It’s rather cool that The Wailers will be at O2 Academy Oxford on Wednesday 2 October, what with them being pretty much legends, and all. It’s also rather cool that at this gig they’ll be playing the Legend album, originally released in 1984 and compiling much of the bands’ best-loved songs, in its entirety.

A nice Oxford music showcase on Friday 4 October: melodic noiseniks Black Hats play The Wheatsheaf in Oxford, supported by the nautical krautrockings of Listing Ships and the Americana jolliness of Knights Of Mentis. Black Hats will be selling their previous albums and EPs at the show to raise funds for their next release, so get along there with some spending money…

Oxjam events are going from strength to strength in Oxford this year, and it seems like there are roughly twenty Oxjam-related musical happenings a week at the moment. Here’s one of them – on Saturday 5 October at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford there’s a rich diversity of Oxford music available. As the organisers describe: Vienna Ditto do ‘voodoo sci-fi pop’, The Trophy Cabinet do ‘jangly indie mellowdrama’, Matt Midgley does ‘percussive guitar magic’ and The Larks do ‘lark-like folkey loveliness’.

At The Cellar in Oxford on Sunday 6 October you can catch The Yarns, who are launching their new EP at the gig. They’ve got some like-minded and tasty support acts lined up too; Count Drachma (Zulu music from one of Stornoway – no foolin’!), Sweet William, and a DJ set from Stornoway. (The band, not the place – the latter would be logistically challenging).

Excellent noise will be afoot at The Jericho Tavern in Oxford on Wednesday 9 October – after their barnstorming performance at Supernormal festival, Comanechi bring their unhinged and out-there splatterpunk noise, supported by Female Smell. Apparently Comanechi bowed to much pressure to play this gig instead of taking a day off from touring, so make sure you’re there to show appreciation!

More Oxjam-stuff on Thursday 10 October: Daisy Rodgers Music Promotion are running a special gig at St Aldates Tavern in Oxford, presenting Family Machine, The August List, Alphabet Backwards’ James and Ella Martini. They’ll be playing ‘in the round’, surrounded by listeners, completely unplugged.

The Oxjam Takeover main event takes place on Saturday 12 October. It’s a multi-venue event across Oxford with many, many Oxford bands in support of the cause. You can purchase a single ticket for access to all of the gigs, which run from 3.00 pm until 3.00 am!

Full details of these and loads more gigs can be found in the events calendar.