There’s no better time to update your playlists than the new year, and once you’ve caught up all the music you missed last year, it’s time to start digging again! RADII columnist Will Griffith has you covered for January, and there’s truly a wide range of music on offer this month: from youthful rock bands making their voice heard for the first time, to excitable hyperpop, mellow indie rock and hip hop, immersive ambient, and experimental music imbued with folk traditions.

Jiafeng 高嘉丰 Jiafeng – Early Technologies 早期科技

Shanghai-based musician Gao Jiafeng, known for his shapeshifting “deconstructed pop” continues subverting musical tropes with his latest, Early Technologies, while establishing himself as a bonafide pop star. A deep dive into the kaleidoscopic worlds of hyperpop, indie rock, almost every genre with the suffix “core,” dream pop, hip hop, and electronica, and where they all collide, the album explores our modern-day technological infatuations across fairy-tale-esque narratives all set to Jiafeng’s trademark sugar-coated, bleeding-heart lyricism. Getting accustomed to Jiafeng’s merry-go-round of tones may be too much for some, but for those willing to go for the ride, it’s a fascinating glimpse into the future of pop.

South Acid Mimi 南方酸性咪咪 – 圣代元音

Kunming act South Acid Mimi returns with their sophomore release 圣代元音 (Sundae Vowels), a beast of an album that takes the trio’s “desktopunk” to new realms. Far from your typical electronica, their latest is a cauldron of humid synthesizers, pulsating rave beats, world music psychedelia, and riot grrrl attitude, a concoction that’s seductive and immersive; an antidote to an abnormal reality its members reside in. Like any long-winded night on the dance floor it sags a bit in the middle, but for those with the stamina to rally along till dawn, this album is for you.

Li Daiguo 李带菓 – Book of Prayers 祭祀簿

On his latest album, Li Daiguo, avant-garde multi-instrumentalist, and one of the leading representatives of Chinese experimental music, looks to “common ancestry” as a source of inspiration, pulling from a vast well of musical traditions and instruments. Book of Prayers finds spiritual solace in how notions of religion, mysticism, Taoism, quantum physics, and nature feed into one another. Li finds common ground amongst them whilst weaving together spellbinding arrangements, dense in atmosphere and boundless in their intricacies and rhapsody.

Inner Wave, Schoolgirl Byebye – Automatic

A bedroom pop dream match come true: Los Angeles indie rockers Inner Wave, who swung through China on tour last summer, have teamed up with Nanjing indie pop favorites Schoolgirl Byebye for a new single, “Automatic.” A synth-filled track that’s a natural fit for both acts, the woozy, cozy collaboration sounds like it was tons of fun to make for all involved. The music video even takes cues from Schoolgirl Byebye’s previous videos, filmed in grainy lo-fi home video format and following the pair on their adventures along the West Coast during their North American tour last autumn.

Pepper Heart 心椒椒 – 椒之味

Wuhan is swimming with new talent as of late, with Pepper Heart the latest act to pay close attention to. The four-piece all-female outfit walks that woozy line between wistful dream pop and brooding art rock, where reverb-soaked, synth-filled 80s alt-rock meets more contemporary lo-fi indie rock acts from the past two decades. But above all, it’s alive, brimming with a sense of melodic drive and a poetic charge that feels authentic and hard-earned. Fresh as they come.

Seon Ga – Fixing Messages

Using the conceptual framework suggested by homing pigeons (birds used to deliver messages), prolific producers thruoutin and Yu Hein, based in Beijing and Guangzhou, respectively, find a synthesis between their musical backgrounds and sonic wavelengths on Fixing Messages, released on Guangzhou label Jyugam. Delicately put together through more conventional communication methods (i.e. WeChat) it’s an immersive production: a deftly designed sonic excursion filled with drone-filled ambiance, tape manipulation, and found sounds. Patient, textured, and full-bodied, it’s the kind of music you soak in.

LATENINE6 – THE LATENIGHT SHOW

Shanghai-based rapper LATENINE6 takes us on a whirlwind tour of his psyche on the bubbly and light-hearted THE LATENIGHT SHOW, released with Delivery Music. Akin to channel surfing late at night, LATENINE’s latest has a lot of fun with the concept, giddily shifting gears and genres, a sonic shuffle that veers from woozy future pop to humid jazz-inflicted hip hop, coasting on the straightforward yet relatable musings of its host.

D.C. – Ambitious Greedy & Happy

Devilishly appealing and moving at such a frantic pace, Tianjin’s Division Control (aka D.C.) remind listeners of the fun to be had in the post punk world with their latest LP Ambitious Greedy & Happy. Bombastic and without an ounce of subtlety, the release perfectly captures the chaotic energy of the band’s live performances, hot-blooded swirls of post-punk, no wave, punk blues, and free jazz, while highlighting their cockeyed lyricism and the charisma of circus ringleader Kong Bo.

Nemassle 匿名私聊 – Abused Moment 受辱时刻

Hefei rockers Nemassle rallies against the absurdity of our modern age via their hefty, tightly-wound debut Abused Moment. Tight, energetic, and sonically engaging, the young band, part of a generation of rockers left to fend for themselves as they went through adolescence over the past few years, skirt along the edge of rock and roll’s more riotous cousins — grunge, pop punk, noise rock, psych rock, and scream — all captured with gusto over cold-eyed observations of the world around them. It’s a hell of a showcase, one that feels both earnestly old school yet determinedly of its time. Simply put, it rocks.

GG Long Xia – 斑蝶 Stain (ft. Kyra Zilver)

GG Long Xia (GG 龙虾), “the unruly boy from Hangzhou,” brings his kinetic, buoyant, and bombastic blend of autotuned cloud rap, meme-stunted pop music, and internet-deconstructed electronica to life on his latest music video and single, “STAIN.” Essentially a gaudy anarchist take on Pokémon lore, it’s a fine showcase for the rising star’s idiosyncratic sound and aesthetic.

Banner image by Haedi Yue.