Name: Soft Hell
Brand: Pill

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

4923125115

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2018-10-26

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Redeye

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

184923125115

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1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

4923125122

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184923125122

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "184923125122"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Pill

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

Mexican Summer

How do you define a label whose roster defy definition indefinitely? Jessica Pratt, Connan Mockasin, Ariel Pink, Oneohtrix Point Never, Cate Le Bon and Washed Out. Over the past ten years, Mexican Summer have signed a sprawl of artists and it is almost impossible to draw a line of best fit. Almost.

The common denominator amongst the menagerie is a conceptual spirit that explores, subverts and evolves a monumental array of pop music genres. Whether it’s Connan Mockasin’s psychedelic dream soul, Weyes Blood’s Laurel Canyon pastiche or whatever the fuck Oneohtrix Point Never is, Mexican Summer are drawn to those who play with our preconceptions.

Beginning in Brooklyn in 2008, Mexican Summer was founded by Keith Abrahamsson and Andres Santo Domingo. It is now the foremost experimental pop label and a bastion for artists to take creative control of their output. You never know what Mexican Summer will put out next, but you know it will take you to a place that is instantly recognisable and alien all at once.

First off, congratulations on reaching your 10 year anniversary last year. What are your hopes for decade number 2?

Thank ya, kindly. Decade #2 has gotta go even deeper, right? Our hope is to continue supporting artists who bring beautiful art and positivity into this big, frequently bleak world of ours.

As an outside observer, there is something elusive that connects your artists. A kind of conceptual indie-rock or epic experimental pop. Could you shed any more light on what it is that you look for in your artists?

Good songs + good people - but always keepin it freaky. If that criteria is met, we’ll usually find a way to figure out the rest.

Could you name us five releases over the past 11 years that define Mexican Summer?

Not sure about defining us, but here’s SIX selects I dig (cause I like even numbers better):

Ariel Pink - Dedicated To Bobby Jameson

Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat To Earth

What has Mexican Summer got in store for us in 2019?

2019 is almost a wrap, so here’s some 2020 news… new music from Ariel, Connan, Dungen, Paint, Jess Williamson, Arp and a bunch of new signings, reissues and book projects that you’ll have to wait a minute or two to hear about.

After the brief but beautiful collaboration between Ariel Pink and Weyes Blood, who from your roster would you love to see team up for a record?

That collab (and others like it) have been the fruits of our ongoing residency series that we hold each April in Marfa, TX at our Myths festival. We have a new one on the way this Fall from Cate Le Bon + Bradford Cox and then next year from Drugdealer + Tim Presley. Hoping we can keep that spirit alive and kickin well into the future…

Mexican Summer Label Focus

Pill’s second full-length album, Soft Hell, is a raucous, splintering dispatch from New York City, animated by the madcap ingenuity of a foursome finding a palpable sense of joy and play in expressions of caustic, black humor.

Like the contradiction of the album title, which references our acceptance of everyday miseries, Soft Hell is a slew of dichotomies, a frenzied cutup. Bleeding saxophone and lustrous feedback sound somehow pastoral, alongside winking hooks subtly infused with venom.