Live China Music Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Have you ever wondered why a country with a population of 1.4 billion people hasn’t produced a global superstar yet? China’s music scene is rich, diverse, and colorful but hardly ever reaches other countries. 

Those of you into classical music probably heard of Lang Lang and Yo-Yo Ma, if into post-rock then Wang Wen and Chinese Football are names you might be familiar with, and the metalheads out there could possibly have heard of Nine Treasures. But these bands barely scrape the top of the iceberg.

Will Griffith, founder of the longest lasting blog on China’s indie scene, Live China Music, and myself, Elie Rosenberg, hope to take you on a discovery of this bubbling music scene, with new episodes every two weeks covering the latest releases.

We will focus on emerging artists, although if a particularly noteworthy track comes out from an established or legacy act, we won’t fail to mention it. All the music we cover is from artists based in China. 

If you enjoy it and would like to hear more, support us by sharing the podcast around, and follow us to keep updated on new episodes.

In this episode, our sound benefits from a little help from a friend. And we cover fewer tracks to keep it within a reasonable listening time.

00:00 Intro

Tracks:

1. 01:24 Clouds / 施鑫文月 

https://open.spotify.com/track/57plpQi7uc04O35JoYx1tR?si=325fc49ecc754107

2. 07:07 Space Ship / Lumi Liu 刘敏

https://open.spotify.com/track/1vkRiPstiPeCRUXrV4CICv?si=4812fef7d0d840c0 

3. 13:42 ēmOLè (是谁emo了) / Twinklestar

https://open.spotify.com/track/52XvChC7JAPDjhcTJXoTkb?si=3fa40c2a6d444f40 

4. 19:58 冬季一人食 / 饭卡

https://open.spotify.com/track/2GyQS6QGVkP1AtY2lbCLwu?si=709fab5721054db0 

About us:

The mission of the Live China Music Podcast is to shed light on Chinese music, providing listeners with insights and information on the Chinese music scene that they would not be able to obtain elsewhere.

The show follows a similar structure to inspiring podcasts such as NPR’s New Music Friday.

During more or less 30-minutes episodes, Will and I review and discuss 4 to 6 tracks per episode, featuring audio clips of the reviewed songs. The songs discussed have been released less than a month prior. There is no musical genre excluded, but the editorial focus will be on emerging artists, even though on occasion established or legacy acts can be featured if the track is particularly noteworthy. Only artists living in China are reviewed in this program.

We systematically sign waivers with the artists or their label to ensure we do not infringe their copyright.

Hope you'll enjoy and please support by sharing around, don't hesitate to reach out by finding us on instagram (livechinamusic or zefrenchvillain) or writing to livechinamusic@gmail.com

Credits:

Producer: Elie Rosenberg

Co-producer: William Griffith

Editor: Elie Rosenberg

Special thanks:

Brad M. Seippel

Zhang Xin

Liu Fei

This is our very first episode! It is a bit long, the recording is not best, but the content is the freshest you can get on releases happening in China right now!

Track list (band or artist name / track name):

• Wishtoday / 广岛之恋还有哥伦比亚可乐是我们的最后一场演出
• The Cheers Cheers / Forest of Mine
  
  • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3VPEr31bM31PuG2RiIg0VX?si=0bkdbOAaRQuUHlrKuIPWFw 
• GUAN / itch
  
  • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2yjsBPdhHNFi4vUHjqhjkB?si=a038e3eac0eb4666
• 黑木 / 通往依斯的路程
  • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3Am6r1BWbb2DS5Zi07zGAX?si=8a30c2bf472f40b0 
• Khunathi / Misty Mountain Pagoda
  • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4y6hiXz3qeo2Jb4PGdKCvC?si=ef5755891fbe465c 
  • Bandcamp: https://wvsorcerer.bandcamp.com/track/misty-mountain-pagoda 
• 想想 / 关心人事物
  • Spotify: not this track, but their artist page https://open.spotify.com/artist/255mjLJit0iEFzAQ0foJiU 
• Jellyeeee / FLOURISH
  • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6c76FNk054uGhUp8z9QXZu?si=acbcfd083c0e4db6 

Please note that some of these tracks are not available outside of China for the moment. If you find them intriguing and want more, please do let us know so we can encourage the artists to publish outside of Chinese platforms.

