7 Underground Hong Kong artists you should be listening to

Formed in Tai Kok Tsui in 2018, local post-punk stalwarts N.Y.P.D’s scuzzy mosh-ready blend of hardcore, grunge, electronica, art rock, and ambient music quickly gathered them a cult following, cementing them as a leading highlight of Hong Kong’s underground. They’ve since become local festival fixtures, scoring prime slots at Clockenflap, Boiler Room, Hypefest, and even a handful of overseas festivals.

N.Y.P.D.'s tongue-in-cheek Cantonese lyrics poke at the tensions that underlie life in Hong Kong, laying bare all the contradictions that make this big weird city what it is. Chicken Worm Duck from 2020’s self-titled album has a menacing air, with vocalist Jon demanding that “you, your mum, your dad, everybody come together and become garbage – the best garbage!” over a steadily building bassline and biting percussion, expressing his frustration at the pressures imposed by rigid societal expectations.

Similarly discontented is fan favourite Mee & Gee, named after the much-beloved local thrift chain, on which the band snarkily takes aim at HK’s materialistic and overconsumption-prone culture. But don’t misconstrue N.Y.P.D. as having no love for this city – after all, Jon nearly shouts himself hoarse declaring that he really, really, sincerely wants to “f***ing eat at Gai Gai [dessert house] with you.” To truly and profoundly love a city, you have to hate it a little bit too.

FFO: IDLES, Pixies, Primal Scream, rolling your eyes when the self-checkout asks if you’re a Yuu member.

On their 2021 debut EP 'Goodbye Tragic Manga', Arches made alt-rock magic. Vocalist/guitarist Jack Ip’s disaffected yet urgent delivery and blistering guitar lines soared above drummer Takuro Cheung’s propulsive percussion, delivering one of the year’s most exhilarating, exuberant, and stylish records, establishing Arches as ones to watch.

2022’s follow-up EP 'Callous Room' saw the band head into darker territory, adding layers of crashing guitars and turning the shoegazey fuzz up to 11 to evoke an almost-suffocating air of uneasiness. Ip’s lyrics grew more forbidding to match, touching on repression, self-loathing, and loss of control. Recent singles Doll and Hate are heavier and angstier still, hinting at an increasingly brutal and gothic direction for the band moving forward.

FFO: My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins, Linkin Park, pulling off sunglasses indoors.

SOPHY was poised for the mainstream music industry pipeline after finishing seventh on The Voice Hong Kong in 2009 and signing with TVB, but has since struck out on her own as an independent alt-pop star. A trilingual threat, SOPHY’s breathy and refined vocals are a perfect match for the alt-R&B and art pop production that her music tends towards. But what truly sets SOPHY apart from her pop cohorts is the sheer breadth of her influences, with her music incorporating elements of everything from traditional acoustic Cantopop balladry to hazy lo-fi trap to PC music-esque industrial pop.

'Happy Together', her most recent project released just last month in collaboration with Taiwanese producer Dizparity, is an ode to dance music and the liberating power of nightclub culture – think umbral sensuality, locking eyes from across the room, both losing and finding yourself on the dancefloor. “Take me higher, don’t pull me back… can’t you feel the flow?” she breathes on the album highlight “take us away.” Give in to the night, and you just might.

FFO: H.E.R., Banks, Rina Sawayama, progressive Cantopop, underrated pop girlies.

With songs titled All My Love is P**nhub and Sha Tin Park Accessible Toilets, amongst others, you could be forgiven for writing Salty Chick off as a provocateur. However, to do so would be to casually dismiss the pseudo-anonymous performer who has become one of the city’s most forthcoming and surprisingly honest artists.

A self-described producer of “f***-girl emo rap,” Salty Chick deftly stitches together bedroom pop, electropop, and various sects of hip hop to recount – often raunchy – tales of desire, frustration, and self-sabotage. Her strikingly confessional lyrics confront genuinely lofty topics such as the casual cruelty of digitally-mediated romance, social alienation via the rat race, and the mortifying ordeal of wanting to be known with a startling clarity. Salty Chick asks a lot of profound questions about this modern life, just with a whole lot of dick jokes along the way.

FFO: Ashnikko, Kim Petras, always being able to one-up your friends' relationship stories.

Weaving together retro surf rock, funk, and blues, Mr. Koo excel at making songs that sound like an endlessly languid summer. Armed with reverb-heavy slacker rock guitars, tastefully understated drums, and at times, a sultry sensuous sax, the band seems intent on squeezing every last possible drop of sun-kissed smoothness from their instruments. 

Don’t mistake their lackadaisical vibe for an absence of intent or edge, however – vocalist Ollie Rodgers has a habit of stretching his vowels out with every outward breath, often painting a picture of a lovesick crooner trying his best to make sense of his lover and himself. “Oh, maybe it wasn’t meant to be,” Rodgers wails on Surreal – there may be trouble in this tropical paradise, but with a view like that, can you stay worried for long?

FFO: Khruangbin, Mac DeMarco, Steely Dan, HOMESHAKE, King Krule, The Doors, cold ones on a beach.

A longtime busker, former Denise Ho collaborator, and one-half of the now-defunct folk duo Mothgown, Gwenji has already had quite the storied career despite only releasing her debut EP 'The Mole in My Eye' earlier this year. That EP sees Gwenji exploring sounds beyond her acoustic roots, melding her folk sensibilities with the rugged swells of indie rock, the lushness of dream pop, and the downtempo beauty of folktronica to form one cohesive singer-songwriter package.

What is immediately striking about Gwenji’s music is just how disarmingly lithe and pure her voice is – bright, sweet, angelic, and well lived-in. It’s the perfect foil to her earnest and intimate songwriting, which gives listeners revealing insight into her inner world and personal space. “Peace and love, what do they mean, do they create more pain than what they seem?” she coos on Give it up, backed by soothing flutes and a gradual build-up of jangly guitars as she excavates her own ego – “feed me with honesty, no matter how sad I'll be.”

FFO: beabadoobee, Feist, Daughter, a lovely spiced hot chocolate.

If you’re of the opinion that the best music actively challenges its listeners, might we introduce you to experimental noise rock outfit Virgin Vacation? This instrumental quartet’s improvised jams are oblique, angular, largely unpredictable, and brimming with tension – songs like Yellow Scissors and RED from their 2024 release 'Dapple Patterns' build grand soundscapes that feel like standing at a cliff’s edge, emanating a pulsating urgency beckoning at something ominous and unseen. Sparkling synthlines, psychedelic guitar riffs, and blaring klezmer sax swell in and out of the foreground, both playing off of and butting heads against each other. There are the aforementioned sonic freakouts, and yet, there are also moments of surreal, almost transcendental beauty, such as on Dapple Pattern I and Voices. Noisy, avant-garde, crushing, and well-worth the listen.

FFO: Kim Gordon, The Chemical Brothers, Can, swearing off playlists in favour of full albums.