Time to soak in the last of the Labour Day holiday here in China and prepare for the work week ahead — and no better way than to have a peek at some of the newest music videos to be causing a stir including the latest from Alpine Decline, Howie Lee, as well as a tour video from New Zealand outfit Orchestra of Spheres.
Talk about nailing a tone. The newest music video from Beijing noise rock (now) trio Alpine Decline for ‘Pre-Columbian Artifact’, their first single off their forthcoming LP Life’s A Gasp, is a 70s evoking celestial day trip revolving around a coven and its disciples. And while that’s pretty much the extent of the narrative here, what director Maya Rudolph and director of photography Benny Shaffer cook is here is an atmosphere that feels so out of time and place and yet instantly familiar for anyone with a television growing up in the seventies and eighties.
Last autumn, Wellington, New Zealand psychedelic indie rock outfit Orchestra of Spheres, plowed through China alongside Lady Lazer Light with the help of Kiwese aka Kristen Ng, a bilingual Kiwi-Chinese writer and music patron based out of Chengdu. Kiwese has now released a five part documentary series on the band’s 9-city tour featuring tour diary narrative, live footage from Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming and Dali, as well as countless interviews with local bands, fans, venues, and labels. A pretty comprehensive account of what’s it like touring through China, albeit one with a ‘distinctly New Zealand sense of humour’. The first episode, which focuses on Beijing, was released today – expect the following episodes to roll out over the next few days.
Take a journey through a virtual palace in the music video for electronic maverick Howie Lee’s ‘The Gate’. The single off of the artist’s late 2015 release Mù Chè Shān Chū, finds the artist playing once again in his animated CGI sandbox, creating a hypnotic, kaleidoscope wormhole that perfectly encompasses the infectious synth heavy groove and beat of Howie Lee and drummer Zhang Yang’s song. Hella cool vibes.
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