As time goes on music seems to get more and more compartmentalised, ever more exotic labels and terms seem to come into play to create demarcation between music styles.

Now, I grew up musically in the 80s and things were quite tribal then.

In any given pub the mod would be glaring at the punk, the metaller would be chatting to the glam rocker out of solidarity, the new wave kids would be geeking over the forthcoming Bunnymen album and the two goths would be sipping cider and black in the shadows.

That was a world that made some kind of sense to me.

Recently, I have had to struggle with such sub-genres as Djent – apparently not a village in Tunisia (recycled joke alert!), Math-core, Gyp-hop, Vedic Metal, Sadcore, and a host of other niche scenes. Where will it end?

One band that can be found in a very small genre, possibly its only inhabitants, are those glorious purveyors of Puzzle-pop . . . for want of a better description, a soundclash of the best bits of pop, indie and punk reassembled in strange and intriguing ways.

They can be found tonight at The Victoria – sandwiched between shimmering, shoegazing vibes of Sahara Heights and headliners Yves equally exotic soundscapes.

Another wonderful fusion of styles can be found at The Beehive as Mambo Jambo weave together the distinctive sounds of bluegrass, Latin, Caribbean, New Orleans, Balkan, jazz, folk and more besides into a sunny and vibrant feast of music.

And in the “if you like that, you’ll like this” department, and staying at The Beehive for a moment, on Friday you will find Grubby Jack, the renowned local fast folk trio who mix fiendish banjo with high velocity fiddle-breaks to deliver classic Celtic and Appalachian styles.

Other options will suit rock fans but they will have to choose between the hard-rocking electric blues of The Lewis Creavan Band at The Rolleston, or the classic metal showcase of Metalhead at The Victoria.

One of the most important bands of my formative years can be found at Level 3 on Saturday, as The Men They Couldn’t Hang provide the headline act to celebrate Charred Hearts front man Dermot Fuller’s 50th birthday bash.

This is a semi-private affair with entry by ticket only but how often do I get to talk about the outfit that made me want to join a band in this column? (Yes, they have a lot to answer for!) Similarly raucous folk and roll can be found with Celtic, cider punk, party animals Mick O’Toole in The Rolleston – think The Pogues meet The Clash and prepare to dance the night away.

And talking of “the last gang in town”, you can catch a tribute to them in the guise of Radio Clash at The Victoria.

So, with the old punk posse well catered for we can cast our eyes out towards Riffs Bar and a bit of an old boys’ reunion.

Blueprint’s heyday may have been around 15 years ago but that hasn’t stopped them dusting off the instruments and hitting the stage once more.

Support comes from 80s underground pop referencing The King In Mirrors and indie rock stalwarts Rocket Box.

Fans of slick 70s pop should head along to The Swiss Chalet as vocal duo Abbaholics relive the hits of . . . well, I’m sure you can work out where they are coming from.

Things get a bit quiet until Wednesday, when you can catch two solo acts at The Roaring Donkey whose bands have played a major part in local music over the years – Neil Mercer (Rumour Shed, Dacoits, Seven Years on) and Dave Corrigan (Good Things Happen In Bad Towns, Spacehopper.) And to end on a real bang, at the same time Gnarwolves return to The Victoria, courtesy of Sheer Music. Infectious, abrasive, sing-along punk at it’s finest.

Support comes from the equally punchy Boxkite and opening the night is the more saccharine pop-punk of As The Sun Sleeps.