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Greetings friends,
Happy new year! Welcome to the latest installment of the Mississippi Records shop and label joint-newsletter.
This month, we’re bringing you an interview with the timeless ESG (!!!), who will be playing at the shop’s 20th ANNIVERSARY parties in Portland. We also have a new track by the great Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, Eric I’s best of 2022 list, and a celebration of our dear friend Gordon Ashworth, who has run the label with me for the last four years and is stepping back to explore new climes.
As some of you know, the shop and the label amicably split off from each other back in 2019, with the shop still holding down its spiritual center in north Portland, and the label settling in a southside Chicago warehouse with International Anthem.
That chapter is now coming to an end - the shop stays put and the label resumes its wanderings. Our PO Box is now in Brooklyn but the mission remains unchanged.
We’re planning a year of releases and collaborations from Mongolia to Burkina Faso to Birmingham and spanning much of the 20th century and even a small chunk of the 21st. As the great artist and musician Lonnie Holley put it the other day, we are listening for "the discarded music, sounds, and joyful noise.”
Thanks for joining us in 2023. Here’s to some kind of future….
Cyrus Moussavi and the Mississippi Records label
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. ESG Interview by Maria Barrios2. Jerusalem by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru3. Portland Update4. 2023 upcoming albums and show announcement5. Eric’s top 12 albums of 2022 (that aren’t from Mississippi)6. Gordon Ashworth Appreciation
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ESG play Polaris Hall in Portland on Jan 27 and 29 as part of Mississippi’s 20th Anniversary celebration. Mississippi’s Maria Barrios caught up with Renee Scroggins to learn more about the band’s history and creative process…
Renee Scroggins is a musician living in Atlanta, Georgia. A native New Yorker raised in the South Bronx, she is a founding member of the legendary dance-funk group ESG, which she started along with her sisters Valerie, Deborah, and Marie in 1978. Described as “undulating” and “otherwordly,” ESG’s sound remains a classic staple of dancefloors all around the world. With a career spanning over forty years, and one of the most sampled tracks of all time (their song “UFO,” released in 1981), ESG’s music is timeless: their stripped-down bass grooves, bouncy vocals, and Latin-influenced percussion make them as fresh and relevant as when they first began.
Renee Scroggins: My mother sang in a church choir and my father played saxophone. There were some other things going around the house, an organ, and a folk guitar; so I picked up that folk guitar and played some notes. My sister wanted to play drums so she would be banging pots and oatmeal boxes. But once she had a real drum set, well that was a whole different ball game.
So my mom got me the bass guitar and a regular guitar when I was twelve and Valerie was nine. She got those for us because my older siblings got lost in the street to drugs and everything. She didn’t want the last ones to follow suit, so she did everything she could to keep us away from that lifestyle. She got us the instruments but we were not teenagers yet.
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We practiced right in the apartment. It's funny because at first it wasn't too great and then you get better and better but you know what? The neighbors were supportive because they knew that if the kids were in the apartment, they weren’t getting into trouble.
My mom was the one who pushed, my mom was the one who named the band. We were trying to figure out the name and she said what about your birthstones, right? Sapphire is my birthstone. So, Valerie, she’s a Taurus, so emerald, gold, sapphire. The intention was to make gold records because my other sisters, they didn’t really contribute to the writing, so they were part of the gold experience, what we were going for.
The first thing we attempted to do was covers and we realized we were lousy at covers. So we went on and we said “oh man if we write our own music no one will ever know we messed it up!” So that was the first thing, write our own songs so no one will know if we mess it up.
Maria Barrios: Do you remember what was the first song you all wrote?
Renee: The first song was a song called “It’s Alright.”
MB: That’s a great song. How did it come to be?
Renee: I always told people the biggest inspiration for my writing style of music was James Brown. When James Brown says “take it to the bridge! Take it to the bridge!”… I thought, what happens if you can make the bridge the whole song? Like get down, be funky, so that was the mindset behind it but also, we lived in an area where there was a bunch of Latin gentlemen who would always be in the park playing percussion congas and the Coca-Cola bottles so it’d basically be [imitates Latin percussion] so I thought it would be so cool to play some of that music.
