It’s feeding season for gig-goers - on the hunt for fresh blood and raw slabs of lean and mean rock and roll. LiveChinaMusic kicks off their new monthly series at Shanghai’s OKOK with a juicy spread of punk rock, speedcore, thrash, and alternative metal. Featuring both seasoned meat and freshly served appendages it’s a ravenous lineup that’ll keep your blood flowing - including freak punk underground heroes Round Eye, crossover thrash purveyors Kill All Posers, power violence duo SXNDPT TXRTL, and rugged alt metal ruffians Great Acrobatics伟大杂技 from Suzhou. A night of live music with some real bite - best come prepared.

She Past Away, from Istanbul, one of the premier bands in today’s flourishing dark-wave scene, swing through Bandai Namco this Friday. The Turkish duo ‘fuses the essence of ’80s post-punk guitar riffs with tenebrous synths and stark, haunting lyrics, crafting music that, like those early films, grapples with anxiety, nihilism, and the human condition’s murkier waters’. Righteous.

The electronic post-punk trio from Melbourne, Australia - Rain Dogs are a perfect fit for the brooding soul of Specters. With a synth-heavy gothic vibe, their live performances are known for their haunting mood and atmosphere, producing a sound reminiscent of Suicide and Depeche Mode. The up-and-coming band will be swinging through Shanghai with the support of our city’s own UNTERWASSER, whose cold wave anthems are oozing in agony and intrigue.

Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet (ONJQ) is a Japanese free jazz/experimental ensemble led by a composer, sound producer, turntablist, and guitarist Otomo Yoshihide. What John Zorn means to the New York scene, Otomo Yoshihide means to the Japanese - tackling the jazz repertoire with raw virtuosity and brazen skill. Forging the traditional for the extreme, post-modern, and ironic - a ‘voracious, adventurous explorer of the musical unknown’ and the kind of music that could even turn on any ‘jazz’ skeptic.

Core music with an anime bent - this trio of metal acts tonight at Yuyintang Park for ambitious listeners looking to get off the beaten path. Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship - known as the anime slam kings - are slamming brutal death metal band from China. With a name that comes from the fascination of Itatrains (a Japanese term for trains with comic paintings on them) and music is heavily inspired by death metal and the anime "Love Live" - you’ve never heard lightening-fast drumming and pig squeal-infested vocals quite like this. Meanwhile, anime-inspired deathcore act Human Instrumentality Project, out of Guangzhou, base their brutal sound on the classic Japanese animation "Neon Genesis Evangelion,” digging into the psychology and mindset of the children chosen to pilot the giant EVAs in a ‘world that is distorted, morbid and full of mental pollution’. Rounding out the night are Jiaxing core outfit VANTA.

A killer one-two combo punch at Modernsky Lab with two vastly different acts. Characterless has been causing a stir down in Lishui, tapping into a glossy yet black-tainted new wave sound that’s straight out of the 80s - perfectly balancing its softer pop sheen with its more combustible post-punk adjacent sound. Meanwhile, the sun-soaked Yunnan-bred reggae rock group Kawa, does what they do best - taking their southwestern Chinese folk roots and slicing them in together with the steady grooves of Jamaican reggae. Back-beating rhythms galore, dank bass lines, and most importantly, a lyrical desire to seek out happiness in life, despite how much it pushes back at you. Not a bad way to close out your weekend.