*** As we continue to barrel through the ~3 weeks of Spring we get before it's already Summer, the Beijing live music listings likewise begin to heat up. Tons piled on this week, including healthy doses of Beijing rock here, there, and way out in Tongzhou; heady electronics from down Shanghai way infiltrating our fair town for a night; and a showcase of multi-media French experimental sights & sounds at Post Mountain as the first big-ticket music event of the Croisements Festival. Let's get into it: *** First up: Gulou Double Decker #3 at Temple/Dada on Thursday. pbr and Live Beijing Music double down once again for parallel shows in perpendicular universes at 206 Gulou Dong Dajie. If the last two are any indication, you might want to start thinking about your excuse for missing work Friday right now. For his part, Will Griffith of LBM hand-picks some "new dangerous sounds" at Temple, with live sets from local heads Lonely Leary, Mammals, and The Eat, plus a mood-setting opening turn from visiting French improv bassist Maxime Petit. Petit will be on the DIY China tour route, following the trail blazed by his friends and collaborators One Lick Less. He's making a brief stop in Beijing for this gig en route to Dalian, where he'll start an extended collaboration with Wang Wen's visionary guitarist/band leader, Xie Yugong. Here's a sample of Maxime's solo work: Worth noting that Will Griffith has successfully made the jump into the offline world, carving a niche for himself as an important booker on the live music landscape in his own right. His Spring Fever rager the other weekend was easily one of the gigs of the year so far. Simultaneously on Thursday, just down the stairs, Dada hosts Tongzhou's infamous NOJIJI crew — proprietors of the long-gone but dearly remembered noise mecca RAYING TEMPLE — for a night of live/dj sets from Muren (Inner Mongolian producer & DJ), iimmune, bREAKtHEdOLL (Sheng Di getting weirder than usual with his deformed Chucky doll), DJ KILL (Yangyang from harsh noise outfit Mafeisan trying his hand behind the decks), et al. Really no fucking clue what this will sound like. 10pm start, free entry to both. More info *** Heading into the weekend: on Friday and Saturday, Dangdai MOMA's Post Mountain space hosts Machine Rouge, the first big music event of the sprawling Croisements Festival 2015. (That's a three-month-long paean to all French arts — check our preview article for some highlights.) Machine Rouge is the duo of Denis Lavant and Françoius R. Cambuzat. Take it away, obscure press release jargon department: "This time, François Cambuzat will work with Lavant and share all their poetry with great ideal to the audiences. They are acquainted with each other, owing to the pursuit of the exotic vocabulary like the shaman, Sufi or Gypsy.They are transformed these words and voice into the ultra modern poetry, the post industrial music with wild melody. They are not pursing for the beautiful words, beautiful rhyme or to please the noble soul from this fantastic song. They showed the wonderful wild, self abandoned and the 'inner demons'. Without all these transboundary elements, all the beauty and technologies seems no rhyme nor reason to it." ...or just click play on this: Cambuzat has been through China a few times, most recently battling sandstorms in Kashgar ahead of his slated appearance at last year's (also super French, super transboundary) X Nights Festival. This time he provides the guitar soundtrack to Denis Lavant's performance art / spoken word antics. Based on the recordings I'm guessing that even if you don't speak French, you can probably still get the gist of what they're rambling about, as it's predominately ritualistic pseudo-mystical gibberish. Runs from 7:30-9pm on Friday and Saturday, April 17-18. 150rmb at the door each night. More *** For something a bit darker: on Friday night at Dada, The Antidote ships up Shanghai-based DJ and producer TZUSING, fresh off the release of his second 12" for underground-heavy Brooklyn label L.I.E.S. Tzusing cut his teeth DJing at Shanghai bass pit The Shelter via his long-running cold vibes showcase Stockholm Syndrome. L.I.E.S. has finally ushered his own work into the world, so far releasing eight tracks of dark, abrasive, metallic techno that will make you feel kind of funny at that joint where your skull meets the top of your spine. Recommended for fans of: Ministry, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, G-Dragon (jk (?)). Check an interview with him that I ran ahead of the first 12" release over at our sister site SmartShanghai. And here's the principal banger from A Name Out of Place Pt. II: Tzusing brings his singular post-apocalyptic dancefloor vision to Dada on Friday, April 17, freezing us over for a night just before we hit Spring proper. He's joined by Stockholm Syndrome regular Illsee, Ginzburg of Shanghai's VOID crew, and some live industrial noise techno from local heavy-hitters Fratricide. 50rmb, 10pm start. More *** One more hot tip for the weekend, if you're up for a bit of a field trip: on Saturday, DIY punk promoters Dr. Smartass will host their first Saturday matinee out at Tongzhou watering hole DMC. The idea is simple: get your ass to Tongzhou and you'll be rewarded with a free show, loaded with some of the city's best up-and-coming punk/rock talent. Stacked card on this one, including Final Impact, Fengsu, Fake Weed, Diseased Fruit, and the free-folk stylings of reclusive rascal Little Punk. Here's a taste of Final Impact's particular take on Beijing punk: No ticket, cheap beer, runs from 4-8pm so you can easily get yourself back into the city to continue your Saturday night bad habits at all the old familiar dives. Closing note: Dr. Smartass has also just confirmed the last act on the second iteration of their Beijing Drunk Fest: in addition to the nine bands they had confirmed as of last month, the lineup will be rounded out by Beijing '77-punk worshippers and 100% confirmed drunks The Bedstars. Solid. That one's coming up on Saturday, June 6, also at DMC, so be sure to X out that square on your calendar. *** RECAP: Gulou Double Decker #3 = THU April 16 @ Temple/Dada Machine Rouge = FRI & SAT April 17-18 @ Post Mountain TZUSING (L.I.E.S.) = FRI April 17 @ Dada Dr. Smartass Matinee = SAT April 18 @ DMC