That’s it everyone. As of 5pm, Asaurus Records is officially closed. It’s been a wonderful (nearly) 7 years of hard work, making great friends, and spreading amazing music all over the world. It honestly hasn’t hit me yet. I’ve been toiling away all weekend, putting together as many orders as I can, I really haven’t had a chance to reflect on how different my life is going to be tomorrow morning. I’m sad but I am also relieved. Ironically, the label became so successful that I could no longer keep up with the amount of work. I suppose I should have found myself an intern.

I’ve been saying it over and over again the past few months, but let me reiterate just one more time and say how grateful I am to have been able to work with so many amazing bands and have the support of some of the most dedicated indie pop fans alive. Our little record label would have fizzled out many years ago if it wasn’t for every one of you.

In addition to each and every one of our bands, I want to thank (in no particular order) Bryan at Shmat, Stephanie Lim, Windy & Carl at Stormy Records, Dave Heaton, Eric Wolf, Jason Voss and We’re Twins Records, Tim Castro, David Barclay, Chris McFarlane and Indiepages, Andrew Churchman, Leah Williams, Mike Turner, Stephen Cramer, Justin Shay, Gabe & Gerry Saucedo, John & Nicole Nelson, Shawn & Veronica Knight, Johnnie Cluney, Colin Clary, Raoul & Missy, Jonathan Westbay, Aaron Demorow, Jeremy Temple, Mike Downey, Martin & all of Yellow Mica, Max & Leslie Soren, Darla Records, Tonevendor, Christian at BSBTA, Jon Rooney, Jhohn Shrum, Mike Gibson, Amy D, Nadav, Jessica Williams, Jeff Cook, Brandon Haney, Emily Powers, Melanie, everyone I’ve forgotten, and of course Corey Williams. You’re all responsible for pushing me forward and helping make Asaurus an awesome, CD-R burning force.

Many of you have written me some really nice emails the past few weeks and I intend to get back with all of you soon. Please know that your kind words are appreciated.

So…. what’s next? First off, I’m taking a vacation. I haven’t had a good stretch of free time since I was 22, so I going to start with that. But in the coming weeks and months, my plans for Asaurus and asaurus.org will hopefully start coming together. Expect a new blog, centered on but not dedicated to music, with several contributors, as well as a podcast or two. Plus, monthly mixtapes, LOTS of free downloads, interesting items from my sound archive, new music from my personal recording projects, as well as updates on the Asaurus family and the Asaurus archive. I am hoping we can keep asaurus.org active and interesting.

I like to think this was a worthwhile effort and I hope you agree.

Thank you, and please, take care.
Matthew

So folks, this is the beginning of the (potential) end for Asaurus Records as we all know and love it. Your last day to place an order is June 15th, 2008. After that is anybody’s guess. I have a few ideas, but we’ll talk about them later.

On to much more exciting news, we are very excited to announce our 64th release (technically 81st if count EP Club and 5 cassettes) and what could quite possibly be our last release ever, the new record from the Mathletes, lovingly titled #$%@ You and Your Cool. This record features new recordings of the Mathletes with a full band sound, which you might have heard if you’ve caught one of their live shows. Duh. There’s also new solo recordings from Joe Mathlete if that’s more your cup of tea.

The way I see it, you only have 26 more shopping days to get this and all of our releases. And on top of that, #$@% You and Your Cool is being released in a limited, hand-numbered edition of 100 copies. And thanks to the early birds, a tenth of them are already gone. I should also mention that the record comes inside a bologna sandwich. Not a real one (because that would be revolting) but a close approximation. You can sample all the tracks over at Last.fm or just buy the damn thing.