About us:

The mission of the Live China Music Podcast is to shed light on Chinese music, providing listeners with insights and information on the Chinese music scene that they would not be able to obtain elsewhere.

The show follows a similar structure to inspiring podcasts such as NPR’s New Music Friday.

During 30-minutes episodes, Will and I review and discuss 4 to 6 tracks per episode, featuring audio clips of the reviewed songs. The songs discussed have been released less than a month prior. There is no musical genre excluded, but the editorial focus will be on emerging artists, even though on occasion established or legacy acts can be featured if the track is particularly noteworthy. Only artists living in China are reviewed in this program.

We systematically sign waivers with the artists or their label to ensure we do not infringe their copyright.

Published: Feb. 22nd 2025

Credits:

Producer: Elie Rosenberg

Co-producer: William Griffith

Editor: Elie Rosenberg

Special thanks:

Brad M. Seippel

This episode covers protopunk rockabilly, a folk ballad, and various declinations of rock.  Hope you'll enjoy and please support by sharing around, don't hesitate to reach out by finding us on instagram (livechinamusic).

Tracks:

1. 青鹿 - 光,照不到的地方 Black Sun 

       Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6MQ02KoiqPrOvGifca8TJD?si=43faecc9c5d04d66 

2. 穆静MU - 牛羊

版权提供: 北河三(北京)文化传媒有限公司 词曲: 穆静 

 表演者: 穆静 

        Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/5uT1cQsvdLx1glwW5EaMeb?si=ac43e97357f04d45 

3. 白麝香TheWhiteMusk - Leather Biker

        Bandcamp: https://thewhitemusk.bandcamp.com/track/leather-biker 

4. ihateEmmett - Chronic

       Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6jf7p3WKdgHXnDUAp5qdbI?si=9b751c7f2a4b44f4 

5. Wasted Laika - 赌狗

       Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0pPlblVDa0Wx4NqQq0jdDa?si=f5a81f2029f54854 

6. 吉米的猜想 - 屋顶的牙

      Bandcamp: www.jimidecaixiang.bandcamp.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:00 Track 1: Black Sun

08:17 Track 2: Cows and Sheep

12:44 Track 3: Leather Biker

15:10 Track 4: Chronic

19:15 Track 5: Gambling Dog

24:47 Track 6: The Roof's Tooth

30:20 News and outro

About us:

The mission of the Live China Music Podcast is to shed light on Chinese music, providing listeners with insights and information on the Chinese music scene that they would not be able to obtain elsewhere.

The show follows a similar structure to inspiring podcasts such as NPR’s New Music Friday.

During more or less 30-minutes episodes, Will and I review and discuss 4 to 6 tracks per episode, featuring audio clips of the reviewed songs. The songs discussed have been released less than a month prior. There is no musical genre excluded, but the editorial focus will be on emerging artists, even though on occasion established or legacy acts can be featured if the track is particularly noteworthy. Only artists living in China are reviewed in this program.

We systematically sign waivers with the artists or their label to ensure we do not infringe their copyright.

Hope you'll enjoy and please support by sharing around, don't hesitate to reach out by finding us on instagram (livechinamusic or zefrenchvillain) or writing to livechinamusic@gmail.com

Credits:

Producer: Elie Rosenberg

Co-producer: William Griffith

Hosts: Elie Rosenberg & Will Griffith

Editor: Elie Rosenberg

Special Thanks:

- Tang Yi

- Jiang Shaofeng

Published March 15th 2025

In this episode we cover a wide variety of new tracks, with some chill and fun tracks but also ones veering into breakcore and screamo.

