Top ten London gigs in April

Portico Quartet

• Critics choice

Our fave post-jazz band have come a long way since their South Bank busking days, via storming international tours and a Mercury nomination. They'll be playing from last year's third (self-titled) LP, the follow up to the excellent 'Isla', which saw PQ moving wholly into electronica/alt.rock-edged territory, with new keys man Keir Vine on board.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead

Austin, Texas's apocalyptically-named AYWKUBTTOD return with a rejigged lineup and a relatively new, decidedly grungey melodicism added to their tumultuous, percussion-heavy mix. Here they're playing from their politicised latest album 'Lost Songs', recorded last year in Germany.

Swans

Seminal, late '80s post-punk/no-wave/experi-nise New Yorkers Swans – most famous for playing at a volume so extreme it's rumoured to have had punters spontaneously throwing up and emptying their bowels – curate this Mouth To Mouth festival.

Alfie Boe

Jazz tenor much beloved of Michael Parkinson, who hit it big recently after starring in the West End alongside Matt Lucas in Les Miserables, performs from his opera-free album 'Alfie'.

Clark

Wildly inventive, Warp-signed Clark is an electronicist with six albums to his credit, all of them meticulously produced and favouring intensely compacted IDM.

La Linea Festival

La Linea has built an impressive international reputation as one of the world’s most eclectic celebrations of Latin music, bringing a host of top-notch Hispanic artists to London every April. This year there's a typically high-quality bill featuring everything from salsa to flamenco to classical to Latin hip hop.

Edwyn Collins

Poignant headlining set from former Orange Juice frontman, who in recent years has battled both several strokes and MRSA. Still very much in on-going recovery mode, he plays material from 'Losing Sleep', the follow-up to the twangin', rootsy songcraft of 2007's 'Home Again'.

James + Echo And The Bunnymen

Tim Booth leads his band of post-baggy epic-ticians through 'Sit Down', 'She's a Star' and the like, joined for this tour by sofa-lipped singer Ian McCulloch and his Scouse indie rockers.

Pink

Tatooed, platinum-haired, gravelly-voiced, pop rebel Pink tours in support of her sixth album 'The Truth About Love'. Expect hi-NRG pop, overblown confessionals and an in-yer-face performance.

Two Door Cinema Club

Melodic, synthy and ecstatic quirk-pop trio signed to the hip Kitsuné label headline this enormous show with cuts from their delectable debut album 'Tourist History', plus some newies from their second LP 'Beacon'.