Mississippi Records
| Mississippi Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Shop |
| Town or city | Portland, Oregon |
| Country | U.S. |
| Website | |
| www | |
Mississippi Records is a record store and label. It was founded by Eric Isaacson in 2003 in Portland, Oregon.[1] It also houses a café, equipment repair shop, and the Portland Museum of Modern Art.[2] The Mississippi Records motto is: "Love over gold."
Brick and mortar store
The Mississippi Records store is currently located at 5202 N Albina Ave, Portland, Oregon.
The name Mississippi Records originates from Isaacson's original store location at 4009 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, Oregon.[3] Isaacson started Mississippi Records in 2003, opening the store with "5000 dollars saved up" and 500 records.[4] According to a video interview by the documentary project 12 Inches of Sound, Isaacson--a Los Angeles native who moved to Portland in 1999--recognized that North Portland lacked a record store.[4] Isaacson worked previously as a manager at Oakland's now-defunct Saturn Records.[3]
History of record label
Alex Yusimov, an employee of the brick and mortar store, was among the first to release recordings under the Mississippi Records aegis, using the store address and the name for a personal pop record release.[5] As such, according to Eric Isaacson, "the first 5 Mississippi releases had nothing to do with me."[5]
For many years Isaacson ran Mississippi Records from Portland with co-founder/co-owner Warren Hill.[6] Isaacson and Hill have been friends since they were teenagers.[5] Isaacson is historically taciturn about speaking on Mississippi's background: "I haven't really found a way of finding great joy in sharing this information because the records are a better messenger for my ideas than anything I could say and a lot of times when you talk about stuff it just loses a lot of its power."[7]
Mississippi Records co-founder Warren Hill has cited The Origin Jazz Library, Smithsonian Folkways, Arhoolie Records, Sublime Frequencies, and Herwin as sources of inspiration for Mississippi Records compilations.[6] Many of the Mississippi Records compilations have been mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk, who owns Stereophonic Mastering in Portland.
Warren Hill formed his own record label Little Axe Records in 2011, also based in Portland, "when the original Mississippi Records label split."[8]
On January 1, 2019, filmmaker Cyrus Moussavi and musician Gordon Ashworth became the new owners with Isaacson working as a label project manager. Mississippi Records relocated to Chicago.[9][10] In 2019, Mississippi Records went on a national tour.[11]
Mississippi Records Tape Series
The Mississippi Records Tape Series is an ongoing open-edition mix tape project. Mississippi Records store employee Karen Atunes originally suggested the idea for a low-price mix tape to Eric Isaacson, with the first tape appearing in 2005.[12] According to Discogs, the Mississippi tapes "are often personal statements of theme, emotion or subject by Eric Isaacson, his friends or employees at the shop."[13] Most of the tapes in the series contain a hand-drawn, black and white aesthetic, xeroxed J-card.
References
- ^ Dolan, Ciara. "Celebrating 15 Years of Mississippi Records". Portland Mercury. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ^ Needham, Jack (2018-07-28). "The world's best record shops #117: Mississippi Records, Portland". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ^ a b Cho, Jaeki. "Wax Nostalgic: 7 Questions with Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records (Portland)". Complex. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
- ^ a b Mississippi Records Part 1: the Origins, retrieved 2022-07-21
- ^ a b c "Meet the Maker: Mississippi Records". Stumptown Coffee. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
- ^ a b Grimmer, W.J. (2009). "Mississippi Records: You Can Get There From Here, An Interview with Warren Hill by W.J. Grimmer". Grimmertown. Color Magazine. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
- ^ Spice, Anton (2013-08-13). "The Archivist: "We are obscure and bizarre people" - A rare interview with Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
- ^ "About". Little Axe Records. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
- ^ Gormley, Shannon (January 31, 2019). "Cult Favorite Portland Record Label Mississippi Records Has Moved to Chicago". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ^ Nelson, J. R.; Galil, Leor (January 29, 2019). "Gloriously idiosyncratic label Mississippi Records moves to Chicago". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ^ Naftule, Ashley (2019-01-08). "The Mississippi Records Tour Is Coming To Phoenix". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ^ "About Us". Mississippi Records. Archived from the original on July 21, 2022. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
- ^ "Tape Series". Discogs. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
External links
- Official website
- Discogs list of Mississippi Records Tape Series releases - https://www.discogs.com/label/345965-Tape-Series?page=1
- Little Axe Records - https://www.littleaxerecords.com
- Timothy Stollenwerk's Stereophonic Mastering - https://www.stereopho.com
45°33′38.0″N 122°40′29.2″W / 45.560556°N 122.674778°W
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