The playlist this week is the fifth in a series of playlists where we are checking out Canadian Independent Record Companies and the artists they represent. We have checked out Arts and Crafts, Constellation Records, Dine Alone Records and Last Gang Records so far. This month we are hearing from Canadian artists with Mint Records. I have found it interesting to hear the sounds that each label leans towards. I thought Mint Records was going to be all punk for some reason but I quickly found there is much more to them.

Mint Records is a Vancouver -based independent record label founded in 1991, by friends and campus radio enthusiasts Randy Iwata and Bill Baker. Mint has put out over 150 releases. Iwata and Baker started working together at CITR-FM, the University of British Columbia radio station. Three years after graduation, they left the station, and founded Mint Records in January, 1991 to release the music of up-and-coming bands in Vancouver.
Mint helped launch the careers of the New Pornographers, Neko Case, the Evaporators, the Smugglers, the Sadies, the Pack A.D. and countless other acts. In doing so, Mint not only shaped the sound of Vancouver at the end of the 20th century, but helped usher in a golden age of Canadian popular music that still thrives today.

The New Pornographers have made appearances on other record label playlists already. They had albums with Dine Alone and with Last Gang. There is a track from the Mint Records album Twin Cinemas on this playlist. This is another label that has label mates intertwined in each others projects as well. I love that. Find out more about Mint Records and the artists on their website. Take a listen to the playlist below and hear for yourself what great music comes from the label.