Music maestro Alex Flood picks out the best of the live gigs on offer in and around Norwich this month.

• Norwich Sound and Vision at Multiple Venues – 9-11 October

Norwich's premier music festival returns once again this winter with arguably its best ever line-up across a mammoth 14 stages. In conjunction with local media outlets, Archant, Mustard TV and Future Radio, the annual extravaganza of upcoming talent features some absolute crackers. Mainstay venues Epic Studios and the Norwich Arts Centre (NAC) host the pick of the bunch this year and are sure to sell out most nights.

Thursday's highlights include garage-rock band Wytches headlining the NAC, with support including 70s throwback, proto-punk outfit Telegram. Epic hope to compete with the critically-acclaimed, alternative duo, Public Service Broadcasting.

Friday sees perhaps the most well-known name in Childhood, a neo-psychedelic, guitar group from Nottingham University. They play at 22.15 on the NAC stage.

Saturday's acts not to miss are the pop-noir priestess, Kyla La Grange, who battles it out with the unforgettable fuzz-blues rockers, The Hold Steady. They play the NAC and Epic Studios respectively. An unexpected appearance from Wiley at Hideout nightclub rounds off the weekends festivities perfectly.

• Gentleman's Dub Club at OPEN – 17 October

The seemingly never-ending Gentleman's Dub Club tour rolls into town again on 17 October, ready for another night of foot-stomping, room-shaking dub madness. Fusing reggae, ska and dubstep effortlessly, the Dub Club are one of the best live bands around. Their apparent love for our mustard city – they play at least once a year, and last appeared in January – should have fans thanking their lucky stars.

• Klaxons at The Waterfront – 25 October

It's been seven years since the release of the Klaxons mercury prize-wining debut, Myths of the Near Future, and their subsequent retreat into obscurity –thanks largely to a poorly received second album – has only recently been lifted. A third album saw somewhat of a reinvention for the new wave, pop ravers, leaving behind the 'acid-rave, sci-fi punk-funk' of their early years in favour of a more mainstream dance-orientated sound. Love Frequency was released in June and an autumn tour sees the band stop off at UEA's Waterfront venue for a sure-fire winner of a night.

• Nils Frahm at Epic Studios – 16 October

German composer Nils Frahm heads to Norwich's Epic Studios for a rare performance of his critically lauded interpretation of classical and electronic music. Utilising multiple pianos (grand, upright etc.) as well as electronic instruments, to create an exquisite lattice of absorbing textures and interesting rhythms, Frahm has become the darling of the critics. His 16 October show is a chance to see a true genius at the peak of his creative powers.

• The Specials at UEA LCR – 30 October

Legendary ska-revival band, The Specials, play to a full house at the UEA LCR this month. The hit-making veterans of a 37-year career and such classics as 'Too Much Too Young' and 'Ghost Town' are currently on the back leg of a world tour, which has seen them headline shows as far afield as Chicago. The triumphant return of the seventies icons to ol' blighty couldn't have come sooner for music fans in Norwich, and this late-October date looks set to be one of the highlights of 2014.

• The Black Lips at Norwich Arts Centre – 31 October

US garage rock band, the Black Lips, close a fantastic month of musical madness with their headline gig at the intimate NAC on Halloween night. Purveyors of scuzzy, lo-fi, psychedelic punk, the four-piece from Atlanta, Georgia are a perfect suit for the most haunting of October nights. A rare appearance in Britain for these riotous rockers from across the pond, this date at the NAC is a must for any self-respecting rock fan.