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.
Site
RSS
Apple
Data updated on 16/08/2026
Recent rankings
Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.
Shared links between episodes and podcasts
Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.
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:
Producers: Elie Rosenberg & William Griffith
Hosts: Will Griffith & Elie Rosenberg
Editor: Elie Rosenberg
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:47 Fayzz (post-rock)
05:19 Naja Naja (indie rock)
09:46 The Beneficial Society (indie rock)
13:48 Shaketones (surf rock)
18:05 The Clinic (cold wave)
22:44 Acid Room (indie rock)
Special Episode: Punk with Alice
Season 2 · Episode 2
Monday, October 13, 2025 • Duration 36:18
Special episode with an amazing guest and a special focus on the latest in the Chinese punk scene!
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.
New Releases: Whetherday, A Fishy Tale 有话, Little Hippo, and more...
Season 2 · Episode 1
Friday, October 10, 2025 • Duration 29:55
We are rusty but we are back, with a new season starting, catching up in this episode on a few tracks released during the summer of 2025.
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.
New Releases: Amber 琥珀, Fisheye Lens, Rust Sucker, and more...
Season 1 · Episode 12
Monday, July 21, 2025 • Duration 30:05
With Elie galavanting around Europe this summer - we decided to invite prolific artist and producer Brad M. Seippel, who besides playing under the name thruoutin, runs the label Seippelabel. We discuss his work behind the scenes as well as the latest releases from Qiii Snacks Records out of Guangzhou. Plus, new lsuh instrumental rock from Xi'an Amber and Shanghai's Fog Umbrella, and hard-hitting punk courtesy of Beijing's Rust Sucker.
SUNK / 赤地千里 (ambient/electronic)
Fog Umbrella 雾伞 / Lost & Found 失与寻 (post rock)
Amber 琥珀 / Off the String 离弦 (post rock)
Fisheye Lens / POOL (indie)
yaredai sadsad 憂鬱的亞熱帶 / why don’t you come with me (emogaze)
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
New Releases: Summertime Sadness, Colombia Cola, Zhang Xingchan, Lur: and more...
Season 1 · Episode 10
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 • Duration 33:09
Coming in a few days late but fear not, we are back for a tenth episode full of goodies, spanning from math rock to electro madness straight from the Chinese mainland!
New Releases: Xiao He & The Nursery Rhyme Project, Pumpkins, Mengzhumeng, and more...
Season 1 · Episode 9
Friday, June 6, 2025 • Duration 35:39
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.
New Releases: 小老虎 J-Fever, South Acid Mimi, GaiWaEr, C.S.B.Q, and more....
Season 1 · Episode 8
Saturday, May 24, 2025 • Duration 36:03
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.
New Releases: Run Run Run, The Bootlegs, Instinkto Industrio, DJ 小女孩 and more...
Season 1 · Episode 7
Saturday, May 10, 2025 • Duration 31:18
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.
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.
Related Shows Based on Content Similarities
Discover shows related to Live China Music Podcast, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
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:
Producers: Elie Rosenberg & William Griffith
Hosts: Will Griffith & Alice (婷婷) from Borderless
Editor: Elie Rosenberg
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:44 Tour Announcement (Little Boys China Tour)
01:01 Episode start
03:53 Moya (eggpunk)
10:14 Eggsparty (eggpunk)
15:54 Alice explains where her project started
21:56 Gaiwaer (punk)
29:39 Return The Truth (hardcore)
33:32 Alice plugs Little Boys China Tour!
34:55 Outro
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 03:30 Whetherday 07:45 A Fishy Tale 12:27 Characterless 18:07 Little Hippo & Edine 23:19 Yukes & thruoutin
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
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
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
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
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