2019 Year in Review: The Best Chinese Albums of the Year
Getting to the end of a year in Beijing tends to leave you with more questions than answers, and when you're not searching in vain for that long-gone jianbing seller, you're dealing with quiet closures, noisy neighbors, and if you're really lucky, surprise laduzi. One thing's for sure: there's never a dull day in China's capital, and we hope for nothing less from 2020. For now, however, let's take a look back at the year that was 2019.
It’s that time of year. Time to scrap together all the earworms that wiggled their way into our frontal lobes, and try to paint a cohesive picture of the Chinese music scene as it currently stands. A daunting task, indeed – but one that unveils surprises at every turn.
What’s most notable about this year’s crop of stellar releases is the varied collection of returning favorites as well as the new labels finally hitting their stride. Labels like Ruby Eyes Records gobbled up acts across the whole musical spectrum and in turn, had more than a few hit releases. Electronic labels like Babel Records have steadily been bridging the gap between the studio and the dancefloor, and its shows in their robust catalog this year. Meanwhile, labels like Merrier Records (rising from the ashes of Douban's D-Force Records) made their presence known immediately with an eclectic and seasoned taste for genre-expanding bands and artists.
The old guard such as Maybe Mars and Modern Sky remain as vital as ever, hopping back and forth between debuting new acts and hyping veteran bands' strongest (and more often than not, most accessible) work yet. At the same time, there’s been an influx of new bands (The Bootlegs, Poetry in Shorts) and DIY-labels (SJ Records, Field Ring Recordings, Qiii Snacks Records, Wild Records) that have a keen understanding of the market and their fanbase and have utilized every means they have to make the biggest impact.
One final 2019 trend was the number of bands making waves outside of China via releasing music on international labels (Wharf Car Records for Gong Gong Gong, Damnably for Hiperson) – a clear sign that the Chinese scene is slowly infiltrating circles (and tastes) around the globe. Add that to rock music’s big breakthrough over the summer courtesy of talent show The Big Band, and you’ve got one of the most fruitful years in the Chinese music scene in some time.
On to the list. Earlier this summer we put out the best albums of the first half of the year – we highly recommend catching up with those first as this list focuses on the second half of the year, which was a hell of a lot stronger. Ideally, I would refine that list, maybe knock a couple of entrants off, replace something here or there, but really, what’s the point – it’s all worth a listen in the end. While the beginning of the list here holds those releases I feel strongest about (something that carries over from the Noise Pollution if you haven’t noticed) there’s really no order to the madness below.
Hiperson 海朋森 - Four Seasons 春夏秋冬
Comprised of four poems that lead singer Chen Sijiang wrote over the past eight years, Hiperson’s latest may not evoke the full-on post-punk opus that the Chengdu hopefuls struck gold with on their debut back in 2015, but similarly demands your attention. Separated between Chengdu and London (where Sijiang recorded the vocals) and representing the shifting seasons and temperaments of its young artists, it’s a beautifully realized EP that puts the band's tender lyrical pose front and center, casting a spell that lingers long after. And while the swirling angst-ridden guitars may be nowhere within ear range, it’s amazing how much emotional heft and magnetism the band can wrangle from their rhythmic interplay. A gem of a release that burrows deep into your soul.
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Howie Lee - 天地不仁
A fever dream of astounding precision and imagination, electronic maverick producer Howie Lee takes his years of world-building with otherworldly sounds to present his finest work yet. Ambitious in scale, singular in its audacious vision, Lee's densely-packed sophomore release kicks off with a Blade Runner-evoking symphony, throwing listeners into a brave new world, and it doesn’t let up, with the chorus instead calling upon Daoist-laced cyberpunk sacraments and robotic shamans to weave the chorus' sprawling soundscapes. There’s an operatic quality to what the artist accomplishes here – a neon-soaked Neuromantic musical that’s is every bit refined and assembled as it is downright bewildering and challenging.
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The Bootlegs (靴腿) - I Feel Good
Seemingly emerging out of nowhere, Qingdao’s The Bootlegs are a breath of fresh air – an endearing jangly bit of lo-fi surf pop that hits all the right buttons. Founded by lead singer Zhao Hong at the coastal city's mysterious No Future Club, the bedroom project eventually morphed into a full-fledged band. A mix of rustic cowboy frontier ambiance and lo-fi surf-gaze charm, the trio's debut feels both engrained in the past and embattled with the future, striking a chord somewhere between grainy nostalgia and adolescent deviance, as each guitar riff and bass groove charges forward into the sunset. A striking debut that feels tailormade for the indie scene at this current moment.
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Glow Curve (发光曲线) - Invisible History (荒野星)
Longstanding indie rock outfit Glow Curve returned this year with their latest piece of transcendent post-rock pop, reaching higher into the stratosphere as they expand their sound. With a stronger emphasis on vocals (particularly from Xue Ran whose ghostly, gruff voice is in top form here), slick, intricately layered electronic flourishes, and other well-timed instrumentation, the band seems to have found the perfect balance between dreamy futuristic dissonance and lush crescendoing rhythms. The result is a rush of an album that unveils something new with each spin, keeping you on your toes while needling its way into your heart.
