The Good, The Brands & The Ugly: 8 Things I Learned at SXSW 2015
Our guy went to Austin, so you didn’t have to
South by Southwest, Austin’s yearly sonic clusterfuck, is the worst when it comes to FOMO. Unlike most festivals which feature a large main stage and a few smaller ones, SXSW employs the entire city of Austin — all of its existing venues in addition to makeshift ones set up by brands (more on that later) — leaving no center of gravity and about 30 different options at any moment, day and night. If you love music but suffer from the tyranny of choice as I do, SXSW may explode your brain.
I’ve been going to the fest on and off for the past ten years and 2015 was definitely the biggest shitstorm thus far, partially because I wanted to cover as much as I could for this piece and partially because the festival has expanded dramatically over the past decade. Almost 2500 artists performed this week and I saw every single one of them.
JK! But I did catch almost 50 acts in 4 days, ranging from a struggle rapper spitting on the sidewalk of Red River St (handing out actual mix CDs like it was 1997) to Miley Cyrus surprising the crowd during MikeWillMadeIt’s set at Fader Fort, and everything in between. There were highs, there were lows, and I was somewhere between drunk and hungover for almost 96 hours straight. As I write this, it is wholly unclear if I’m still a person.
Given how unruly the festival feels I figured the best way to summarize the last week would be to list 8 things I learned — the good, the bad and the unnecessarily branded — at SXSW 2015.
1. Things Done Changed
At this point it probably goes without saying, but the South By Southwest of 2015 is miles away from how the festival was conceived. SXSW is no longer a place where music industry insiders convene to discover new acts in bars and then broker deals in the Four Seasons lobby. But honestly, when’s the last time a band was discovered in a bar anyway? Probably when the word “band” actually described the majority of acts at SXSW. The fest is now mostly geared towards the average, ticketed (or badged) music fan.
Having said that, the music presented here is still pretty singular. This is still the only major festival where numerous unsigned acts with no Wikipedia page and 500 twitter followers share a bill with big timers. In fact, the first thing I saw in Austin was a girl group called the Barberettes who sing Andrews Sister-style boogie woogie in Korean and were playing their first show in America for about 25 people. I’m glad this kind of thing still happens in Austin.
2. Hip-Hop Represents
Austin is traditionally a rock and country town and SXSW used to reflect that ethos. No longer. Hip-hop and R&B felt like perhaps the most represented formats in town this year, echoing the genre’s current position at the center of pop culture. I caught everyone from rising names like Earl Sweatshirt, SZA, Vince Staples and Migos to vets like Ghostface Killah, who did an ODB tribute during his set at Empire Garage. Anyone who’s ever heard me DJ knows I never get tired of “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” so that ruled. Ghost was performing all week with Toronto post-boppers badbadnotgood as his backing band, following the release of their new collaborative album, Sour Soul.
On Tuesday night, I saw ascendant rappers Dej Loaf and OG Maco perform in what felt like someone’s backyard but was actually a venue called Blackheart. Loaf in particular, who is diminutive in size and raps in a feathery high register, is an exciting new female voice, and she ran through a bunch of songs from her mixtape Sell Sole as well as her single “Try Me” — one 2014’s signature hip-hop hits. She also wore amazing sunglasses.
Timbaland’s new signee Tink, who is someone you should definitely be aware of if you’re not already (start here) performed on Saturday night at Fader Fort. While introducing her, Timbo described Aaliyah visiting him in a dream and anointing Tink as the next big thing which felt like kind of an awkward thing to say, but it’s okay because Tink really is the shit.
Perhaps the most exciting, though, was current Kanye West-cosign Vic Mensa who performed late Tuesday night at the Main II and had his audience totally beguiled with his uncanny stage presence and arresting oeuvre. Mensa’s a rapper, but his music defies easy categorization — if you haven’t heard rap-soul-house thump of “Down On My Luck” yet, you need to do better. The man will be a big star this year.
3. B-Listers Step Up
SXSW may always be a place for little or lesser known acts to have a moment but by 2013 and 2014, the festival was routinely featuring sets from A-list marquee acts like Justin Timberlake, Prince, Kanye West and Jay-Z. This didn’t used to be the case — I remember the first year I went, the biggest name at South By was a way post-peak Third Eye Blind.
But 2015 felt pretty A-List free, save the aforementioned Miley surprise, which left a vacuum for 2nd and 3rd tier stars to slide into headlining spots. Big Sean closing Friday night at Fader Fort or Best Coast wrapping up Thursday night at Hype Hotel felt like some of the biggest acts in Austin. In any case, watching a couple thousand people chant the lyrics to “IDFWU” in unison with a shirtless, flailing Sean at the head was one of the highlights of my week.
The lack of true A-listers also opened up some late-night spots to recently-forgotten stars. After taking the stage at Fader Fort on Friday night, T-Pain asserted, “I’m here to remind ya’ll who the fuck I am!” Update: “Buy U A Drank,” still fire.
Oh, and I also watched Iggy Azalea perform at a Samsung event on Wednesday Night. The less said about everything in that sentence, the better, but it’s a decent segue to my next point.
