Top Shelf Music News: Episode 4

Your Top Shelf Music News hosts Matt Cook and Kristy Rose are back for Episode 4… although their sanity is questionable, at best. Under the current COVID-19 circumstances, the music industry has all but ground to a halt, yet these two dedicated news reporters aren’t giving up, assembling what few bits and pieces of music […]

WORLD VIDEO PREMIERE: Ras Fraser Jr. “Nuh Weh Like Yawd”

Jamaican artist Ras Fraser Jr. couples up his latest single “Nuh Weh Like Yawd” with a brand new music video — both out this week! The infectiously danceable track brightens any day (a much needed break from these trying times), transporting the listener to a party far, far away from reality. How far, you ask? […]

WORLD VIDEO PREMIERE: Wisdom and Sound “No Negative Vibes”

Reggae music has always been rooted in delivering vital messages of moral principle, preservation and sociopolitical advocacy. These are the ideologies that invigorate the music of Wisdom and Sound, the work of Andrew Mencher, best described as conscious reggae of the modern era. Fusing together the sounds of reggae, hip hop and rock, Mencher’s latest […]

Ben Barbic teams with Craigy-T in “Close 2 Peace” single

Hip hop-meets-reggae anomaly Ben Barbic is back with a brand new single “Close 2 Peace”, featuring the legendary talents of Craigy-T! Best known for his role in the dancehall ensemble T.O.K., Craigy-T has since branched off in a solo direction. Barbic knew Craigy-T’s dynamic Jamaican dancehall would pair well with his American fusion approach, exemplified […]

Top Shelf Music has a Patreon

Top Shelf Music is proud to announce the official launch of the Top Shelf Music Patreon page! Patreon — a growing trend in entrepreneurship, especially in creative industries — is a subscription-based crowdfunding approach to the entities you support, whether that be bands, artists, independent labels or up-and-coming brands. Top Shelf Music, as a brand, […]

WORLD TRACK PREMIERE: Dillinger’s Hired Guns “Witchduck”

Blaine Dillinger, a man of multiple talents, is best known for his reggae rock role in HIRIE and former roles like Clear Conscience, Shrub, among others. What fans of the reggae rock genre don’t know is that Dillinger’s background ranges from reggae to prog rock to funk to his jazz guitar degree he attained from […]

Introducing, Lucid Phase with debut single “Your Island”

In a time of turmoil, relaxing world music is the way to go. Let your anxieties subside with a little less on your mental plate. Answering the world call for much-needed R&R is LA-band Lucid Phase, a trio of skilled musicians sharing an affinity for roots reggae, dub and blues music. After much preparation, the […]

Celebrating 311 Day 2020

In what could possibly be the last concert for a long time (with the current COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe and all), diehard 311 fans flocked in hoards to Viva Las Vegas for three full days of 311 performances — complete with pre-parties and after-parties around the casino! An annual tradition, the band has been […]

RootfireTV currently raising funds for quarantined artists

Hysteria has swept the globe, forcing citizens around the world indoors in fear of contracting COVID-19, the rapidly growing Coronavirus plaguing humanity in the shortest amount of time. Most are scrambling to stay sane and provide for their immediate loved ones, stocking up on rations for — as of now — an indefinite amount of […]

WORLD VIDEO PREMIERE: Kalalea “This Is Country”

Hawaiian solo artist Kalalea surprises all in his latest self-produced EP This Is Country that dropped late last night. The typically characterized reggae artist has pivoted his sound after parting ways with his former Roots Musician Records label, from roots to, dare we say it, more of a trap demeanor??? First off, in this day […]

Top Shelf Music News: Episode 3

Welcome to Top Shelf Music News Episode Three, with your hosts Matt Cook & Kristy Rose. Also making an appearance is field reporters Alexia Johnson, Danny Brophy, a basketball and at least a half dozen Coronas. The current pandemonium with the spreading Coronavirus has led the music industry to be disrupted when it comes to […]

Dr. Dog delivers at Observatory North Park

A late February Friday night in North Park is the perfect atmosphere: not too hot, not too cold, finally thawing off that thick layer of hibernation everyone has been living in all winter. The Observatory Theater attracts a wide array of musical talent, ranging from hip hop to alternative to reggae to metal artists; this […]

The 2nd Annual AZ Roots experience

Walking into the gates of Chandler’s Rawhide Events Center is always enlivening. It’s country themed, like the rest of Arizona, but the quaint old-timey-themed photo ops of Rawhide make it more of an experience than most festival front gates offer. Like last year, Arizona Roots was returning for another two days of the finest reggae […]

WORLD VIDEO PREMIERE: Inna Vision “The Dollar”

Island reggae rapper Inna Vision is back at it again, with his unending hustler mentality embedded throughout his new video for “The Dollar” off his latest Link Up album. IV is no stranger to the game, the desperation one faces when trying to make ends meet. “The Dollar” lists all the ways to make one, […]

WORLD TRACK PREMIERE: Piper Street Sound “Rid Them”

Atlanta producer prodigy Piper Street Sound, aka the one-man talents of Matt Mansfield, brings more infectious dub reggae to the public with his forthcoming EP release, Small Plate / Rid Them. Two tracks, each done three ways, Piper Street Sound lays the dub track beautifully in both instances, with friends like Addis Pablo (Augustus Pablo’s […]