MV Monday: Howie Lee x LinFeng, Yaksa, Reflector, NYTimes

It wouldn’t be Monday without a gaggle of videos to blast a bunch of television signals over your computer straight into your membrane – including new vids from Beijing based electronic artist Howie Lee, nu metal group Yaksa, pop punk trio Reflector, as well as a expat driven piece of Beijing promotion from the New York Times. Dig in.

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Beijing-based electronica artist Howie Lee has been gaining traction here and aboard for some time now, and based on his latest little gem, entitled, ‘Sink Like Titanic’, in collaboration with newcomer Lin Feng, it’s easy to see why. These are some lush time signatures and beats – jazzy, dreamlike, and above all, cool as ice. The music video follows very much the same logic, tossing together images equally mundane and surreal, to create an intoxicating atmosphere. Howie Lee will be in Texas this month for SXSW – curious to hear how he’s received.

Nu metal behemoths Yaksa recently jumped ship to label head behemoths Modern Sky, and while that may seem like a step down for many folks, power to them. Get it while the getting’s good I say. To celebrate their new partnership, they have released this new single and accompanying music video for ‘The Walk With Demon’, which showcases one girl getting a hell of a ride from a mischievous demonic character. And while the video wears its influences a bit too strongly (figured we were over the Joker makeup fad by now) it’s still a sleek piece of film-making, particularly the studio shot stuff toward the second half. And yes, quite titillating as well. Erenhot never looked so hot.

Arguably one of China’s biggest pop punk acts, three piece band Reflector, who have been slinging it since the late 1990s, is reaching the stage where nostalgia reigns supreme. Their 2010 single ‘Grow Up’, gets a reformatted music video here collecting footage from the band’s (gasp!) seventeen years together as well as where the band is now. It’s always fascinating to take a walk down memory lane, and seeing how much (or how little depending on how cynical you want to be) the scene has grown.

A bit old but worth noting, particularly for you folks back West, who want a nicely compact piece of tourism footage to perk your traveling interests. That’s not a dig. Exposure is exposure, and while the New York Times series entitled ’36 Hours In: Beijing’ is more focused on the \’laowai factor\’ than usual, any feature in a nation-wide media outlet is always welcomed. And hey, now I can tell all my friends back home what a freak of nature that Dan Taylor is. Watch it over here. (VPN needed)