In the 2012 LITA road trip visiting record stores up and down the West Coast, the guys visited Amoeba Hollywood for a DJ set on Wednesday night. You can track their progress and glimpse all the cool record stores they've visited along the way in their road trip blog and video series. We're in the 4th episode. Check out their journey so far!

2012 Light In The Attic Road Trip - Episode 4 from Light In The Attic Records on Vimeo.

A customer essentially made his own "What's In My Bag?" video taking us through a handful of purchases from the East Coast Vinyl Collection which was unveiled over the weekend at Amoeba Hollywood. Some of the gems he snagged include an LP by Stomu Yamash'ta, Irrlicht by Klaus Scholze, Solstice by Ralph Towner on ECM, and Urban Bushmen by The Art Ensemble of Chicago, among others. Check out his haul!

     

    

Amoeba.com just posted a new "What's In My Bag?" video with funnyman Bob Odenkirk, a.k.a. Saul Goodman ("Better Call Saul!") on the AMC television show Breaking Bad.

The actor and comedian was visiting Amoeba Hollywood to host our April charity auction and took some time to do a little shopping for The Shins' Port of Morrow and Elvis Costello's Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook, plus La Haine and The Royle Family DVDs.


Bob Odenkirk goes shopping at Amoeba Hollywood.
Big congratulations are also in order to the cast and crew of Breaking Bad which was just today nominated for 13 Emmys, including Outstanding Drama and Outstanding Lead Actor.

Given all the attention paid to happenings in sky of late (Venus in transit and eclipses 'n things) it seems only fitting that SF wundergirl trio Grass Widow would take the magic of their melodic, DIY post-punk harmonies to the final frontier in their new video for "Goldilocks Zone" from their new album Internal Logic (out on Grass Widow's own HLR label) Directed once again by Grass Widos bassist, vocalist and visionary auteur  Hannah Lew the video's aesthetic channels low-budget sci-fi flicks of yore with a fondness reminiscent of some of Mystery Science Theater 3000's better space jams (this one in particular).

Mariachi El Bronx stopped by Amoeba Hollywood to play their uniquely American take on traditional Mariachi music. Bedecked in black mariachi garb and with horns in tow, the band played a set of tracks from their 2011 album Mariachi El Bronx II.

Mariachi El Bronx started as post-hardcore band The Bronx before incorporating mariachi elements for this side project, which began when the band was asked to do an acoustic version of the song “Dirty Leaves” from The Bronx’s self-titled second album for a television show and they turned it into a mariachi dirge.

“We never wanted The Bronx to be a soft, quiet band,” says frontman Matt Caughthran, “but this freed up a whole new realm. Sometimes you don’t realize the barriers around yourself until you step outside them. It was a big moment in our career, breathing new life into the band.”



Band members Caughthran, Joby J. Ford (guitar), Jorma Vik (drums) Brad Magers (trumpet), Ken Horne (jarana/guitar), and Vincent Hidalgo (guitarrón) then studied up on YouTube, no less, while touring with The Bronx to make Mariachi El Bronx happen. Learning all the mariachi styles, such as norteno, jorocho, juasteka, bolero, and corridos was essential.

“Mariachi has rules,” Caughthran says. “We learned everything we could out of respect, especially as we’re a bunch of white guys — well, except for Ken, who’s Japanese.”