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Topshelf Records 2018 Vinyl Subscription


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6 hours ago, N8TRU1 said:

Clearance,  toe and Doe came yesterday. Unfortunately I got the wrong variant for toe which was the /300 instead of the black in cloudy clear. Doe came as half red half clear instead of half red half white which I haven't heard anything about. I'm guessing the half red half white was changed to this.

Was going to post this same thing over the weekend but forgot. Really enjoying the Doe record, last three tracks are my favorite.

 

Has anyone ordered the mystery test press deal when you order more than $50? Curious what people have been getting

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7 hours ago, N8TRU1 said:

Clearance,  toe and Doe came yesterday. Unfortunately I got the wrong variant for toe which was the /300 instead of the black in cloudy clear. Doe came as half red half clear instead of half red half white which I haven't heard anything about. I'm guessing the half red half white was changed to this.

Long time lurker of this thread, first time poster because I thought the same thing. But I remember they sent an email a little while ago saying this: 

"We're pressing three vinyl variants:

-Black/White Color in Color with Bside Silkscreen Print

-Black/White Aside/Bside with Bside Silkscreen Print

-White with Bside Silkscreen Print

For your subscription, you will be receiving the Black/White Color in Color with Bside Silkscreen print"

 

So maybe their website is listing it wrong? 

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14 hours ago, maxb61 said:

Long time lurker of this thread, first time poster because I thought the same thing. But I remember they sent an email a little while ago saying this: 

"We're pressing three vinyl variants:

-Black/White Color in Color with Bside Silkscreen Print

-Black/White Aside/Bside with Bside Silkscreen Print

-White with Bside Silkscreen Print

For your subscription, you will be receiving the Black/White Color in Color with Bside Silkscreen print"

 

So maybe their website is listing it wrong? 

The plant told them the first 2 listed looked too similar so instead they changed it to black inside cloudy clear/200. Subscribers get the most limited variant. It looks pretty sick too. I emailed them yesterday and they said they'd look into it.

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"Turns out we had run out of the cloud clear/black color in color and had to start sending out the next most rare variant to subscribers. I'm so sorry, we were just informed about this. Please let me know if this is a problem and we will work out a solution."

If you didn't get Our Latest Number definitely shoot them an email. Awesome Merch hasn't been so awesome this year.

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32 minutes ago, MyEnemy said:

Lots of stuff happened over at TSR this year. I know that first hand.

 

Sucks to hear about the subscribers not getting the toe EP and that shipments are being shipped inconsistent.

I wasn't going to reply because I didn't understand what you were getting at the first 2 times but I understand this 3rd edit. I still love Topshelf and the subscription has been worth the cash as we're nearing the end of the year. If anything could have been better it would have been monthly updates (no shipping notifications from the distributor or notification for when each one ships) and more accountability on what we're receiving since we're missing a slipmat (2017) and a shirt (not sure if the one I got was 2017 or 2018) but I got a non-2018 test press which is worth more to me. If they do a subscription again next year I'll go for it.

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Yeah. I'm still on the fence about renewing for next year. I really don't like having to cross reference what I receive with what other people are getting and then waiting a week or two to receive a replacement. If we got an email before each shipment that said "Hey. Here's what we're sending you this week/month", that would be HUGE, IMO. If I didn't waste time on VC and read about what others have gotten, I'd have missed at least one record and not realized it. The overall cost is affordable for what you get, as noted above, so it really is a matter of whether I want to deal with the annoyance factor in 2019 or not.

Edited by swb
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When I worked for the company I did my best to facilitate and communicate with all customers about everything. It was just really hard when I didn’t have info on things being pushed back or not being produced, and because to be able to facilitate this on top of everything else, is a lot for one person to get done. 

 

I hope they do it again next year, as I was completely responsible for communicating and shipping everything up until a few months ago, I love how much the fans enjoyed it and I had a blast sending everything out, especially the extra stuff. But it is a lot of work if things go awry. But I love the label and want people to be as stoked on the stuff as Kevin and Seth are about making it all happen.

