Duck. Little Brother, Duck! Don't Take Our Filth Away
In honor of Topshelf's 20th anniversary, we’ve revisited our entire catalog to put a spotlight back on some important titles we’ve released over the years, bundling long unavailable releases into a 10-LP collection. We absolutely couldn’t undertake an endeavor like this without including Duck. Little Brother, Duck!'s Don't Take Our Filth Away. Pre-order now, as part of the 20-year anniversary bundle, or individually. more info→
vinyl
↓ ↓ ↓ orderWe’ve revisited our entire catalog to put a spotlight back on some important titles we’ve released over the years, bundling long unavailable releases into a 10-LP boxset. 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.
The six tracks comprising recordings 2008-09 make up the entire pennines discography to date. Coming up in the UK mid-late 2000s indie music scene, pennines were lucky enough to share the stage with contemporaries such as Stapleton, Hot Club de Paris, Colour, Dartz!, TTNG and other like minded musical friends. Popularized by genre forebears toe and American Football, pennines favoured arpeggiated guitar, syncopation, staccato call-and-response harmonies, and unexpected rhythm decisions. more info →
Although unbound by genre, Peel Dream Magazine still inhabit the sonic milieu of warm woodland tones and droning repetition. In the entrancing standout “Believer,” they evoke Rose Main Reading Room’s atmosphere through vocalist Olivia Babuka Black’s mantric melodies and Philip Glass-like woodwinds and mallets, bringing Taurus into focus as a welcoming companion piece to its predecessor. more info →
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 →
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,” guitarist Yamazaki 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 →
topshelf playlists
Just like our catalog, our playlists cover a lot of sonic ground. Check them out on apple music spotify
For Your Consideration: A Time Agnostic Music Contextualization Effort
Occasionally, we like to pause and consider ways we can contextualize the music we've released over the years. As we celebrate our 19th birthday this week, we're pairing sonically similar releases from our catalog in a time-agnostic way. Whether you're here for the old stuff and looking for something new, or here for the new stuff and looking for something new to you, we hope you find something to enjoy all the same. Enjoy! read more →
2023 release guide + moving sale
We're having a moving sale to lighten the load for our move to our new Portland location! It's a celebration of not only the label's 2023 release output, but also of simply overcoming the challenges of the last year, once again regaining full control of our physical inventory. read more →
Thanya Iyer's Montreal Community // scene report
The Montreal music scene is AMAZING! There are so many incredible artists making innovative and creative music that sounds like no other! I’m really grateful to be a part of such a nourishing and nurturing community. read more →
bad summer inspiration // a cool original playlist
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 →
