When I first ended DNT at the end of 2015, I was in a transitional period of my life. My partner (now wife) and I had just moved away from Oakland, CA due to the high cost of living, and relocated to Columbus, OH. I was also by then a full-time community organizer focused on anti-prison/anti-policing work, within the Black Lives Matter movement. DNT was still going strong, but my life focus had shifted and it was proving difficult to hold down a day job, while organizing, and running a label & distro. I had just reached the 10 year anniversary and thought the decade mark was a nice milestone to end on. End it on my own terms rather than after getting burnt out. So I hung up the DNT hat and dedicated my energies to organizing. 

The following five years, encompassing the first trump term, I organized and protested with all my energy, experiencing very intense moments of grief and joy that are too great for a short blog post. Long story short, by late 2020, I was burnt out (this was the year of both COVID and the “George Floyd” uprising) and my mental health not so great. With the encouragement of friends and family, I took a step back from organizing and shifted back to the music world. 

But initially, my focus musically was just making solo music, for my mental health and to decompress. I started to revisit a solo project first started in 2006: Meadow Argus. By the following spring, 2021, I released my first tape of this new phase. I began to search for distribution. That’s really when the seed for relaunching DNT was planted. I immediately began to notice something: many of the stores and distros I grew up alongside of in the DNT years had ended their stores. Largely because of the worsening economy and just different world of the 2020s compared to the 00’s. Most of the underground scene these days has migrated to Bandcamp. Gone are websites and most of the blogger reviewers and message boards.

 So I realized there is a great need for a distro like mine to return! Instead of having to buy tapes one at a time, tacking on $5 shipping per tape, you can browse DNT and buy from dozens of labels all at once, with one package and save on shipping. I am a lover of the underground DIY experimental music scene, and I hope it shows with my curated selection of music and dirt cheap prices. 

If you’re already familiar with the DNT world, welcome back! Say hi! If you’re new to DNT, hello! You’ll find that I love things handcrafted, and like to throw in extra stuff with orders. 🙂 And if you’re wondering if and when the label will return with new releases…you’ll see…

Much love,

Tynan

DNT 

April 2026