Magazine

South By Southwest is at this point a festival that has pretty much everything. Starting as a music festival and then expanding to film, gaming, comedy, and tech, there's not much uncovered territory. This was my first year of attending what is arguably the U.S's largest most compact festival, and I have to say it's a bit overwhelming as a first-timer.

The CJLO contingency, consisting of our head, world music director, hip-hop director, and myself(the metal music director), got in Wednesday afternoon, and after settling in at the hotel we headed to the convention center, to pick up wristbands, because, yeah, we're important like that.

The dim lit glow of neon signs and colourful lights at Theatre Fairmount encapsulated the night of Baths’ concert—beginning with the delicate soloist Sasami, following with a smooth but rugged commotion from No Joy, and concluding the stroke of midnight through the voltaic, emotive harmonies of Baths. Each act brought to the stage a unique sound that the theatre would be foolish to forget.

Nardwuar told me he was going to see Shopping – a good pick indeed. I, however, was looking for a less hyped gig; a brief respite from the increasingly thick throngs of Hotel Vegas, as my energy had sunk with the sun.

This year, I had the privilege of attending South by Southwest 2018 in Austin, Texas, with my fellow music directors. I was really excited because Austin has the perfect weather, great people and southwestern charm. During SXSW, the city is filled with loud music and a ton of great shows to see and artists to discover.

On our first day, after picking up our badges at the Austin Convention Center, we tracked down nourishment for the night ahead. I met up with a rep and headed to The Belmont for the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, hosting RZA of Wu-Tang featuring Stone Mecca and Pussy Riot.