On Tuesday we reported about the sudden ending of the Sandwell District label. After years of releasing fantastic, pitch black takes on techno, and a thoroughly impressive last run of releases, Regis, Silent Servant and Function chose to call time on the label.
Now Juan Mendez, aka Silent Servant, has made a short statement to Wire magazine giving a little more detail behind their ending of the label. "We stopped Sandwell District the same way we started it – through intuition," he said. "It’s what anyone with a passion or half a brain would have done. It will never get old. No one will be able to impose their clean values on it. We will all continue to work together. Nothing has changed but everything has shifted. It was a glorious death, not a mercy killing, as is so often the case in these situations."
In keeping with their label’s minimalist approach to music, artwork and overall aesthetic, it’s a rather excellent closing statement – short, to the point and brusquely direct. Although they plan to continue working together in the future, if all was finished now, "it was a glorious death, not a mercy killing," would stand as a fine epitaph to a very fine musical venture indeed.
