Touch & Go record label S&D

Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought Pegboy were on Quarterstick.

For this thread, are we talking just T&G the label or T&G the distributor, too, because some releases mentioned here were not technically released on T&G but were released by labels who were distributed (exclusively?) through T&G like Quarterstick.

It's interesting to see how T&G has changed over the years. They definitely have "softened" their aesthetic a bit. I know some of the newer releases are decent. But, when I think of T&G, I think of the hardcore stuff to the midwest, grunge, noise, thing (Big Black, Jesus Lizard, and Hyenas), which kind of died out shortly before the rise of post-rock (Something I never really got into.) I mean, the fact that T&G put out something like the Delta 72 record is a sure sign of some kind of decline. Hell, I'll take a rather boring Tar record over sub, sub, sub Jon Spencer fashion dorks. The only newer T&G releases I have ever purchased were the Monorchid/Skull Control stuff. As for the past three to four years, isn't just indie rock and pop. Maybe I'm wrong!

not unless corey changed his name to ed roche.

Might listen to that now.

The short version, though, is that they also released a single (Def Jam #1) that includes a pretty great Flipper-esque track called Mobo, later covered (very nicely) by the Dustdevils on their first Matador album.

i love love love jesus lizard, but even now i would seriously consider getting a die kreuzen or necros tattoo. close to my heart.

I gave the slight nod to Italian Platinum b/c I'm partial to Bourbon Beard and the "story" type songs (LR72) but it's pretty much a toss-up vs. Lifestyle, both are great

So very sad if this is true - the demise of Touch and Go -

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2009/02/rip-touch-go-records/

My fave ever label ...

That is depressing to hear. The label hasn't thrilled me much in recent years, but back in the mid-90s when I was first delving into lolindie and discovering bands like Seam, Slint, and Jesus Lizard, I thought the label could do no wrong. I loved flipping through someone's record collection, flipping over an unfamiliar title, and seeing this...

http://www.southern.com/southern/label/TCH/pics/logo2.jpg

Yeah it was a similar seal of approval for me - digging through 2nd hand CDs if an unfamiliar band had that logo on it I'd consider buying.

Too bad but I guess they haven't released much lately that's been all that interesting? Perhaps someone might like to update this thread with post-2000 T&G essentials?

The last two Shellac albums and the last Ted Leo album, off the top of my head

Considering this is one of my favourite labels ever I'm curiously unbothered by this TBH

This will be as polarizing at !!!, but Pinback's Summer In Abaddon from 2004.

T&G never really figured out how to thrive in the 2000s, seems like. Just funny because a couple of other semi-regional labels with a similar amount of weight behind their names have done really well over the same time period.

Considering this is one of my favourite labels ever I'm curiously unbothered by this TBH

it's more desensitized for me than not bothered. Also, T&G's not completely dropping off the earth. They'll be around to keep certain titles in print, but allegedly won't be signing new bands or won't be "moving forward" for lack of a better term. All the rumination here was already rumination several years ago, tbh.

xpost

uh they did sign a couple of bands by the name of yeah yeah yeahs and TV on the radio.

fuck me. this sucks.

It is sad because even in the crooked 80s, artists on T&G (except for one obvious example) talked highly of how fair the label was in royalty deals. It was really hard to find any label like T&G once upon a time, so I can imagine the emotions in the Chicago music circles are running high right now. :(

holy shit holy shit holy shit! silly me, i thought they were doing well, for some reason. like matador and maybe close to sub-pop well. guess they never got teh subsidy $$$ like those folks. major bummer. though our tastes diverged in the 00s, i still respect the shit out of them guys/gals.

who's gonna put out the crystal antlers LP?

this is a bummer, but as long as they keep their old records in print I won't be as bummed.

the real low-down thing that sucks:

T&G's distro arm does TONS of smaller labels...i don't know what like drag city and shit like that is going to do...

fuck the economy.

