Mexican Summer is an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

founded in 2009 by Keith Abrahamsson and Andres Santo Domingo. Based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, the label has released recordings from artists including

Best Coast Best Coast is an American rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 2009. The band consists of songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Bethany Cosentino and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno. Cosentino, a former child actress, began ...

Kurt Vile Kurt Samuel Vile (born January 3, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is known for his solo work and as the former lead guitarist of rock band the War on Drugs. Both in the studio and during li ...

Ariel Pink Ariel Marcus Rosenberg ( ; born June 24, 1978), professionally known as Ariel Pink, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter whose work draws heavily from the popular music of the 1960s–1980s. His lo-fi music, lo-fi aesthetic and home ...

Allah-Las Allah-Las are an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2008. The band consists of Miles Michaud (vocals, guitar), Matthew Correia (percussion, vocals), Spencer Dunham (bass, vocals), and Pedrum Siadatian (lead guitar, voca ...

Weyes Blood Natalie Laura Mering (born June 11, 1988), known professionally as Weyes Blood (pronounced ), is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She was primarily raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She has been performing her own material under ...

Connan Mockasin Connan Tant Hosford, better known by the stage name Connan Mockasin and sometimes credited as Connan Hosford, is a New Zealand musician, composer and record producer. Critically acclaimed and described as "a psych-funk oddball...a contrarian", ...

, Jessica Pratt, and

Cate Le Bon Cate Le Bon (born Cate Timothy on 4 March 1983) is a Welsh musician and record producer. She sings in both English and Welsh. She has released six solo studio albums, three EPs and a number of singles. Le Bon has toured with artists such as St. ...

. The label is named after the song "Mexican Summer" by

Marissa Nadler Marissa Nadler (born April 5, 1981) is an American musician and fine artist. Active since 2000, she is currently signed to Sacred Bones Records and Bella Union, and released her ninth full-length studio album, ''The Path of the Clouds'', in Oc ...

. 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."

History

Mexican Summer began in fall 2008 as a subscription service for limited edition, ornately packaged vinyl pieces. On September 2, 2008, they released their first 12" vinyl single ''Sätt Att Se'', from the Swedish

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

Dungen Dungen ("the grove", ) is a Swedish rock band based in Stockholm. Often classified as psychedelic rock, Dungen is also influenced by Swedish (and other) folk music, classic rock, progressive rock, garage rock and alternative rock. The band ...

. “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. The label continued to add bands to its roster, including early releases from

Washed Out Ernest Weatherly Greene Jr. (born October 3, 1982), known professionally as Washed Out, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Commonly associated with the chillwave genre in the 2010s, Pitchfork dubbed him "the godfather of chil ...

Real Estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, Kurt Vile, and

The Tallest Man on Earth Kristian Matsson (born 30 April 1983) is a Swedish singer-songwriter who performs under the stage name The Tallest Man on Earth. Matsson grew up in Leksand, and began his solo career in 2006, having previously been the lead singer of the indie b ...

. In October 2009 Mexican Summer opened Co-Op 87, a

brick and mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

store in Greenpoint with several other record labels, an idea Santo Domingo called a "vinyl co-op store." 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 Kemado Records is an American record label based in New York City founded in 2002 by Andrés Santo Domingo and Tom Clapp. In 2006 the label released the ''Invaders'' compilation, which featured many of the label's bands alongside other hard rock ...

introduced a new subsidiary label called Software Recording Co. (2011-2016). It was run by

Daniel Lopatin Daniel Lopatin (born July 25, 1982), best known as Oneohtrix Point Never or OPN, is an American Experimental music, experimental electronic music producer, composer, singer and songwriter. His music has experimented with wikt:trope, tropes from ...

, who records under the name

Oneohtrix Point Never Daniel Lopatin (born July 25, 1982), best known as Oneohtrix Point Never or OPN, is an American experimental electronic music producer, composer, singer and songwriter. His music has experimented with tropes from various music genres and eras, s ...

. Software Recording Co. focused mainly on experimental electronic and dance music. 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,

The Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

, Weekend, and

No Joy No Joy are a Canadian shoegaze band from Montreal formed in late 2009 by Jasamine White-Gluz and former member Laura Lloyd. Biography No Joy's first show was with Grant Hart of Husker Du on December 15, 2009. The band continued to play locally, ...

. One of the label's largest successes was the 2010 release of ''Crazy For You'', the debut album from

. 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. In September 2017, Ariel Pink released his first solo LP on the label, ''

Dedicated to Bobby Jameson ''Dedicated to Bobby Jameson'' is the eleventh studio album by American recording artist Ariel Pink, released on September 15, 2017, through Mexican Summer. It is the follow-up to 2014's '' pom pom'' and features a narrative Pink described in a p ...

