Well that was quick – did you all rest up this holiday. Probably not. You’re probably wishing you could go to work tomorrow. Well, no point in fretting now – too much goodness going around. Back into the frying pan.

 FRIDAY

The Hanggai Music Festival kicks off tonight at Mako Livehouse with the elder very wise Huun-Huun-Tu who sold out Yugong Yishan last year, our own Li Dong, who can plaster a smile on just about anyones face, and the Qinghai Mongolian Long Melody group – should be pretty rad. Alright, remember when I plugged a Brain Failure show back in April or something, where they filmed the show – well said film is edited and ready for your viewing pleasure, and the mainstays punks, who hit the sweet spot every time they play (and unlike a lot of punk bands in town know how to play) have just returned from a nationwide tour and ready to unleash on Yugong Yishan – this is their last whorah in some time, and they\’ll be going all out – trust. For folk at it\’s most pure, most bare – I definitely recommend heading to Blue Stream Bar to see these – Zhang Qian Qian (who BeijingDaze has compared to Joni Mitchell), and Wang Juan, who\’s on a whole other level. Mao Livehouse hosts a hostful of bands with enough cred to get a crowd rallied up, including Residence A, Fuzzy Mood, 16 mins, The Big Wave, and Lost Train. 80s hard rockers Los Crasher crash the party at Temple for some whiskey-swirling fun, while The Beijing Beatles tear it up at VA Bar. Things get scrappy at the Old What? Bar with Mud & Lotus, Zakka, Miao Kai, and more. The University of Architecturre squares off against the UIniversity of Science and Technolgy at School with Big Pink, Dizzy Monkey, The Track, Nafeilimu and more rocking out. Finally, catch the Big John Blues Band at Jianghu Bar and the newly formed Hutong Yellow Weasels at Modernista.

SATURDAY

Today might be your best bet though if you\’re in it to win it at the Hanggai Fest – WHAI, Hanggai,  the much gushed about Israeli group Yemen Blues, along with The Tribe, Natascha Rogers out of France, and The Randy Abel Stable. This is gonna be a long one folks – a slew of rockers, pretty and ugly, scruffy and classy, but all rock worthy will be heading to School early today to get things sweaty long into the night. Heck, I\’d go just for Rolling Bowling, Bedstars, and Steely Heart (who impressed the shit out of me a couple weeks back), but the rest ain\’t too shabby either, with Los Crasher bringing in the hard 80s rock and The Reason keeping the screamo kids in check, all closed off with The Diders, Thousand of Public, and Lazy Camel. Bang for your buck this is. Glow Curve is one of the best post rock groups in town – simply because they strive to keep outside the branding of being a post rock band – the elements are still there, but they, especially in the past year, have been making leaps and bounds in experimenting with their sound – electronic touches, and gasp, even vocals – see them at XP where they\’re joined by rockers Eat (who upon first listen, sound pretty rad). Temple is full of old school metal lovers (this becomes apparent every weekend after 2 pm when the DJs are hijacked) and Bad Mamasan is the greatest love letter to old school metal – so shit will hit the fan. And better yet, visiting Dutch metal heads Vanderbuyst are in town (also playing at the Hanggai Fest) are gonna take a stab at controlling Temple\’s rabid regulars. For something a bit kinky, head to Yugong Yishan where Japanese visual-kei band D=OUT gives it their all. Lastly, it\’s folk night at Blue Stream Bar with Guonian and Left, The Groove Collective at Jianghu Bar, and Rudra\’s Sage at 69 Cafe.

SUNDAY

Sunday\’s the dark horse at the Hanggai Fest with Dawanggang, IZ, Djang San (with a whole band now), holding up the local torch and Turtle Island out of Japan, Wylie & the Wild West out of the US,  and hard hitting Vanderbuyst  out of the Netherlands. Electronic metal makes its way to the Hot Cat Club with Virus Base. New wave rockers Perpetual Motion Machine and Big Pink are joined by more at Mao Livehouse as part of a new series entitled Power Series. And things get poppy at Jianghu Bar with Joe & CC.

TUESDAY

Yeah, I added in a Tuesday event – what gives. My roommate has been bombarding me all week with thte request that I get the word out – the monstrosity that is Dead Elvis & His One Man Grave will be hitting up Temple along with our own Low Bow. Hello hangover Wednesday.