Weekend Update

The week we’ve all been waiting for – festival mayhem is upon us! And the worst part – that’s not all that’s going on – there are a slew of shows leading up to the three-day holiday as well as some shows during it for those not able to make it to the outskirts of the city during the day or are ballsy enough (or sober enough) to do double duty and hit up an evening show. Check on the links to get the complete schedules for Strawberry, MIDI, Ditan Folk, and MMAX festivals (I’ve also included links to the band’s pages so you can get a taste of the music). Here’s the other greatness happening in the next four days.

Nova Heart in all their glory

FRIDAY

This is Helen Feng’s night people – her electro-rock project Nova Heart, is dropping their album tonight at Yugong Yishan with help from favs Resience A, Fuzzy Mood, and disc work from Metro Tokyo – get over there and support one of Beijing’s hardest working artists. Speaking of hard-working, Mamer will be all over town in the next week both solo and with IZ to support the release of a group of solo albums (check out BeijingDaze’s post on it) – tonight he’ll be at Mako Livehouse as Mamer + IZ to play his urban-filtered folk tunes. Things get rowdy over at Liangmaqiao as Subs and The Flyx open for Australian punk rockers The Backyard Surgeons, who are in tow with their Asian tour documentary, at Dos Kolegas. Quite the contrary at Jianghu Jiuba as Brain Failure plays a rare acoustic set of their usual loud punk sound. No worries thou, you can always catch the young kids at Mao Livehouse – New Perfume, Wang Wei, Unionbunny, and Strange July take the stage. Chui Wan takes over the cozy Zajia Lab behind the drum tower to play their psychedelic foot-taping rock. Skarving, who I had the pleasure of catching last week, will grace the Old What? Bar. Lastly, you can catch some reggae tunes over at Temple with Shaddai, relaxing tunes at Blue Stream Bar with Whistling Chambers, Wang Jing, and Jia Huizhen, and electronic and subrock with Not There, Nakoma, and Cam Morton at the Hot Cat Club.

SATURDAY

Grandmaster Flash is back in town after wowing Beijingers last fall – catch him at Yugong Yishan with support by the Section 6 crew. Mamer + IZ continue their trek, tonight playing at Dos Kolegas. Interflow Beijing is bringing Global Battle of the Bands China winners Killer Soap to Mao Livehouse, along with German metal band Ignition with support by Twinkle Star, TooKoo, and The Night Ghost Orchestra. Pangbianr is putting together a host of experimentalists over at the Old What? Bar – Mr. Ray, Fat City, Alpine Decline, and Chui Wan. For some more out of the ordinary head to Zajia Lab to catch darkwave group Fenni along with Walnut Room. Buyi keeps at it over at Jianghu Jiuba, The Red Pirates and Cactus bring power rock to the Hot Cat Club, and lastly Rolling Bowling’s rockabilly ways will be show to entertain those at Temple.

Unregenerate Blood joins the mayhem at DIMEFest

SUNDAY

Metal heads unite – The DIMEFest gets rolling tonight – Return The Truth, Unregenerate Blood, Shut Up! Shut Down!, Never Before, xitneverhappenedx, and No Lie (from Changchun) will wipe up a frenzy over at 13 Club. And if that wasn’t enough, a whole slew of metal bands will converge on the opposite side of town at Mako Livehouse including Nuclear Fusion G, S.A.W, and Nerve Resistance, among others. Glam stars Caffe-in, Nao, Ever Lasting, and Ophelia pay tribute to HIDE’s kei-style music tonight at Mao Livehouse. Nearby, Swedish punk band Riots will cause unrest over at Temple, while Time Capsule will break hearts over at the Blue Stream Bar with others. Lastly, The Beijing Beatles celebrate a birthday over the VA Bar and The Intrepid Adventurers play with local group Mujiangzi at the Hot Cat Club.

Nucleus representing

MONDAY

DIMEFest contines to tear the roof off at 13 Club in Wudaoku, this time with Death Pack, Guinea Pig, Dark Haze, Crack, Lingji, and Die From Sorrow. But those boys better watch out, cause a gang of Ningxiaers are converging on Dos Kolgeas for an epic night of Ningxia mayhem – Buyi, Skarving. Li Dong, Nucleus, Zhao Laoda, WHAI, and Wu & The Side Effects – gee wiz that’s a fucking show. Mamer performs solo at Jianghu Jiuba. Speaking of solos – members from Australian groups The Backyard Surgeons, The On Fires, and Arcane Saints will perform an acoustic show at the Blue Stream Bar. More internationals are in town – UK garage band Little Fish plays a show at the Hot Cat Club. Nearby Mao Livehouse is hosting a slew of loud and out of control bands including Logic Control, Five Point Zero, No Lie, and Larry’s Pizza. And lastly, everyone’s favorite stoner rockers Devils at the Crossroad play at Temple.