DJ PROMOTE'S PERSONAL BLOG: SXSW 2011

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you might have noticed I hit up SXSW this year. After helping with DaSouth's SXSW Showcase last year, I had decided I wanted to go back, but this time catch as many shows as I could.

Luckily Jimmie at Much Luvv contacted me about going to help again which meant SXSW ARTIST BADGE!!!

ARTIST WRISTBAND!!!

For those of you who dont know about SXSW, its a yearly music and film festival held in Austin, TX. Thousands of people come out to see a wide spectrum of artists, indie bands, rappers and electronic showcases. They perform and guest appear on stages from Wednesday - Saturday. You can catch tons of mainstream artists like Kanye West, Ice Cube and even bands like Duran Duran. I think this year I even saw that Hanson and Wu Tang were showcasing!

About 20,000 people attended this year's events and there were more showcases than ever. The trick at SXSW is to get a wristband or a badge and follow artists on Twitter for FREE SHOWS and last minute type events. Thankfully we had an artist badge and a book of sanctioned SXSW events to hit up. Our goal: to catch as many dj/producer events as possible. Luckily I had a partner... Swiftstyle!!! He's an Austin native and a dj so we had a place to stay and like minds... WHERE'S THE DJS???

HIGHLIGHTS

Our first stop in Austin was a Dubspot Showcase. This was held during the day in a small venue. We thought surely it would be packed out. Luckily for us there was only about 20-30 people in attendance. We saw some demos by DJNSM of Denver Colorado who showcased his Scratchbox as well as Livid Instruments Midi Controllers. We skipped the Reason demo but came back for a unique artist called Mexican With Guns. After he performed we heard from Dubspot instructors then got a killer performance from Thavious Beck and Dj Shiftee. Shiftee was by far the best thing all week. We tried to catch him in town a couple more times but it never worked out. This dude is suppper talented.

Another dj related event we caught was the Fools Gold Showcase at the Palm Bar. We got a bangin Fools Gold bag and got to meet Dj Atrak (or just Atrak now). Right before his set we caught Araabmuzik (OMG) and then saw Atrak perform "Barbara Streisand" live and direct. Wait did I mention we saw Shad right before that at Venue222... well we did... dude busted out a guitar and had a dj with him, PROPS! After Atrak we dipped early to see one of Swiftstyle's favorites Nosaj Thing. We had to wait in line but it was wayyy worth it.

While in Austin we also met up with "Danimal" who introduced us to a new record shop "Friends of Sound" and the 8bit Gameboy music scene. Some other high points in the week were getting drive-by bubble wanded, double decker bikes and catching Unicorn Kid out of Scotland.

On our last day in Austin we put in some definite work at DaSouth's Hip-Hop Showcase. There were a ton of artists like Cheno Lyfe, Gospel Gangstaz, Amabassador, Da-Truth, Michelle Bonilla, DMaub, Von Won, Thisl, Fedel, Big Al, The Breax, Gifted Da Flame Throwa, WARRIORS, 007 from The 5th Ward Boyz, Ganksta Loc, Blest, Dre Murray, Ben Lippens aka Godside and many more... oh and one surprise guest... Fonzworth Bentley!!! We set-up four turntables and two Rane57's for the night so that Dj Wade-O and I could tackle the artists needs and get in a few scratch sessions. Fun Fun Fun...

Just when we thought our night was over, Swiftstyle and I headed back to downtown and caught the end of the Redbull Thre3style (a new dj battle) featuring Dj Jazzy Jeff, Dj Qbert and Ztrip. We made it just in time for Z-trip's set (and so did the rest of Austin, the block was packed!!!). Z-trip tore it up and really got the crowd moving then he brought out LLCoolJ. LL proceeded to perform "Rock The Bells", "Mama Said Knock You Out" and "I Need Love" while Z-trip remixed every song to a party track. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

I know alot of you may have stopped reading by now (except a few of you dj nerds like me ;) but I just wanted to share my heart about SXSW. I went primarily to watch entertainers. The reason being is I come from a small city in the middle of Texas with a definite lack of live entertainment. As the dj scene continues to grow so does the technology and forms of djing. Alot of people head to events like this to attend big shows or party their week away. There is alot a foolish things that go on during the week but for the most part its a pretty clean environment with lots of other artists and fans just trying to see musicians. This doesnt mean its still not a bad enviroment. Especially if you struggle alot in your personal life... If you plan on attending things like these make sure you go with a focus and that your heart in the right place. Im super thankful for my homeboy Swiftstyle who definitely went for the same reasons I did... to grow and to learn and to see dj's do what they do best... play music!!!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this week possible! Thank you Lord for protecting us among 20,000 people. My only regret... not getting any footage of DaSouth event, but thats what happens when you're working ;) no hands for a camera lol

HIGHLIGHT VID

2 comments:

samwise said...: you're an amazing dude. so glad you got a chance to spend time at sxsw...i'm sure the creative juices were flowing. blessings!; 3/24/11, 10:40 AM
Unknown said...: great stuff..thought you would find this beatboxing video interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0_2vmkTmf0&feature=player_embedded; 7/20/11, 2:52 PM

DJ PROMOTE'S PERSONAL BLOG

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

SXSW 2011 - Where's the Djs???

2 comments: