You already know what it is. That weird fluffy shit is flying through the air, Gobi sands and sun-baked smog have turned the sky a familiar shade of "brown, definitely not blue, also a little reddish I guess?"... time for some massive outdoor music festivals! If you're looking for the EDM, go here. This one's for guitar people.

Thursday, May 1-Saturday, May 3 Location/Transport: Kuangbiao Sports Paradise, which is located between "waaay the fuck out there" and "west 6th ring road." No word yet on whether Midi will provide some kind of a shuttle, but according to Kuangbiao's website, you can take Buses 22, 16, 367, 387, 302, 331, and 300 to Bei Taipingzhuang station and walk west for 300 meters on the north side of the road. Judging by this screencap, you may want to budget a good two hours for the commute. Tickets: 150rmb per day on site. You can get them for 120rmb pre-sale, or throw down 300rmb for a three-day pass, over on Douban. Run-down/Line-up: Midi just confirmed this year's Beijing festival over the weekend, and didn't release the lineup until yesterday. So I'm putting them first. It's Beijing's longest-running festival of this scale; they pretty much invented the model. To that end there are a lot of old-guard Beijing rock/metal bands playing Midi, as they do nearly every year: Dawanggang, Yaksa, Liquid Oxygen Can, Misandao, Muma, Miserable Faith, AK-47, Escape Plan, Suffocated, Subs, et al. Queen Sea Big Shark is playing MIDI instead of Strawberry this year, probably because they had a falling out with Modern Sky and recently left the label. For international acts, MIDI's betting big on Suede, who played at the Worker's Stadium last October. If you're into the hardcore punk, you'll also want to swing by on Day 3 to catch Vancouver legends D.O.A., who are making one last lap of the world before hanging up the spurs for good. On the more up-and-coming end of things: a new cultural-exchange-through-music non-profit called Bamboo Bridges is bringing Danish electro-post-punk duo Broke, and they sound pretty good. Find some more info on them over at Live Beijing Music. And Aussie ska band The Bennies are making a repeat trip. Heard good things about them last year. Check out MIDI's full three-day schedule, complete with links to the bands, right here. Why you should go: MIDI will be less crowded, so there's that. Not a diss, I'm an agoraphobe, so it's definitely a +1 for me. MIDI is also more legit than Strawberry. Maybe not even less corporate, but less cutthroat business-oriented and more purely rock'n'roll. Old school. *

Thursday, May 1-Saturday, May 3 Location/Transport: Tongzhou Canal Park, same as last year. Southeast Beijing. You can ride the subway out to the Batong extension of Line 1, stop at Tongzhou Beiyuan (通州北苑), get out at exit A, walk north to the big crossroad, turn right onto Xin Hua Xi Jie (新华西街), and walk for about 50 meters until you see a bus stop for the 322 or 342 bus. Take either bus going east to the Dong Guan Da Qiao stop (东关大桥) and you're there. You can also take a couple of express buses from Guomao (667 and 808), which blast through eastern Beijing and don't start stopping til Tongzhou. You still get out at the Dong Guan Da Qiao stop. Find it on a map in the listing. Tickets: 260rmb per day, or 680rmb for a three-day pass on-site. We have discounted pre-sale tickets (180rmb one day, 480 three days) up on SmartTicket; check it. Run-down/Line-up: Strawberry seems to grow every year, like a giant amoebic blob consuming everything in its vicinity. It's a Modern Sky joint so all of that label's big names on are the bill: New Pants, Casino Demon, Re-TROS, Hedgehog, and their most recent signee, Hong Kong movie star person Maggie Cheung. Lanzhou folk group Low Wormwood recently jumped ship from their previous label, Maybe Mars, to join Modern Sky, so they're playing too. That said, there are a handful of Maybe Mars bands playing Strawberry this year, which is anomalous. White+, Carsick Cars, Snapline, and P.K.14 are all playing on the Sina-sponsored stage. There are also a few old-school heavy-hitters in the mix: Tongue and Zuoxiao Zuzhou. That last one threw me for a loop... I didn't know ZXZZ was even allowed to perform anymore. As for foreign acts... already pretty much broke that down here, but if you're too lazy to click through: French electro-pop duo Justice, US post-rock band Explosions in the Sky, Cut Copy from Australia, HIM from Finland, a bunch more... Check out the full schedule here. Why you should go: Sheer scale. There are seven fucking stages at this thing. Lots of hip-looking youths, if that's your bag. Pretty much a "see and be seen"-type thing. Our staff photographer didn't get a single goddamn band photo at last year's. Just a bunch of selfies-by-proxy. *

Friday, May 30-Sunday, June 1 Location/Transport: 2 Kolegas. Easy! Click here to find a map, then take the subway or a bus or a taxi or ride your bike or walk there. It ain't Tongzhou. Tickets: 130rmb per day at the door, or 260rmb for a pre-sale three-day pass. Run-down/Line-up: Back for its fourth edition, the Hanggai Music Festival brings a packed weekend of folk, roots, and world music to the verdant fields of summertime 2 Kolegas. Hanggai themselves headline the first night after an opening set from Spanish group La Pegatina. Besides a return visit from Japan's Turtle Island — who got more than one rave review in our Best of 2013 Music recap — the lineup is mostly Beijing-based artists, albeit playing styles covering a wide geographical swathe. Check the full three-day schedule here. Why you should go: To enjoy the music of the grassland on actual grass. There will probably be copious amounts of roast beast too, if you're into that. *

Friday, June 6-Saturday, June 7 Location/Transport: Yugong Yishan. Map here. Tickets: 100rmb Run-down/Line-up: Mushroom Festival started off as a one-day deal last year celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Houhai record store Rockland. Xiao Zhan, the proprietor of Rockland and Nanluo music cafe 69, has expanded it into a two-day weekend jam this year, for no other reason than to showcase more of his current favorite bands. No corporate sponsors, no foreign acts, just a 100% independent double-header of that indie rock. Lineup is pretty diverse, reflecting Xiao Zhan's particular tastes: Bian Yuan's Lone headlines Day 1, and Subs on Day 2. Maybe Mars is represented by Chui Wan, Mr. Graceless, and Alpine Decline; Modern Sky by Glow Curve and The Fuzz. A handful of out-of-town indie and folk bands round out the weekend; check the full schedule here. And check out an interview I did with Xiao Zhan ahead of last year's Mushroom Fest here. Why you should go: It's a focused, well-curated lineup of quality rock music from China. Keep it simple. * That's pretty much all the Spring/Summer festival news that's fit to print for now... We have a confirmation that Beijing blogger/IT guy/hutong F&B entrepreneur Badr — aka BeijingDaze — will throw his fourth (AND FINAL) all-day outdoor barn burner 'dazeFEAST on Saturday, June 14 at 2 Kolegas. Confirmed acts so far include Residence A, Randy Abel Stable, Wu & the Side Effects, Devils at the Crossroad, and SmBJ's own DJ COMPACT DICKS on turntable duties. It's really, for real, 100% serious gonna be the last one, so expect a whole bunch more bands to jump on the bill at the last minute. Keep an eye on the listing for updates...