My brother, he would bring all the Latin music. We would hear Latin music and then later on my sister Valerie also got into Latin music. I got introduced to Celia Cruz and Marc Anthony, because my sister would be playing all that and I’d think “That’s kind of catchy.” Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, it was like a smorgasbord of Latin artists. It blows you away from the first time you hear it.
To me, the early ESG records were kind of suggestive, but they were like dance, it was about dancing.
MB: Did you like to go out dancing?
Renee: I was never one to wanna go out and club and dance like that. I got exposed to the clubs, as a matter of fact, as we started to play. They would invite me up to go to various clubs and things like that, or we would go to play at a club. For instance, there was a big club in New York called Bonds International and we were gonna open for The Clash so we were like, it was a BIG place, that was an experience.
I knew who they [The Clash] were but my sisters did not, so I was like ok this is going to be kind of cool. The bill was us, followed by Grandmaster Flash and The Clash. We played first and Clash fans wanted to see The Clash but you know, we were innocent-looking girls, they weren’t too happy but we played our set with no hassle. 30 minutes. Then on came Grandmaster Flash and man, they must have pelted him with every beer in the house and I was like “Holy shit.” But the thing I was more concerned about was our instruments because we were supposed to open for them again. I think they had a five-night stay at Bonds International. After the first night when our instruments got soaked, we were out of there. At that time we weren’t making money like The Clash was so to replace all of those instruments… It was an interesting experience performing and they were wild. They were good at what they did.
MB: Speaking of dancing, I wanted to ask you about playing the closing night at Paradise Garage.
Renee: Oh my god, I used to love to play the Paradise Garage, and I’ll tell you something interesting about Paradise Garage. They would go out and rent all the equipment we needed to play a live set because they catered to tape acts [bands that played using backing tracks] at the time, so every time ESG would play they would go and get all the equipment, and pay us our fee. I loved the Paradise Garage, they were always beautiful to us. And [DJ] Larry Levan! The closing night was heartbreaking, it was the end of an era. We played both nights because it was a two-night party, and we played both nights of the closing event and it was packed. You could hardly get in the place but it was so sad to me because this place was, they supported our music, it was there for us.
It was a beautiful mixture: straight, gay, whatever your orientation happened to be, White, Black, Latino, it didn’t matter, it was people coming out and enjoying the moment.
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MB: You worked with British record producer Martin Hannett on your first EP. How was your experience recording with him?
Renee: The Martin Hannett I met, he was a very mellow man. Came into the studio, showed me around the booth, he taught me things about mixing, he was a very mellow guy, very nice. He was so helpful, nothing like that crazy monster I saw in 24 Hours Party People. Not with me, not with us.
The things that he taught me was doubling, doubling instruments or doubling vocals, and making them bounce off each other. To make sure to separate the instruments so nothing bleeds into the vocals, especially if you’re in a small studio.
MB: Your song “UFO” was part of that EP. Can you tell me a little more about it?
Renee: It’s so funny, especially when I go to soundchecks. It’s one note! It’s one note that you run through effects and stuff like that. It’s like this one note rappers can’t live without, that people can’t live without. You know, I said to rappers I know “what is it about it” and they go “you know, it just speaks, it’s just there!” and I’m like… ok…
MB: I read the idea behind that song was, what if a UFO landed where you lived?
Renee: Yes! That it landed in the projects.
MB: Where does that vision come from?
Renee: Well, I had been watching movies like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I’m sure after seeing Close Encounters, where the aliens do this kind of musical chit-chat with the humans, and I’m like man, looking out the window thinking if it landed there… and it starts [imitates soft plucking sound] and then when we go [imitates harsh guitar sound] it's like the chaos that I know would’ve erupted. The chaos of a UFO landing in the projects.
MB: It’s unsettling.
Renee: That was my thought. My sisters hated that song with a passion, to this day, they hate that song. So I’d go “we gotta play UFO” and they would go “oh god, must we?” and I’d say, YES!
MB: Why do you think they hated it?
Renee: You know, it didn’t work for them. But as soon as [UFO] became hip-hop cool, they wanted to play it. I refused to play UFO maybe for fifteen years because my sisters didn’t like it but then one day, that was it, we put it back in the setlist.
