On the Airwaves This Week - 30 JAN. 2025

A Lunar New Year Extravaganza!

This week, I dug deep into the crate for a sonic journey celebrating the Year of the Snake on Eastern Echoes.

For the unitiated, Eastern Echoes is my weekly radio show on KEXP, a love letter to the sounds across Asia and the Asian diaspora. Since its launch just over a year ago, it’s been a wild ride - connecting with AAPI artists across the globe, diving headfirst into the alternative music scenes from Seoul to Chiang Mai, and bringing boundary-pushing bands into KEXP Live In-Studio sessions.

Hosting this show has been more than a passion project - its a homecoming. Its a chance to champion the music that shaped my peers and I as first-gen Asian Americans, the songs that pulsed through our households and soundtracked our coming-of-age moments. The unofficial anthems of our youth - like ‘90s VWave or the C-pop and J-pop bangers that defined my middle school years, trading MP3s like underground currency,

On this past weeks show, we covered just a fragment of the artists from these scenes and shined light on new artists blossoming in this space. Honoring traditions while making space to invite the new, isn’t that what the new year is about?

Below, I spotlight a few standouts. For the full playlist, scroll down and dive in!

Demonslayer - Rare Vietnamese New Wave 1980s

Nothing brings an asian household together like karaoke. Ours had a special relationship with the artists of the VWave era. The unofficial anthems of our youth, with icons like Lynda Trang Đài and Kiều Nga belting over my parents’ karaoke speakers at family parties.

“The VWave (Vietnamese New Wave) scene developed primarily in California during the mid 80s and spread nationwide, driven by young Vietnamese Americans and the diaspora. The songs themselves were diverse in genre, but favored Eurodance, Italo disco and synth pop. The bilingual covers of Western hits made the music more accessible, spreading the sound far and wide, eventually reaching the shores of Vietnam.The extravagance of the hairstyles, the fits and the attitude gave the recently migrated Vietnamese a newly found, shared interest with their non-Viet counterparts. Music and style unified people amidst high cultural sensitivity due to the aftermath of the Vietnam War.”

When I think of the new year, I fondly revisit the memories of synths blaring through our speakers combined with the addicting pulse of 808s and the lyrics “I love you more than I can say”, instantly ushering the aunties and uncles into the room.

Hien - Family

I’ve been absolutely obsessed with pop-electronic artist Hien lately. A Vietnamese immigrant who moved from Hungary to the US for a new beginning, her debut EP Bloom beautifully captures her creative journey of rebuilding her identity as an artist.

In the music video for Family - she introduces her Vietnamese-Hungarian community, pays homage to her heritage, and calls upon her ancestors for protection and guidance. A fitting tune for the new year, and one that will be on rotation for me as we shed these old layers.

No, No! - 张醒婵 (Zhang Xingchan)

I get a tickle in my brain everytime I listen to this album by Zhang Xingchan. A rising force in the Chinese music scene, Wuhan-based multi-disciplinarian Zhang Xingchan, has been making waves throughout the festival circuit, seamlessly weaving elements like jazz, noise, electronica, alt rock, and pop in her sets. We are in the midst of a musical revolution in Asia, and listening to music like this brings a sparkle of joy to my being and a hope in my heart.

This Weeks Playlist - 30 Jan. 2025

• 美丽的女郞 (Beautiful Lady) – Chen Qiong Mei

• Once We've Touched – Sandy Lam

• 尋愛 (Seeking Love / Xin Ai) – !!! (

• 山河水 (Mountain River / Shan He Shui) – Dou Wei

• Midnight Kiss – !!!

• 天與地 (Heaven and Earth / Tian Yu Di) – Faye Wong

• California Baby – Leah Dou (2024)

• 空旷的大马路 (An Empty Road / Kong Kuang De Da Ma Lu) – 张醒婵 (Zhang Xingchan) (2024)

• 電動少女（8-Bit Remix） (Electronic Girl / Dian Dong Shao Nu) – Chinese Football

• 絕對純潔 (Absolute Pure / Jue Dui Chun Jie) – Absolute Purity (2016)

• 三体 (Three-Body / San Ti) – Re-TROS (2023)

• 고독한 마음 (Lonely Heart / Godokhan Maum) – !!! (1970s)

• Picture / Three Shadows – Enji (2024)

• Bimba – NaraBara (2024)

• qd – °pbdb (2024)

• Family – Hien (2024)

• New Wave Cali Intro – LINDA TRANG ĐÀI, TUYẾT NHUNG (1980s)

• Khi em đi – Jeannie Mai (1980s)

• Dừng Xa Soi – Kiều Nga (1980s)

• Tình yêu còn đó – Cao Lâm (1980s)

• 愛想情感 (Ai Xiang Qing Gan Lan) – Frankie Kao (1984)

• Shy Girl – Ngoc Huong (2023)

• La Isla Bonita – !!!

• Chớ Không – Larria. (2024)

• Ghé Vào Tai – UMIE (2024)

• Trăng Tàn Trên Hè Phố – Hien (2024)

• Holy Roller – Thao (2020)

• She's A Loner – Lucid Express (2024)

• SABINA之淚 (Sabina's Tears) – my little airport (2024)

• Winter Is Not Dead – Yukimi (2024)

• 휘날레 (Finale / Hwinarae) – 250 (2023)

• Love Bomb – Wendy Wander (2024)

• Passionfruit – Yaeji (2017)

• Reflection Eternal – Nujabes (2004)

• French Movie – Bubble Tea and Cigarettes (2024)

• 再见 (Goodbye / Zai Jian) – Chinese American Bear (2024)