The album artwork was created by David Rager and includes Cosentino's late cat Snacks,[5] alongside many references to the state of California.

[10] Pocahaunted achieved minor success (at one point opening for Sonic Youth), but Cosentino left the project to pursue creative writing at the Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts in New York City.

[10] Studying journalism and creative nonfiction, she read Joan Didion, David Foster Wallace and other authors she enjoyed and she interned at The Fader, where she penned a fashion column.

[13] Cosentino lived in Brooklyn and all but abandoned her musical pursuits, and soon fell into a mundane routine and seasonal depression in her second semester, feeling miserable.

[10] Returning to La Crescenta, she lived with her mom and began work as a part-time sales associate for Lush, but felt immediately inspired to write new music, using her acoustic guitar to cope with anxiety.

After their first experience recording with live drums and "real" production, they made a conscious effort to stray away from their original, more lo-fi and hazy sound.

[10] A collection of 7-inch singles on Art Fag and Black Iris alerted Adam Shore, owner of buzz-generating website The Daily Swarm, who became the group's manager.

Crazy for You was recorded, mixed, and engineered for Black Iris at Mexican Radio Studios in Echo Park, California from January to April, 2010.

The group's sonic goals were to emulate the Ramones in guitar tone ("really punky, messy, and sloppy-sounding"), the Beatles in percussion, and Phil Spector in vocal quality.

"[14] The album artwork of Crazy for You features Snacks, Cosentino's cat, alongside images reflecting "the beach, hazy summertime nostalgia" and her home state of California.

"[6] The original photograph supplied of Snacks had his tail end cut off, which worked to Rager's favor: he placed an outline of California in the area to disguise the error.

[25] Ian Gormely said "fuzzed out lo-fi recordings are all the rage, but Bethany Cosentino rises above her peers on her Best Coast debut, striking the perfect balance between reverb-drenched vocals and classic California pop hooks."

Mexican Summer focused on super-servicing mom-and-pop stores, while ensuring a presence at all digital retailers ("Boyfriend" was an iTunes free Discovery Download).