What Robert Curcio and Lulu Mushi aka Cindy Roché wanted was an outlet that they could use to let people listen to downtempo music. Lulu was often recording at Robert's Studio, Dirty Loop, in Cincinnati and after much discussion, they decided to start something small to put out strictly vinyl releases. The response to the EPs released in 2000 was bigger than expected. After a stint in San Francisco and New York, Mush Records finally settled in the sunny city of Los Angeles and their release schedule has grown to include more than a dozen releases per year in all formats, disctributed worldwide.
The label has since introduced acts like Busdriver, Radioinactuve, Daedelus, Her Space Holiday, Clue To Kalo, Bigg Jus, and cLOUDDEAD to music lovers. This year, Mush has released more groundbreaking albums such as Head Like A Kite's new outing There Is Loud Laughter Everywhere, and Eliot Lipp's The Outside. This will soon be followed by Her Space Holiday, Lymbyc Systym, K-The-I???, and the Magnificents from the UK. Outside the States, they have licensed their music to labels like Big Dada, Ninja Tune, and Rough Trade in the UK, Tri-Eight in Japan, Spunk in Australia among others.
Their roster is a sure sign of their support for "music that we believe in and listen to." From turntable compositions, left-field dreamy stuff, dowbeat, or hip-hop coated with electronica or pop, Mush is adamant that they don't pigeon-hole their artists. Apart from music quality, Mush also stresses vocals, writing, and album artwork; no one Mush released product looks run of the mill.
Much like the concept of 50s jazz labels, they release singular records, that let each artist explore their music creativity, no label tampering. It may be risky, but the formula has worked for them.