Mint Records is a

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

-based

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 1991, by friends and campus radio enthusiasts Randy Iwata and Bill Baker. Mint has put out over 150 releases, several of which have won Juno Awards.

History

Iwata and Baker started working together at

CITR-FM CiTR-FM, is a Canadian FM radio station based out of the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building in the University Endowment Lands, just west of the city limits of Vancouver, British Columbia. Its transmitter is also located o ...

, the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

radio station. Three years after graduation, they left the station, and founded Mint Records in January, 1991 to release the music of up-and-coming bands in Vancouver. One of their earliest successes was a band called cub who, alongside

Bunnygrunt Bunnygrunt are an United States, American indie pop band from St. Louis, Missouri composed of guitarist/vocalist Matt Harnish and drummer Karen Ried. History 1993–1998 The band formed in early 1993, with Wally Schwartz on bass. Their first rel ...

and labelmates

Maow Maow was a Canadian indie rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A pop punk combo, the band was part of the "cuddlecore" scene led by cub. Maow consisted of guitarist/singer Tobey Black, bassist/singer Corrina Beesley-Hammond and ...

, helped pioneer the vein of

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

known as

cuddlecore Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from the 1986 '' NME'' compilation '' C86''. Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy–girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about lo ...

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case (; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case has a powerful, untrained contralto voice, which has been described by contemporaries and cr ...

, performed in both Cub and Maow, released her first solo album on Mint. In the late 1990s, the label was heavily affected by the financial crisis at and eventual bankruptcy of distribution company Cargo Records, when Cargo's failure to pay the label for Gob's album '' Too Late... No Friends'' led to the band, then Mint's most lucrative act, defecting to rival label

Nettwerk Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing. Established in 1984, the Vancouver-based company was created by Nettwerk principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record ...

.Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider, '' Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995''.

ECW Press ECW Press is a Canadian book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholarly book ...

. . In the year 1998, Mint Records album ''Get Outta Dodge'' by

Huevos Rancheros Huevos rancheros (, 'ranch-style eggs') is a breakfast dish consisting of eggs served in the style of the traditional large mid-morning fare on rural Mexican farms. Basic dish The basic dish consists of fried eggs served on lightly fried or cha ...

was nominated for a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

in the Best Alternative Album category, Mint achieved Billboard chart success in the early 2000s with

and

The New Pornographers The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 1997 in Vancouver. Presented as a musical collective of singer-songwriters and musicians from multiple projects, the band has released eight studio albums to critical acclaim for th ...

. In 2001, the band's album ''

Mass Romantic ''Mass Romantic'' is the debut studio album by Canadian indie rock supergroup The New Pornographers. Produced by David Carswell and band bassist John Collins, it was released on Mint Records on November 28, 2000. The album was three years in the ...

'' won the

for Best Alternative Album. ''

'' was listed at #17 in the 2001

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

poll, and later ranked at #24 in

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

's 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums Ever list. By its tenth anniversary Mint had released 32 albums, 23 singles and five EPs. ''

Electric Version ''Electric Version'' is the second studio album by Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers. It was released on Matador Records and Mint Records on May 6, 2003. ''Electric Version'' placed at number seven in ''The Village Voice''s Pazz & ...

'' by

was listed at #7 in the

poll of 2003. In 2009, the album was ranked at #79 on

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

's 100 Best Albums of the Decade list. New Pornographers album ''

Twin Cinema ''Twin Cinema'' is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers. It was released on August 23, 2005. The album was shortlisted for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize. As of 2010 it has sold 138,000 copies in US and 20,000 ...

'' was voted the #9 album of 2005 in the

poll of 2005, and

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

ranked the album at #1 on their Best Music of 2005 list. It was later shortlisted for the

Polaris Music Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was incr ...

in 2006, while

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

placed ''

'' at number 150 on their list of the Top 200 Albums of the 2000s. In October 2006, in conjunction with ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' magazine and

CBC Radio 3 CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music. The service, which la ...

, Mint Records mounted a cross-Canada tour called the "Exclaim! Mint Road Show!" with headliners

along with Immaculate Machine and

Novillero Novillero is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 1999 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Their musical style has been dubbed "mod-pop". History Novillero was formed in 1999 by keyboardist Roberta Dempster, guitarist Sean Stevens, and keyboardist-guitarist ...

(except the final show in Vancouver, which featured

Young and Sexy Young and Sexy is Canadian indie pop band from Vancouver consisting of vocalists Paul Pittman and Lucy Brain, guitarist André Lagacé, bassist Brent McDonald and former drummer Alex Brain. The band released four albums on Mint Records Mint Reco ...

and Bella). In 2010, Mint Records album '' Let's Just Stay Here'' by

Carolyn Mark Carolyn Natasha Mark is a Canadian alternative country singer-songwriter. She has recorded as a solo artist and as a member of the duo The Corn Sisters with American colleague Neko Case, as well as with the bands the Vinaigrettes, Jr. Gone Wild, ...

and

NQ Arbuckle NQ Arbuckle is a Canadian alternative country band based in Toronto, Ontario, consisting of Montreal-born Neville Quinlan (the NQ of the band's name), Mark Kesper, Peter Kesper, John Dinsmore and Jason Sniderman. History NQ Arbuckle was formed i ...

was nominated for a

in the Roots & Traditional Album of the Year category. In 2011, a book about Mint Records by Kaitlin Fontana was published by

. It is titled ''Fresh at Twenty: The Oral History of Mint Records''.

Current artists

Past artists

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control Canadian independent record labels Record labels established in 1991 Indie rock record labels Alternative rock record labels 1991 establishments in British Columbia

History

Current artists

Past artists

See also

References

External links