''. Mexican Summer also launched

Anthology Recordings Anthology Recordings is the reissue imprint of the independent record label, Mexican Summer. The label was originally founded by Mexican Summer A&R man, Keith Abrahamsson, in 2004, and has reissued records from artists such as Trad Gras Och Sten ...

in 2014 as its reissue imprint, serving vinyl and formats unforeseen. 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 Marfa may refer to: Music * Marfa (instrument), an African percussion instrument * Marfa (music), celebratory music of the Hyderabadi Muslims Places * Márfa, a village in Baranya county, Hungary * Marfa, Chad * Marfa, Texas, a city in the hi ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Marfa Myths showcases established and emerging artists, with notable performers including Roky Erickson,

Annette Peacock Annette Peacock is an American composer, musician, songwriter, producer, and arranger. She is a pioneer in electronic music who combined her voice with one of the first Moog synthesizers in the late 1960s. Biography Annette Peacock was writing ...

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

, Kelsey Lu,

Deerhunter Deerhunter is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2001. The band currently consists of Bradford Cox (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Moses Archuleta (drums, electronics, sound treatments), Lotus Plaza, Lockett Pundt (guitar, ...

Amen Dunes Amen Dunes is the musical project formed by American singer-songwriter and musician Damon McMahon in 2006. McMahon has described Amen Dunes as both a solo project and a band "when it's in action." Frequent collaborators include guitarist and key ...

No Age No Age is an American noise rock duo consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles, California, and was signed to Sub Pop records from 2008 to 2013. No Age's fourth studio album, ''S ...

, and

Wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

. In November 2018, Mexican Summer celebrated the label's 10th anniversary with "A Decade Deeper," an all day festival at

Pioneer Works Pioneer Works is a non-profit cultural center in Red Hook, New York City. The center builds community through the arts and sciences to create an open and inspired world. It encourages radical thinking across disciplines by providing practitioners ...

, a cultural center in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Performers included Ariel Pink,

, Tonstartssbandht, F.J. McMahon,

Quilt A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding, a ...

, Jess Williamson, Drugdealer, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma,

Part Time Part Time (stylized as PARTIME) was an American pop band that was fronted by California-based musician David Loca (also credited as David Speck). Loca produced and wrote virtually all of the band's output, with most of their studio recordings c ...

, Pill, Arp,

, Cate Le Bon, Photay, and Ben Steidel. The label is distributed in the United States through

Caroline Distribution Virgin Music Label & Artist Services is a music distributor of independent artists and record labels, owned by Universal Music Group. The subsidiary focuses on the distribution of new or emerging partners. Started by Virgin Records as Carolin ...

by way of

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, and in the United Kingdom and Europe through The Orchard.

Roster

*Andras Fox *Andrew Graham & Swarming Branch *Apache Dropout * Arp *Ashrae Fax *Beaches *

*BI *Bipolar Bear *

Black Moth Super Rainbow Black Moth Super Rainbow (occasionally abbreviated as BMSR) is an American psychedelic electronic indie rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. BMSR is a solo music project created by Thomas Fec, who is also known as Tobacco. Fec writes, ...

Bobb Trimble Bobb Trimble (born August 4, 1958) is a psychedelic folk/outsider music, outsider musician from Marlborough, Massachusetts.BobbTrimble.com< ...

*Brain Idea *Campfires *

*Cold Showers *

*Date Palms *Dimples *Drugdealer *Dunes *

Eddy Current Suppression Ring Eddy Current Suppression Ring (sometimes seen as ECSR) are an Australian rock band formed in 2003. By 2004 their line-up was Daniel Young Danny Current on drums, his brother Michael Young Eddy Current on lead guitar and keyboards, Brendan Hun ...

*Farmer Dave Scher * Ford & Lopatin *Fraction * Gauntlet Hair *Golden Triangle *GR * Greg Ashley *Gregg Kowalsky *Happy Jawbone Family Band * Hayden Pedigo *Headdress * Home Blitz *

Iceage Iceage is a Danish punk rock band from Copenhagen. The band was formed in 2008 and has released the albums '' New Brigade'' (2011), '' You're Nothing'' (2013), '' Plowing Into the Field of Love'' (2014), '' Beyondless'' (2018), and '' Seek S ...

* Jacuzzi Boys * Jefre Cantu-Ledesma * Jess Williamson * Jessica Pratt *

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

*Jorge Elbrecht *

*La Hell Gang *Lace Curtain *

Lansing-Dreiden Lansing-Dreiden is an American band and art collective based in New York City. Lansing-Dreiden was founded in Miami, Florida. Their body of work includes music, multimedia artwork (in the form of drawings, collages, sculpture and video), and th ...

