[SXSW 2016] Celebrating 30 Years of Music
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In the height of America's booming music festival business, it's time for SXSW to celebrate 30 years of music goodness with tons of exciting lineups in store. According to Twitter Analytics, one in ten Americans attended a music festival in the past year, and social media conversations around music festivals spiked 34%. There's no question Millennial's love a good music fest and this year SXSW isn't looking to disappoint.
SXSW is truly a unique convergence of music, film, and emerging technologies, and continues to grow every year, gaining international recognition. Having originally stemmed from music, Austin’s music festival is rapidly approaching (March 15 through March 20), providing a long list of music lineups, with tons of surprise guest appearances.
Beyond the music, simply walking around to different venues and bars, you're met with excited locals and fest-goers from around the globe, many of which are eager to share their art. This is alongside the occasional pop artist sighting, casually strolling amongst the crowd. Last year, walking from Austin's infamous 6th St. to Rainey St. I literally bumped into Wiz Khalifa, while shooting a random group of dancers from Brooklyn. Later that night, I ended up backstage at the Fader Fort, meeting Chicago's very own Chance the Rapper and Comedian Hannibal Burress, after shooting Timbaland's surprise performance with Tink, after Travis Scott. Austin certainly doesn't stray from it's rock roots, providing endless indie lineups and special appearances as well.
Take a look back at 30 Years of SXSW here. Also check out a few upcoming events that I'm personally excited about below:
Santigold & Crystal Castles at Stubbs
Deftones, CHVRCHES, Vince Staples & More with SPIN
Nas, DJ Khaled, Yo Gotti & Just Blaze
Anderson .Paak & BJ the Chicago Kid at the Spotify House
Guac-N-Roll with Culture Collide
Miike Snow, Baio, The Kills, Bloc Party, Ghostland Observatory, X Ambassadors, Polica & more
[Mixtape] Clams Casino: "Instrumentals Vol. 3"
Clams Casino has been busy working with just about everyone in hip-hop since coming up with A$AP Rocky a couple years ago. Yesterday, the busy producer released his final, annual, year-end recap of work he's done with different artists. Kind of like his own personal, best-of list. The project is jam-packed with a slew of solid beats that littered the end of 2012 and early 2013, including tracks for Mac Miller, Rocky, Santigold, MF Doom and Jim Jones, along with several unreleased beats that found their way on the tape. Clams latest project was the HP "2-day Beat" project with Vic Mensa and several other artists that shows his rise into the corporate side of the music industry. Good for him. Anyway, check out some hot beats below.
1. Crystals
2. Hell (A$AP Rocky instrumental)
3. Cry For Me (unreleased)
4. Pull Me Down (Mikky Ekko instrumental)
5. LVL (A$AP Rocky instrumental)
6. Bird Call (Mac Miller instrumental)
7. Freeze (A$AP Rocky instrumental)
8. Haunt (unreleased)
9. Melthru (unreleased)
10. Bookfiend (DOOM instrumental)
11. Cold Feet (Mac Miller instrumental)
12. Wizard (remix)
13. Youforia (Mac Miller instrumental)
Vans x Santigold
Santigold has teamed up with Vans for a limited edition shoe. It will drop in February. See the official release below.
"With her eclectic sound, incredible sense of style and love for Vans, it was too good to be true when Vans and Santigold joined forces for a special February 2011 shoe release. Santigold teamed up with Vans designers to create a shoe of her very own. Working with the new Tosha Hi silhouette and Santi’s personal design aesthetic, the limited Vans x Santigold collaboration features premium perforated full grain leather, faux gold chain accents. The look becomes complete with a custom SG gold pin created with the trained eye of jewelery designer Jules Kim of Bijules."