Their fifth album, Singapore Dreaming, centers their hometown through a more focused lens. Where previous album All Around You comprised a space to sit with the complex feelings inspired by the intense world we inhabit, Singapore Dreamingis that intense world itself — Subsonic Eye’s interpretation of their high energy urban context refracted through straight-to-the-point, poppy, ergonomic songs tinged with tension that could explode at a moment’s notice. Despite the newly honed vision, Singapore Dreaming still has all of Subsonic Eye’s signature elements: spellbinding walls of tone, hooky riffs, zippy rhythms, and punches in the perfect place — all led by singer Nur Wahidah’s dreamlike voice, whose vaporous and velvety character always makes the layers whole. more info→
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↓ ↓ ↓ orderOn her third full-length TIDE/TIED, Montreal artist Thanya Iyer expands on the future-folk designs of sophomore album KIND with washes of jazz-inflected pop and ensemble ambience. While Iyer explored a more personal journey of self-love on KIND, she, her band, and cohort of guest musicians embark on a new way of moving on TIDE/TIED, prizing collective care and communal healing as antidotes to the dissonances of living in a colonial, capitalistic world. more info →
On music discovery:
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.
NOW I SEE THE LIGHT (2024), toe’s fourth full-length album, is a bridge between the experimental restraint of their later work and the explosive abandon of their earlier output. From the opening tracks, toe balance serpentine passages against meditative repetition. On “LONELINESS WILL SHINE,” “サニーボーイ・ラプソディ,” and “NOW I SEE THE LIGHT,” Hirokazu reprises his role as part-time vocalist, breaking the band yet further from the instrumental work that formerly defined them. As a whole, NOW I SEE THE LIGHT closes the loop between early and late toe, giving them a clean slate for their new outlook. more info →
Across its fifteen songs, Rose Main Reading Room ultimately proposes a world of marvels and compelling complexity: “Oblast” cheekily prods at mutually assured destruction; “Ocean Life” explores the infiniteness within ourselves; while “R.I.P. (Running in Place)” unpacks an all too familiar stagnation. It’s all part of, and crucial to, Rose Main Reading Room’s transportive power, ever reaching for the wonder and magic of the world we live in. more info →
Dedicated to the power of pop music, Sobs are Singapore’s premier indiepop propagandists. A thirty-minute trip for the post-Internet consumer, Air Guitar calibrates inventive pop hooks for the indie rock lover, instantly accessible yet intricately arranged. more info →
Ekko Astral are here to uplift, a mission exemplified by the frenetic and bewitching pre-release singles “baethoven” and “devorah,” cornerstones of pink balloons in both style and theme. The former serves as a reminder to keep your larger than life personality in a world that wants to downsize you, where the latter proclaims urgent solidarity with missing and murdered people. Such crucial messages of upliftment are the foundation of pink balloons, and, by extension Ekko Astral, whose thrashing debut leaves no stone of solidarity unturned. more info →
topshelf playlists
Just like our catalog, our playlists cover a lot of sonic ground. Check them out on apple music spotify
Sorority Noise, Ratboys // East Coast East Coast Fall Tour with Free Throw
Currently on tour with Bayside and The Menzingers across North America and with a UK headline run and European tour with Turnover shortly thereafter, Sorority Noise deserve a break but instead they'll be playing more shows — this time on the east coast with Ratboys and JANK in tow. read more →
Sorority Noise // UK & European Tour Dates with Puppy and Turnover
Sorority Noise have announced a run of UK & European Tour Dates with Puppy and Turnover this coming October. read more →
Sorority Noise // New Music Video, US Tour with Bayside, and The Menzingers
With the release of their new album, Sorority Noise will be heading out on a full US tour with Bayside and The Menzingers! For dates and info read more →
Father/Daughter Records & Topshelf Records // 2016 SXSW Showcase
We’re partnering up with Father/Daughter Records and heading down to Austin again this March to bring you a really great show! We think F/D is one of the best labels going right now so we’re truly thrilled to partner up with their great roster for this. For show details including times and line up, read more →