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Record Store Recs: Sergio Acosta Of Zoé record-store-recs-sergio-acosta-zo%C3%A9-shares-vinyl-gems-austin-london

Their most recent album, 2018’s ‘Aztlán,’ earned the rock en Español heavyweights their first GRAMMY win, and the follow-up is on the way

With the unprecedented global disruption of 2020, it’s important to support the music community however we can. With our series Record Store Recs, GRAMMY.com checks in with vinyl-loving artists to learn more about their favorite record stores and the gems they’ve found there.

Listening to Zoé feels like exploring a new city with an old friend—colorful, comforting, atmospheric, upbeat and filled with enchanting stories. The GRAMMY- and Latin GRAMMY-winning Mexican alt-rock band has been captivating listeners with their soundtrack-worthy songs for over two decades now, with loyal fans around the world.

Their most recent album, 2018’s Aztlán, earned the rock en Español heavyweights their first GRAMMY win. The name comes from the mythical birthplace of the Mexica people of the Aztec Empire, as a symbol of Mexican heritage and pride.

Now, Zoé is back with more immersive new music, with their seventh studio album on the way (the title and date have yet to be revealed). So far, they’ve released three new singles in 2020, the most recent being the spacey, synthy “Karmadame.”

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Read: Mexican Rock Band Zoé Want To Be Heard All Over The World

For the latest Record Store Recs, Zoé’s guitarist Sergio Acosta shares his favorite vinyl haunts around the world and some of his favorite finds. He also shares the first records he ever got! Read on to adventure with him.

Pick three to five records stores you love.

Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas

Rough Trade in London

Amoeba Hollywood in Los Angeles

Flea markets around the world

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Why do you love these shops? And what kind of goodies you’ve found there?

Nowadays, record shops are a fragile entity. Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas, no doubt is my favorite shop. It’s the perfect shop for me because it has a tight, wide and masterfully curated selection in a fairly small space. Curatorship is great at Waterloo. I can almost always find what I have in mind at Waterloo.

Amoeba Hollywood, on the contrary, was almost as big as a Walmart, but packed with great music of all sorts of genres. Very well organized, and vast. High ceilings. Last I heard, it is moving out of its iconic temple that was a unique, massive place for music lovers for many, many years. I’m happy to know that it’s changing to a smaller location as the next step.

And who can argue with Rough Trade Records in London? It is as fancy as London can be. They are always proposing new music, and curatorship is also impeccable. It is still a very special place. 

Flea markets around the world have proven to be providers of very sporadic and very special surprises for me.

Acosta’s vinyl pics | Photo: Sergio Acosta

For at least one of your favorite shops, share a recent record or two (or three or four…) you bought there and what you love about the record/artist. 

I rarely remember where I bought my vinyl records. But, at Waterloo Records, I do remember finding the original music from the 1968 film Le Pacha, done by Serge Gainsbourg and Michel Colombier (released by We Want Sounds in 2018). That album blew my mind and I had never heard it before. 

Once in Rough Trade, I saw for the first time the Who is William Onyeabor? vinyl (released by David Byrne’s Luaka Bop in 2013). I bought it for the cover in an African music discovery spree. It just blew my mind as few albums have.

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What’s an upcoming/recent release you have your eyes on picking up and why?

I’m not at all waiting for new music, I’m just always aware and eager to discover any old or new music. But if I had to say which two very relatively new artists made a big impression on me and have become part of my family life in the past years, it would be:

Sam Evian, Premium (2016, Saddle Creek) and Bertrand Belin, Persona (2018, Wagram Music).

What were the first CDs and/or vinyls you remember purchasing when you were younger?

It’s so funny, and I do remember! My two first vinyl records were gifts that I asked my parents for, Prince’s Purple Rain and Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry.

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