MB: “Moody” and “Erase You” were the first songs of yours I heard. I feel “Erase You” has a growl, an indignation to it. I wanted to know how “Erase You” happened.
Renee: “Erase You” is nothing more than “Dance” played faster. The reason I did this is because so many people have sampled ESG that I was sitting there one day and I said what would happen if I sample myself? That’s how I came up with this song, “Erase You,” I must have been pissed off with some dude at the time, and it all came together.
MB: It still resonates.
Renee: You’re going to love it in the live performance because what we do, it’s out of this world.
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MB: I was wondering how was it, to make music with your sisters all those years and now with your daughters and extended family.
Renee: It was rough with my sisters in the beginning, it was rough. My mom used to come to the shows and we would actually be fighting in the dressing room. So, making music with your siblings at first, it’s sometimes not that cool. Then when we got to play with our daughters it was more peaceful. It’s always been a family affair but the first rendition of ESG, it was really hard. I mean you know, we were going out into a new atmosphere, because we were going into the downtown scene which was at the end of disco, we had the new wave era, they called our music “no wave” which I really don’t understand what the hell that means. If we were doing it today we would be considered alternative music. It’s really interesting to me, I never let a label stick with me because all I see ESG be is a dance group. We play music to make you dance. And I promise you, you will dance.
ESG play Polaris Hall in Portland, OR Jan 27 and 29th as part of Mississippi’s 20th Anniversary celebration.
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JERUSALEM by EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU
We’re extremely grateful and excited to release two albums of previously unreleased or extremely rare music by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru this year. First up is Jerusalem, which compiles tracks from her nearly impossible to find (like, single digit known copies) album “Hymn of Jerusalem” from 1970, as well as later compositions from her time actually living in Jerusalem. Pressing delays have pushed the release date back to April 7, 2023, but we’re happy to share the first single from the record and the album’s namesake, “Jerusalem.” There are strong Biblical and historical ties between Emahoy’s homeland of Ethiopia and Jerusalem (and they’re not too far apart geographically). As Emahoy herself describes it: “The Holy City Jerusalem had centuries of tragedies that have been recorded. The ancient HOLY CITY - where war tragedy left its traces...The wind whispers faint words of a child’s voice asking for his daddy... who will never come back.” Emahoy recently celebrated her 99th birthday in Jerusalem on Dec 12, 2022. We’re celebrating her every day. Many thanks to Hanna Kebbede and the Emahoy Tsege Mariam Music Foundation for making this work possible.
IN THE NEXT NEWSLETTER, WE WILL BE AUCTIONING OFF A HANDFUL OF TEST PRESSINGS OF EMAHOY’S JERUSALEM WITH SILKSCREENED ART BY PSYCHIC SOUNDS, WITH ALL FUNDS GOING TO ETHIOPIAN WAR RELIEF EFFORTS…
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THERE ARE A HANDFUL OF SPOTS LEFT ON THE CSR! support the label directly and guarantee yourself a copy of each new release at a discount, plus ephemera and special CSR-only releases (CSR members get first dibs on label test-pressings and Cairo comps, for example). Learn more here... |
**************NEWS FROM PORTLAND************** Hello all,
Happy belated New Year!
I'd call 2022 a good year overall. It was a great joy to watch everyone poke their heads back out into the world in all their awkwardness. Highlights of the year for me included the six day over the top After The End Of The World Festival, Laaraji hanging out for three days to direct healing ceremonies (and make fun of me constantly), The Space Lady landing in North Portland for two surprise shows, and all the concerts in the park across the street from the shop. Things happened! I enjoyed shows on a higher level after them being out of my life for such a long time. Lumière dans l'obscurité.
As for the future, it's looking good too. 2023 marks MISSISSIPPI RECORDS 20th ANNIVERSARY! We plan on spending the whole year celebrating with tons of shows at The Hollywood Theater, Turn Turn Turn, Polaris Hall, The Lollipop Shoppe, The Red Fox and in our store. Keep an eye on those venues schedules for all kinds of events - some of which will only be announced the day before they happen. Expect the unexpected.