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Poetry in Shorts (短裤里的诗歌) - 我还喜欢你
Rugged, psychedelic garage rock twists around the zombified corpse of blues-rock with grit to spare on Poetry in Shorts' I Still Like You. They're a band that is unabashed in their scrappy, smoky-lounge, tin-canned sound, with the true strength of the release lying in the rich lyrics and penetrating vocals. There’s a vitality and an innovative mischievous to the way the band, made up of members of fellow Shanghai punk outfit Dirty Fingers, tackle issues beholden to young adults, and particularly young adults trying to make it as rock stars. It’s a fearless album that feels authentic in its downtrodden and deviant luck.
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Chui Wan - Eye (眼)
Psychedelic groovers Chui Wan have always been a band content to play their own tune, pushing their esoteric and sometimes downright surreal sound to new territory and carving out their own little world. Their fourth LP sees the band evolving further and in many ways redefining themselves, displaying a more delicate, softer, and even poppier version of their psychedelic palette. Yan Yulong’s falsetto vocals find tender matrimony alongside some of the album’s more upbeat and propulsive melodies, while Wu Qiong continues to immerse herself fully in the album’s more atmospheric Nico-stylized tracks. In the end, the band really take off when they give into their sweeping psychedelic rhythms, which have never sounded as harmonious or inviting.
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Gong Gong Gong (工工工) - Phantom Rhythm (幽靈節奏)
Guitar and bass duo Gong Gong Gong, who have been haunting the Beijing music scene for years, came full circle on their dynamic and unique debut Phantom Rhythm. Made up of two of the underground scene’s old guard – Josh Frank of Hot & Cold and Tom Ng of The Offset:Spectacles – there’s a scrappy, stripped-back approach to the duo's maneuvering around the usual confines of rock and roll. It may be minimalistic on paper, but rather than leaning into perpetual grooves, Gong Gong Gong forge fascinating paths around their sound, sculpting topsy-turvy melodies interlaced with stories veiled by cryptic allure and danger. It’s an intoxicating mix, and in the end, one that charts its own unique course.
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J-Fever (小老虎) & Soulspeak - 北京吗
One of the hip-hop scene’s most respected (and underrated) acts, J-Fever, whose freewheeling, playful, philosophical, and often surrealist spin on the genre places him squarely against the fame-chasing acts out there, pays tribute to his home with the sincere and thoughtful 北京吗. Collaborating once again with LA-based producer Soulspeak, whose slick and bubbly beats make for a highly fluid and soulful backdrop, J-Fever infuses these 10 tracks with a jazzy, old-school ragtag absurdity that utilizes everything from traditional string instruments to vibrant high-pitched keys. Topics spat, meanwhile, encapsulate everything from the inflating price of airline tickets (blame the pretty flight attendants) to unintentional dissent in the emperor’s court. It’s a blazingly singular piece of work with an off-kilter Beat Generation, proving once again that there's no duo out there quite like J-Fever and Soulspeak.
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Yang Ji (养鸡) - 养鸡的梦境
Hangzhou singer-songwriter Yang Ji reoutfits her punk roots in atypical and alluring ways on her wildly impressive debut LP. "Yang Ji's Dreams" apparently play out to the sounds of KTV anime-pop tossed in the blender with lo-fi stylings, seamlessly blurring the line between vulnerability and keen self-awareness. It’s offbeat, bewildering, and unpretentious – both confessionally honest and affectionately sincere. That sincerity stretches to the deliriously giddy production, which utilizes everything from tortured guitar chords to kitschy synth horns to drive its dreamy funhouse aesthetic home. Couple that with wistful, quirky, and bittersweet lyrics, and you have a singular voice and style that’s easy to fall in love with.
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Guzz - Walking in a Boundless Dream (走不出的梦境)
Steering away from the heavier bass that his previous albums were infatuated with, Beijing-based producer Guzz has instead created an album of glistening beauty – a high-hued, mist-shrouded pastiche of traditional Asian sounds spliced with contemporary electronica. With an emphasis on digitally-created sounds (all of the instruments heard here were made via software) and inspired by the traditional instruments of Myanmar, India, and Japan, it’s clear the artist is angling for something novel. A cross between a scrolling Super Nintendo game soundtrack and an archeological excavation, it’s an endlessly rewarding album that’s light on its feet and brimming with ideas and otherworldly, yet organic sounds. Call it Asian new wave, or just sit back and soak in the atmosphere.
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Hai Qing (海青) x Li Xing (李星) - Utopian Daymare (乌飞兔走昼还夜)
A grizzled, burly, and sprawling psych-rock album that highlights Hai Qing and Li Xing’s affinity for prog rock spells, Utopian Daymore is what it would be like to take a freewheeling holiday of the Mongolian grassland with Marshall stack in tow. There’s an almost manic quality to the way these two throw everything in their arsenal at the wall, from reed-based sheng flailing to discordant guitar riffs pitted against free jazz saxophones. But what’s most satisfying about their concoction is the rustic rock and roll soul that permeates throughout the – arguably meandering at times – album, which finds moments of solace and offbeat beauty in the pairing of Hai Qing’s dusty-eyed frontiersman voice and Li Xing’s endlessly imaginative instrumentation.
