MV Monday: Buyi, Dark Haze, Round Eye, Chen Li

City sprawls, human sized cages for our emotions, highway rendezvous, and pixelated metal – we’ve got a strange batch for this week’s roundup of music videos which include fresh cuts from shanghai R&B punk boys Round Eye, dusty folk rock veterans Buyi, melodic death metal band Dark Haze, and singer-songwriter Chen Li. Jump in.

Manic relentless doo-wop punk twisters Round Eye, one of Shanghai’s finest acts, continues their climb to the top – between setting up tours here and aboard, putting in the final touches on their first EP, the band managed to squeeze in this vertigo-inducing, rock and roll tour of the financial capital of China. \’City Livin\’ directed by Live Circus aka Alessio Avezzano is one sleek monster, utilizing the latest camera craze – the drone. Seriously, look how high that thing gets. Technology these days. Love the sped up singing which adds the perfect amount of fantastical creepiness to the single. Expect Golden Age to drop any day now.

One of the nicest surprises of this year has been Shanghai indie pop singer Chen Li, who more than impressed on her debut solo outing, entitled 如也, which showcases the singers’ prowess even further. A more modern take on the folk genre, Chen Li invigorates her tracks with lyrics with flair and bite, as well as a production value that walks the thin line between mainstream and indie. Her first single to get the music treatment ‘Explosive Bomb易燃易爆炸’ follows a similar route – tossing our singer in a glitzy hazed filled cage. This video would have no problem being placed in 1992 where pop singers like Madonna reign supreme. Not trying to draw comparisons, but there’s something dangerously accessible and accessibly dangerous about Chen Li that has perked my interest. Rummage through her debut here.

Hard edged Ningxia folk rock faves Buyi, are celebrating 20 years of kicking up a dust storm, with a nation wide tour. And they\’re got the visual goods to get you mainlanders excited. Quality production – and further proof that Buyi are finally getting their due – music videos, new albums, and my guess, bigger and bigger stages. Let’s just hope the mainstream doesn\’t yank them away from us quite yet. Check out the complete tour dates here, which doesn’t list at Beijing dates yet but I’ll just going to assume it’ll be held at the end of June.

Nerds and metal – one of the finest (and unexpected) concoctions out there. Peas in a pod. And now with the vast worlds video games have enabled gamers to explore and shape, we\’re seeing a heck ton more of video game based music videos (and full fledged narratives in certain cases). In the first single (and tribute?!) ‘Final Fantasy’, black metal outfit Dark Haze, is the latest band to have their music be the backdrop for pixelated fantasy games – in this case the latest Final Fantasy game, which involves asteroids, wizards, armored chocobos, dragons, and is equally parts absurd and awesome. I don\’t know – as much as I miss my days of getting wasting days upon days playing Final Fantasy 8, it’s all getting a bit much nowadays.