Talking Tunes: Midi and Strawberry Face Off, As Wordy & Soulspeak Return

As we gear up for the long holiday weekend, it's time to decide where you're going to be on Monday when the two biggest music festivals in Beijing kick off. Will you opt for indie/experimental sounds over at Tongzhou Canal Park with Strawberry? Or do you prefer the rock stylings of Midi up at the China Music Valley in Pinggu?

To help you make the decision, Nick Richards will be providing you with a roundup of what the wider web is saying on the subject a little later. But wherever you choose to be, there's enough on offer to make either trip worth your while, provided: a) the weather holds up, and b) you can smuggle in some beer.

Wordy & Soulspeak are back this weekend as they launch their new record with a hotly anticipated show at Yugong Yishan on Friday. The show kicks off at 8pm.

There are a raft of highlights coming up in the next seven days, so let's just get to it:

• So So Modern, New Zealand's finest, and US darkwave/synth poppers Cold Cave are ostensibly here for Midi Festival, but they'll be squeezing in a show at Temple on Tuesday night (Apr 30) before they jet back down under.
• School celebrates its three-year anniversary with a host of regular friends on Saturday night (Apr 27).
• Devils at the Crossroad are launching their new album on Saturday night (Apr 27) at Temple.
• Punk rockers My Skin Against Your Skin play Yugong Yishan on Sunday night (Apr 28).
• How do you feel about turbo folk? How about French turbo folk? Really?! You have to check out Vialka on Tuesday night (Apr 30) at XP.

That's not all, not by half. Get along to our events section for more musical hijinks over the weekend and into next week.

Playing us out this week is Deerhoof, who'll be gracing the stage at Strawberry next week.