Keep it together boys and girls: just one more week and it's über Bank Holiday weekend galore. Until then, though, we still have plenty to help keep your spirits up. Highlights from this weekend's pickings include Friday's Susannah, Saturday's Allez Allez, and Danny Sangra's exhibition/residency.

This weekend's guide is brought to you in association with the London Coliseum and the New York City Ballet. Returning to London for the first time in over 25 years, the 90-strong dance company are bringing an incredible four-part programme to the London Coliseum, and have kindly given us five pairs of tickets to give away. Click here for details.

Susannah
"Opera at the Hackney Empire? That's pretty funny," balked a certain, unnamed member of the UJ team when she heard me going on about this one-night-only ETO production. The truth, however, is that the Empire is actually a cracking little venue in the original music hall tradition, and Carlisle Floyd's Tennessee-take on the apocryphal Book of Daniel remains one of the finest examples of contemporary, English-word opera out there.

Jukebox Jam
These Jukebox Jams nights are far from all that cringey West End faux-retro malarkey, throwing a night so low-maintenance you'd want to marry her. Set in a cosy E1 local, expect live rhythm 'n' blues from King David's Trio Royale, a string of DJs playing storming rock 'n' roll, ska and swing, and enough folks making the attire effort to make the vibe perfect.

Mumdance
The official playground of DJ Jack Adams, his monthly Mumdance monster returns to the Old Blue Last, bringing with it a storming line-up to get the weekend rolling. Atop a set from Mr Adams himself, there's electro-laden DJ slots from Mememe and Siamese Suicide, plus live hip-hop/grime sets from Badness and Big Dada's newly signed Damaged Goods.

FOR MUMDANCE IMAGES click here

Allez Allez
This week, the Allez Allez duo are unloading a cracker of a night at their Amersham Arms residency. Obviously the live set from post-punkists The Detachments and DJ sets from Trevor Jackson and Allez Allez will rock. But throw in a set from This Is Not An Exit head Simon Carr, and, whilst I'm loath to say it, New Cross might not be such a bad place to end up.

Scorched
The English-born composer in residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mark-Anthony Turnage, beloved by BBC3, is one of those largely unrecognised national stars of the contemporary music scene. Here taking influence from the legendary American jazz guitarist John Scofield, Turnage's new work is rich with the driving classical thrust and intricate jazz that characterize his stirring style.

Scrap Club
Revenge is nigh, brothers and sisters! Slip on your hard hats, as, hammers and axes in hand, we shall turn upon our mechanical overlords. Like Fight Club meets an IT session, it is time to let loose, to vent all that long-smothered rage. How often have you sat infuriated or resigned, uttering between clenched teeth how much you hate technology? Well, now is the hour of revolution.

Mayra Andrade
Mayra Andrade's debut album is almost the very embodiment of successful internationalism, crossing more musical boundaries than one would think possible. Her delicate, yet entrancing style manages to absorb influences as diverse as Afro-Brazilian percussion, Cuban rhythms, and contemporary Parisian production, all sung in Cape Verdean Creole. Definitely one to keep a watch on, the hypnotic young singer is an absolute pleasure on eye and ear alike.

Raison D'Etre 6th Anniversary
Is it really six years since that first Raison d'Etre emerged in a Hoxton basement, a retro-adoring, volume-cranking newborn babe? Well, to celebrate the anniversary the Raison family have booked out Camden's grandiose Koko and packed it with more bands and DJs than seems fair. Sure, we could list them all. Or you could just rock up and dance yourself into a coma instead. Which sounds more fun?

Colleen
If you've never been to an Arctic Circle event and have even the vaguest interest in that delightful arm of "experimental music" that doesn't sound like audio feedback with an erratic drum beat behind it, then you really have been missing out. Tonight they're presenting the wonderful and utterly entrancing French composer Colleen, the cloud-chamber bowl-ist Max de Wardener, the Elysian String Quartet, and the Vox Orbis choir.

China Design Now
It's more than just the cultural love-fest instigated by the Olympics - though certainly that adds something to the equation - but China is a huge and growing phenomenon these days. Whether in the realms of economics, architecture, fashion or politics, the Eastern colossus is everywhere. And yet, for most of us, the realities of what goes on within contemporary China continue to remain shrouded in mystery. This new exhibition at the V&A goes some way towards rectifying this by exploring its three major coastal cities - Shenzhen, Shangai and Beijing - in a fresh, new light, focusing on the contemporary architecture and design that they produce.

Affordable Art Fair
Right then. Time to whip out those wallets, 'cause it's a-buyin' time. Returning with their Spring collection to woo the Queen's heads from your pocket, 120 galleries are exhibiting all forms of visual art, many from fresh, new artists. Prices start at £50 and are capped at £3000, meaning that this is a great chance to pick up a few sharp pieces for a comparable song, or perhaps even to "swing a Saatchi" (that's industry speak for snapping up all the young talent before the prices quadruple and leaving everyone else with the leftovers).

Danny Sangra
And should you fancy something a touch cosier and less organized (in a good way), then check out the international illustrator, and one of my personal favourite artists, Danny Sangra, who's nestling into the Beyond the Valley gallery for a kind of Real World art session. Part graf, part comic, part geometric acid-trip, he'll be in there everyday for the next couple of weeks taking suggestions and input from passers-by as he creates a live, and no doubt somewhat surreal story that will run riot across the gallery walls and, knowing him, quite probably the floor too.

Thomas Tantrum
Southampton indie-nerd favourites Thomas Tantrum play a schizophrenic mix of twee indie-pop and dirty grunge rock. Listen to their track "Why The English Are Rubbish" and read about how Don't Panic sent them to search for drug dealers in Camden Town here.