China's Best Music in 2026 (So Far)

Jake Newby is the author of the Concrete Avalanche Substack, which covers the best music coming out of China. If you enjoy this playlist, check out Jake’s sets from 2025, 2024, and 2023, as well as his Chinese shoegaze feature.

1. ‘Undercurrent’ — Pu Poo Platter — from Undercurrent

This EP features four fun tracks of funked-up, globally influenced jazz from a Brooklyn-formed band who are really finding their rhythm. They make infectious music with a strong sense of joy throughout. Alas, not everyone’s a fan — watch the video below where Pu Poo Platter get into trouble with the po-po for livestreaming a set on a Shanghai street.

2. ‘忧郁干杯乐园’ — the three mice — from where is my mice?

Building on their explosive eponymouse record from 2024, Shenzhen emo / indie-rock act the three mice return with what they’re calling their first album proper. where is my mice? brings a similarly febrile energy (it even includes a reworking of one of those older tracks) and once again showcases the band’s intelligence in knowing when to let things get a little messy and when to pull back and allow their sense of melody and songwriting craft to shine through. It’s a delight. Grab it now while it’s pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp.

3. ‘错过的提醒’ — Lygort Quartet — from Through Voodoo Light to Shore of Tomorrow

What do you do when your pioneering post-punk band no longer wants to make post-punk? Form another band, of course. Three-quarters of Chinese post-punk godfathers PK14 have been involved in a variation of the Lygort bands so far, with the latest — the Lygort Quartet — still featuring Yang Haisong and Shi Xudong, key figures in PK14. With Yang and Shi now complemented by Hiperson guitarist Ji Yinan and ex-Dirty Fingers / Sleeping Dogs (and occasional PK14 tour) drummer Li Zichao, the band has some serious talent to play with. As if that wasn’t enough, their new album — largely recorded in a house in rural Sichuan — also features a vocal cameo from Hiperson frontwoman Chen Sijiang.

4. ‘B1’ — gogoj aka Sheng Jie + Deng Boyu — from HEH

Two stalwarts of the Chinese avant-garde scene come together for HEH, an album so good they decided to make it twice. The pair, with Sheng Jie on electric cello and Deng Boyu providing percussion, recorded two improvised takes based on the same structure and framework, but then couldn’t decide which one they liked best so simply released both. All the better for us as listeners — we get two pieces that converge at times yet remain distinct, and that make for fascinating, surprisingly accessible listening.

5. ‘心的傾訴 Jürêk tolƣawe (Unbosom Myself)’ —Mamer — from Bar xatteƣem, Bar ⱪayƣem (All the Joys, All the Pains)

[This track is Lily’s favorite from today’s playlist!]

Created based on a “passing impulse” and recorded in just a few days, All the Joys, All the Pains finds Xinjiang-born maestro Mamer offering interpretations of classic Kazakh lullabies, traditional poems, laments for lost loved ones, and 1980s radio hits. While he’s tended toward the experimental ever since releasing a glorious folk debut on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, here Mamer is in accessible mode, with typically mesmerising results.

6. ‘没东西可掏 The Well Is Dry’ — Zhang 'NoNo' Xingchan 张醒婵 — from Catch My Boomerang

Nono’s new one. The Wuhan one-woman sensation returns with a full-length follow-up to the break-out LP No, No!, a record that featured on numerous album of the year lists in 2024. The pop-coated eclecticism that defined that first record — and excited so many listeners — is still present on this new effort, but Boomerang also feels more considered, more mature. Its impact is not as instantaneous as her debut and to be honest I’m still making my mind up on it, but there’s no disputing it’s a notable release, and there’s certainly depth for those willing to spend a little time with it.

7. ‘Gaia’s Breath’ — Wu Zhuoling 吴卓玲 — from Uncharted II

Glorious ambient and downtempo sequel from a figure who has helped shape Chengdu and China’s musical landscape over the past two decades. Partly inspired by a UFO encounter she had as a child in Sichuan, Uncharted II is now available on beautiful-looking vinyl via Bandcamp, combining the new tracks, the original Uncharted EP and remixes from Cola Ren and more.

8. ‘the one sounds like sweet trip’ — Cassette Player Romance — from Meaning of Home

Luo Oumeng has had a hand in two of the major movements in Chinese underground music in recent months: the Chinese emo revival (as part of The Beneficial Society) and the country’s alternative hip hop resurgence (as Soulooper). This is not just a sign of his talent, but also of how broad his tastes are, attributes that are also demonstrated on his debut solo record as Cassette Player Romance. It’s a charming album that defies easy pigeonholing — label Qiii Snacks describe it as one for “Slowcore/Indietronica/5th-wave Emo/Lofi-Pop/Slacker rock enthusiasts”, which probably just about covers it.

9. ‘黑天鵝(feat. LukeDaPlaya)’ — Guo Yinan 鍋一楠 and Yuan 猿 — from The Vortex Reconstruction Experiment

“We will not erupt in silence,” declares rapper Yuan at one point on this experimental, abstract-leaning rap record with producer Guo Yinan. Examinations of social issues, youthful disenchantment and frustration are mixed with surges of emotional reflection from the Xi’an-based duo and some well-chosen guests from China’s alternative hip hop scene, while the clever production makes uses of a swirl of samples featuring everyone from Yussef Dayes and Marlena Shaw to Andrzej Korzynski and Sam Wilkes.

10. ‘Extinguished City’ — DEADTREES — from New World

A one-man-band from Lanzhou in northwestern China, DEADTREES has played with more atmospheric and abstract textures in the past, but on New World he opts for punchiness, lacing his black metal-rooted sound with some high-octane percussion and free jazz elements. A record that has picked up enough of a following that it’s already been given a second pressing on vinyl.

11. ‘让我飞吧’ — Lie 劣 — from Landfill

As with his DJ Gurl persona, Guizhou hyperpop producer Lie expertly blends a plethora of references and samples on Landfill, mixing everything from gay Taiwanese dramas and folk band Wild Children to Michael Jackson and outspoken Beijing punks, but he also adds a new layer to it all: personal, confessional lyrics. Heartbreak, illicit rendezvous, coming-out tales and pushbacks against prejudice all feature on this bold statement of a record.

A Spotify playlist with nine of these songs is available here.