Touch and Go vs. The Future

Tuesday , music fans all over the internet learned of the huge scalebacks at Touch and Go. No more pressing and distribution , no more new releases for the time being , massive lay offs.

20 some labels were pressed and distributed by Touch and Go , Drag City , Kill Rock Stars , and Merge being some of the more recognizable names. Closer to home for me, Lovepump United , a label that my own band is on , had just begun a p&d deal with them this January.

It's easy to imagine a domino affect on some of those distroed labels , but what of other small labels?

I'm worried (paranoid??) that when a 27 year old label , that is well know and well regarded and has a reputation for being fair and a sizable back catalog of some pretty popular bands has to make such extreme cutbacks other labels are gonna start being much more cautious.
And what's worse than caution in independent/underground music?


Pundits have been saying for a few years that physical format music is dead (nevermind the bands that enjoy producing an object rather than just digital files , and all us dorks who enjoy having those objects rather than a hard drive full of low quality sounds that could die any day) and that in the near future bands will make their money on licensing deals. Well , where does that leave bands making more difficult , challenging and un-commercial music?
Or bands who simply don't WANT their songs to be used ad hoc jingles???

Now more than ever is the time to show your support for the bands , labels , distros and stores that matter to you. Buy a record today.



Carrie Brownstein on NPR : Touched and Gone


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What's I'm listening to : Drag City recently reissued the first 2 Royal Trux albums on beautiful vinyl so I gladly replaced my scratched-to-shit CD versions. This shit still sounds daisy fresh 20 years latter. Royal Trux are an obvious influence on so many of the most interesting bands around today.

Mammal " Let Me Die " on Animal Disguise == serious darktime jams, I'm finding it perfect drawing music so I guess my recent drawings will all be demonic.

Raccoo-oo-oon s/t on Not Not Fun. Looks like the boys started getting rock before they called it off. I'm excited to witness the greatness that the ex-members will surely grace us with.

I've also been listening to the 8 x 7" box set on Rock is Hell that i picked up awhile ago when i was in Germany. I'd been avoiding listening to the whole thing cause the unlabeled disks don't jibe with my ocd. I'm glad I loosened up.


And lots of Throbbing Gristle , cause they fit pretty well with the cold and cabin fever.

Nothing super new cause I've been kinda broke myself the past few months but I am about to go on a record binge!


What I'm reading : We Are DEVO! -- Nice look at the early years.