With many of the biggest names in Chinese underground and alternative music currently touring in support of releases from earlier in the summer, August offers a chance to immerse yourself in new sounds from underrated music scene veterans as well as fresh up-and-coming artists. Plus, there’s strong representation from Guangzhou and Kunming, cities which are often overshadowed by Beijing and Shanghai, but deliver in spades when it comes to DIY spirit — Editor.
City Flanker – A Long Tomorrow
Hangzhou’s City Flanker have been leisurely floating around the indie scene for over a decade, evolving and molding their dream pop sound into new shapes and expressions over the years — with everything from synth pop to city pop finding its way in. Their latest album, A Long Tomorrow, is perhaps their most atmospheric and sensual yet, leaning into a humid chillwave groove with ease and hazy allure. With retro-fitted yet lush production that makes great use of the band’s synths and stream-of-consciousness lyricism, it adheres closer to the work of Washed Out, Tame Impala, and Caribou, capturing the dreamy romanticism of a sun-bleached road trip where time ceases to exist.
Sweet Tie 碎叠 – There and Back Again 朝往暮归
Emerging instrumental rock outfit Sweet Tie craft a touching and thematic debut with There and Back Again. Looking to confer the changing seasons with a sense of wonder, resilience, and joy, the album — which touches on everything from math rock jams to ambient head trips — feels very much like a landscape painting come to life, rekindling memories of cherished locations and simply allowing us to lose ourselves in the beauty of the natural world. Its masterstroke, though, lies in the human element at the center of these vistas — a sincerity that only comes from wearing your emotions on your sleeves. It might sneak up on you.
The Asian Intelligence Kids 亞細亞報童 – 蓝心
T.A.I.K aka The Asian Intelligence Kids, from Qingdao, are a melodic punk band in the vein of East Asian greats such as The Blue Hearts, Stance Punks, and Cobra. Born from the homecoming of Qingdao boy turned Beijing punk stalwart Li Yang (aka Spike of Demerit fame), the band features Li on guitar and Chi Sang on vocals. Altogether it’s a tender, introspective, and more melancholic take on the genre, especially compared to the hard-edged street punk of Li’s band in the capital. Yet don’t let that steer you away: their album is one of the finest punk releases this year. a sincere, embracing, and evocative collection with tracks that manage to find strength and hope in the face of change and struggle, knowing damn well you can never go back.
Zaliva-D – 萬物枯萎 Total Withered
Fans of Zaliva-D’s signature atmospheric industrial tribal rave music will be happy to know that the Beijing act are in fine form on their latest release, Total Withered, released with WV Sorcerer Productions. The duo (made up of Li Chao and Aisin-Gioro Yuanjin, who produces the band’s visuals) has always leaned toward the darker end of the electronic music spectrum, garnishing their sound with pulse-pounding warehouse beats and distorted shamanistic chants. But their latest seems to be embracing their esoteric tendencies with a more playful vitality, stretching out its trance-inducing grooves to let every twist and turn be felt. In the words of their label, it could serve “as a soundtrack for your mental funeral.”
Zean – No Roots
A seminal figure in the underground electronic scene in Shanghai for years, producer Zean looks to give rhythmic life to the “culturally barren land” before him on his latest EP, No Roots, released on homegrown electronic label Gully Riddim. The release is a more somber and atmospheric take on the producer’s usual boisterous blend of neo grime, UK bass, and gqom. Zean tones down the energy and instead allows each track’s slower tempo to reveal layers upon layers of sound design thumping with intrigue and aural stimuli. Those tracks are further deconstructed courtesy of remixes from Argentinian producer Jaijiu and South African producer Jumping Back Slash.
PPT/C.H.O.U. – PPT/C.H.O.U.
PPT — fastcore power violence from the depths of Kunming’s underground rock scene — join forces with C.H.O.U. (aka Chaotic Humanity Observation Union), their Chinese brethren in Edinburgh, UK. The split release features leftover tracks from PPT’s debut album, Sad Boy Violence 2023, whose “take no prisoners” approach is primal in its blunt force. Meanwhile, C.H.O.U, who add a dash of crust punk and sludge into their chaotic blend, sound like something that may have come out of California in the mid-90s. Riotous stuff for those who like their music to come at them fast and furious.
xmo – Guide of self-immolation for youth in fire
Fresh-faced math rock fanatic xmo brings his breadth of knowledge and love for the genre to fruition on his rollicking debut Guide of self-immolation for youth in fire. In this immensely enjoyable, deft, and apt hybrid of various strains within instrumental rock’s more count-crazy cousin, xmo is the equivalent of Tarantino paying homage to his favorites, with the Qingdao artist not so much evoking masters of the genre as actively paying tribute to them within each track, from international legends like toe and Slint to domestic acts like Chinese Football and Little Wizard. There’s a barreling fluency at play here that can be both exhilarating and exhausting, with nary a chance to breathe in between each piece. Whatever the case, xmo is a name to keep your eyes out for in the future.
鼠鼠鼠 – the three mice
Shenzhen DIY imprint Small Animals continues their hot streak this year with their latest: the three mice, from 鼠鼠鼠 (shǔ shǔ shǔ, literally the characters for mouse written three times). The debut from the emerging Guangzhou indie outfit is as good as they come, a guitar-heavy kaleidoscope of lingering memories and adolescent angst capturing the afterglow of youth with rapturous vitality. There’s a psychedelic guitar rock veneer to the oftentimes tender indie sound, most notably on the moving, sax-laced slow burn “凌晨三点” (3 AM), an indie pop ballad that’s sweeping in its raw sentiment. Intimate and grand all at once, it’s one of the year’s best debuts.
Mdprl & Git Busy Trio – BA*
Mdprl & GitBu$y Trio, a Cantonese jazz hip hop group from Guangzhou, bring leisurely charm to their debut, BA*, released by Space Fruity Records. Buoyed by a breezy instrumental jazz tang that feels lived in, a loose hip hop swagger, and a nonchalant attitude that could only come from down south, Mdprl & GitBu$y Trio wisely avoid the exaggerated standoffish behavior of most hip hop acts, instead treating each track as a hangout session (or in some cases, a cooking manual). Let those Cantonese flavors sink in.
Run! Rabbit Run! – Hare Talk (Cover)
Repping Silver Cloud, a Kunming-based all-female collective of renegade artists and musicians who teeter gleefully on the edge between the electronic and rock scene, duo Run! Rabbit Run! (made up of A Guan and Xiao Hu) combines trip hop, drum and bass, and experimental club music to create brooding granular electronica that taps into the dark underbelly of society while reveling in mysticism, feminism, and the power of the moon. Their latest is Hare Talk (Cover), a delightfully anarchic collection of covers. Much of the fun is seeing how the duo “declare war” on each cover, painting each song in a completely new light, from contemporary hip hop artist Zeming Xu’s track “黑洞与飞梦” to The Stooges’ seminal “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” It’s also nice to hear classics from the black-and-white era getting some play too, from the Ink Spots’ “I Don’t Want To Set the World On Fire“ to Harry Roy’s double entendre-filled 1930s jazz ditty. Deviant good times abound.
Banner image by Haedi Yue.
