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Mexican Summer | |
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Founded | 2009 |
Founder | Keith Abrahamsson and Andres Santo Domingo |
Genre | |
Country of origin | U.S. |
Location | Brooklyn, New York |
Official website | www |
Mexican Summer is an independent record label founded in 2009 by Keith Abrahamsson and Andres Santo Domingo. [1] Based in Brooklyn, New York, the label has released recordings from artists including Best Coast, Kurt Vile, Ariel Pink, Allah-Las, Weyes Blood, Connan Mockasin, Jessica Pratt, and Cate Le Bon. The label is named after the song "Mexican Summer" by Marissa Nadler. [2]
In 2013, T: The New York Times Style Magazine described the label as "a bastion for experimental pop, not to mention a model for successful music publishing in the 21st century." [3]
Mexican Summer began in fall 2008 as a subscription service for limited edition, ornately packaged vinyl pieces. [4] On September 2, 2008, they released their first 12" vinyl single Sätt Att Se, from the Swedish rock band, Dungen. “I think the whole idea of Mexican Summer really just came because I wanted to try to develop artists in a different way,” said Abrahamsson. [4] The label continued to add bands to its roster, including early releases from Washed Out, Real Estate, Kurt Vile, and The Tallest Man on Earth.
In October 2009 Mexican Summer opened Co-Op 87, [5] a brick and mortar store in Greenpoint with several other record labels, an idea Santo Domingo called a "vinyl co-op store." [6] In 2011, the label established a recording studio in the same location, Gary's Electric. A second record store, Brooklyn Record Exchange, was opened in March 2019 in Bushwick.
In 2011, Mexican Summer and Kemado Records introduced a new subsidiary label called Software Recording Co. (2011–2016). It was run by Daniel Lopatin, who records under the name Oneohtrix Point Never. Software Recording Co. focused mainly on experimental electronic and dance music. [7] The label's inaugural release was a collaborative album with Lopatin and Joel Ford, Channel Pressure. In March 2016, the label released their final album, Arcology, from Thug Entrancer.
Over the years, Mexican Summer has expanded its catalog to over 200 releases across multiple formats. The label's roster includes releases from Tamaryn, Allah-Las, The Alps, Weekend, and No Joy. One of the label's largest successes was the 2010 release of Crazy For You, the debut album from Best Coast. Additionally, Weyes Blood released her second album, The Innocents (October 2014), and her third album, Front Row Seat to Earth (October 2016), which was met with great acclaim throughout the music industry. [8] In September 2017, Ariel Pink released his first solo LP on the label, Dedicated to Bobby Jameson .
Mexican Summer also launched Anthology Recordings in 2014 as its reissue imprint, serving vinyl and formats unforeseen. [9]
Since 2014, Mexican Summer and contemporary arts nonprofit Ballroom Marfa have organized the annual music festival and multidisciplinary cultural program, Marfa Myths, held in Marfa, Texas. Marfa Myths showcases established and emerging artists, with notable performers including Roky Erickson, Annette Peacock, Pharoah Sanders, Kelsey Lu, Deerhunter, Amen Dunes, No Age, and Wire. [10]
In November 2018, Mexican Summer celebrated the label's 10th anniversary with "A Decade Deeper," an all day festival at Pioneer Works, a cultural center in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Performers included Ariel Pink, Allah-Las, Tonstartssbandht, F.J. McMahon, Quilt, Jess Williamson, Drugdealer, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Part Time, Pill, Arp, Dungen, Cate Le Bon, Photay, and Ben Steidel.
The label is distributed in the United States through Caroline Distribution by way of Universal Music Group, and in the United Kingdom and Europe through The Orchard.
Anthology Recordings is a reissue imprint. The label was founded by Mexican Summer A&R man, Keith Abrahamsson, in 2004, and has reissued records from artists such as Trad Gras Och Stenar, Linda Perhacs, and Rüdiger Lorenz, among others. [13]
In 2016, Anthology Recordings expanded its repertoire, and began publishing books under the imprint, Anthology Editions.
Founded | 2016 |
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Founder | Keith Abrahamsson, Andres Santo Domingo |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | Brooklyn |
Distribution | Ingram Distribution (US,EU,UK) Books at Manic (AU) |
Key people | Andres Santo Domingo (Founder) Keith Abrahamsson (Founder) Jesse Pollock (Managing Director) Casey Whalen (Director of Sales & Marketing) |
Nonfiction topics | Art, Photography, Design, |
Official website | www |
Anthology Editions is an independent book publisher based in Brooklyn, New York. An imprint of the record label Mexican Summer, Anthology Editions was originally founded by Keith Abrahamsson and Andres Santo Domingo in 2016. The publishing company was an expansion of the existing Anthology Recordings brand, founded in 2004.
The books of Anthology Editions typically center on music-related or counter-cultural subject matter, [14] and feature contributions by Lou Reed, Joan E. Biren, Jonas Mekas, Jerry Hsu, Dennis Stock, Emma Kohlmann, Ed Emberley, Joe Roberts and more. [15]
Secret Machines are an American alternative rock band, originally from Dallas, Texas, United States, before moving to New York City. The original lineup consisted of two brothers, Brandon and Benjamin Curtis, and Josh Garza (drums). Benjamin left the band in March 2007 to focus on his work with School of Seven Bells, and was replaced on guitar by Phil Karnats. The re-activated band is a two-piece, with the remaining members being Brandon Curtis and Josh Garza.
