Touch and Go Records — Chicago's Hardcore and Post-Punk Label

Touch and Go Records is one of the most important independent record labels in American music history, founded in 1981 in Lansing, Michigan — originally as a fanzine in 1979 — by Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson, then relocated to Chicago by Corey Rusk, who took over its operation in the mid-1980s and built it into a powerhouse of post-hardcore and alternative music. The label's roster across its peak years (mid-1980s to mid-2000s) included Big Black, Scratch Acid, the Butthole Surfers, Shellac, Slint, Gastr del Sol, Blonde Redhead, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and dozens of other artists who defined the outer limits of American alternative rock. Steve Albini — himself a Touch and Go artist with Big Black and later Shellac — has recorded many of the label's artists at his Chicago studio.

Touch and Go's business practices were as influential as its music: the label operated on a genuine fifty-fifty profit split with artists, paid royalties promptly, and maintained honest accounting — practices that were exceptional in the music industry and contributed to a level of artist loyalty that made the label's roster uniquely stable. Rusk's management of the label from Chicago, operating at a deliberate remove from both New York and Los Angeles, reinforced the sense of Touch and Go as a genuinely alternative institution rather than an aspiring major.

The label significantly scaled back operations in 2009, ending distribution arrangements with many of its associated labels, and operates in a reduced form as of 2025. Its catalogue — particularly the Big Black, Butthole Surfers, and Slint recordings — remains essential listening for anyone interested in the development of American post-punk and noise rock. Chicago's broader music ecosystem, including Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio and the Pitchfork Media organisation that emerged from the city's music culture, is the direct heir of the environment Touch and Go helped create.