Fighting the pile

Nov. 11—details

Musicians interested in joining Mama Mañana Records' roster may contact Kiley Larsen at mamamananarecords@gmail.com or via Instagram @mamamananarecords.

Santa Fe's Kiley Larsen is in his element when talking about music — whether it's the fidelity of records vs. MP3s, his favorite bands, or the acts signed to his new label, Mama Mañana Records. That quickly became clear as he and label artist Jared Garcia huddled at a bar on a recent Monday to talk about their enterprise.

Record labels distribute and promote musicians' work, and Santa Fe is home to about eight of them. Larsen, 38, was drawn to the business side of the music industry after realizing that playing guitar wasn't a viable way to make a living in it. He worked for years in corporate real estate — a financially lucrative field, but not a creatively inspiring one.

Mama Mañana was formed in July, followed by the Oct. 4 release of the six-song EP Empty Dreams by Hubba — a name Garcia, 32, uses when recording solo.

Larsen says he became aware of Gold Tides, a Santa Fe independent rock band, after seeing a flyer advertising a show and loving what he heard at the concert. Mama Mañana's second release is the EP Mareas de Oro by Gold Tides, which came out Oct. 28.

Larsen says that Garcia, who co-owns Santa Fe's Yamas Greek Rotisserie, was originally involved in the label but departed when he realized his plate was too full. Larsen says his enthusiasm hasn't waned, that Garcia remains as an artist with the label, and that Garcia played an important role getting the label off the ground.

"At the heart of it, I've always wanted to have a record label," Larsen says. "So it was a no-brainer, and we spent the summer working on it."

Pull Quote

"Empty Dreams" was released on streaming platforms and bandcamp.com, as well as via cassette. Music streaming is a double-edged sword, Larsen says. It allows musicians and record labels to track when, where, and by whom a song has been listened to and, of course, it allows anyone in the world to listen to a given song at any time.

"It is amazing that you can hear anyone's music, but at the same time, there's more music than ever being released and [your song is] fighting to the top of that pile," he says.

He and Garcia are bullish on cassettes as a way to deliver music. Hubba's "Empty Dreams" includes the lyrics for the first three songs in the sleeve, as well as mixing and mastering credits.

"Coming out with a record or a tape is a different thing that I think people are missing out on," Larsen says. "It's a physical piece of media. It's art, and it has captured your sound. And every single version of physical media plays a little differently."

That includes "Empty Dreams," he says.

"On tape, compared to [popular streaming service] Spotify, I can tell you it sounds insane," Larsen says. "It sounds so different. It's amazing when you put it into a tape deck and turn it up and there's a lot of beautiful synthesizer work that just does not come out the same on the digital side of things, and it's too bad."

Another benefit of physical media, he says: music is worth waiting for, and the anticipation of opening the packaging isn't unlike the excitement one feels before seeing a concert.

Why the name Mama Mañana? Larsen and Garcia were talking about "mañana culture" — putting off until tomorrow what can be delayed today — and hit upon the alliterative combination. That said, mañana culture has an upside, Larsen says.

"Being in Santa Fe, I think the mañana mentality allows for creative growth, in a weird way," he says. "I think it takes longer for people to get stuff done."

Larsen and Garcia chose cassettes over vinyl because the latter is far more expensive to create and distribute, Larsen says. Garcia adds that tapes have been making a comeback due to their appearance in Netflix's nostalgia-stirring TV series, Stranger Things.

While Larsen voices no regrets about his decision to start a label, he acknowledges that the timing has invited challenges. For starters, it's more expensive now to ship products.

As for musicians touring, "van and bus rentals are more expensive," Larsen says. "You know, the demand is through the roof. Everyone's back out on the road."

Like any new entity, becoming established is among Mama Mañana's early goals. Larsen aims to form a limited-liability corporation to operate Mama Mañana in early 2023.

Longer term, he would love to see an artist outgrow the label.

"We'd love to have an artist that blows up and becomes a problem for us, because we can't hold on to them," Larsen says. "I would love to see an artist succeed on that level."