Dungen is a Swedish rock band based in Stockholm. Often classified as psychedelic rock, Dungen is also influenced by Swedish folk music, classic rock, progressive rock, garage rock and alternative rock.
Progg was a left-wing and anti-commercial musical movement in Sweden that began in the late 1960s and became more widespread in the 1970s. Not to be confused with the English expressions "progressive music" or "prog rock," progg is a contraction of the Swedish word for musical progressivism, progressiv musik. While there were progg bands playing progressive rock, the progg movement encompassed many different musical genres.
Gustav Ejstes is a Swedish musician. He is the singer and frontman of the Swedish psychedelic rock band Dungen. Ejstes himselfs plays many of the instruments within his recordings, alongside bandmates Reine Fiske (guitar), Mattias "Tiaz" Gustavsson (bass) and Johan Holmegard (drums).
Connan Tant Hosford, better known by the stage name Connan Mockasin, is a New Zealand musician, composer and record producer. Critically acclaimed and described as "a psych-funk oddball...a contrarian", Mockasin has been credited with the 21st century crossover of psychedelic and indie music, and praised for his unique and isolated approach to songwriting.
Ta det lugnt is the third album by the Swedish psychedelic rock group Dungen. It was produced by Gustav Ejstes, the lead singer and instrumentalist of the band. Ejstes also recorded and mixed the album.
Kemado Records is an American record label based in New York City founded in 2002 by Andrés Santo Domingo and Tom Clapp.
Träd, Gräs & Stenar is a Swedish rock band formed in 1969, from previous incarnations Pärson Sound, International Harvester and Harvester. The group was one of the front acts of the Swedish progg scene, although noticeably less political than their contemporary counterparts. Their sound has been described as raw, psych rock jam, by the writer David Pescovitz, who also notes the band would invite their audiences to improvise and collaborate.
Daniel Lopatin, best known as Oneohtrix Point Never or OPN, is an American experimental electronic music producer, composer, singer, and songwriter. His music has utilized tropes from various musical genres and eras, sample-based composition, and complex MIDI production.
Ford & Lopatin is an American electronic duo composed of musicians Daniel Lopatin and Joel Ford. The group's sound draws on disparate genres such as 1980s synthpop and MIDI-funk, chopped and screwed production, 1970s fusion, and techno. They have released a number of original recordings and remix mixtapes, including the 2011 album Channel Pressure.
Nils Reine Fiske is a Swedish guitarist, art director and sound engineer at the record label Subliminal Sounds, who put his signature to many prog-rock projects such as Landberk, Morte Macabre, Paatos, Motorpsycho, Elephant9, and Träd, Gräs & Stenar. He is best known for his playing in the band Dungen.
Laurel Anne Chartow, known professionally as Laurel Halo, is an American electronic musician currently based in Los Angeles, California. She released her debut album Quarantine on Hyperdub in 2012 to critical acclaim; it was named album of the year by The Wire.
Allah-Las are an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2008. The band consists of Miles Michaud, Matthew Correia, Spencer Dunham, and Pedrum Siadatian.
RVNG Intl. is an independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2003 by Matt Werth, the label is run by Werth and focuses on experimental dance and electronic music, often incorporating avant-garde genres. Release formats include vinyl, CDs, and digital downloads. In 2011, they were named one of the top 50 indie labels in America by Billboard.
Channel Pressure is the debut studio album of electronic music duo Ford & Lopatin, consisting of producers Daniel Lopatin and Joel Ford. Following the group's abandonment of their previous name "Games" for legal reasons, they recorded the album at Gary's Electric Studios in Brooklyn, New York. It was released on June 7, 2011 as the first album to be issued on Software, Lopatin's own label under the Mexican Summer imprint.
Rifts is a 2009 compilation album by Oneohtrix Point Never, the solo alias of Brooklyn electronic musician Daniel Lopatin. The album collects Lopatin's early synth-based recordings under the moniker dating back to 2003, including the three limited-run LPs Betrayed in the Octagon (2007), Zones Without People (2009) and Russian Mind (2009), as well as several additional cassette and CD-R releases. It was originally released on No Fun Productions in 2009 as a 2 disc set.
Samuel Shepherd, known professionally as Floating Points, is a British electronic music producer, DJ, and musician. He is the founder of Pluto Records, co-founder of Eglo Records and leader of a 16-piece group called Floating Points Ensemble. He took over the 6 Music Artist in Residence radio slot on July 15, 2024.
Allas Sak is the seventh album by the Swedish psychedelic rock group Dungen. The title loosely translates into English as "everyone's thing" or "anyone's thing".
Natalie Laura Mering, known professionally as Weyes Blood, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She was primarily raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She has been performing her own material under variations of the name Weyes Blood since 2003.
Front Row Seat to Earth is the third studio album by American musician Weyes Blood. It was released on October 21, 2016, by Mexican Summer. Musically, the album explores several genres like baroque pop, psychedelic folk, folk-pop, and psychedelic pop. Front Row Seat to Earth was acclaimed by music critics, with one of them comparing the singer with Karen Carpenter.