SXSW 2015

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  • Every March, hundreds of thousands of people flock to Austin to discover the latest in music, technology and film at South by South West. The music portion of this massive event is one of the most important gatherings in the industry, spanning indie, hip-hop, pop and, increasingly, electronic music. It's less a curated festival and more a sprawling network of showcases for labels, agencies and brands. As a result, SXSW can feel more like an industry conference than a place to hear new music. But at its best, the week-long marathon is a bustling ecosystem of fresh sounds that offers plenty to keep dance music fans occupied. It helps that Austin is a great city for music in general. The self-described "live music capital of the world," it has more music venues per capita than any other American city, and with pop-up venues like Hype Hotel and Fader Fort, its musical might is at its best during SXSW. Most of the venues were situated downtown in a roughly 30-minute walking radius, which made hopping between them a breeze, assuming you had a coveted wristband or badge. If you didn't, you might have to deal with formidable queues and cover charges, although this year felt noticeably less busy than my first time in 2013. Not every night was equally stacked for dance music, though there was always at least five or six options to choose from. You'll also likely end up in unexpected places and shows, and some of my best SXSW moments were completely unplanned. A last-minute invite to a concert by The Residents in the Paramount Theater led me to a brilliant performance by opening act 숨[su:m], who play their own modern compositions using gorgeous-sounding traditional Korean instruments. Another day I walked into a stunning show from Arbutus Records signee Lydia Ainsworth. Most memorably, though, on the rain-soaked Friday afternoon, I stumbled into the raucous Ham On Everything featuring the American debut of Korean rapper Keith Ape. He had about 40 people up on stage with him, screaming and shuddering along to his guttural hip-hop. It felt like a stampede could've broken out at any moment. In terms of electronic music, it was rap that ruled the roost at SXSW, and its prominence trickled down to trap and Jersey club, too. The Jersey-centric Cartel & Thread showcase on Friday night was probably the most rowdy SXSW event I've ever been to. With sets from New Jersey kingpins Sliink and Nadus soundtracking impressive dance battles and fights in the bathroom, there wasn't even a hint of industry schmoozing there. Meanwhile, Brick Bandit member UNiiQU3 seemed to be playing at least three times a day. Over-saturation of artists is actually quite an issue at SXSW, and it felt widespread this year. Without even trying, I ended up seeing SOPHIE and AG Cook DJ almost every single day. With so many artists dominating the listings that already lean heavily on a few specific genres, SXSW's electronic output could sometimes felt a little homogenous. Though Ghostly, Hyperdub, ADE, Surefire and even Berghain's Boris were all out repping during the week, they clashed on packed Wednesday and Thursday nights. If you wanted to hear electronic music outside the realm of hip-hop or PC Music cutesiness, your options were few and far between. Thankfully, the sounds of SOPHIE and his friends at PC Music were never boring. The crew had their own reign of terror over the week—I even heard Hannah Diamond's "Pink And Blue" blaring from a pedicab just a few moments into day one. At Thursday's dazzling official showcase, almost every member of the stable turned out, with elaborately choreographed performances from GFOTY, Hannah Diamond and QT. Felicita's impenetrable electronics and SOPHIE's face-melting closing set provided more challenging moments. Much to the crowd's surprise, A.G. Cook came onstage with a keyboard and a microphone and belted it out. With an audience that knew every word to every song (and lots of dedicated fans who had driven from all over Texas just for the show), it was, like the Jersey party, a rare SXSW moment that felt removed from the overbearing industry presence of the rest of the week, and more like a celebration of music. There were other pockets of community spirit across the week, particularly with younger crews. LA's Wedidit (where Anticon man D33J stole the spotlight at the beginning of the night), Ryan Hemsworth's Secret Songs and London's JACK댄스 all attracted excited fans that clearly knew and loved the music, while showcases for Leaving Records and local concern Holodeck were entertaining in their own nerdier ways. At the RA party on Wednesday night, the crowd seemed ready and willing to weather the stylistic shifts through an evening that featured sets from the likes of SOPHIE, Ben Aqua, Untold, Bob Moses and The Horrorist (whose aggressive, into-the-crowd performance was among my personal SXSW highlights). Otherwise, crowds seemed disoriented or even disinterested, chatting over the music or simply ignoring it, a problem exacerbated by the apparent randomness of some lineups. More under-the-radar electronic musicians like Torus and Rabit were dumped onto bills and time-slots that made little sense, and plenty of big-name DJs played to just a handful of people. I saw Hudson Mohawke play a killer set to an almost empty dance floor in the middle of a busy daytime cookout. Moments like that can leave a bad taste in a music fan's mouth, and they drive home the idea that the point of SXSW, by 2015, is more about talent scouting, socializing and advertising than anything else. If you just want to dance to good electronic music, it might be a little disappointing. But even if every party isn't perfect, navigating the clusterfuck is a fun and memorable experience in itself, and is always good for a few surprises. Take the Moog & Switched On showcase on the festival's final night, for example. The techno triple-header with Marcel Dettmann, Matrixxman and Patricia seemed somewhat out of step with the rest of SXSW's programming, and I wasn't sure what to expect. It turns out that party was wild and unhinged, and it felt like a real club night, right down to throngs of people looking for an afterparty after the standard 2 AM cutoff. Sure, seeing Marcel Dettmann play for an hour-and-15-minutes relatively early in the evening might not be a techno head's ideal scenario. But at the end of a long and exhausting week, that 75 minutes of sweaty, no-nonsense fun was nearly cathartic, proof that SXSW offers a little bit for everyone. If you do it right, and keep an open mind, it can be an absolute blast. Photo credit: John Rodriguez
RA