Soon after Pat arrived, Dan went to Toronto for the summer and the guitarist quit because tendonitis had left him incapable of playing guitar. This left Ethan and Pat with a blank slate, for better or worse. Without other players to work up collective ideas, Ethan's and Pat' s songwriting became the focus of the group. In June of 1998, Dan and Mick wrapped up their classes at the University of Chicago and moved on, and Henry found another job opportunity in California. The band played around Chicago at Elbo Room, Morseland, Martyr's, WHPK's Pure Hype, and elsewhere.
East Is South .
They wrapped up the mixes with Jon and mastered it at Colossal Mastering in May 1999. After completing the mixing and mastering of the album, Ethan and Pat began experimenting with a four-piece band format. Also, a cut from the upcoming CD appeared on WXRT's Local Anesthetic during this period. During that fall, Pat and Ethan also established Turtle Down Music. Begun initially as a record label and publishing company to release Tautologic's first CD, Turtle Down Music has since taken on booking responsibilities for a number of artists in Chicago.