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ZHI16 - ILLUSION
Beijing electronic producer ZHI16 veers deep into sci-fi territory on his sonically ambitious ILLUSION, sculpting his smooth, funk-driven sound into something darker and intergalactic. Meant to conjure images of a "cold, selfish, and human future," ZHI16 creates a dense atmosphere of dread, wonder, and technological tenacity that sounds for better or worse, authentic. Flushed with details, a keen sense of grandeur, and sound design that manages to retain (and sharpen) its club floor audacity, ZHI16 reaches for the stars and delivers. More importantly, the release hints at a world where China’s finest electronic producers evolve into being some of the film world’s finest composers.
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Peach Illusion (桃子假象) - 100% (百分百)
Former Xiamen duo (now Shanghai quartet) Peach Illusion, whose 2018 debut EP was one of our absolute favorites, return with a full liter of their fizzy indie-pop on their follow-up LP 100%. Fueled by sparkling and youthful energy, and buoyed by old-school Cantopop swagger in tiny beach shorts, there’s a lot to love with what the band has assembled here. It’s a wanderlust summer album that’s earnest in its lovesick ways, finding sweetness and lyrical richness in the everyday trials of being young at heart, with plenty of sun-bleached jangly pop riffs and fading skyline synths to help keep your chin up and your (just maybe) naive spirits high.
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Foster Parents - Idle Archipelago
Listening to Foster Parents' newest album Idle Archipelago, released on Guangzhou’s Qiii Snacks Records, is like being wrapped up in a warm blanket in front of the fireplace. Even as it tickles your earlobes with its math-rock time signatures and wildly inventive arrangements, there’s a tenderness at the heart of the Shanghai duo, which they render perfectly through their pop culture-filtered, autumn-hued instrumental jams. It’s a nifty magic trick – a rich sensory trip down memory lane dense in its details but also not afraid to nod towards its pop-punk earnestness or Midwest emo roots. Nothing’s taken for granted and every opportunity is seized, leading to a cohesive sound that’s pure, genuine, and devoid of pessimism. This is math rock you can take home to your parents.
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Slot Canyons - An Infinite Heat
Fresh off the scene, Wuhan's electronic label Field Ring Recordings gets off to a strong start with their debut release from Slot Canyons. The project, headed by label founder and musician Ryan Blankley (of Panic Worm), combines elements of field recordings, fragmented electronics, and spacey drones with glitchy guitars, layering textures with minimal hardware yet endless imagination and treating every sample as a building block to something grandiose and transcendent. Intended "to capture the intensity of the Wuhan humidity and the scenery at the East Lake," as described by its creator, it’s an album that washes over you, enveloping you in a swirl of emotion and sound begging you to lose your head in the clouds.
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Happy Little Cat - Unhappy Meal (不开心乐园餐)
Relishing the bittersweet turbulence of adolescence, Guangzhou/HK bedroom pop duo Happy Little Cat mines the bleakness of heartbreak and depression to find a silver lining within the "messy network" that are our feelings, or as the duo puts it: "Swallow your unhappiness and experience real happiness after digestion and decomposition." Slick samples, dream pop gloss, and delicately crafted melodies that feel like a glimpse into someone’s personal KTV moment (or breakdown), there’s an intimate hope-tinged pain here that the pair renders. Think: dance numbers one can waltz to by yourself in your living room (to the bemusement of your cat, of course).
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Lows0n - 低鹅子还在长高
The young Xiamen rapper lows0n has been making waves in the hip-hop scene over the past year, garnering praise for her distinctively odd and high-energy persona that perfectly encapsulates a generation of kids raised on video games, irony, and Red Bull. She hits it out of the park on her bubbly debut, which fuses self-aware kitsch with wonderful deviance for a sound that isn’t afraid to dip into sentimental vaporwave ballads, goofy low-brow KTV-stylized jams, or auto-tuned simmering bangers. In the meantime, Lows0n's lines confront everything from societal ignorance to the perks of being biased, as well as finding the indigo child within you. It's a world unto itself, one where she unabashedly reigns supreme.
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Thin City - WATERMELON/O不OK
If their debut EP earlier this year wasn’t enough, the Shenzhen art-rockers Thin City go out with a bang on their debut LP, which acts as a log of the band’s multicultural entanglements as well as of their musical growth and maturity over the short span of two years. While there’s always been a slapdash subversive quality to Thin City’s music that felt like a late-night party hitting its sweet spot, the band’s power-pop sensibilities and melodic command here are stronger than ever – calling to mind everyone from Life Without Buildings to the New Pornographers. English, Chinese, and Chinglish intertwine with ramshackle guitar chords, tambourines, and infectious hooks as the male-female vocals volley off one another like a drunken waltz rife with inside jokes, fragmented lyricism, and juvenile escapism. Bittersweet and brimming with life, O不OK is a hell of a bon voyage from an outfit gone too soon.
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READ: 2019 Year in Review: Top 10 Blockbusters in Chinese Cinema
Images courtesy of the bands