Track List:

1. Nothing Special, Just Singing All The Way (没啥特别的) 

Thermostat恒温

https://open.spotify.com/track/08DMYm5RgjTjpz6Rumzaqk?si=95b6a7fa5e434c7b

2. 世界第一自恋狂（World's No.1 Narcissist）

浪味仙贝 Lonely Cookies

https://open.spotify.com/track/6srFL7c43ZYECmgKlfZ7YR?si=f05df74d759b45d7 

3. 灰虹 Part2

匿名私聊乐队 Nemassle

4. Bloom And Decay (庆典) 

散瞳散 San Tong San

https://open.spotify.com/track/0fKGt0RgI7mGwRYngwHQTM?si=1b031d6de18f438c 

5. Humanity

FEED乐队

https://feedfeedfeedtheband.bandcamp.com/album/first-ep

6. 12

郁云 Emo Cloud

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:39 Track 1: Nothing Special, Just Singing All The Way

05:03 How to find Chinese music?

07:01: Track 2: World's No.1 Narcissist

13:58: Track 3: Grey Rainbow, Part 2

16:17: Comments on the Chinese music industry

19:14: Track 4: Bloom And Decay

23:20: Track 5: Humanity

26:47: Track 6: 12

30:10: News and outro

About us:

The mission of the Live China Music Podcast is to shed light on Chinese music, providing listeners with insights and information on the Chinese music scene that they would not be able to obtain elsewhere.

The show follows a similar structure to inspiring podcasts such as NPR’s New Music Friday.

During more or less 30-minutes episodes, Will and I review and discuss 4 to 6 tracks per episode, featuring audio clips of the reviewed songs. The songs discussed have been released less than a month prior. There is no musical genre excluded, but the editorial focus will be on emerging artists, even though on occasion established or legacy acts can be featured if the track is particularly noteworthy. Only artists living in China are reviewed in this program.

We systematically sign waivers with the artists or their label to ensure we do not infringe their copyright.

Hope you'll enjoy and please support by sharing around, don't hesitate to reach out by finding us on instagram (livechinamusic or zefrenchvillain) or writing to livechinamusic@gmail.com 

Credits:

Producer: Elie Rosenberg

Co-producer: William Griffith

Hosts: Elie Rosenberg & Will Griffith

Editor: Elie Rosenberg

Special Thanks:

Sam Debell

Published March 29th 

In which we discuss a wide variety of tracks, from gqom to punk to jazz, all freshly released in China! 

Erratum: Please note that we realized after recording that the pronouns of ADEAD, one of the artists covered in this episode, are "they/it"! 

Track list:

1. //刻奇秀 / Riot In School

   Bandcamp: https://riotinschool.bandcamp.com/album/punk-rock-blasphemy 

2. 聲音(Voices) /  聲聲聲乐队

3. Sisterhood / Free Sex Shop

   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4K9p0YQfnoTnlaVFTtPp0b?si=l3iVTC7YTm-T2Jl2RjfDig 

4. Pale Monsters / Love Letter Lost

   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/25iV0gwC8O9YpwLDw2hTrR?si=da3567060d5c4b23 

5. Move! Move!  / ADEAD

   Bandcamp: https://seippelabel.bandcamp.com/album/seippelabel-vol-14 

6. Fleeting / Linfeng

   Spotify (artist page): https://open.spotify.com/artist/3tx89hHv2Df0fnC8AcEmU1?si=hJWVb8nMSxOdB4dwE20c9A 

About us:

The mission of the Live China Music Podcast is to shed light on Chinese music, providing listeners with insights and information on the Chinese music scene that they would not be able to obtain elsewhere.

The show follows a similar structure to inspiring podcasts such as NPR’s New Music Friday.

