Label & Mailorder Guide

One of my favorite things about the indie pop and mail order worlds are the ways in which communities of people come together to raise awareness of music they love. Growing up, mail order was what made indie rock and pop accessible to me. Cleveland had, and continues to have, a vibrant college radio scene that’s always introducing me to new artists. For over the last ten years, mail order and ordering direct from indie labels have been my #1 ways of acquiring new music. While I believe in the importance of supporting independently owned brick and mortar stores, there’s something to be said for getting a new pack of records in the mail. That said, here’s a humble guide to a few of my favorite indie labels and mail orders. (This list is far from complete and very US-centric, if you’re living elsewhere in the world and know of a great label or mail order that you think other SP reads would benefit from knowing about, send me an e-mail and I’ll put it up!)

Labels

Art Fag Recordings
Bridgetown Records
Captured Tracks (Favorite bands/artists: Wild Nothing)
Cloudberry Records (Specializes in limited edition 7”s)
Eardrums Pop (Specializes in limited edition 3” CD-Rs)
Fortuna Pop! (Favorite bands/artists: Allo Darlin, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Tender Trap)
Fraction Discs
Happy Happy Birthday to Me (Favorite bands: Sourpatch, Sweater Girls)
K Records (Favorite artists/bands: Beat Happening, Mirah, Rose Melberg)
Kill Rock Stars (Favorite bands/artists: Grass Widow, Marnie Stern)
Magic Marker Records
Merge Records (Favorite bands/artists: Superchunk, Wild Flag, Let’s Wrestle)
Mexican Summer Records (Favorite bands/artists: Best Coast, Puro Instinct, No Joy)
Polyvinyl (Favorite bands/artists: Asobi Seksu, Vivian Girls, Japandroids)
Slumberland Records
WeePOP!
Yoyo Recordings (Little Red Car Wreck)