Electro-singer/songwriter Empress Of recently stopped by Amoeba Hollywood, shopping for records and films by artists that have inspired her. The first thing she showed us when we sat down to talk with her was the Kate Bush LP box set, Remastered In Vinyl I. "I really just wanted to find The Kick Inside, 'cause that's my gateway drug into Kate Bush," she told us, "but this is bomb." "I like how in control of her art she is," she told us when asked why she liked Kate Bush's work, "it's a singular vision; like videos, dancing, music. Everything is the world of Kate Bush."

Empress Of is the stage name of singer, songwriter, and producer Lorely Rodriguez. The name was inspired by the Empress card in the tarot deck. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Empress Of first began attracting attention in 2011, when she anonymously released a series of short YouTube demos called "Colorminutes." Her debut single, "Champagne," was released by No Recordings in 2012. Two years later, she released a bilingual four-song EP called Systems.

In 2015, Empress Of released her debut full-length, Me. Self-produced and recorded in Mexico, the album addresses what she felt to be the negative aspects of living in Brooklyn at the time. Me charted in the top ten on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and placed on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Her followup, Us, was released in fall 2018. She has worked with DJDS and Khalid on their Billboard-charting "Why Don't You Come On" and on the DJDS Lana Del Rey cover "Love." She collaborated with Khalid on his Suncity release. Empress Of's 2018 Spanish-language double single "Trust Me Baby / In Dreams" premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show.

HAIM recently visited Amoeba Hollywood for a special album release event and made time for some record shopping while they were here. In this What's In My Bag? episode, the bandmates and sisters give us a peek into some of the music and movies from their childhood, including Donna Summer's Love To Love You Baby, which guitarist/keyboardist Alana explains was often played when they were washing dishes. "I have great memories of drying," she said, adding that she was never a washer. "It's a great drying tempo."

Los Angeles pop rock band HAIM features Este Haim (bass), Alana Haim (guitars/keyboards), and Danielle Haim (lead vocals/guitar). The sisters began their musical careers early, backing their parents Moti and Donna in a family cover band called Rockinhaim. Este and Danielle performed together in pop band Valli Girls in the mid-'00s, releasing tracks on soundtrack and comp albums before Danielle departed to tour as a guitarist with Jenny Lewis and Julian Casablancas. In 2012, the women formed HAIM, releasing the Forever EP and attracting attention through a series of buzzed about appearances at SXSW which led to a deal with Polydor and a management contract with Jay-Z's Roc Nation.

       

To check out extensive LP label and price guides, head to the Vinyl Beat website!

Tex-Mex, the melding of rock and roll with Chicano music, started in San Antonio and L.A. in the late 1950s. It quickly spread to all Mexican-American communities throughout the Southwest. It wasn’t called Tex-Mex in L.A., but there was a similar aesthetic in all the Chicano communities and I’ll lump them together for the purposes of this article.

Some of the more famous bands in Texas were The Sir Douglas Quintet,Sunny & the Sunliners,Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, Little Joe & the Latinaires, Freddie Fender, Rocky Gil, and The Royal Jesters. In L.A., it started with Ritchie Valens and Chris Montez, and the mid-‘60s saw the rise of Thee Midnighters, The Premiers, Cannibal & the Headhunters, and a host of lesser known bands.