During more or less 30-minutes episodes, Will and I review and discuss 4 to 6 tracks per episode, featuring audio clips of the reviewed songs. The songs discussed have been released less than a month prior. There is no musical genre excluded, but the editorial focus will be on emerging artists, even though on occasion established or legacy acts can be featured if the track is particularly noteworthy. Only artists living in China are reviewed in this program.

We systematically sign waivers with the artists or their label to ensure we do not infringe their copyright.

Hope you'll enjoy and please support by sharing around, don't hesitate to reach out by finding us on instagram (livechinamusic or zefrenchvillain) or writing to livechinamusic@gmail.com 

Credits:

Producer: Elie Rosenberg

Co-producer: William Griffith

Hosts: Elie Rosenberg & Will Griffith

Editor: Elie Rosenberg

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:25 Track 1: Riot In School

10:31 Track 2: Sheng Sheng Sheng

16:34 Track 3: Free Sex Shop

20:35 Track 4: Love Letter Lost

23:52 Will offers an idea for a future special episode

24:10 Track 5: ADEAD

28:52 Track 6: Linfeng

33:20 Outro

Does it feel like a lot of music is released in March, are there months where there’s a much higher volume of releases here?

We have something for the metal fans today, a few tracks that show appreciation for and inspiration from Japanese music, and some good vibes. Please note this track has one occurence of foul language, for journalistic reasons!

Track list:

1. Peer review by Oxen / Smiqra

Bandcamp: https://hoplites.bandcamp.com/album/r-ya-dz-e 

2. 富贵老登 (The Rich Elderly) / 程序正义 Procedural Justice

3. Yes, We love Number Girl / 紅髮少年殺人事件

Bandcamp: https://smallanimalsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/brutal-girl-delusion 

4. Howee / Koda

https://kodasluvtheme.bandcamp.com/album/howee 

5. BALLOON / Wang Di

6. Give Up / 怕繁杂 Polyphozia

https://polyphozia.bandcamp.com/album/give-up 

Some of the artists reviewed have not yet published these tracks on the usual platforms, if we can we'll try to update the links!

Published April 12th 2025

About us:

The mission of the Live China Music Podcast is to shed light on Chinese music, providing listeners with insights and information on the Chinese music scene that they would not be able to obtain elsewhere.

The show follows a similar structure to inspiring podcasts such as NPR’s New Music Friday.

During more or less 30-minutes episodes, Will and I review and discuss 4 to 6 tracks per episode, featuring audio clips of the reviewed songs. The songs discussed have been released less than a month prior. There is no musical genre excluded, but the editorial focus will be on emerging artists, even though on occasion established or legacy acts can be featured if the track is particularly noteworthy. Only artists living in China are reviewed in this program.

We systematically sign waivers with the artists or their label to ensure we do not infringe their copyright.

Hope you'll enjoy and please support by sharing around, don't hesitate to reach out by finding us on instagram (livechinamusic or zefrenchvillain) or writing to livechinamusic@gmail.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:42 Is March busy for music releases in China?

04:19: Track 1: Smiqra

10:40: Elie’s Hot Take?

12:33: Track 2: Procedural Justice

16:50: Track 3: Red-Haired Girl Murder Case

23:13: Track 4: Koda

27:00: Track 5: Wang Di

31:11: Track 6: Polyphozia

35:15: Some news and outro

Credits:

Producer: Elie Rosenberg

Co-producer: William Griffith

Hosts: Elie Rosenberg & Will Griffith

Editor: Elie Rosenberg

What a haul for this episode with tracks from some incredible artists spanning from a retro Cantopop-inspired offering, to various flavours of folk, experimental electronic music and a cool surf rock song that makes for a feel good episode of the Live China Music Podcast. 

Besides the bands and tracks featured here, we also mention several noteworthy labels and musicians such as experimental guitar master Li Jianhong, and Zhang Meng who’s recently released an interesting sheng-based record with Dusty Ballz Records from London, or BIE, another great record label based in China. 