For our first month of celebrating, we'll have the following shows -
January 18th - I'll be DJing at the Lollipop Shoppe with no particular theme beyond trying to keep the bartenders happy. |
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January 21st - SUN FOOT RECORD RELEASE SHOW at Polaris Hall! Tons of great artists covering Sun Foot songs. |
January 26th - COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER at the Hollywood Theater. The greatest music biopic ever made. |
January 27th - ESG at Polaris Hall (with Portland's top DJ's Strange Babes and Dirt Twins rocking!)! Yes - really. ESG is coming as part of their final tour. Dance party will happen...
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January 28th - THE FULL MISSISSIPPI RECORDS STAFF WILL DJ at the Red Fox for hours and hours. |
January 29th - ESG at Polaris Hall again (with Roman Norfleet And The Be Present Art Group playing an all dance tunes set too!) |
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Beyond the endless shows to look forward to, Mississippi will have a good release schedule for the year. Some things to look out for in the next six months listed below
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MOR-03 The Weeds - Just Colour LP and EP set
Fred Cole and company's 1968 psych garage masterpiece LP with two four song bonus 7" EP's.
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MRI-137 Various Artists - Canto A lo Divino 2xLP (5/5/23 release date)
The first vinyl issues of Canto A Lo Divino, a unique musical expression of the Chilean peasant world. Nourished on Biblical stoires and other sacred texts, it has persisted for centuries in the voices of hundreds of men and women, typically accompanied byt the 25-string guitarrón chileno. A very special collaboration with Chile’s Museo Campesino En Movimiento (MUCAM).
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MLP-202 Asefelech Ashine And Getenesh Kebret - Beauties (6/2/23 release date)
Stunning Ethiopian golden-age soul classic, reissued on vinyl for the first time in collaboration with the artists.
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MOR-04 Michael Hurley - Sweetkorn
One of his best. On vinyl for the first tim
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MLP-203 Roman Norfleet And The Be Present Art Group - S/T
Spiritual jazz debut by a great new Portland band
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MR-005 V/A - Last Kind Words
20th anniversary edition of the first Mississippi Records compilation. With a deluxe cover and new full on liner notes.
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FAR-002 Bodikhuu - Tokyo (3/17/23 release date)
Mongolian producer BODIKHUU returns with a sonic journey through Japan in the form of 13 instrumental hiphop vignettes. City pop, obscure Japanese jazz, and 80s J-pop all expertly chopped up on one of the few MPC-1000s in Ulaanbaatar.
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...and from our friends at Cairo records, we'll be distributing -
V/A - This Is The Place. New Cairo soul compilation
V/A - Freedom For The Stallion. A repress of the triple LP Cairo soul compilation.
V/A - The Love You Save. Redux improved version of the first Cairo soul comp (new track listing and extended liner notes)
V/A - Written On The Wall. Repress of the triple LP Cairo soul compilation.
While you wait for those, here's a youtube playlist to ring in the new year with -
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Yup - that's INXS and Bjork on there next to John Coltrane, Bach and Albert Ayler. It's gonna be that kind of year.
I hope this new year is finding you in a hopeful mood. I feel hopeful over here. While the blizzard of the world is busy overturning the order of the soul, we're still down here in the trenches plucking away. The neighborhood is overflowing with people watching out for each other, music and art are being created for motives beyond profit and glory, small gestures of kindness that ripple to have big effects are happening, people are looking up from their phones, dogs and cats are frolicing, and on and on.
As Andrew Loomis once said (and it's now etched on his gravestone, so he's stuck with it for eternity) - "Life is good, 'cept the parts that suck." That means practically nothing, but I think of it every day anyhow.
Happy New Year!
Stay gold pony people,
Eric at Mississippi Records Portland
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1.The Sun Ra Arkestra - Living Sky
A new LP by the Arkestra! How it happened according to Arkestra member Knoel Scott goes like this - "Some rich European went up to Marshall Allen with a sack of cash and said, 'Marshall, I beg you and the Arkestra to make a record that will heal the entire world after this covid nightmare.' Marshall nodded politely, took the cash, went into the studio and we made a record that could heal the entire world. We took that shit seriously."
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2. Lee Fields - Sentimental Fool
From the Penrose studio in LA - Lee Fields greatest album yet. You can tell he's feeling it here in his autumn years. The production is spot on too. If you like soul music - check it out. If you don't like soul music - re-examine your entire life.
