, the uncanny stillness of Grainger working at the drums gives off the impression that his arms are simply mechanical extensions of the sticks. Even the sound is industrial, loud like a factory, repetitive like a machine.

DFA are back with Physical World, and whatever the reasons for the reunion (it’s money - ssh don’t tell anyone), they now have enough material to fill a forty-minute setlist. From opener ‘Turn It Out’ through to ‘Right On Frankenstein’ (a good four minute song that could have been a great three minute song), via highlights from both albums, DFA are pretty much the most exciting live band you could hope to see right now. However - as you look at the sausage-fest that is a DFA gig, the beers held aloft in the air, the shouting, the singing along to bass riffs (at one point in ‘Trainwreck’ with the number of bros shouting ‘DUR NUR NUR NUR NU NU’ we could have been at a Fratellis gig), it does cross your mind - is listening to DFA1979 the musical equivalent of buying a big porsche?

Despite this, when they ditch the stoner breakdowns and hit the hits, DFA becomes really effective. At times, Keeler’s basslines are baroque in their intricacy, but when a simple juggernaut guitar and drums build up, is when things really get going. From the slow-build (from loud to LOUD) of ‘Little Sister’ to the scrape and pound of ‘Romantic Rights’. You’re A Woman was a kind of horny break-up album, but in Keeler/Grainger’s hands, even the break-up songs sound like shagging songs. From the trademark elephant noses on the front of both albums (a symbol of the phallus as well as power) to the slightly less nuanced lyrics of new songs like ‘Virgins’, both albums are steeped in sex. The comparison with De Sade is apt, because one gets the feeling listening to the lyrics from debut You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine and this year’s The Physical World that Jessie Keeler and Sebastien Grainger may also be ‘connoisseurs of sexual pleasure’. “Where have all the virgins gone?” Grainger, sings on rock-stomper, ‘Virgins’. I think you fucked them mate.

One of the country’s leading folk ensembles, The Shee play to an attentive audience as they return to Lichfield Guildhall. The group, Lillias Kinsman-Blake on flute, Shona Mooney on fiddle, Rachel Newton on electroharp, and vocals, Olivia Ross on fiddle, viola and vocals, Laura-Beth Salter on mandolin and vocals and Amy Thatcher on accordion, and clog dancing play music from the traditions of Folk, Celtic and Americana in a way that was both innovative and in keeping with tradition.

The ensemble start off with ‘Troubles’, a brooding bluegrass Appalachian song that features soaring vocal harmonies, and an internal dynamic that manages to change pace without the need for a traditional drummer. ‘Happy Halloween’ is a spirited instrumental for all of the group members, whilst a rendition of traditional Gaelic mouth music from Rachel Newton is an early highlight. The ballad ‘The Morning Star’ is an affecting piece with some heartfelt vocals from Olivia Ross, and violin and flute parts that tug at the heart-strings, whilst Scottish bagpipe music was the inspiration behind ‘Pipes and Polly’s’. The darker side of human experience is drawn on for the closing song of the first half, a harmony laden, and musically complex reading of Abigail Washburn’s ‘Sugar and Pie’ the deftness and sweetness of the instrumental arrangement hiding the bitterness of the underlying message.

In the second half, the music develops a slightly more experimental flavour, with opener ‘McRibbon's Lament’ a ballad for the voices of Olivia Ross and Rachel Newton, and a sparse, but very effective musical soundscape. The instrumental ‘Starlings’ is a piece that combined dance bass and rhythms from the electroharp with effective tune playing, and sterling support from the mandolin and accordion, whilst the haunting, ethereal murder ballad ‘Three Knights’ has a middle eastern sounding tone to the soundscape. 'Sugarwine'on the other hand is a bright, feel good folk song about the excitement and possibilities of a brand new relationship. ‘The Drunken Duck’ is another upbeat piece that built on a melodic phrase and added dynamics as it evolves. The traditional folk song ‘Tom Paine’s Bones’ is a boisterous affair that allows for some more harmony singing and spirited playing from the band, whilst set closer ‘Inge’s’ works as a showcase for Amy Thatcher’s clog dancing and accordion playing.

An encore of ‘Down In The ditch’ is another traditionally based piece that comes to its fullest realisation within the live arena. The six piece packs a lot into their two hour set, from the most delicate of ballads, to some raucous pieces, meaning that there was something for everyone.