Track List:

采茶 / Run Run Run

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3wocLIOWySbdHRrDf7tqFw?si=dadf6283aa594f6c

烈日独行 / Instinkto Industrio

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/30OPDKLeqcQ20jcBCzlTl3?si=FXPNsnGBSJCqJI8U4aT-Tw

倒嘴 / 卢江波 Lu Jiangbo

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4nkXIWMIjJmTbZj7bFxtw3?si=83caf4b314fb41cf

苏唱街老郎堂 /  大叶 Da Ye

Bandcamp: https://daye3.bandcamp.com/album/road-to-spring

神话 / DJ小女孩 

Bandcamp: https://djgurl.bandcamp.com/album/7

混凝土冲浪 / The Bootlegs

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3ZmqF1XTVFJDZT5pjbPQyw?si=4dd64850ad3f436c 

Bandcamp: 2019 album I feel good: https://thebootlegschina.bandcamp.com/album/i-feel-good 

About us:

The mission of the Live China Music Podcast is to shed light on Chinese music, providing listeners with insights and information on the Chinese music scene that they would not be able to obtain elsewhere.

The show follows a similar structure to inspiring podcasts such as NPR’s New Music Friday.

During more or less 30-minutes episodes, Will and I review and discuss 4 to 6 tracks per episode, featuring audio clips of the reviewed songs. The songs discussed have been released less than a month prior. There is no musical genre excluded, but the editorial focus will be on emerging artists, even though on occasion established or legacy acts can be featured if the track is particularly noteworthy. Only artists living in China are reviewed in this program.

We systematically sign waivers with the artists or their label to ensure we do not infringe their copyright.

Hope you'll enjoy and please support by sharing around, don't hesitate to reach out by finding us on instagram (livechinamusic or zefrenchvillain) or writing to livechinamusic@gmail.com 

Credits:

Producer: Elie Rosenberg

Co-producer: William Griffith

Hosts: Elie Rosenberg & Will Griffith

Editor: Elie Rosenberg

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:54 Track 1: Picking Tea, by Run Run Run

04:45 Parenthesis on our May holidays

06:19 Track 2: Walking Alone Under A Scorching Sun, by Instinkto Industrio

11:39 Track 3: Reverse Mouth, by Lu Jiangbo

16:35 Track 4: Laolang Temple in Suchang Street， by Da Ye

20:12 Track 5: Spirit Talks, by DJ Xiao Nv Hai

26:05 Track 6: Concrete Surfing, by The Bootlegs

29:43 Outro

Featuring one of China’s most respected hip-hop artists, 小老虎 J-Fever, but we also have some excellent tracks from Kunming, some heartfelt punk and more on this episode which comes a little late because of a few scheduling and technical issues on the editing side.

Track List:

1. Lovers Of Highway, South Acid Mimi

Bandcamp: https://southacidmimi.bandcamp.com/album/lovers-of-highway 

2. Momentary Vortex 片刻旋螺, Cephalosis

Bandcamp: https://cephalosis0.bandcamp.com/album/wuthering-heights 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4CxDLRQYWtSENjNyDjEL2n?si=21c8e9117c774d23 

3. Chromatic Fantasy, littlesweetpotato

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/40BmZoBbT2KnPLQt64J2Qy?si=8d9b7c6e74f74eeb 

4. 这心跳也不是你的, 小老虎

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1pG1veuJTaocGolEKd5dQS?si=3945a69936ea4fe3

5. 没有意义, GaiWaEr

Bandcamp: https://gaiwaer.bandcamp.com/album/--4 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/25MBBCjjsCXM5vQZnRa4aW?si=fad5976cbc3a483a 

6. 问题总是那么多, C.S.B.Q

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1gWdJ8CJAyvkYdN1doLOqt?si=7ca289ea9f4b42d7 

About us:

The mission of the Live China Music Podcast is to shed light on Chinese music, providing listeners with insights and information on the Chinese music scene that they would not be able to obtain elsewhere.