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3.Thee Sacred Souls - S/T LP
Another from the Penrose studio. (best things going these days seem to come out of there). Thee Sacred Souls sing the sweetest harmonies without the overwrought flourishes that most modern interpreters of classic soul flash. These songs are hit you over the head simple in all the right ways. It's much harder to do straight up music like this than any other type and get it right. A modern miracle.
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4. Terry Jennings - Piece For Cello And Saxophone
Do you like drones? This new Lamonte Young arrangement and Charles Curtis performance of Terry Jennings composition is the stuff. Pure as a tone can be. If drones drive you crazy, avoid this record at all costs. An acquired taste if there ever was one. I'm pretty sure there's no actual saxophone on this record, so the title is truly baffling.
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5. Count Ossie And The Mystical Revelation Of Rastafari - Groundation
One of the greatest albums of all time, re-released by Soul Jazz Records with the best sound imaginable. Legend has it that if you listen to this entire triple LP in one sitting you will automatically become Rastafarian.
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6. King Bee - S/T
A lost Fred Cole LP that even Mississippi and Toody had no idea existed. Mark Sten (member of the band) and Kelly Halliburton lovingly reissued this pre punk Portland gem. Features early versions of songs that would later become Dead Moon hits. History rewritten again.
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7. Staple Singers Jr. - When Do We Get Paid?
Not the Staple Singers you're thinking of, or even related to them in any way. They're just sowing confusion, God bless them. Actually a band made up of the Gospel stalwart Brown siblings when they ranged in age from fourteen to sixteen. This record originally came out in 1975 as a private press LP. Raw, soulful, funky and just killer as can be. Am I jealous that Luaka Bop got to put this out instead of Mississippi? Of course - but they did a pitch perfect job.
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8. V/A - Songs From Saharan Whatsapp.
A quasi sequel to the now dated "Music from Saharan Cellphones" records, this LP features a mix of Nigerien techno, wedding rock, traditional music, beautiful dry guitar, Mandingue music and much more. Further proof from the Sahel Sounds label that "folk music" is not just acoustic or traditional stuff....it's what the people are into, hell or highwater.
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9. V/A - Saturno 3000
Analog Africa strikes with a compilation of minor chord Cumbias presented at a much slower speed than they were recorded. The effect is eerie and shockingly better than it should be.
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10. Marisa Anderson - Still, Here
Maybe Marisa's best record yet. Just when you think it's impossible for the world to need another solo guitar record, here comes this fresh take on the well worn genre. John Fahey called this genre "American Primitive", a term I truly hate (Sorry John). This record and the other standouts guitar solo records (including John's) are the opposite - "American Sophisticated". I've been trying to get Marisa to sing on one of these records, but still no dice. Maybe that's for the best.
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11. Otha Turner And The Rising Star Fife And Drum Band - Everybody Hollerin' Goat Amazing recordings made at Otha's farm from 1992 to 1997 by field recordists Robert Gordon and Luther Dickinson. Party record of the year. Side B features unheard recordings of drum and fife with guitar that literally knocked me out of my seat when I first heard it. Really. I got so excited, I fell off my chair. World Boogie Is Coming!
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12. Djivan Gasparyan - I Will Not Be Sad In This World
Djivan is master of the duduk, a beautiful sounding Armenian flute. This LP is as sublime as they come. I wouldn't mind if this was the last record that played as I lay dying (possibly of a poison kiss).
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SUN FOOT RECORD RELEASE PARTY!
January 21st at Polaris Hall
A fun show coming up two blocks from the record shop!
Thirteen artists will interpret classic local art punk songs by Sun Foot. If you know and love the songs, this will be a fun way to har them. If you've never heard them, this will be an ear opener. All the classics and then some.
Come celebrate the band's record release. It's gonna be a community event for the ages.
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AN APPRECIATION FOR THE WORK OF GORDON ASHWORTH
The Mississippi Records label inner workings have been cloaked in all kinds of mystery over the past twenty years. Credits on who did what jobs on releases are often botched or not present at all. If you're looking for personal glory, this was always the wrong label to be involved with. If you like crawling around in the shadows, this is the organization for you.
