“It kind of hits you somehow,” explains Andres Santo Domingo on hearing the serene sound of an unknown band for the first time. Santo Domingo knows his music. He’s the owner of Kemado Records -- a boutique record label based in New York, which prides itself on functioning like a family operation and working with artists out of love, rather than for the sake of meeting a quota. 

Since Kemado’s infancy in 2002, Santo Domingo, along with Tom Clapp and Keith Abrahamson, have spearheaded a soundscape culture built upon a fashionable, bohemian-luxe sensibility. Their carefully-selected bands –  Elefant, Diamond Nights, The Sword, Tarantula A.D, Vietnam, Cheeseburger, to name a few – comprise the iPod playlists of New York’s downtown art scene. One of their bands, the musical art-collective Lansing-Dreiden, continually shows at Rivington Arms gallery; their next exhibit opens in October.

Originally, when Santo Domingo, Clapp and Abrahamson set out to build a studio and collaborate with artists, no one knew their desire would yield such big-time results: As Santo Domingo recalls, “We never really intended to become a label until we met Chris Blackwell [founder of Island Records]. He liked some of the stuff we played him, and he said, ‘Keep on doing what you’re doing. We’ll give you a distribution deal.’ It wasn’t a direct distribution deal, but we were able to put a record out through Palm.” With that, Kemado Records was officially born; their first notable album, Elefant’s Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid, was soon released in 2003. 

Their method of finding new bands is atypical: “A lot of people think you should be ‘out there’ night after night going to shows,” says Abrahamson. “That’s not how we do it. I’m not active with nightly shows, more so scouring the Internet and word-of-mouth. The most important thing for me is keeping a communication line open with people I trust.”

Their loft-like offices, full of psychedelic artwork, are located in Chelsea, overlooking the Hudson River. Adjacent is Kemado’s in-house studio with full recording capabilities and engineering stations, where a slew of late-night sessions take place. Six employees work at Kemado -- keeping the vibe intimate allows an open forum, where everyone gets a listen and speaks candidly about artist selections. “If you get too big,” says Santo Domingo, choosing his words carefully, “you can’t really curate the way we want to.”

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For more info on Kemado Records and their bands, kemado.com