The best of the month of October as chosen by Culture Bully contributors.

With the release of their new album, There Is No Enemy, Built To Spill have recaptured my attention with a record that is packed with guitars, melody, and emotion, while still throwing in enough musical surprises throughout to prove that the band is still growing and willing to try new things, even after 17 years in the business.

The Raveonettes and the Black Angels both brought their dense, layered wall of sound to First Avenue on Monday night with spirited, incredibly loud sets by both bands, culminating in the Black Angels joining the Raveonettes for their last song of the night, in a celebratory sendoff on their last night of touring together.

Even though the new record is filled with some over-indulgent missteps, it still has an urgency and an exuberance to it that was lacking a bit on At War With The Mystics, and represents a strong return to form for a band that has now been making music together for over 26 years.

The Turf Club hosted a great triple bill of music on Saturday night, as local band Ouija Radio, San Diego’s Crocodiles, and Southend, England’s the Horrors treated zombies and non-zombies alike (the show coincided with the zombie pub crawl) to an intense and potent blend of music and style.

It was ultimately quite an enjoyable show, featuring a brand new song performed acoustic by Meloy during the encore, and one that again showcased the band’s wealth of high minded pop songs as well as one of the most jocular front men in music.

With most of the stage shrouded in darkness, Hope Sandoval’s intimate show at the Music Box Theatre became more about the band providing a soundtrack to the numerous short films playing behind them than an actual live performance.

Moby elevated everyone who was lucky enough to be in attendance at his concert at the Fine Line this past Thursday night, with an uplifting, spiritual performance that showed not only how wonderful his songs truly are when stripped of their glossy production, but also how varied and eclectic his catalog genuinely is.

The best (and worst) of the month of September (including “Backspacer,” “Pussy,” Woods, Sufjan and Dizzee) as chosen by Culture Bully contributors.

Despite A Brief History Of Love’s occasional missteps, the album is brimming with cocksure confidence, and is packed with layer upon layer of compelling beats, rhythms and melodies, as well as a lyrical theme that everyone with a heart that they’ve given away can relate to.

Is This It set a clear template for straightforward and accessible rock records in the Aughts that many tried to replicate, but few were ever able to match (including the Strokes themselves).

Vancouver’s Japandroids headlined a great triple bill at the Turf Club in St. Paul late Sunday night (and early into Monday morning). Unfortunately, copious amounts of booze lead to the end of Japandroids set dissolving into a bit of a train wreck, marring what until then had been a great night of music.