TSR
286

Subsonic Eye
Singapore Dreaming

 
 
 

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 Dreaming is 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→

10 tracks

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five albums,
a re-issue,
two singles,
an EP,
and a split.



check out everything we released in 2024→
seek out the wisdom of our 2024 release guide→

Thanya Iyer


TIDE/TIED

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Thanya Iyer - TIDE/TIED On 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.

-All of us at Topshelf

 
i illustration by Dylan England of Del Paxton.
t   toe - For Long Tomorrow

For Long Tomorrow

toe
Knifeplay - Animal Drowning

Animal Drowning

Knifeplay
o Weatherday - Come in

Come in

Weatherday
p   Gulfer - S/T

S/T

Gulfer
A Great Big Pile of Leaves - Pono

Pono

A Great Big Pile of Leaves
s Record Setter - I Owe You Nothing

I Owe You Nothing

Record Setter
h e Sweet Pill - Where the Heart Is

Where the Heart Is

Sweet Pill
l   Ratboys - Happy Birthday, Ratboy

Happy Birthday, Ratboy

Ratboys
Elephant Gym - Dreams

Dreams

Elephant Gym
f   Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling

Crumbling

Mid-Air Thief
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 →

Peel Dream Magazine


Rose Main Reading Room

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TSR264

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 →

 

Sobs


Air Guitar

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TSR252

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


pink balloons

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/ cassette
/ digital
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pre-order
TSR279

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 →

 

Washington D.C. post-punks Ekko Astral release "pink balloons: popped"

Ekko Astral

To commemorate the first anniversary of the album, Ekko Astral and Topshelf are releasing pink balloons: popped, a deluxe CD version featuring the original release's 11-song tracklist along with five bonus tracks read more →

 

Thanya Iyer glides through an animated wonderland in her new video for "What can we grow that we can't see from here?"

Thanya Iyer

Iyer's signature post-genre pontifications are in full bloom on her latest single "What can we grow that we can't see from here?" in which she reminds us that the groundwork for new, radical futures can be laid by our own hands. Such prescient lessons are a prominent fixture of Iyer's work—current and past—this time delivered with a thumping, controlled pop sensibility that says even when things feel stagnant and unclear, there is a way through. Watch the accompanying music video and catch her on her upcoming tour: read more →

 

Peel Dream Magazine // UK and Europe tour, LP re-press

Peel Dream Magazine

Peel Dream Magazine are taking their genre-hopping experiment​ international later this spring, with tour dates in the UK and Europe—tickets and info: read more →

 

Swedish noise-pop upstart Weatherday releases new album 'Hornet Disaster'

Weatherday

Out everywhere today, Hornet Disaster is a bustling record with disparate songs each vying for space like wasps in a swarm. It can inspire caution and chaos, but there's wonder, purpose, and a certain familiarity there, too. Weatherday has extended the knotted, thrashing maximalism of Come in by doubling down with the uncompromised, no-stone-unturned nature of Hornet Disaster. Where Come in was the product of an artist searching for their voice, Hornet Disaster represents the joyful abandon that comes from having found it. Catch the band on tour this spring and summer across the US, UK, and Europe! read more →

 

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