Yin: Alternative Electronic Sounds Live from Shanghai with Laughing Ears

Yin (音, “music”) is a weekly RADII feature that looks at Chinese songs spanning hip hop to folk to modern experimental, and everything in between. Drop us a line if you have a suggestion.

Inaugurating the new year with a live set from producer Laughing Ears, who recently unveiled new material at Shanghai record shop Uptown RnB in a set streamed by London-based net station NTS. A familiar name on Shanghai’s underground/alternative electronic music gig circuit, the artist’s output has veered from experimental, ambient soundscapes to harder-edged beat productions for more dance-oriented venues like Dada.

Laughing Ears, the project of Shenyang-born Li Jingping, formally debuted about a year ago, with the December 2017 release of album Illusory Time on Beijing label Ran Music. On Illusory Time, Li began exploring the deep, murky, protean sonic territories appropriate for an album inspired by Tarkovsky’s Solaris.

In a March 2018 interview with Time Out, Li spoke of having hundreds of songs in the pipeline, and at least 2 EPs in the near future. Her December 30 contribution to NTS, an hour-long live set of original material, includes some fresh, as yet unreleased new ideas that we’ll probably hear more of later in 2019.

Find the full set here, and click on to hear additional DJ sets from the same NTS event by fellow Shanghai scene heads Zean (Rankadank) and Kilo Vee (Genome 6.66Mbp).

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