4. The Branding Thing is Totally Out of Control
SXSW, like the rest of America, has turned into a big branded monster. Literally everything you do in Austin is somehow tied in with a brand. “Oxygen, brought to you by Go Daddy!” Even the classic Austin venues like Brazos Hall got rechristened for the week as “Yahoo at Brazos Hall.” Within 30 minutes of arriving in Austin, a company who shall remain nameless attempted to get me to tweet their hashtag in exchange for a free umbrella.
By the end of the week, my arm was littered in branded wristbands and I felt like a totally unwitting advertisement for Spotify, Pandora and Hype Machine. Even freakin’ McDonalds had a stage in the middle of town which I refused to visit on principle (Micky Ds was also the center of a controversy last week for offering to pay their SXSW acts in burgers). It’s pretty depressing to see art so blatantly peddled to you by major corporations, but what are you gonna do.
5. Bedroom Bands
If unchecked branding bullshit is one of the worst parts of life in 2015, one of the coolest is how easy it is to make luscious, studio-quality music on a shoestring. There were a lot of homegrown acts at SXSW like Los Angeles’ GirlPool and Toronto’s Alvvays who played together at Mohawk on Wednesday night. GirlPool in particular, just two girls on guitar and bass respectively, sounded crisp and professional while still conveying the vibe of music you make in your mom’s basement, a very 2015 feat. They also sang this one really weird and awesome song from the perspective of their five year old selves called “Before the World Was Big” that is destined for a Girls soundtrack.
On the flipside of these more traditional bedroom singer-writers are the bedroom musicians of 2015, those who make music entirely on laptops. EDM was one of the least represented genres at SXSW (I’m not complaining, personally) but it did showcase some great dance and electronic DJs — notably mysterious producer SOPHIE and one of his associates, DJ QT. SOPHIE’s music is totally off the walls — he recently co-produced “Bitch I’m Madonna,” the wildest production on Madonna’s new album Rebel Heart, but check out his track “Lemonade” so you can fully understand. QT, who has a bit of viral hit going on with her song “Hey QT,” did a DJ set at Fader Fort that lived in the same aural universe as “Lemonade” and featured remixes of pop songs like “California Gurls” with Katy Perry’s voice pitched up into a Chipmunk squeak. I think I preferred it to Katy Perry’s actual voice, TBH.
6. Assorted Awesome Newcomers
I want to just quickly rattle off some amazing new acts I saw: Raury, who performed Thursday afternoon at Pandora House, was dressed like and generally conjured a young Love Below-era Andre 3000, and his music shares elements with Frank Ocean’s post-neo soul. He’d also just graduated from high school. At his show, he did that thing where he asked the audience to turn to the person to their right and introduce themselves because “one love” or whatever, but I didn’t do that because I am an old, cynical human being. Listen to “Cigarette Song” which is fantastic.
Ryn Weaver, who emerged last year with her absolutely bonkers single “Octahate”, written by literally every single person in pop music (It was actually written by Weaver, Charlie XCX, Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos, Benny Blanco and Cashmere Cat, which is an unimpeachable list of musicians) — killed it at Hype Hotel on Wednesday night. Like many pop and hip-hop acts, she presented her computer programmed productions in a loose, rockier format here backed by a full band which served her well. She can really wail.
And the most buzzed about new artist this week was certainly Leon Bridges who I tried to see three times to no avail (the word was out, the lines were insane) before finally catching him at Hype Hotel. Bridges sings 60s style Sam Cooke-ian soul and plays with a full nine-piece band. His music is borderline pastiche, but it’s beautifully rendered and enjoyable pastiche. I actually slow danced with a random stranger during his set which wasn’t as awkward as it sounds written here.
7. Rae Sremmurd Must Be Fucking Exhausted
Dude, I saw Rae Sremmurd three times this week and only once was on purpose. They performed at literally every showcase every minute of every day and they were never not jumping around like two guys who had just lost their virginity and were just, like, mega stoked to tell their bros about it. Rae’s best moment was when they shared the stage briefly with Miley and she played hook girl on “Throw Sum Mo,” perhaps the greatest piece of art created in the 21st Century.
8. Casual
One of the cool things about SXSW’s format is that, unlike highly-produced and streamlined festivals, it still manages to hint at intimacy and off the cuff-ness. There were many times when I’d go see a band perform, such as with Kaneholler or LolaWolf at The Main on Tuesday night, and the artists would be lugging their own equipment on and off stage and soundchecking right in front of the audience. This is part of South By’s enduring charm.
South By Southwest 2015 was totally overwhelming, and the “Music: Brought to you by Wendys!” concept is pretty gross. But the festival should still be commended for its broad approach, not just in terms of genres but for still showcasing artists at varying levels of success within the music industry. And maybe the spirit of the original South By is still alive in there somewhere. During a bout of rain on Friday afternoon, my friend Mona and I actually overheard a slick A&R guy offering a deal to a young rapper in the lobby of the Four Seasons.
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