IN this current climate of hyperbole, when everything is “awesome” rather than merely good, where bands have to be seen to “totally smash it bro!” rather than put on an enjoyable show, I love those quiet little musical events that just quietly get the job done with the minimal of fanfare and fuss. Events like tonight’s Acoustic Buzz at The Beehive.

Tim Manning has been hosting these wonderfully tasteful shows for a few years now, designed to bring out of town (like the man himself) roots, country, folk and Americana acts to a new audience and being responsible for steering acts into Swindon who you wouldn’t otherwise find here.

Larkham and Hall are an acoustic duo that blurs the lines between English folk and American country music, proving yet again that it is essentially the same music written under different skies. If you know the name M. G. Boulter it is perhaps in connection with his regular band The Lucky Strikes, but if their music is best described as “The Waterboys on Trucker pills” his solo sound is a much more restrained but no less poetic affair. Your host’s blend of Celtic folk and truck stop Americana tales gets things under way.

Bluesy rock and roll with a country twang is also on offer at The Groves Company Inn as Nottinghamshire whizz kid Tom McCartney references the old blues and country masters with a string of standards and originals delivered with a raw and hypnotic grandeur.

Friday sees the sound of the nineties from both sides of The Atlantic go head to head, with The Brit Pop Boys revisiting the sounds of Cool Britannia at The Victoria and The Offspin’ paying tribute to the infectious skate punk of California’s finest, The Offspring.

At The Queen’s Tap the modestly titled Ultimate Band will be bringing all the party hits from across the ages, you will also find them at The Woodland’s Edge on Saturday, but those looking for something refreshingly original should consider heading to The Coleview Club to catch The Parsons. Jimmy Moore and Jenny Bracey have been familiar faces as individual players on the local and not so local circuit for quite a time now, put them together and you have an English folk take on the Celtic raggle-taggle sound of The Saw Doctors or a slightly less raucous and pointed Pogues. And so on to Saturday’s offerings….

It seems that musical history is written by the winner...sort of. Eighties music seems to have become a genre in its own right, a short hand for synth-pop and the commercial end of New Romanticism. My eighties was one where Bunnymen echoed, The Icicles worked and Lush were just that, but if the former is more to your tastes then Bleep Machines will be laying out a musical stall at The Merlin centred on the likes of Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure. (Acts not featuring Vince Clarke are also available.)

Rock can be found in the guise of Audio Asylum who bring a bag of alt-rock and grunge covers to The Tap and Barrel, whilst “Barceloningham” trio Stop Stop can be found at Groves Company Inn delivering a salvo of glam infused, vitriolic street rock. For a couple of hours it is 1985, this is The Sunset Strip and you don’t have work in the morning!

Rockabilly Rumble brings their retro, jump and jive to The Victoria. Fans of the genres hillbilly rock and blues vibes, its infectious rhythms and its vibrant dance grooves will be there anyway, for everyone else I say at least go to check out their reworking of Echo and The Bunnymen’s (two mentions in one day) The Killing Moon. You won’t be disappointed.

A variety of genres and generations are represented elsewhere. The Shadow Monkeys play pop, rock, indie and funk anthems for all ages at The Haydon Wick Club, Danger Mouse cover a similarly broad spectrum at The Sun at Coate and at The Queen’s Tap, if Mojo don’t have the song you want in their extensive repertoire, then it isn’t worth playing.

And if you want to extend the musical weekend as far as it will go, you can catch one last live experience as Marc Hopkins entertains the denizens of The Tap and Barrel on Sunday.