Best mainstream live performance of 2022!

2022 ushered in what many considered the first full year of music without restriction since the pandemic began. This year, the photojournalists and writers of Top Shelf Music have had the privilege of covering some pretty amazing shows! In true end of year fashion we have compiled a list of some of our favorite live […]

Nashville spent the weekend smiling

This past Saturday night, The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville hosted music legends Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner as their latest band, The Smile rolled into town. The side project is the latest in a long list of projects for Yorke and Greenwood of Radiohead fame. After many years as a photojournalist, I could […]

Nordista Freeze takes Music City to outer space

This past Friday, Nashville’s Brooklyn bowl played host to one of the craziest annual parties in the city, Space Prom. What began as an idea in the mind of one of Nashville’s most creative and musical minds, Nordista Freeze, the event has evolved into one of the wildest and largest events around. I walked into […]

Rising Artist Spotlight: Splitworms

Welcome music lovers to this week’s Rising Artist spotlight! Today we feature the hard rock stylings of UK upstarts Splitworms. Splitworms are one of the latest UK indie bands to catch my attention, which is not entirely surprising since I spend so much time scouring England for new and exciting bands. In my humble opinion […]

WeishFest brings music and fundraising together for its 9th installment

WeishFest (pronounced “Wish” Fest) will be back for its 9th installment on Friday, December 2nd at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park, IL. The live music event benefits The Andrew Weishar Foundation (“Weish4Ever”) and its mission of uplifting families battling cancer. This year’s WeishFest features the genre-defying Quinn XCII, hit machines The Fray, and country […]

Indie Artist Spotlight: MNERVA

If you were to ask most people living outside of Nashville what type of music the city is known for, more often than not, you would hear the reply “country”. While this fact is certainly ingrained into the hearts and minds of most people living in the city, what’s lesser known about Nashville is its […]

Top Shelf Music Weekly Roundup: November 20th, 2022

Welcome to the Top Shelf Weekly Music Roundup, where we showcase some of our favorite new music video releases! If you are interested in having your upcoming music considered for a feature, send an email in the form of a press release to Derek Jones. For fans of EDM, Pop & R&B Thai-Chilean, NYC native, multi-hyphenate […]

Puscifer plays out of this world show in Nashville

Formed in 1995, Puscifer began as just another idea in the imagination of Maynard James Keenan. While the founder of Tool and A Perfect Circle is predominantly known for those projects, there is something strange and amazing about his side project known as Puscifer. It wasn’t until 2009 that the band formally began playing shows, […]

The Mysterines send fans ‘Reeling’ at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville

It’s been nearly eight years since the inception of what would now be one of the hottest rock bands in the world, The Mysterines. Formed during their formative teenage years, Lia Metcalfe, George Favager, and Callum Thompson stumbled upon that perfect mixture of musical ingredients that so many seem to strive for, yet rarely attain. […]

Top Shelf Music Weekly Roundup: November 6th, 2022

Welcome to the Top Shelf Weekly Music Roundup, where we showcase some of our favorite new music video releases! If you are interested in having your upcoming music considered for a feature, send an email in the form of a press release to Derek Jones. For fans of Alt Rock, Metal, Grunge Belgian rock sensations […]

Punk in the Park 2022 is coming to Orange County

Attention all punk fanatics — Punk in the Park is almost upon us! This Saturday and Sunday, on November 5th and 6th, the greatest punk music festival on the west coast will take place once again at Oak Canyon Park in the heart of Orange County, California. Brew Ha Ha Productions presents an epic two […]

The Black Angels gets trippy in Nashville

It was another beautiful fall night in Nashville as I headed downtown to the best venue in the music city, the Brooklyn Bowl. The anticipation I felt going into this evening was at an all-time high as two of my favorite bands would be performing, The Vacant Lots and The Black Angels. The Vacant Lots […]

Shame and Viagra Boys pummel Nashville

A few days ago I saw a question posted on Reddit, asking: “What is a hill you are willing to die on?” This essentially means you have established an opinion or conviction you believe so wholeheartedly that it’s almost unshakeable. At the time, I didn’t really have a good answer, so I just scrolled past […]