There are a lot of worthy gigs going on this week, but Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard is my pick of the bunch. I haven’t been keeping up with his career, but his first couple of albums were the sort of analog New York anti-folk thing I was into for a really long time. I’m really excited to be able to see him in Beijing. For a sample of his music, check out his Douban page. Of course, you should all know the support act Xiao He by now. If you don't, he’s an experimental folk artist signed to Maybe Mars that occasionally does weird stuff like performing a song with a 2-minute silence. He’s a great performer though, and I suggest you get there in time to see him.

My pick: Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard (US), Xiao He

When: Thursday, 9:30 pm

Where: Yugong Yishan

How much: 60 yuan

Elsewhere this weekend is the Rock Aid festival, which has some pretty big hard rock names performing at Tango 3rd Floor each night from Friday to Sunday (check out all the info here); while Tiger Translate shows this week have Hedgehog on Friday at Mao Livehouse and Twisted Machine on Saturday at Mako Livehouse. Finally, traveling Yunnan folk artists Shanren play Dos Kolegas on Friday from 10 pm (60/50 yuan).

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Read more from Alex Searson at his Beijing Gig Guide.