God help the musically curious, Epitonic-browsing 17-year-old in all of us. Mostly me, probably. In case you haven’t read it on every other blog on the planet (sorry for the delay, P), Gold Standard Labs, perhaps better known as GSL, the record label that helped introduce the world to the likes of The Locust, The Rapture, !!!, The Mars Volta, and Gogogo Airheart, has closed its metaphorical doors.
A press release cited “onsets of factors” and “an industry in flux,” but as a completely benign longtime fan, I can’t help but wonder how a label with such artists as the above under its belt, as well as part-ownership by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta, managed to go under. It's probable the reasons aren’t entirely financial, and the label’s proprietors simply decided that the scene the label chronicled had been overdocumented, turned inside-out, and eventually run its course.
Whatever it was, thanks for the memories, GSL. During my salad days, I right-click/save as’ed every single MP3 you had on your website, and while I didn’t like all of it and some of it has since aged poorly, I now annoy my roommates with the likes of Blues Control, enjoy every minute of it, and it’s all your fault. May your sons have the jawlines of kings and the names of brands of whiskey.
