MV Tuesday: Friend or Foe, The Bricks, Fast Son, Zhaoze

The best part about this past three day holiday – the four day work week following it. So we’re going to kick off our weekly MV Monday a day later with a LBM exclusive – the first look at the latest MV from Shanghai party rockers Friend or Foe, along with the latest visual stimuli from Hemudu punks The Bricks, Beijing exile lo-fi trash bluesmen Fast Son, and Gunagzhou post rock outfit Zhaoze. Take a look.

Prison’s a bitch – unless of course your Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, and are skilled in the fine arts of silent film acting. Then it’s a hoot. The latest music video from punkish dance rockers Friend or Foe, out of Shanghai, is for their latest trailblazer ‘Attica’ – which as one might guess, is about prison life, taking the hot topic word, and turning it into a minute plus shot of pure rock n roll adrenaline that the band has become so accustomed to making. Instead of taking us into the horrors and controversies surrounding the incident, the video wisely shows a lighter side of prison escape. Makes me wanna dig up my Babes in Toyland VHS copy. Check out Friend or Foe this Saturday, April 12^th, at Dos Kolegas alongside Residence A, The Diders, and Bedstars.

Hangzhou-based punk ska outfit The Bricks make their first trip to Beijing this weekend for School’s Spring Punk Festival but before they do, they wanna let you know they mean business with this fun, light-hearted groove for their latest single ‘印度神油’ off their new album, Juncture Fugue. Broken hearts, toilet mishaps, failed wank sessions – bad luck all around. It’s a nice introduction to the bands lively spirited ska punk. Righteous.

Richard Doran, of Low Bow and Cloud Choir fame, recently was exiled from Beijing for becoming too damn recognizable – government officials simply couldn’t afford the unwanted publicity, so they shipped him off to Chengdu, where the pandas and women look mighty fine. Well, it looks like Mr. Doran’s been keeping busy over there if this nifty like MV for his solo project Fast Son is any indication. Entitled ‘Bone Crusher’ it’s a trippy cityscape that fits well into KTR’s catalogue.

Last, we have the latest music video from one of China’s most beloved post rock outfits Zhaoze, out of Guangzhou. The video for ‘LuoMu’, a brand spanking new song from the group, juxtapositions black and white footage of the band playing with sublime picturesque images of quaint fishing villages along the coast. Beautiful song, love the restraint and use of guqin.