Hot Ticket of the Month: The Horrors @ The Liquid Room, 19 Oct

Whether or not you believe them to be an original creative force or merely brilliantly astute musical magpies, this year's Skying LP confirmed that there are few UK bands who know how to put together a song as well as The Horrors; not merely in terms of structure but in the way they marshal texture and tone in the service of a greater whole.

That they're able to achieve this fragile balance in the live setting is a credit to how far they've come since their eyeliner-caked salad days; a change paralleled by the evolution of Faris Badwan from sneering provocateur to quietly magnetic sophisticate. Who knows where they'll go from this point, but right here, right now, they're a band you can't afford to miss.