If someone made a study of our catalog of 260 or so releases they would realize that there are many distinct voices operating under the umbrella of "Mississippi Records." For years, one of the more dedicated and interesting of those voices has been that of Gordon Ashworth.
Gordon is a walking paradox. A musician who's appeared on many stages but hates the spotlight. A perfectionist who fetishizes sloppy art. The smartest guy in the room but also the quietest.
I met him as a customer at the Mississippi Records shop and soon after he was dating a woman who lived in a tiny shack in my driveway. I liked him right away. Gordon always had ahead of the curve taste. He would often shove music in front of me I was not aware of. The first time I heard Miriam Tsege Gebru? A tape Gordon made for me with a well drawn portrait of her on the cover and a note under it - "you HAVE TO put this out on vinyl".
There's a song called "White Birds" by the mysterious "Hawaiian Orchestra" on an early Mississippi Records compilation. The recording is haunting and unlike anything I have ever heard - a majestic mix of Hawaaian steel guitar and moving European dirge. There's a single chord change in the middle of the song that still affects me emotionally in ways I cannot explain in words.
Back when we first released it, I couldn't figure out much about the recording. I thought the band was German...I can't remember why. Years after it appeared on our compilation Gordon approached me with an insane amount of research on a fascinating Greek polymath named A Kostis...or Kostis Bezos...or Constantinos Bezos. Turns out he was the personality behind this tune and a ton of other bizarrely disperate recordings. I had heard a deep Rembetika song credited to an A Kostis and could not believe that this was the same man responsible for the song by The Hawaiian Orchestra. The two songs I had heard by this character seemed to be from different universes.
Gordon and his friends in Greece achieved the impossible and traced every scrap of information imaginable about the elusive Kostis - a man who changed names, styles, and careers rapidly. Gordon started his Olvido label and co-released two records with Mississippi, one featuring the wild Greek Hawaiian fusion side of Kostis and one featuring the dark intense Rembetika side (with songs like "A School Was Burned", "Yannish The Hash Smoker" and "Dizziness Overcomes Me.")
In early 2016, Cyrus Moussavi was visiting Portland and he stopped by the Mississippi Record shop for the first time in his life. He approached the counter and excitedly told me how much he loved the Kostis record on Mississippi Records. Gordon just happened to be sitting at the counter so I pointed to him and said "there's the guy who made that." Within minutes of meeting Gordon, Cyrus also got to meet two other Mississippi store haunters who's work he admired from afar - Sublime Frequencies Hisham Mayet and musician Michael Hurley. Cyrus acted impressed with all these folks. Once the group got to quizzing Cyrus about his projects, they all ended up equally, if not more, impressed with the work he'd been doing.
Cyrus mentioned he was heading to Kenya and volunteered to try and find any musicians Gordon or I were looking for out that way. The three of us met at a bagel shop, me and Gordon bringing a huge list of musicians we were pretty sure Cyrus would never find. To our shock, Cyrus came back to us a couple of months later with interviews, footage and music from a bunch of musicians and their ancestors we never dreamed of finding. The trip resulted in three record releases on Mississippi - George Mukabi, Olima Anditi and Usiende Ukalale as well as the delivery of some long overdue royalties to folks off the grid. Soon Cyrus and Gordon traveled to Africa together to do more intel for more records.
For reasons I don't care to pour over here, in 2019 I decided to let go of running the Mississippi label. I remembered asking Cyrus and Gordon at that fateful bagel shop meeting what they wanted to do with their lives and they both said they'd like to do something like my label. I knew they were both smarter, more talented, more morally grounded and more adaptable to the modern world than me, so they became the first candidates in my mind to take over the operation. Unbelievably, the two of them agreed to take on the business without much of a fight.
Gordon took to the job fast and furious. The releases he started coming up with were mind blowingly unique - from the completely unheard African country music on Bulawayo Blue Yodel to the beautiful Frank And His Sisters to the six year old Cumbia sensation Aurita. While researching, designing, sequencing and managing these releases, Gordon was also working full time in the new MIssissippi Records shipping and assembly warehouse in Chicago. A beast of a job.
After four years of constantly moving boxes around and co running the business, Gordon is finally being released from his full time involvement in the label. There's no doubt that he'll still be one of the people contributing to Mississippi in a million ways, but since this new year is a mile marker in his career I wanted to salute the man on the occasion of his liberation from full time involvement.
