There is a distinct, refreshing current that charges outtakes from “bad summer”. An energized pop-focused collection of tracks born from what bandleader Nathan Tucker describes as “the contrast between total formlessness and rigid claustrophobia”. more info→
seven albums,
an EP,
eight singles,
a live album,
and a split.
The 12 songs that constitute Dreams, the third full-length from the Taiwanese trio Elephant Gym, explore the deep spacetime continuum that consciousness cannot capture. Beyond the trio’s staple instrumentation of guitar, bass, and drumset, Dreams blends in wind instruments, traditional drums, and Taiwanese narrative. more info →
When writing about a song or album, the convention is to use the present tense. A piece of music, although representative of and influenced by the era in which it was created, is ultimately always experienced in ~the present~. We built this website while pondering ways that we could, at every turn, focus on discovery by bringing music we released years ago relevantly back into the present, challenging how we collectively talk and think about “new” music. Discovering new music is exciting, but so is discovering music that’s simply
new to you.
It’s our hope that you'll enjoy digitally crate digging through this online home of ours, finding and connecting with the 250+ albums we’ve released with 140+ artists from all around the world over the last 16 years. Directly below are a few of our favorites to get you started.
However you’ve found yourself here presently, thanks so much for stopping by! We couldn’t do this without your support and enthusiasm.
-All of us at Topshelf
There is an immediate and palpable sense of joy that jumps out from Next of Kin, the fifth full-length album from bedroom recording project Bellows. But the record is steeped equally in loss: loss of family, beloved dogs, friendships, romantic love, and most of all loss of selfhood. Backwardly inspired by the wealth of loss, Next of Kin sees songwriter Oliver Kalb discovering a renewed sense of appreciation for life in the face of hardship, freshly emboldened to move through the world with a loosened grip on life. more info →
The pre-cursor to Mid-Air Thief's cult-acclaimed album Crumbling, Gongjoong Doduk exhibits a distinct universality, merging disparate sounds and styles into a cohesive, electronic-infused folk amalgam that tactfully blurs the lines between organic and synthetic. Listeners are led through enrapturing passages of swirling melodies underscored with eloquent plucks, strums, and bursts of bubbly glitches. Individual phrases drift into one another as if in a dream, cohered by entrancing hooks and vocal soundscapes. Gongjoong Doduk is a compelling accomplishment of both composition and production, bending as it does to its unique contours of consonance and dissonance, always resolving to a place of calm and beauty. more info →
Already a fan of Record Setter and heading in a heavier direction, it was an easy choice for Home Is Where to decide on doing a split release with the Denton, TX-based hardcore band. “[We] wanted to make something unabashedly trans. Two trans bands. Songs about trans issues. Cover by a trans artist. We wanted to make something for the girls to pop off to,” explains Home Is Where’s Brandon MacDonald of dissection lesson’s genesis. more info →
Nathan Tucker, the voice behind cool original, put together a playlist of 30 tracks that inspired the new album outtakes from “bad summer”. It’s a tracklist of absolute TUNES (much like the album itself). read more →
We're having a spring sale! And it's kinda huge, honestly. read more →
It's gonna be a stacked summer. Weatherday, Sweet Pill, Bellows, Addy, Crisman, and Ratboys are all hitting the road soon! read more →
New Zenizen is here, and new Zenizen is coming. I’m extremely excited to tell you that Zenizen is releasing a new album! It’s called P.O.C (Proof of Concept) and it’s out July 27! Today, we have a new single off the upcoming album to listen to. read more →
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