 

TPs was my idea ;)haha

Edited by MyEnemy
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3 hours ago, MyEnemy said:

When I worked for the company I did my best to facilitate and communicate with all customers about everything. It was just really hard when I didn’t have info on things being pushed back or not being produced, and because to be able to facilitate this on top of everything else, is a lot for one person to get done. 

 

I hope they do it again next year, as I was completely responsible for communicating and shipping everything up until a few months ago, I love how much the fans enjoyed it and I had a blast sending everything out, especially the extra stuff. But it is a lot of work if things go awry. But I love the label and want people to be as stoked on the stuff as Kevin and Seth are about making it all happen.

 

TPs was my idea ;)haha

I spread good word about Topshelf or their roster at least once a week I'd guess. They've been good to us. And if you're the one who packed my Heat TP in 2017 major thanks because I got to take it to them at their show in Baltimore and they all signed it. I miss that band a lot. Plus they were amazing live and the drummer played both a traditional drum set and electronic.

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Just now, N8TRU1 said:

I spread good word about Topshelf or their roster at least once a week I'd guess. They've been good to us. And if you're the one who packed my Heat TP in 2017 major thanks because I got to take it to them at their show in Baltimore and they all signed it. I miss that band a lot. Plus they were amazing live and the drummer played both a traditional drum set and electronic.

Wait wait wait... they broke up?!?

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3 hours ago, dantheriver said:

Wait wait wait... they broke up?!?

They haven’t made it official, but as far as I know it’s over.

 

But yeah, Nate, I made things super special for all of the subscriber orders, by doing things like that, or sending you the Dangers TP, because I knew how much it meant to everyone and wanted each package to be special. I hope that that continues to happen in the future. Not to mention, pretty jealous you got to see them live. They only played San Diego once, with Bully, and I showed up late.

 

Much love to everyone at Topshelf and want everything to be as special and awesome as everything they/we did in the past.

 

Edited by MyEnemy
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
35 minutes ago, N8TRU1 said:

I'm going to assume we won't get the new Elephant Gym for the 2018 subscription (not sure tho) but has anyone heard about a 2019 subscription?

No, but I've already decided that I won't be renewing after doing it the last two years. It really went downhill when they switched to Awesome Distro. 

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I would not be surprised if they pulled the plug on the sub before anyone can ditch it.

It's tough to sort out what happened but, at some point, the label fired their previous mail-order people and a lot of planned improvements for the sub (or, at least, the public communications about the improvements) went away with the previous mail-order regime. There was a 'state of the label' update from Topshelf in August but they only vague allusion to the yearly sub was mentioning the firing and how the situation had messed up a lot of plans for them and created a ton of stress. If they started back up, fixed whatever the behind the scenes issues were, and built off from the good stuff they already had going, I would consider signing up again but, otherwise, if it's a quiet continuation with Awesome Distro at the helm, I am out I think.

Edited by swb
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1 hour ago, swb said:

I would not be surprised if they pulled the plug on the sub before anyone can ditch it.

It's tough to sort out what happened but, at some point, the label fired their previous mail-order people and a lot of planned improvements for the sub (or, at least, the public communications about the improvements) went away with the previous mail-order regime. There was a 'state of the label' update from Topshelf in August but they only vague allusion to the yearly sub was mentioning the firing and how the situation had messed up a lot of plans for them and created a ton of stress. If they started back up, fixed whatever the behind the scenes issues were, and built off from the good stuff they already had going, I would consider signing up again but, otherwise, if it's a quiet continuation with Awesome Distro at the helm, I am out I think.

 

 

3 hours ago, linksisfromcanada said:

No, but I've already decided that I won't be renewing after doing it the last two years. It really went downhill when they switched to Awesome Distro. 

