Indie music website Epitonic set to relaunch

Justin Sinkovich is one busy guy. Between his full-time gig as faculty coordinator of Columbia College's student-run Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Program (AEMMP) record label as well as running his own imprint, File 13, it's a miracle the guy has time to eat and/or sleep. And that's to say nothing of his work as a musician with meaty postpunk power trio the Poison Arrows, with whom he records and tours (the local unit recently gave us Newfound Resolutions, a solid sophomore double LP). So I'm not only impressed, but kinda floored that he's decided to relaunch Epitonic—the one-stop web hub devoted to all things indie, created by Sinkovich and his buddies back in 1999.

Before Pitchfork or iTunes were household names, Epitonic was acting as both indie aggregator and tastemaker. Aside from doling out reviews of bands and offering free mp3 downloads and album streams, the site served as a gateway to good music with links to affiliates like Insound and Amazon, where consumers could buy the actual albums. (Y'know, back when people used to do stuff like that.) According to Sinkovich, that's a practice that Epitonic 2.0 will continue, in addition to other new features yet to be rolled out.

Like many of its internet boom peers, the site was eventually sold off to a large investor with bigger plans, in this instance Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who absorbed the fledgling web destination into his sputnik7 venture. Around the same time a little thing called iTunes came along and the playing field was radically reworked. Since then the music industry has morphed into a decidedly different beast—one that's substantially less profitable, as countless artists and execs bemoan on the daily.

But enough with the history lesson. After fizzling out about six years ago, Epitonic is back with Sinkovich again at the helm. It's currently hibernating in advance of its official go-live date. "It kinda ebbs and flows with everyone's other commitments," the 37-year-old Southwest Side resident explains of the labor of love endeavor, making sure to add, "We are making great progress—phase one is spec'd out and a lot of the back-end stuff is already built with the front end in the works." The business-savvy Sinkovich and co. have latched on to some tenets of the new internet economy in advance of that TBA launch, making a Kickstarter page to crowdsource some startup cash, as well as a Twitter page to promote their efforts.

In the meantime, the gang have given us a delightful, nostalgia-infused nugget in the form of the original site, restored for your viewing pleasure. It's worth a visit if nothing else just to virtually cruise around for shits and giggles. Remember when there was this new Touch and Go band called TV on the Radio that all the kids were agog about? Or when the indie elite were up in arms that Cat Power's Chan Marshall had drafted grunge gurus Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl to guest on her brilliant 2003 slab You Are Free? Ah, the memories. Speaking of which, Sinkovich was kind enough to regale us with this amusing back story about when the OG Epitonic crew first bro'd down with Blackwell:

"[Chris Blackwell] called while we were at a Don Caballero show at the Knitting Factory. My partners and I went over to his place, sat at a table and talked for hours that night. It was very laid back, but of course we were a little nervous. My friend Nyles Lannon—one of the managers and a vet of the band Film School—was leaning back in a chair and it completely broke into a million pieces. We were terrified. Chris played it cool and just said 'Put the wood over there.' After that we nicknamed Nyles 'Mangler,' an alias which has stuck ever since."

Lanno... erm, "Mangler" will return as one of the revamped Epitonic's new editors. I'm excited to see what they do with it, having been a fan the first time around. Given the way Sinko's been talking up the whole thing, my curiosity is positively piqued. Improved audio streaming and optimized modern visuals allow infinite possibilities compared to the old site's then-limited HTML options. As mentioned previously, a launch date is still forthcoming. Rest assured, however, you'll be among the first to know as soon as an announcement arrives. Just keep monitoring this blog. And make sure you're seated in a sturdy chair when it all goes down.