Kaishandao 开山刀 / MOKOMOKAI

My Mixmag ANZ article about Kaishandao / An update on Mokomokai's Australian tour

Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes, it takes completely different forms.

Mixmag ANZ: Kaishandao 开山刀: Bridging Aotearoa & Asia

Kristen Ng is a Chinese New Zealander with family roots in Taishan, Guangdong. Since 2014, she’s been based in Chengdu, the capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan province, where she works on a range of music projects, including Kiwese, Kaishandao 开山刀, and Chengdu Community Radio.

Raised in Te Whanganui-a-tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand), Ng spent her teenage years playing guitar, busking in the inner-city, and working odd jobs along Cuba Street. By the time she finished high school, she was deeply immersed in the city’s underground and alternative music, arts and culture communities. After moving to China, she continued to explore the disparate worlds of DIY music, but this time around, she felt increasingly drawn towards club culture and dance music as well.

In 2013, she launched Kiwese, a music blog-turned-independent touring label and promotion agency. Ng’s vision for the platform was to help foster meaningful connections between China and Aotearoa New Zealand through music, travel, and culture. Since 2015, she has toured Orchestra of Spheres, The All-Seeing Hand, BIRDPARTY, Womb, Strange Stains, and Vera Ellen across China.

For the last 9 years, Ng has also recorded and performed live electronic music as Kaishandao 开山刀, building a following in China, Aotearoa, and further abroad. Working within the slipstreams between live instrumentation, machine beats, field recordings and synthesised sounds, her music, as documented on her two EPs, Homeland (2019) and Aunty Dubs (2026), is a kaleidoscopic wonderland of house, techno, IDM, 2-step, breaks, and digital dub gestures. Never forgetting her roots, she imbues her performances with a post-punk / dance-punk strut and the feeling of those nights out that don’t finish until lunchtime.

Inspired by Chengdu’s burgeoning club music scene and DJ culture, Ng teamed up with her friend Aymen to form Chengdu Community Radio in 2019. Across their archives, you can listen to a wealth of local documentation.

Recently, Ng launched KIWESE WORD by KAISHANDAO, a Patreon page for sharing writing, reflections, touring advice, hot tips, and hot takes. In mid-March, I caught up with her over a video call for Mixmag ANZ. You can read our Q&A here.

MOKOMOKAI: The Lowlands Tour

Thanks to Twisted Frequency, Everything Always and MOKOKOMAI’s management for inviting me to write the press release for their debut Australian tour.

This April, the celebrated Māori hip-hop group MOKOMOKAI, are headed across the Tasman Sea to tour Australia for the first time.

Known for moody songs that explore habits and contradictions, the push and pull between life in the city and the country, and how young boys running wild in the dark grow into principled men who’d do anything to protect their whānau, their live show is unforgettable.

Since 2022, MANU, DUSTY and GHOS have released three celebrated albums: MOKOMOKAI (2022), WHAKAREHU (2023), and PONO! (2025), on pounamu green, merlot red and whalebone white vinyl, no less. Across those treasured taonga, they’ve collaborated with a who’s who of Aotearoa hip-hop, soul and funk talents, including Brandn Shiraz, Melodownz, Mā, Troy Kingi, Lukan Raisey, Tyra Hammond, Lui, Chip Matthews, Willie Wes and Tai Walters.

On a sonic level, their music blends jazz and exotica loops, taonga pūoro (traditional Māori instruments), hard, programmed drums, and live basslines and guitars into a cinematic mode of moody, lower-tempo boombap. It’s a backdrop that captures the gritty realities of young lives lived fast in small towns and inner city backstreets across Aotearoa and Te Waipounamu (New Zealand).

The bloody, beating heart of their music is the relationship between DUSTY and GHOS’ meticulously arranged beats and MANU’s magnetic rhymes and presence. Their songs shift effortlessly from jaw-dropping narratives to laugh-out-loud punchlines, introspection and social observation, drawing audiences into a world that feels intimate and expansive. On stage, their energy is electrifying and undeniable, imbued with a vibe you can almost reach out and touch. A night with MOKOMOKAI is always a night to remember.

Celebrated by Rolling Stone Australia/New Zealand, Sniffers, Radio New Zealand and The Spinoff, their records and performances have earned them international acclaim. In 2025, MOKOMOKAI won Te Rōpū Mariu Favourite Group at the SRN’s Aotearoa Alternative Awards, solidifying their spot as one of the most exciting contemporary hip-hop acts in Aotearoa. That same year, their single ‘KUPE’ featuring Melodownz was nominated for Single of the Year at the Aotearoa Music Awards.

For the tour dates and ticket sales, click here.

FIN.