I can't say I've liked Awesome but I think after the mess-ups they had that it got the distro set straight on what they're supposed to be doing. I definitely want to subscribe in 2019 because I like almost everything Topshelf puts out but we will see if it's an option.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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6 hours ago, tlr said:

No subscription for 2019. The second release is Bellows - The Rose Gardener and preorders are up

http://www.topshelfrecords.com/products/633945

 

I did two of the random test presses and got Boys Life - Departures and Landfalls, and Toe - For Long Tomorrow

Those new Bellows songs are too good. Ordered the new album immediately,

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On ‎1‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 2:23 AM, dantheriver said:

Those new Bellows songs are too good. Ordered the new album immediately,

Preordered the new Bellows as well after being on the fence for a bit.  I'm not really into their old stuff at all, but I like all the new songs I've heard.

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  • 2 months later...

haven't been on VC in awhile. just read this whole thread and had a wave of emotions. IMMENSELY appreciate all the support y'all have given us over the years. there were certainly hiccups in the transition to Awesome Merch. Overall, they're still a very new, small staff here in the US. But they handle our UK and Europe mail order and customer service EXCELLENTLY over in Leeds, so we're confident that we'll get this right together over time once they bring in more staff. We did pull the plug on the sub for 2019, yes, because it became apparent we'd be doing a huge disservice to everyone who purchased it by not having our mail order in tip top shape. We've been a label for thirteen years now, and done our own mail order out of our own space for the first twelve of those. So this is a HUGE change for us. There's some TLC that we and @MyEnemy used to be able to provide—we'd recognize names, start to know what certain people liked, threw in freebies and extras that we knew would be relevant to YOUR tastes, etc. Eventually though, rent costs to warehouse all of our inventory in San Diego just got really outrageous over the course of the few years since we relocated there. We couldn't justify doing it ourselves anymore when weighing the costs. So a few really difficult decisions were made. With this transition, a lot of the more personalized touches are gone—for now. In the meantime, I'm trying to come up with things we can be doing to replace that experience. If you've ordered from us recently, you've hopefully noticed our free swag game is really good right now (and not just throwaway bullshit—like actual free vinyl and pins and stickers, and CDs, etc.)!! Once the staff at Awesome gets more acquainted with our catalog, our customers, how we do things, etc. I think things will smooth out and we'll maybe revisit the sub idea. But all the same, thanks for riding this little experiment out with us to the end.

 

As a more general update,  outsourcing our mail order (and thus de-anchoring Topshelf to any set physical space), allowed us all to pursue different things in our personal lives. I've since moved to Portland, OR, Seth has moved up to LA, Danielle has moved on to work for Marathon Artists in LA and we've hired two new employees: Sofi Padilla in LA and Will Osiecki in Seattle. The little Boston-based label you remember from years ago is now spread out down the whole west coast lol! Combined with the Awesome Merch thing, this is a HUGE shift for us. With a lot of new blood in the fold, there's a lot of new ideas and energy, but also, a lot for Seth and I to teach and instill before I feel like we are off and running again on all cylinders.

 

I think it's an exceptionally volatile time to be running an independent label that relies heavily on selling physical media so, again, thank you for any modicum of support you have given us to this point. It's hugely appreciated!!

 

While there is no sub, I wanted to let you know about some of our upcoming 2019 titles. What I am most excited about is that Topshelf is an extension of Seth and I's music tastes over the years—but also the people who we have worked with as well. Our tastes and interests have evolved just like anyone elses. This year more than any other I think will be reflective of that in what we release. There are no rules!!!!!! Here's some of what you can expect from us:

 

  • Bellows - "The Rose Gardener"
  • Elephant Gym - "Underwater"
  • Ratboys - LP3
  • Queen of Jeans - LP2
  • Another Michael - LP1
  • Alfred. - "Like You!!"
  • Field Mouse - LP3
  • No Vacation - EP
  • Us and Us Only - EP
  • Mid-Air Thief - "Crumbling"
  • and everything else is TBA for now ❤️

If any of y'all ever wanna hit me up about anything directly—a mail order problem or anything, really: kevin at topshelfrecords dot com.

 

🙏

 

Edited by topshelfsquad
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