Pitchfork

The celebrated Chicago-based Touch and Go/Quarterstick label group is pulling ahead of the pack in the digital realm, as they have propped open the purely-figurative doors of their own digital music shop, accessible through their website.

Starting yesterday, certain Touch and Go/Quarterstick catalog pillars and fresh cuts will be available in DRM-free 256 Kbps MP3 format, which, I believe, earns you a level-four power sword in D&D. The Touch and Go website will be the only place on the web that the Shellac and Rapeman discographies will be available, as well as Slint's Spiderland (and untitled EP), should you wish to bone up on all six of its lyrics in anticipation of their set at the Pitchfork Music Festival.

The store plans to offer plenty more digital exclusives in the future, like the head start they've given to a pair of mid-90s Bedhead EP reissues on Touch and Go, out now through the site and July 10 elsewhere.