SXSW 2013 Review
Published: March 27, 2013
Story and Instagrams by: Devin Friedman (@theelectricdev)
So it’s been a week and you say you’re still feeling that SXSW hangover? It’s time to pluck yourself out of bed and try to remember everything that happened over those amazing, yet blurry five days. We’ll go nice and slow, review every day and highlight the events that topped our SXSW list, because trust us—there is enough to cover to make our heads pound, as well.
Let’s start with Wednesday, March 13th. Some of you may have been in town to catch the week’s previous parties, but this is where our SXSW adventure started. The first order of business was to catch the Adventure Club and friends showcase at Roial. We got the chance to see Styles & Complete, Candyland, and CryWolf before the good old fire marshal decided the venue was a tad over capacity (by about double…), so we missed out on GRiZ, Carnage, Adventure Club and a rumored Krewella set…oh well. Wednesday night continued with Caspa at Barcelona and then the famed iLLMORE, just in time to watch UZ, Alvin Risk, Zedd, MONSTA, and Alex Metric tear down the OWSLA house party….whoa. We hope you were there to share in that because it truly was a once in a lifetime experience.
Thursday had a lot fun in store for us. The second day of SXSW started with a Red Bull party and Borgore set at Empire Automotive. The crowd was small (despite the free drinks) but did include hardcore rock god, Austin Carlile. The rest of the day was a crazy all-over-the-place blur, as we managed to hit a free GRiZ set at The Madison, Krewella, and Zedd at the AM Only Showcase, Datsik and GRiZ going back to back at the Firepower Records Showcase, and to top it all off, stage diving at 12th Planet with Carnage and Borgore also going back to back on the tables. Sound like enough fun for one weekend yet? We haven’t even gotten to Friday…
Most of the day Friday was spent back at Roial, where we got the chance to see Sugarpill, Reid Speed, SPL, NiT GriT, Antiserum, Adventure Club, Mimosa, Plastician Borgore, and 12th Planet, all while lounging in the VIP and catching up with all the artists who played. Comparatively, Friday was the most relaxed and yet, the day in which we saw the most music.
The focus of Saturday has always been the SMOG vs. UKF Showcase. These two dub super powers are essential reasons why EDM has become such a huge success in the US and in the UK. This party never disappoints and this year was no exception; the line for entry to Roial was hours long and around the block! This showcase featured basically all SMOG artists (12th Planet, SPL, Flinch, Kelly Dean, DLX) alongside Bare Noize, AC Slater, Truth, Monsta, Mayhem and Inspector Dubplate. Thankfully, the venue was super strict in managing the crowd capacity on this night and kept the fire marshal at bay. The after party that ensued at Republic Live saw SPL and Flinch going back to back until about 4:30am.
As Saturday is the last official day of SXSW, Sunday rounded out things for us with a couple of unofficial parties. We hit Moombahton Massive to see Torro Torro and do some booty shaking, and then it was off to catch the SMOG crew we had become pretty close with shut down SXSW with their unofficial showcase. Run DMT, Antiserum, Mayhem, SPL, Flinch and Plastician all made the night one for the books, playing tons of originals and unreleased tracks for the sweaty, bass-hungry crowd that gathers at Barcelona every Sunday.
All in all, this South by Southwest was a huge success. We got the chance to hang out with lots of our favorite artists and catch a ton of new music. As we were sitting around the dinner table on Sunday with a few notable acts, it was decided that there is enough trap music out there to last a lifetime, drum and bass is coming back in a big, big way, and SXSW gets crazier every year. We truly hope you guys were there to experience it with us and if not, hopefully we will see you around the streets of downtown Austin in 2014!
So it’s been a week and you say you’re still feeling that SXSW hangover? It’s time to pluck yourself out of bed and try to remember everything that happened over those amazing, yet blurry five days. We’ll go nice and slow, review every day and highlight the events that topped our SXSW list, because trust us—there is enough to cover to make our heads pound, as well.
Let’s start with Wednesday, March 13th. Some of you may have been in town to catch the week’s previous parties, but this is where our SXSW adventure started. The first order of business was to catch the Adventure Club and friends showcase at Roial. We got the chance to see Styles & Complete, Candyland, and CryWolf before the good old fire marshal decided the venue was a tad over capacity (by about double…), so we missed out on GRiZ, Carnage, Adventure Club and a rumored Krewella set…oh well. Wednesday night continued with Caspa at Barcelona and then the famed iLLMORE, just in time to watch UZ, Alvin Risk, Zedd, MONSTA, and Alex Metric tear down the OWSLA house party….whoa. We hope you were there to share in that because it truly was a once in a lifetime experience.Thursday had a lot fun in store for us. The second day of SXSW started with a Red Bull party and Borgore set at Empire Automotive. The crowd was small (despite the free drinks) but did include hardcore rock god, Austin Carlile. The rest of the day was a crazy all-over-the-place blur, as we managed to hit a free GRiZ set at The Madison, Krewella, and Zedd at the AM Only Showcase, Datsik and GRiZ going back to back at the Firepower Records Showcase, and to top it all off, stage diving at 12th Planet with Carnage and Borgore also going back to back on the tables. Sound like enough fun for one weekend yet? We haven’t even gotten to Friday…Most of the day Friday was spent back at Roial, where we got the chance to see Sugarpill, Reid Speed, SPL, NiT GriT, Antiserum, Adventure Club, Mimosa, Plastician Borgore, and 12th Planet, all while lounging in the VIP and catching up with all the artists who played. Comparatively, Friday was the most relaxed and yet, the day in which we saw the most music.
The focus of Saturday has always been the SMOG vs. UKF Showcase. These two dub super powers are essential reasons why EDM has become such a huge success in the US and in the UK. This party never disappoints and this year was no exception; the line for entry to Roial was hours long and around the block! This showcase featured basically all SMOG artists (12th Planet, SPL, Flinch, Kelly Dean, DLX) alongside Bare Noize, AC Slater, Truth, Monsta, Mayhem and Inspector Dubplate. Thankfully, the venue was super strict in managing the crowd capacity on this night and kept the fire marshal at bay. The after party that ensued at Republic Live saw SPL and Flinch going back to back until about 4:30am.
As Saturday is the last official day of SXSW, Sunday rounded out things for us with a couple of unofficial parties. We hit Moombahton Massive to see Torro Torro and do some booty shaking, and then it was off to catch the SMOG crew we had become pretty close with shut down SXSW with their unofficial showcase. Run DMT, Antiserum, Mayhem, SPL, Flinch and Plastician all made the night one for the books, playing tons of originals and unreleased tracks for the sweaty, bass-hungry crowd that gathers at Barcelona every Sunday.All in all, this South by Southwest was a huge success. We got the chance to hang out with lots of our favorite artists and catch a ton of new music. As we were sitting around the dinner table on Sunday with a few notable acts, it was decided that there is enough trap music out there to last a lifetime, drum and bass is coming back in a big, big way, and SXSW gets crazier every year. We truly hope you guys were there to experience it with us and if not, hopefully we will see you around the streets of downtown Austin in 2014!
Tags: DubstepHouseDrum and BassHip HopTechnoElectroDowntempoBreaksGlitch