Here is the new deal: Starting this June (exact date to be determined), Asaurus Records will be taking an extended vacation. Perhaps very extended. I’ve come to a point in my life where I no longer want to dedicate the whole of my free time to running a label. The past 6+ years of my life have been consumed with CD-R burning, construction paper folding, and doing my best to make Asaurus as awesome as possible. I’ve loved every second of it and would never do things differently if given the opportunity. But to be honest with all of you, I feel myself getting older. Different things have become more important to me than **gasp** indie pop. I want time to pursue new projects, some of which I will post about here. After some time away from the daily CD-R grind, I will see how I feel about reopening things. Your continued interest or lack there of will be a major factor. The website and its contents will stay up and I will also update this blog occasionally with band news, rare MP3s, and anything else that would celebrate Asaurus’ mini-heritage. Know that I will forever appreciate the support each and every one of you has given this little endeavor of ours.

Before our online store closes in 2 months, we will be releasing our (possibly) last record ever from the Mathletes in a limited edition. More details soon. If you’ve been thinking about placing an order with us, please do so soon, as once our online store closes, we will no longer be making and shipping handmade records. It’s sad, I know, and I’m sorry. It isn’t easy for me either.

We are pleased to announce our latest release from our friend Patrick Porter, entitled A Swan at Smiley’s. The record is ready and shipping, please visit our store for more info, sound samples, and ordering.

Quick one before bed: The Diskettes and The 32-Bit Handhelds records are back in stock, though both have limited quantities on hand. Get them while you can!

I’ve been tinkering with Last.fm for years but I’ve only just now finished uploading the entire Asaurus catalog. You can preview pretty much every track in our catalog, plus download full-length songs, plus leave comments about our bands and their records, and much more.

Check it out:
http://www.last.fm/label/Asaurus/

I’ve also made a few of our out-of-print releases available for free download. There will be more of this kindness to come.

- A Tape Between Friends: Sold out cassette release. These mp3s are from a cassette rip, so it can be heard the way it was meant to.

- There Were Trees in That Forest: Our sold out Arbor Day compilation.

Added 6 new releases from our favorite Danish label group, BSBTA, to the distro this evening.

Somehow keeping on schedule, our second release of 2008 and our 62nd-ish overall is now ready and shipping. It is the brand new, 4 song EP from one of my favorite bands ever, New Grenada. I was more than excited when they asked if I would be “interested” in releasing it. Of course, yes. The Model Citizen EP is the follow-up to their Steve Albini produced Modern Problems full-length and, while Shawn is no longer in the band, still retains their classic early 90’s indie rock sound. OK, listen to “January 1st” while reading the rest.

Untypical of Asaurus, this EP is an actual manufactured CD. I know, what is the CD-R label world coming to? But don’t worry, it will be ok, the artwork is still all handmade and lovingly designed and put together by the band. In fact, there are 4 different covers available for the EP. At the risk of sounding like Burger King, may we suggest you collect all 4?

For more info and ordering, please visit our store.

In other news, I have posted an MP3 from next month’s release (starting to see a pattern??), Patrick Porter’s A Swan at Smiley’s. I can’t tell you how much I love this record. Really, I won’t. But I can tell you it is a collection of mid-fi, hi-fi, and really transcendent lo-fi songs from the highly-regarded songwriter. Please listen to the track “Wait for Another” and see for yourself. Fast readers: Wait for “January 1st” to finish.

Hey Detroit friends — You can get your hands on New Grenada’s new EP, Model Citizen, tonight at the Belmont in Hamtramck. It’s what you call a “release show.” Wiki it. But if you hate leaving your house like I do, you can order your copy from our store starting today and it will be shipped Tuesday morning.

Listen and/or download “January 1st”

As part of our 6 year anniversary celebration, I am starting a new blog series where I reveal some background information on every release in our catalog. I’ll discuss how each record came about, juicy insider information, plus, when available, MP3s of relevant, previously unavailable music. I hope you will find it interesting or at the very least entertaining. For me, it will help document a sort of oral history of Asaurus Records. This is obviously a daunting task to take on and probably something I will regret starting, but in the end, ultimately rewarding. I hope to get through the entire catalog by the end of the year.

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