MV Monday: The Boys, Proximity Butterfly, Meng Qi, Death To Ponies

Stuck in the succubus that is Xi’an – which is unfair as it’s a lovely city – but when you’re stuck without internet having food stuffed down your throat whilst binge watching whatever gala-esque variety jerk fest that’s on television as a tiny rodent dog tries to dry hump you at every opportunity – yeah, it’s a bit rough. Things we do for love. So in my spare few hours of freedom, I’m gonna check back into reality by indulging myself on vids, vids, and more vids, including new visual stimuli from Proximity Butterfly, Meng Qi, Death to Ponies, and The Boys.

One week into releasing their latest album, multi-national prog hard rockers Proximity Butterfly, out of Chengdu, released a two new music videos (on top of that Maybe Mars promo vid) – first, we got a self-released music video for ‘Cold-Blooded Killer’, which as director, editor, and band leader Joshua Love explains ‘traces the internal conflict of roles women play in society, often leaving them vulnerable and misunderstood’. Or, look what we have brought upon a whole generation of females. We’ve deserved this. For something with a lot more warmth, there’s the studio-shot music video for ‘Happy Ending’, the closing track of the album – a surprisingly intimate moment from the band which caught me off guard on first listen. Glad the band is getting back the circuit again (though they’ve always been there frankly) and awaiting their return to Beijing. Props.

Electronic wizard and handyman Meng Qi has been dissembling and reassembling electronics gizmos for some time, creating some truly unique and mind-melting gear that has won accolades here and abroad (some of it sells for top dollar too). To promote and exposure the world to what the mad scientist has cooked up, the artist has been releasing various videos which give what is essentially a test drive of the latest product. Case in point: the above video for ‘A Programmed Expression’, which Meng Qi explains is a ‘self generating patch based on a sequence from voltage memory’. Yeahhhh. Well whatever it is we’re dealing with, it sounds pretty dope. Check out Meng Qi’s store over here.

For the past few weeks, some dude with loads of time on his hands, who’ll I’ll call JCN3, has been mixing and mashing videos with some of Shanghai’s finest, including The Machinery of Other Skeletons, Goushen, and PVA. And while his self-made Japan train montage fits quite well with psych wave jam fest Death to Ponies’ ‘Black Nail Polish, there’s no denying the ‘WTF!?’-appeal of watching the video above over ‘Swine Water’, which takes footage from a Japanese movie Funky Forrest. Those Japanese sometimes, they really get me. On a whole other level. Warning – there’s no going back.

Last month, UK punk legends The Boys had their tour axed at the last moment (quite literally). So, in true punk fashion, when life gives you lemons, them Boys made some god damn lemonade. Or whatever the saying is? The Boys, with the help of some of Shanghai and Beijing’s most devoted punk fans, threw together some last minute, under the radar, practice space shows, including one here in Beijing at an underground practice space. And you know what, it looks like it was a hell of a time – just look at how drunkenly happy those Bedstars are. The video above is only a taste of what’s to come – supposedly LeTV has a full on video awaiting release. I had the pleasure of helping out The Sound Stage record a little studio session as well as an interview, with questions by none other than Cool Ghoul. That should be a juicy one as well.