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Mississippi Records

Coordinates: 45°33′38.0″N 122°40′29.2″W / 45.560556°N 122.674778°W / 45.560556; -122.674778
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mississippi Records
Map
General information
TypeShop
Town or cityPortland, Oregon
CountryU.S.
Website
www.mississippirecords.net

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]

Brick and mortar store

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The name Mississippi Records originates from Isaacson's original store location on Mississippi Ave, Portland, Oregon.[3] Isaacson worked previously as a manager at Oakland's now-defunct Saturn Records.[3]

History of record label

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For many years Isaacson ran Mississippi Records from Portland with co-founder/co-owner Warren Hill.[4] 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."[5]

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.[4]

Warren Hill formed his own record label Little Axe Records in 2011, also based in Portland, "when the original Mississippi Records label split."[6]

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.[7][8] In 2019, Mississippi Records went on a national tour.[9]

Mississippi Records Tape Series

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The Mississippi Records Tape Series is an ongoing open-edition mix tape project. Mississippi Records store employee Karen Antunes originally suggested the idea for a low-price mix tape to Eric Isaacson, with the first tape appearing in 2005.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Dolan, Ciara. "Celebrating 15 Years of Mississippi Records". Portland Mercury. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  2. ^ Needham, Jack (2018-07-28). "The world's best record shops #117: Mississippi Records, Portland". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  3. ^ a b Cho, Jaeki. "Wax Nostalgic: 7 Questions with Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records (Portland)". Complex. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "About". Little Axe Records. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  7. ^ Gormley, Shannon (January 31, 2019). "Cult Favorite Portland Record Label Mississippi Records Has Moved to Chicago". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  8. ^ Nelson, J. R.; Galil, Leor (January 29, 2019). "Gloriously idiosyncratic label Mississippi Records moves to Chicago". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  9. ^ Naftule, Ashley (2019-01-08). "The Mississippi Records Tour Is Coming To Phoenix". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  10. ^ "About Us". Mississippi Records. Archived from the original on July 21, 2022. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
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45°33′38.0″N 122°40′29.2″W / 45.560556°N 122.674778°W / 45.560556; -122.674778