If you see Gordon out in the world, pat him on the back, buy him a drink and let him know he's made the world a better place. Let the mysterious veil over the who and what of Mississippi Records be lifted for a moment in order for us to cast a little light on this gem of a man.
Once in a while, we got to give a little credit where credit is due.
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CARDBOARD DUST EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI
Hi folks, this is Gordon Ashworth writing a small entry about my time thus far with Mississippi Records. Eric succeeded in making me cry with his kind words and covered the timeline pretty well (thank you, Eric). I have been truly fortunate and blessed to be able to contribute to this weird scrappy record label that I was enamored with years before any involvement. It's been a little heaven and a little hell on earth depending on the day, but it was all work well worth doing. I'm now taking a back seat in order to focus on my own music and some personal transitions, but have more exciting projects in the works with Mississippi, and I'll keep running my own little label Olvido Records at a snail's pace. It's been a true honor to have a hand in reviving and celebrating the music of so many beautiful musicians and to help keep their spirits in circulation. Co-producing around 30 LPs and 10 mixtapes ain't a bad run!
Extra appreciation to Cyrus Moussavi for keeping this whole thing on the rails in so many untold ways, and contributing so much to our releases and overall vision over the past several years. And a special message of gratitude for Chet Zenor, who has been crucial to our distro and CSR operation and has lovingly and expertly packed countless orders from our dusty Chicago warehouse (he's also a talented musician whose projects include Lucky Cloud and Alta Vista).
As a totally uneducated and somewhat colorblind artist and "graphic designer" it's been a really special opportunity to get to create a bunch of album covers and booklets for dream records (also thanks to the expert Dan Fried for his work on the final stages on several jackets). Shout out to all the collaborators and nice people I've communicated with during these past few years - holler to [email protected] if you'd like to keep in touch, and hopefully more and more in real life (where records live).
-gordon
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Mississippi Records Website
Visit the site to get our label's records and tapes direct from us - we are constantly rotating our selection of mixtapes, new records from labels we distribute, and discounted out-of-print records, so be sure to check in often!
www.mississippirecords.net
Mississippi Records Portland Store
We are open EVERY DAY from 12 to 7 PM!
(our stereo repair and retail shop is open Friday - Sunday, 1 to 6 PM).
WE ARE EXCITED TO BUY YOUR RECORD COLLECTIONS!
Please drop by anytime to sell stuff. We always have a buyer on duty and you do not need an appointment. Paying out 50 - 60% of our retail price (NOT - dumb internet prices though....Mississippi store prices)
Email [email protected] if you have any questions about the shop.
Mississippi Records CSR
Our Community Supported Records program directly supports the label. Get each Mississippi LP at a discount as it's released, no matter how limited, plus special schwag and gifts on occasion. Limited to 300 spots. The CSR contributions help us pay for record pressings and generally stay afloat.
More details here:
https://sites.google.com/site/mississippicsr/
Mississippi Records Special Products Division
Alice Coltrane For President and Mississippi Wreckers T shirts and tote bags! Post cards! Posters! Coozies! Oddities! Check us out weekly for new additions.
www.mississippiwreckers.com
Mississippi Records Bandcamp
There are hours and hours worth of albums available for free listening, and a whole lot of the releases are "pay what you want" if you want to download em. Check it out -
https://mississippirecords.bandcamp.com/Toody Cole / Junkstore Cowboy
Toody Cole has shuttered her Junkstore Cowboy Shop in our basement, but that does not mean you can't get your Dead Moon / Pierced Arrows / Rats / Range Rats / Tombstone schwag and records still from her badass online store.
https://www.deadmoonusa.com/
Humboldt Neighborhood Association
The neighborhood association for the zone the Mississippi shop rests in recently got taken over by some social activists who are working on mutual aid projects, youth programs, anti gentrification / tenants rights activities, and a community child care circle. If you are in the neighborhood and want to get involved, our first general membership meeting takes place on November 23rd. Check in with the website for a link! We got some work to do....
https://humboldtneighborhood.org/
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3231 S Halsted
#197
Chicago
IL
60640
United States of America
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