^ yow, good point. rough trade 91?

i think merge, drag city, atavistic, KRS, bunch all distro through T&G

wow, that's huge. merge is a label that seems to be doing well, and i recall reading something will oldham said about drag city gets by and pays its artists very well.

matador, sub pop, and actually secretly canadian/jagjaguawar have all struck gold a couple times over the past few years. i guess T&G signed TVOTR and the YYYs but didn't have them for long and didn't make much money for them? just kind of thinking out loud about why they weren't able to sign and retain a band with decent mass appeal.

hands off, artist friendly, binding-contract-averse approach may not allow them to fully "leverage" their more profitable signings

how can they not be making money through their distro if they do merge? Hasn't the arcade fire alone sold enough records to allow all parties involved to light cuban cigars with hundred dollar bills on a regular basis????

My post was before the update re: distro arm, that is legitimately something that sucks even if it's less big-scare-quotes 'glamorous'

i'm not positive they still do merge, but they def used to, back when merge meant like portastatic records and shit like that.

yeah the sad thing is that someone who was more of a dick w/contracts (unlike rusk) would still be eating off TVOTR and Yeah Yeah Yeahs

secretly canadian funded that entire dead oceans imprint with antony and the johnsons money

maybe it's a projections thing. like, given how much they have tied up in distro, how little they're making off of house label, and how dire they see things getting over the next couple, they figure they've to get out NOT in order to avoid screwing over all parties involved. maybe?

^ "get out NOW", that is...

plus go to merge's site, there are pleeenty of records that don't sell shit on that label

yeah the sad thing is that someone who was more of a dick w/contracts (unlike rusk) would still be eating off TVOTR and Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Wait, he's not some indie Broadway Danny Rose, tons of people stuck with him in part because he wasn't setting up deals that put him in an adverse relationship with the bands. It's just as likely that a contract-dependent version of Rusk would never have gotten TVOTR or YYYs because he'd have burned (and been burned by) so many bands before their era that they would have just signed with some NY label.

This situation sucks, RIP T&G P&D. But are they in fact cutting back anything as far as their own new releases goes? The press release only says it's about the packaging deals with other labels, and Corey told DeRo that rumors otherwise aren't so.

Pitchfork as usual wrong. Check the Tribune site, Kot's blog.

Kot blog

Time Out even more impressively wrong -- leading with the fact that they are printing rumors, then backpedalling furiously in the comments.

Dad A OTM re Time Out worse than Pitchfork here.

We live inside "The Wire, Season 5" now, getting worse every day.

yeah (and yay) to above few posts. glad to hear it's just the distribution arm, should have taken time to read rusk's official statement in teh 1st place. hope the label is doing okay, and hope the transition goes smoothly. godspeed you one and all

seriously sometimes i think i would shut the internet down right now if i could bring back all the stuff we're going to lose because of it.

i feel bad for thinking that though, like it's a backwards way of thinking but i can't help it sometimes.

Uh why is the internet responsible for the lousy state of our economy?

my feelings don't make sense alex

matt otm, sadly

if they stop distro, some of the labels will probably jump up to ADA. From ADA's website:

http://www.touchandgorecords.com/ Full List of Titles Chicago-based Touch And Go, at the forefront of music for over a decade, is home to artists from the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Enon, and Black Heart Procession to Blonde Redhead, Dirty Three, Man Or Astroman?, and The Jesus Lizard. The label is also the home of many other indie labels such as 2.13.61, 5 Rue Christine, All Natural Inc., Atavistic, Cold Crush, Dim Mak, Drag City, Emperor Jones, Estrus, In The Fishtank, Jade Tree, Kill Rock Stars, Le Tigre, Merge, Overcoat, Quarterstick, Robocore, Suicide Squeeze, Thrill Jockey, Trixie, Trance Syndicate, Voodoo Eros, and Warm Recordings.

Dan - Sure. But imagine the costs of switching your p & d. Also: this might just be the first P & D to go under. Imagine trying to figure out what to do in this situ if you're one of the affected labels. Yikes!