Happy-Fi Records

Indie label Happy-Fi, based in Monterrey, Mexico is one of the new Mexican indie labels benefitting from a boom in online music culture among middle class kids in Mexico. Distinguished by its lo-fi sound aesthetic, Happy-Fi’s artists deconstruct and reinterpret Britpop, 80’s electro-pop, and American college rock with a silly, child-like sense of humor. Gustavo Mauricio, a.k.a. “Catsup,” along with members of Plastilina Mosh and other Monterrey bands started the label in 1997 in order to put out their own music and have fun in the process. Since then, the Happy-Fi collective has gradually built its fan base by releasing dozens of limited edition CD-Rs sold mostly at live shows and through mail-order.

It was this underground, DIY approach that sparked the interest of EMI Mexico, which signed Happy-Fi to its Labels Mexico conglomerate. The partnership led to the release of a three-CD box set of Happy-Fi’s long out-of-print CD-Rs as well as new full-lengths from Quiero Club, Dendron, Arizona, Mario, Niña and La Live Band. Quiero Club’s recent offering, Wof, captures much of Happy-Fi’s sound – a bilingual concoction of experimental pop-rock with an absurdist, bratty attitude.

Comprised of vocalist-guitarist Priscila González, vocalist-keyboardist Marcela Viejo, guitarist-vocalist Gustavo Mauricio, bassist Luis Fara Al Farahel and drummer Bosco Benavente, Quiero Club gained notoriety when their upbeat No Coke music video made the rounds on Mexican music blogs with unprecedented speed. Other tracks, such as the shape-shifting “Sexy Muppet,” or the bass-driven “Backstage Drama,” mix equal parts dance-punk with Stereo Total’s knack for anti-pop experimentation. It's this type of hip eclecticism that makes the Happy-Fi universe so appealing and entertaining to its growing cadre of fans, online and off.