Ratboys // announcing new album 'The Window' + fall tour!

Ratboys' new album The Window is coming out August 25. The first single "It's Alive!" is out now. read more →
The solidified Ratboys lineup stretched and expanded their vision in the studio, adding unexpected elements and instruments like rototoms, talkboxes, and fiddles. The result is Ratboys’ most sonically diverse record, shifting wildly from track to track. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be heard—expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender—the sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit. more info→
eleven albums,
two EPs,
a sampler,
and two splits.
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
"Dog Song" video out now! →
Philadelphia’s Sweet Pill write eruptive emo songs that embrace the edges of pop and hardcore. The kind of band whose members are fully immersed in their local scene, the quintet’s sound takes wide-spectrum influence from its environment. more info →
An Insult to the Sport is a split offering from the genre-defiant groups They are Gutting a Body of Water and A Country Western. Elements of breakcore, shoegaze, and obtuse slacker rock find home on An Insult, at times with no bridge at all between the disparate styles. On paper, the combination of styles may read as cacophonous or incompatible, but the end result is instead a measured contrast of sounds, a reflection of the inescapable influence of our chaotic time and the groups’ environments. more info →
“rest is in many ways a reflection of myself, asking the question, 'who am I when it all stops?'” Being stuck at home indefinitely allowed Thanya to examine her relationship to rest on a more critical level. With this newfound downtime, she began to realize an active pursuit of rest, with deliberate and kind intention, eventually turning to back songwriting as part of her new practice. The resultant five songs that comprise rest explore Iyer’s mindful intentions through a graceful amalgam of tender pop with inflections of jazz, backed with orchestral experimentation. more info →
Ratboys' new album The Window is coming out August 25. The first single "It's Alive!" is out now. read more →
THE NEW ̶ ̶S̶W̶E̶E̶T̶ ̶P̶I̶L̶L̶ ̶ ̶SWEET PUPS MUSIC VIDEO FOR “DOG SONG” IS OUT NOW !! read more →
'Holy Red Wagon' - the explosive and frenetic new album from Bruiser and Bicycle - is out now! read more →
We’ll be at SXSW this year! Our 12th year, and our first time back since 2019! We and our artists have a lot going on all week. We’re throwing 2 showcases read more →
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