Check out more articles relating to our July editorial theme of “Music & Movement,” like the one below, here.
We’re back with another edition of New China Music, rounding up the most exciting releases to hit our radar this July. From emotionally raw hip hop and boundary-pushing electronic experiments to blistering post-punk, hazy indie rock, and cinematic ambient soundscapes, this month’s selection is a reminder that China’s independent music scene refuses to stand still.
Established names continue to reinvent themselves while a new wave of artists arrives with bold ideas and zero interest in staying inside genre lines. Whether you’re looking for your next obsessive repeat listen or simply want a snapshot of where Chinese music is heading right now, this latest roundup offers plenty to dive into. Plug in your headphones—there’s a lot waiting to be discovered.
Lie劣 – Landfill 垃圾场
Guizhou-based producer Liè, who turned heads last year with a slew of releases under the moniker DJ Gurl, steps in front of the mic and bares his soul on Landfill. Taking much of the ingenious, genre-splicing innovation of his work as a producer, and with the help of some top-tier talent (including rappers and singers like jackzebra, Billionhappy, and eden2001), Lie introduces himself as a rapper and singer here, diving deep into his fractured and wounded psyche in the process. Raw, unapologetic, vulnerable, and bold — Lie lays it all out there, the beautiful and the ugly, navigating both his personal struggles and the queer community at large, all while feverishly blending a whirlpool of influences and samples. A dense piece of work that unveils more and more with each spin.
the three mice 鼠鼠鼠 – where is my mice?
Shenzhen indie outfit the three mice make good on the promise of their stellar 2024 EP with their full-length debut, where is my mice?, released via Small Animal Records. A chaotic medley of the creative voices and styles that have shaped China’s DIY indie music scene — impassioned skramz ballistics, reverb-drenched guitars decked in shoegaze apparel, shaggy slowcore cogitation, and twee indie pop bittersweetness — the three mice feel like the précis of how far the underground indie scene has come over the past decade, and a lighthouse for the next generation. Raw, vulnerable, and assembled with both delicate craft and blazing intensity, it’s a knockout of an album.
夏日麼麼茶 Summertime Sadness – 夏日麽麽茶
Shenzhen’s Summertime Sadness brings the energy of its combustible live-wire performances to its latest self-titled LP — a live-in-studio recording that catches fire within the first couple of minutes and doesn’t let up until the very end. Dubbed the Liu Ying Sessions, it’s easy to see why the band considers this its definitive album, with its gritty effects pushed well past safe levels, its clockwork dance grooves even more infectious, its stripped-down post-punk aesthetics blunter, and its acidic lyrics more urgent. There’s a restless (bordering on exhausting at times) quality to its darting rhythms and abrasive levels of distortion — but you’d better believe it makes you want to get up and move.
Craone – Kaleido Mirage
Electronic music label Shy People strikes gold with emerging Nanning producer Craone’s debut, Kaleido Mirage. Drawn from the remnants of a scrapped semi-autobiographical film soundtrack, the album is deeply inspired by the gritty cinematic worlds shaped by auteurs like John Cassavetes and the Safdie Brothers, translating visual tension and raw energy into the fluid framework of electronic music by reshaping and recombining field recordings, industrial noise, and song fragments into “auditory landscapes.” Chaotic with drifting internet samples and spliced, off-the-cuff jazz drums, yet melodic in its swelling vintage synths and ambient texturing, it’s an undeniable work reminiscent of Four Tet and Boards of Canada — atmospheric, immersive, and lived-in.
Nono 张醒婵 – Catch My Boomerang 手接我的回旋镖
Singer-songwriter, producer, guitar virtuoso, and jack-of-all-trades Zhang Xingchan, aka Nono, returns with her long-awaited sophomore LP, Catch My Boomerang. A bold leap forward for the artist, it retains her eccentric stylings and chaotic arrangements while giving the album a throughline that puts her immaculate pop sensibilities front and center, unafraid to push itself aesthetically while never losing its emotional core. It’s a dense piece of work — mesmerizing, audacious, and at times even confounding (the long-form sonic diary “A Pure End” will put off many, I’m sure). It captivates all the same — a rollercoaster ride through one of the indie scene’s most singular voices, and perhaps the emergence of a new kind of Mandopop star.
Hupo 琥珀 – a few sparks 二三星火
Long-standing Xi’an instrumental rock outfit Hupo (dropping their previous English moniker Amber) forges a bold new path on its assured, confident, and evolutionary new LP, a few sparks, released via 1724 Records. A dramatic shift into krautrock territory is only the beginning of the fresh surprises found across these eight tracks, with the band injecting psychedelic and jazz vitality, ambient and experimental music sensibilities, and even touches of traditional music for good measure. It’s a deconstruction of its post-rock roots that shakes everything loose, allowing the melodies to wander among hills of repeating motifs and clouds of sonic abstraction. A scenic journey rich with life and bursting at the seams. A transformative record that acts as a reintroduction to one of the scene’s most unsung acts.
Lei Jiulu 雷玖陆 – Huayang District 华阳小区
Shanghai-based rapper Lei Jiulu, aka LATENINE6, returns to his roots on his latest EP, Huayang District. An ode to the Shanghai neighborhood his parents moved to 30 years ago from the countryside, LATENINE6 brings tenderness and a light, empathetic touch to his recollections of childhood and the stories that unfolded there — from living in an illegal structure atop a building to a couple selling fried chicken outside his school gates. The production is spot on — lively, buoyant, and lived-in (the drums really shine here), lush with details that color each scene, whether it’s street-level ambience or Kunqu opera performers. Akin to a leisurely stroll through the city when the weather is just right, LATENINE6’s trip back to a past Shanghai is a delight.
I’m fine! Thank you! And you? – IFTYAY
Rising from the ashes of shoegaze act Jo’s Moving Day, Guangzhou’s deftly named I’m fine! Thank you! And you? once again build towering walls of sound alongside pummeling drums and the wispy vocals of Ruibi Qiu, finding that sweet spot between wistful nostalgia and enveloping heartbreak. Dreamy, sun-crisped rock ‘n’ roll that never forgets its pop sensibilities or shortchanges its sumptuous melodies — with oscillating synthesizers only sweetening the deal — IFTYAY has delivered as refined a debut as one could imagine. Its afterglow lingers long after.
GlassBath – Fragrant
Blackgaze done right — GlassBath delivers a hauntingly beautiful and brutal beatdown on Fragrant. Evoking “the spirit of early Ghost Bath and Sadness,” the mysterious depressive post-black metal project of Yangyu allows each track to swell with brooding sentiment and dreamlike atmosphere, twisting the knife ever so slowly until a cascade of wailing vocals and tremolo-picked guitars comes crashing down. It’s this juxtaposition of spiraling distorted chaos and bittersweet melodic melancholy that lingers long after. Suitably intense.
Zean – Off-Route Grooves
Gully Riddim — the electronic music label rooted in the dubstep and bass scene — returns with its latest release, Off-Route Grooves, courtesy of one of the label’s core curators, Zean. Attempting to build an “alternative,” Zean reshapes familiar fragments — stripped-down Latin-rooted rhythms and drum patterns — into something distinct and alluringly off-kilter. Subdued in the best possible way, Zean approaches the well-worn genre with fresh eyes and ears, the cherry on top being the twisty remixes from Chengdu-based producer Rev and Belgium-based DJ Bebedera.
All images courtesy of Will Griffith.
