What bothers me about this is that Pitchfork, Time Out Chicago and others reported that T & G was going out of business entirely beforehand. It's depressing news, but the label disbanding completely would be enough to induce mass suicide. Hate to see the indie press resort to the rumormongering of tabloid journalism.
PFork and Time Out reported it this morning, and the news happened a few hours later. It's not like they published a report about the label closing 6 months ago on a rumor, and are now reporting the real closure.
The gun was jumped by publications, but the actual news was pretty close to the speculation. Whether it's right or wrong, this seems to be how things happen in news nowadays.
You'd think that Pitchfork would at least get the whole story before writing a full on obituary. Idolator reported it as a rumor before the whole story was published. As for the Time Out Chicago obituary, the post was written by Brent DiCrescenzo, who is responsible for one of the most notorious moments of shoddy journalism in Pitchfork's history: http://www.rrj.ca/online/572/
For a change I'll play the optimist--the other labels distributed through Touch & Go will find new distribution and as Rusk says, "Touch and Go will be returning to its roots and focusing solely on being an independent record label." Maybe this means a return to how the label used to be; Slint, Jesus Lizard, Big Black and Dirty Three and away from some of their latest trash, like Coco Rosie.
This is sad news indeed, but others will take its place... I wonder if the whole idea of a "label aesthetic" (which is what makes/made a label like TnG interesting (that is, they have a schtick that people like and then identify with the label)) is probably going by the wayside now that finding and accessing new music is easier for people.
Ugh.
That's a shame. Wonder who will distribute those other labels, too.
Yeah, I think that's the bigger concern. All those other labels rely on T&G.
What bothers me about this is that Pitchfork, Time Out Chicago and others reported that T & G was going out of business entirely beforehand. It's depressing news, but the label disbanding completely would be enough to induce mass suicide. Hate to see the indie press resort to the rumormongering of tabloid journalism.
PFork and Time Out reported it this morning, and the news happened a few hours later. It's not like they published a report about the label closing 6 months ago on a rumor, and are now reporting the real closure.
The gun was jumped by publications, but the actual news was pretty close to the speculation. Whether it's right or wrong, this seems to be how things happen in news nowadays.
You'd think that Pitchfork would at least get the whole story before writing a full on obituary. Idolator reported it as a rumor before the whole story was published. As for the Time Out Chicago obituary, the post was written by Brent DiCrescenzo, who is responsible for one of the most notorious moments of shoddy journalism in Pitchfork's history: http://www.rrj.ca/online/572/
Wasn't Ted Leo on Lookout! when they folded? And now he's on Touch and Go when they shrink operations?
That dude is suspect.
But this is sad news, though thankfully they'll still be around to offer their impressive back catalog.
For a change I'll play the optimist--the other labels distributed through Touch & Go will find new distribution and as Rusk says, "Touch and Go will be returning to its roots and focusing solely on being an independent record label." Maybe this means a return to how the label used to be; Slint, Jesus Lizard, Big Black and Dirty Three and away from some of their latest trash, like Coco Rosie.
This is sad news indeed, but others will take its place... I wonder if the whole idea of a "label aesthetic" (which is what makes/made a label like TnG interesting (that is, they have a schtick that people like and then identify with the label)) is probably going by the wayside now that finding and accessing new music is easier for people.