* Light Asylum *Lilacs & Champagne *

Linda Perhacs Linda Perhacs (born 1943) is an American psychedelic folk singer, who released her first album, ''Parallelograms'', in 1970 to scant notice or sales. The album was rediscovered by record enthusiasts and reissued numerous times beginning in 1998, g ...

* Little Girls *Lower Plenty * L'Rain *

Lucky Luke ''Lucky Luke'' is a Western ''bande dessinée'' series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their par ...

*Michael Angelo *Mike Wexler *

Mood Rings A mood ring is a finger ring that contains a thermochromic element, or "mood stone", that changes colors based on the temperature of the finger of the wearer. Finger temperature, as long as the ambient temperature is relatively constant, is s ...

Nachtmystium Nachtmystium was an American psychedelic black metal band formed by Blake Judd, formerly known as Azentrius, and Pat McCormick. The band's name is derived from the German word '' Nacht'' meaning "night", and the made-up term ''mystium'' which re ...

Nite Jewel Ramona Gonzalez (known professionally as Nite Jewel) is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. Biography Ramona Gonzalez began as Nite Jewel in 2008 as the result of her juggling music with undergraduate studies.

*Omri Keren * Orkustra *PAINT *

Peaking Lights Peaking Lights are a husband-and-wife music duo who met in San Francisco in 2006 and moved to Spring Green, Wisconsin in December 2007 where they lived until 2009. The couple then moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where they stayed until their return ...

Peter Matthew Bauer Peter Matthew Bauer is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the bass guitarist and organist of the indie rock band The Walkmen, with whom he recorded seven studio albums. Prior to The Walkmen's formation, ...

* Photay *Pill *Pink Playground *

Purling Hiss Purling Hiss is the rock music project of American multi-instrumentalist Mike Polizze. Based in Philadelphia, the project was named so because of its heavy use of distortion and white noise. Originally conceived for his own personal amusement and ...

*Puro Instinct *

*Radio People *

Ramases Ramases, born Kimberley Barrington Frost (1 January 1934 – 2 December 1976), was a British psychedelic musician who released two cult albums in the early 1970s. Biography Barrington Frost was, anecdotally, born sometime between 1935 and 19 ...

*Robert Lester Folsom *Shadow Band *Soldiers of Fortune *Spectral Park * Steve Moore * Tamaryn *Teams vs Star Slinger *Terrible Truths *

The Amazing The Amazing are a Swedish indie rock band, whose members include Reine Fiske, who plays with Dungen, and Christoffer Gunrup, who played in Granada and with Anna Järvinen. Fredrik Swahn, Alexis Benson, and drummer Moussa Fadera are also in The A ...

*The Bitters *

The Black Ryder The Black Ryder is songwriting duo Aimee Nash and Scott Von Ryper, who originate from Sydney, Australia. Their debut album ''Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride'' was released through their own label ''The Anti-Machine Machine'' / EMI Music Austral ...

* The Fresh & Onlys *The Mantles *The Miracles Club *The Samps *

The Soft Pack The Soft Pack is an indie rock band from San Diego, United States. History The band was originally named The Muslims, but changed the name due to "ignorant and racist" comments. Matt Lamkin has stated Soft Pack can describe the band as being ...

The Vacant Lots The Vacant Lots are an American post-punk electro band based in Brooklyn, New York. History The Vacant Lots are a two-piece post-punk electro band formed by Jared Artaud and Brian MacFadyen in Burlington, Vermont. The group is now based out ...

The Young The Young are an indie rock band from Austin, Texas. They released their first album, ''Voyagers of Legend'', in 2010 on Mexican Summer. Afterwards they signed with Matador Records, through whom they released the albums ''Dub Egg'' (2012) and ''C ...

*TK Webb * Tonstartssbandht *Torn Hawk *Travis Bretzer *

True Widow True Widow is an American rock band formed in 2007 and based in Dallas, Texas. The band's expansive guitar-driven sound has led them to be cited as "drop-tuned, slow, repetitive, heavy, dreamy, and undeniably ear-wormy". True Widow has been known ...

*Turning Shrines *Valet *

VietNam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

*Viva L'American Death Ray Music *

* Weekend *

Wooden Shjips Wooden Shjips (pronounced "ships") is an American experimental and psychedelic rock band from San Francisco, California. History The project has released one EP and seven albums. Guitarist Ripley Johnson also plays in two side projects, inclu ...

*Woodsman *Xander Duell *Young Prisms *Zig Zags

References

{{Authority control 2008 establishments in New York City American independent record labels