Goldenvoice announces Cruel World Fest to hit Los Angeles

Goldenvoice, the leading west coast festival name, loves to continually spice things up. It seems every year, Goldenvoice organizes and carries out novel weekends of music with varying themes. Tropicalia Festival in Long Beach highlights Latino acts; One Love Cali Reggae Festival in the same location revolves around the finest in reggae rock; Camp Flog […]

NYC to celebrate 10 years of The Governors Ball

If there is one thing about New York — the city is for the people. New Yorkers living as New Yorkers, a lifestyle unlike any other American city. A festival, now reveling in a decade of glory, was built for New Yorkers by New Yorkers a full 10 years ago. It’s the 10th Annual Governors […]

Top Shelf Music News: Episode 2

Welcome to another valiant edition of Top Shelf Music News, with your hosts Matt Cook & Kristy Rose. With the New Year behind us, it’s time to look into spring fests, comment on the GRAMMYs and obsess over Shakira’s and J Lo’s smoking Super Bowl halftime performance. Hear about some new music with this month’s […]

Levitate Festival unleashes 2020 lineup

Aw…summertime at Cape Cod. What a serene experience, surrounded by bogs and marshland in every direction. The Northeast is a beautiful place, especially when the sun shines. Coupling with the warm weather are several outdoor music fests (naturally). It’s about time Massachusetts locals got to party outside. Every year, west coast residents get major FOMO […]

Firefly Festival discloses 2020 lineup for summer

Kick off summer in supreme fashion with the return of Firefly Festival to Dover, Delaware! Set at The Woodlands, this expansive Northeast fest stretches four thrilling days this upcoming June 18th-21st, upping a day from previous years. Why the extra day, you ask? All the more to rock out with your favorite bands, celebrating the […]

Capyac packs the funk out of Winston’s OB

If you’ve never witnessed the glory that is Capyac IRL, you have no idea the enigmatic out-of-body energy they bring to the stage. Captivating — emphasis on the root word ‘captive’ — is the closest definition one can muster. For these two brilliant house-meets-funk-meets-a-giant-girating-question-mark musical men combine their talents onstage in a way that metaphysically […]

Julian Marley interviews days ahead of 62nd GRAMMYs

GRAMMY-nominated reggae legend Julian Marley sits down with Top Shelf Music journalist Kristy Rose, days ahead of the 62nd GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles. Up for ‘Best Reggae Album’ for his fourth full-length album As I Am, Julian Marley shares his feelings on his first nomination from the Academy, what’s to come for 2020, how […]

BeachLife returns to Redondo May 2020

Year Two of festivals usually capitalize on where the inaugural year went right and work out the few kinks Year One went disastrously wrong. It’s a learning curve that could make or break a fest, considering music festivals are a dime a dozen these days. Some festivals, however, know how to do it right from […]

Stick Figure sells out San Diego’s Belly Up Tavern, twice

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is always a time warp, filled with general hibernation from the holidays all-around. Yet, despite the odds of staying in, one reggae-rock-alt band managed to sell out a San Diego venue, not once, but TWICE. That’s right, Stick Figure — a band on top of the music scene […]

Top Shelf Music News: Episode 1

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Top Shelf Music News, with your host Matt Cook & Kristy Rose guiding you on this daring quest. It being right after the holidays, a lot is going on in the music industry, from festival announcements to new music to hot gossip of the bands you love. This episode […]

Coachella 2020 is here!

The moment all mainstream music lovers have all been waiting for is here — Coachella 2020 has been revealed! That magical unveiling always warrants your money well-spent if you secured your passes from festival’s pre-sale, prompting others who haven’t splurged for a ticket yet into a panic for when whatever’s leftover goes public. You never […]

WORLD VIDEO PREMIERE: Jonny Wayne “Western Man”

Jonny Wayne, known well under his former moniker Jon Wayne & the Pain, has struck out solo of late, bringing forth a whole new look with familiar vibes. The look is mainly the hair, noticeable in this world video premiere for Wayne’s brand new track, “Western Man”. Riding the lush inlands of a tropical paradise […]

Okeechobee Fest returns to Florida for 2020

Tucked away in the serene grasslands of Sunshine Grove, Florida’s own fun and freak fest is back on for 2020! After hitting its first year out of the park in 2016, Okeechobee Festival and its down-to-earth vibrations grew in 2017 and 2018, before coming to a grinding halt for March 2019… apparently it was due […]

Thievery Corporation at Belly Up Tavern, San Diego

Seeing your favorite bands at smaller venues is always a treat: intimacy abounds as interaction between players and audience members amplifies immensely. Such a venue is San Diego’s Belly Up Tavern along the coast of Solana Beach. A variety of acts cycle through the Belly Up; most returning as an annual or biannual gig. One […]

Happy Cat Jay hits in house single, “Era Of A Niche Hero”

London is the perfect place to pinpoint some underground house and EDM artists. Rising up through the EDM ranks is one funky self-sufficient artist by the name of Happy Cat Jay. Not only does Jay assume the role of sound engineer for his tracks, but this multi-instrumentalist pretty much composes the whole thing himself! From […]