Sea of Wood Records

Hot on the heels of their collaboration with French Reggae/Hip Hop duo L'Entourloop, Puman present their new single – March Sixth. 

Based on an ancient folk song from a remote Mountain township in Yunnan, this is a reggae track with a bitterness to it. It expresses the sadness of a girl who has been wedded out to a family far away and is being mistreated. It is a consistent theme in traditional Asian society and the inspiration for many songs and stories.

As the once-rich Chinese ‘underground scene’ toboggans dizzyingly towards the precipice of irrelevance, EMP’s ‘North Star’ presents a purer path that they feel Chinese ‘Yaogun’ (Rock) should have followed.   Rooted in the 90’s grunge sound, the band rails against the insincerity, plain dullness, and growing oppressiveness of the post Covid era in China.  Xiao Bai’s (Lead Vocals) raw and tortured vocals bite through Kandao’s (Lead guitarist) heavy Soundgarden-style guitar riffs, with Alice in Chains-reminiscent vocal harmonies gelling a sonic wall of rage and frustration.

A debut album from Floating showcasing classic rock with the feel and spirit of Yunnan’s underground scene.  

A breakthrough debut album from Puman that heralded the arrival of Yunnan Reggae on the international scene with tracks such as ‘B’lang Beauty’ which reached No.1 on the Juno UK Vinyl Dub charts with a remix by DJ DSK and was then remixed again by French duo L’Entourloop to further acclaim.  The album also gave rise to the ‘Three Step’ craze which involved dancing around carrying increasingly unwieldy household furniture.   

A Collection of Reggae legend, Nick Manasseh, dub versions of tracks from Puman’s debut album edited by the band - A very interesting mix of traditional reggae production techniques with Yunnan sounds and instruments and a must for pure reggae fans and fans of Yunnan music alike.

A debut album showcasing the band’s moody pop electronica sound with thoughtful social commentary.

‘Voices of the Sani’  is a breakthrough album for Yunnan crossover music primarily because instead of starting life as rock band searching for ethnic influences to add flavor to their sound,  Manhu’s starting point is a genuine authentic ethnic root. All of the members Manhu’s music are Sani ethnic artists and the result is more grounded and sincere as a result.   Uncompromising high energy arrangements effortlessly bridge the gap between old and new, showcasing myriad  Yi traditional instruments in a  contemporary context.  The album was released by World Music network globally and reached No.8 in the Transglobal World Music album Charts and received five stars from the BBC Music Magazine.

A second album from Jiang Xiaocun this time with his wife Chunli Xiaohui as a full co-artist.   The blend of classic folk and Nujiang ethnic influences is immediately recognisable from their earlier material but this time is more refined and committed with some haunting vocal melodies and effortless modern arrangements of traditional material.