Fresh at Twenty: The Oral History of Mint Records

by Kaitlin Fontana

Fresh at The Oral History of Mint Records is first and foremost the story of an independent record label and the people who helped build it. But it’s also the story of a place and time in popular music ― Vancouver through the 1990s and 2000s. 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. Now, on the eve of Mint’s 20th anniversary, the people who recorded the albums, drove cross-country in failing vans, and made Vancouver pop music matter, speak for the first time about the label that they love ― and that truly loves them back.

Genres: Music

400 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2011

Reviews

[Jessrawk · Rating 3 out of 5]

An oral history was certainly a choice and it worked in some places. However, some of the gossipy bits certainly rubbed me the wrong way. Allowing people from the periphery to speak of events that destroyed other people’s lives without allowing the affected people to speak (or they declined) is rather unfair. This rings even more true when you realize it could have been excluded entirely. It felt very gossip mag. In any case, lots of fun stories and interesting to hear a bit from lots of different people.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This rock-infused history tells the winding tale of a little record label that could, including every angle - both the (relative) megastars and the missteps - in the not-quite-done-yet story of Mint Records. Though the date and detail-dense tome was a little bit hard to get into at first, once the label got rolling, so did my interest. Humorous and telling, honest and surprisingly insightful, Fresh at Twenty injects a new hint of flavor into the music industry soup, and a flavor I never knew I would love until I tried it. Now I wouldn't want to eat without it. Covering plenty of relatively obscure (to the music world at large, at least), mostly Canadian, indie bands, Fontana weaves a tapestry of music that inspires me to educate myself in the talent pool surrounding Mint and stretching into every corner of the industry it could reach. The book is a fun-fueled, excitement-filled romp through the dream of two men and all of the people that dream touched, lifted, launched, or otherwise inspired.

This book was won from the publisher through the Goodreads First Reads program. Thank you!

[rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts slow, the gets pretty great. A fast enjoyable read... Especially if you're a Vancouverite and a music nerd.