Lorely Rodriguez is a singer, songwriter, and producer who goes by the name Empress Of. She’s released two albums, and she’s sung on tracks with Khalid, Blood Orange, and Dirty Projectors. Her first album, Me, was made on her own. But her second album, Us, features a bunch of collaborators. In this episode, Lorely breaks down the Empress Of song “When I’m with Him.” She co-produced it with Jim-E Stack and Dan Nigro, and I spoke to Jim-E Stack for this episode, too. Lorely explained how collaborating with producers opened up her process. Plus, the song’s lyrics are in English, and Spanish, and Lorely describes how she relies on both languages to write.

Buy or stream “When I’m With Him” here, and watch the music video below. You can buy the album, Me on vinyl here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

Big Boi is a rapper from Atlanta. When he was a teenager, he and Andre 3000 formed OutKast, and went on to sell over 25 million records and win six Grammys. He’s released three solo albums, including Boomiverse, which came out in 2017. In this episode, Big Boi breaks down a song from that album called “Order of Operations.”

Buy or stream “Order of Operations” here. You can buy the album, Order of Operations on vinyl here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Scott Storch – Producer
Diego Ave – Co-producer
Eric Bellinger – Co-writer
“Shutterbug” – Big Boi

In 1978, John Carpenter wrote, directed, and scored the film Halloween. It was made on a $300,000 budget, and ended up grossing over $70 million, making it one of the most successful independent movies ever released. The main theme to the film became one of the most iconic pieces of cinematic music ever made. Halloween became a franchise with 10 more Halloween films since the original. In 2018 a new Halloween film was released, directed by David Gordon Green. And for the first time since the first film, John Carpenter composed the score. That included remaking his theme song for the new film, this time with the help of his son Cody Carpenter and his godson Daniel Davies. In this episode, the three of them break down how they did it.

Buy or stream the 2018 theme to Halloween here. You can buy the soundtrack to Halloween on vinyl here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Daniel Wyman
Oberheim OB-6 Synthesizer
Octavia Effects Pedal