The show follows a similar structure to inspiring podcasts such as NPR’s New Music Friday.

During more or less 30-minutes episodes, Will and I review and discuss 4 to 6 tracks per episode, featuring audio clips of the reviewed songs. The songs discussed have been released less than a month prior. There is no musical genre excluded, but the editorial focus will be on emerging artists, even though on occasion established or legacy acts can be featured if the track is particularly noteworthy. Only artists living in China are reviewed in this program.

We systematically sign waivers with the artists or their label to ensure we do not infringe their copyright.

Hope you'll enjoy and please support by sharing around, don't hesitate to reach out by finding us on instagram (livechinamusic or zefrenchvillain) or writing to livechinamusic@gmail.com 

Credits:

Producer: Elie Rosenberg

Co-producer: William Griffith

Hosts: Elie Rosenberg & Will Griffith

Editor: Elie Rosenberg

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:40 Track 1: South Acid Mimi (synth wave)

08:56 Track 2: Cephalosis (cold wave)

13:43 Track 3: littlesweetpotato (electro)

18:17 Track 4: J-Fever (hip-hop)

24:20 Track 5: GaiWaEr (punk)

29:44 Track 6: C.S.B.Q. (punk)

Where we cover egg punk, nursery rhymes, some shoegaze, and among others, an artist which has been a major influence for one of us at the beginning of their China years, and a band that is arguably the best live act in China today.

Track list:

1. Wu-Chang Library 天東閣 / 沉默橙

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0ALfmwuJ5wJJlt3pn7SwFM?si=83ac3801144b4a5e 

1. 小难过 / Pumpkins 小南瓜

Spotify artist page: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6sNjrPpF5mA7AXH2X8FtlJ?si=Yno26lxxSG-0n3YSGmlBUw 

1. Waste Of Time / mengzhumeng

Bandcamp: https://mengzhumeng.bandcamp.com/album/social-reintegration-demo-1 

1. 玻璃做的 / Silly Function

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3S7Nldv2ZkT6T7JWC7hpen?si=861ff57cdbe44e24 

Bandcamp artist page: https://sillyfunction.bandcamp.com 

1. 望川潮 / 詹盼

1. 卢沟桥 / 小河与寻摇计划

Project Spotify page: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2EQaYTsagYgRssoLjg7jc9 

Xiao He’s Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3HQtVlagT1RApOFulrNoJ6?si=qlnsBHheSniyz80E7-LR_g 

We always try to include links to Bandcamp and/or Spotify, however in some cases the tracks have not been uploaded there. We will try to update if artists let us know there has been a change.

About us:

The mission of the Live China Music Podcast is to shed light on Chinese music, providing listeners with insights and information on the Chinese music scene that they would not be able to obtain elsewhere.

During more or less 30-minutes episodes, Will and I review and discuss 4 to 6 tracks per episode, featuring audio clips of the reviewed songs. The songs discussed have been released less than a month prior. There is no musical genre excluded, but the editorial focus will be on emerging artists, even though on occasion established or legacy acts can be featured if the track is particularly noteworthy. Only artists living in China are reviewed in this program.

We systematically sign waivers with the artists or their label to ensure we do not infringe their copyright.

Hope you'll enjoy and please support by sharing around, don't hesitate to reach out by finding us on instagram (livechinamusic or zefrenchvillain) or writing to livechinamusic@gmail.com 

Credits:

Producer: Elie Rosenberg

Co-producer: William Griffith

Hosts: Elie Rosenberg & Will Griffith

Editor: Elie Rosenberg

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:16 Track 1: Wu-Chang Library (neo-psychedelic)

08:09 Track 2: A little sad (punk)

13:17 Track 3: Waste Of Time (egg punk)

18:28 Track 4: Made Of Glass (emo/shoegaze)

22:50 Track 5: Wang Chuan Chao (indie pop)

29:22 Track 6: Lugou Bridge (nursery rhyme)

35:08 Outro