Top Floor Circus are almost definitely Shanghai's best band, as well as probably the best punk band in all of China. They play some of the heaviest punk music that China has to offer without leaning too heavily on the contrived spiked-mohawk leather-jacket wannabe Sex Pistols aesthetic that is so prevalent in Chinese punk. That's not to say that some of the bands who do that don't make some good music, because a bunch of them (specifically Demerit, Brain Failure) do, but they lack any real self-identity. They also tend to take themselves and their punk aesthetic too seriously, a problem Top Floor Circus definitely don't have. They obviously have fun with their music, evident in the first track on this album when the singer breaks into laughter at multiple points.
Prior to making what is probably the best Chinese punk album to date, Top Floor Cirus released the above album, which showcases their unbelievable versatility by sounding basically nothing like anything anyone has done previously, anywhere. That might be hyperbole but still, it is a totally unique beast, a deconstruction of Chinese folk that compares probably more to Tom Waits than any other artist I can think of, but even that isn't a great descriptor. Sort of a challenging listen, but probably unlike anything you've heard anywhere else.顶楼马戏团 (Top Floor Circus) - 低级的小市民趣味
顶楼马戏团 (Top Floor Circus) - 蒂米重访零陵路93号
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