[pantophobia]

Touch and Go Records to Stop Releasing New Music, Shut Down Distribution

 

It's a very, very sad day for indie rock. One of America's foremost independent record labels, Touch and Go Records, has announced that they will no longer release new music. They have also shuttered their distribution arm, which manufactured and brought to market releases for labels like Merge, Kill Rock Stars, Drag City, Suicide Squeeze, Flameshovel, Jade Tree, and Post Present Medium.


From Big Black and Shellac to Butthole Surfers and the Jesus Lizard, from Dirty Three and Pinback to Ted Leo and TV on the Radio, from Calexico to the Mekons to Slint, Touch and Go nurtured the careers of so many bands that served as backbones for indie rock. They even boasted a promising crop of new bands, with recent releases from Crystal Antlers, Mi Ami, All the Saints, and Sholi.

Crystal Antlers' Tentacles, slated for release on April 7, will still come out. They also plan to go through with a series of Jesus Lizard reissues in August, as well as a Jesus Lizard 7" box set release for Record Store Day.

A statement from the label concluded, "It is the end of a grand chapter in Touch and Go's history, but we also know that good things can come from new beginnings."

It's impossible to calculate the importance Touch and Go had to the rock'n'roll landscape of the past three decades. Back in 2006, when the label celebrated its 25th anniversary, Pitchfork published a few features about the label's history. Read those now for just a small taste of what this remarkable institution accomplished:

• Twenty-five essential Touch and Go albums

[pantophobia]

i am happy they are still gonna release the Jesus Lizard reissues, but damn that sucks

[HECKLER SPRAY]

Fucking financial crisis....
Why ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dntrecords]

watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ludGHrkpTx0

[blunderbuss]

No more new T&G releases doesn't bother me too much (there are plenty of other labels out there to release good music), and all the good stuff that they've already released is still gonna be out there, so I'm not too fussed about that either, but the closure of the distribution arm is a blow.

[greedrex]

very sad indeed!

[greedrex]

UPDATE: Touch and Go has clarified the information it gave to Pitchfork. We were originally told that the label will no longer be releasing new music. However, the label has since clarified that it hopes to once again release new music at some point in the future, once the dust has settled from the restructuring brought about by the shuttering of its distribution arm.

[pantophobia]

glad to see they hope to get back to label business, but as blunderbuss mentioned, lossing the distribution network is a massive blow to independent labels

[o'connor]

man, that really does suck. i loves me some touch and go.

[atsonicpark]

Fuck.

[This Is Not Here]

A real shame.

[pokkeherrie]

Originally Posted by blunderbuss

No more new T&G releases doesn't bother me too much (there are plenty of other labels out there to release good music), and all the good stuff that they've already released is still gonna be out there, so I'm not too fussed about that either, but the closure of the distribution arm is a blow.

The part about closing down the distribution arm sucks for sure.

As a label Touch&Go were past their glory days for me... The only T&G releases not from the 80's or 90's that I own are Shellac and The Ex.
After G.W. Sok left The Ex and got replaced by that idiot who used to be in Zea, I have no interest in a new Ex record anymore and I'm sure that the next Shellac album in 2012 or whatever would easily find a release somewhere else if T&G don't get back to releasing new music in the future.

But regardless of that, it's still sad. They'd leave behind a big legacy.

[greedrex]

Does this apply to Quarterstick also?

[MellySingsDoom]

Yeah, it is a sad day in a way, but......things move on. The dist arm going is not good news at all, but I'm confident that some enterprising young souls out there will pick up where T&G left off.

[Sonic Youth 37]

Touch and Go had so much good stuff. RIP

[Toilet & Bowels]

t&g has sucked for years and they don't even keep their killdozer records in print either. plus, i don't think trying to sell cocorosie record to pigfuck fans is really a good business stratagy.

[pokkeherrie]

I have 8 out of those 25.

[greedrex]

I have 12 off the list.
i like my Chicago post-punk.

[greedrex]

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

' I do have some Don Caballero and Dirty Three in my collection, but not the ones listed on the "essential" list.

There are two possibilities:
1) You're not hype enough.
2) You're hyper than the hype itself (radical)

[narlus]

that list from Pitchfork is immediately suspect as it doesn't include any Tar. i'd say that _Over and Out_ is one of the records the label ever released.