Touch & Go Bye-Bye

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So, the economy has killed an indie giant: Touch & Go Records has minimized its presence in the marketplace, sticking to its back-catalogue for future revenue and cutting its distribution ties with indie labels Merge, Drag City, Kill Rock Stars, Flameshovel and Jade Tree among others.

Any music aficionado will be able to recognize what a huge blow this is to the independent music scene, especially in correlation with the one Touch & Go housed, nurtured and inspired:

Big Black, Girls Against Boys, Shellac, The Jesus Lizard, Pinback, TV On The Radio…there are a lot of names tied to this label.

The Jesus Lizard: “Monkey Trick”

Not to pimp out another music reviews source, knowing fully well that I lack the resources, money and time to cover what they do, but Pitchfork put together a really good and comprehensive list of Touch & Go must-haves:

Twenty-five essential Touch and Go albums

In the meantime, as the economic climate will hopefully begin to prosper, (because really, how much fucking further can it sink?), let’s hope Touch & Go founder Corey Rusk can maybe return the label to its former glory, offering esoteric and subversive bands a format to grow and offering fans a tried and true alternative to the majors. I guess we can find some comfort in the fact that it’s still in operation. So long as that’s the case, I guess there’s still hope.

Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead

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