If you're not familiar with SXSW, it's one of the the biggest North American music conferences / festivals and a regular fixture on the calendar for many artists and people within the industry, as well as eager fans. There's a range of showcases, from giant stages such as Fader Fort and Spotify House showcasing some of the bigger names, to small intimate venues where rising talent shines. It's a week of stamina and a week where you truly measure your limits for standing on two feet. Chuck Taylors, although a great shoe to beat up, is not the best choice of footwear for the week (unless you have cushy insoles). Anyway... With around 2300 acts performing over the week at over 100 different venues, it's a great place to meet with artists, see new talent bubbling up and mix and mingle with the industry.
We teamed up with Okayfuture this year on two shows, an official SXSW showcase as well as an unofficial party to round out the week. The official showcase was huge with Salva, Brenmar, Esentrik, Enferno, Dave Luxe, Uniiqu3 & Kittens on the lineup.
Starting the night off was Kittens, who really set the mood for the evening with her blend of future beats and club edits. Dave Luxe brought the tempo back and played a smoked out, southern rap set, mixed with a few higher tempo tracks to keep the energy going. Next up was Enferno, who brings his full live rig consisting of a Maschine MIDI mapped to Serato DJ, as well as his MIDI keyboard controlling synths in Ableton Live. He performs live remixes of tracks such as Nxwxrk by Nadus, where he aptly replaced the "JERSEYYYYYY" line to "SOUTH BYYYYY". Dubs for days! Esentrik also brought a huge amount of energy, as did Brenmar with a set full of his own hype club edits and remixes.
The headline set came from Salva, with a super heavy set full of original material which got everyone moving. Uniiqu3 ended the night, bringing it back to Jersey again - a common theme with both our showcases actually.
Our second "unofficial" event was held at Voodoo Lounge on 6th street, right in the middle of the chaos of Saturday at SXSW. The Beat Haus fam out of New York, kicked off the evening and blessed us with their squad of DJs, vocalists, beatmakers and MCs. They have a special energy, charisma and sense of community which the crowd definitely feed off.
After the Beat Haus crew finished, Dave Luxe once again stepped up and took control of the party. Listen to his set below!
Live Recording - Dave Luxe, Okayfuture x Beat Haus x Serato SXSW 2015 by Serato on Mixcloud
Next up was a special cameo appearance from club legend, Dougie F who played a couple of tracks and set the tone perfect for Nadus. Nadus and his crew actually drove all the way toTexas from New Jersey to be at SXSW for the week and the dedication really shows in his music and his DJ sets. A rising star for sure. I'm pretty sure we had the whole upstairs shouting JERRRSEEYYYY, as he dropped Nxwxrk at the crecendo of his set.
Next up another Jersey native, Just Blaze. This was a highlight of the week for me and it's great seeing the versitility of Just as a DJ. The way he can navigate through classic house, jersey club AS WELL as hip hop (and his extensive back catalogue) is always impressive and he makes it look effortless when he DJs. The only thing better then the Just Blaze megamix is hearing everyone in the crowd shouting OH S**T, every minute. His catalogue goes deeeeeep.
Just Blaze shaking the floor at the Serato x Beat Haus x @okayfuture #sxsw showcase.
A photo posted by @serato onMar 22, 2015 at 1:09am PDT
And there it is, another SXSW down. Looking forward to the next!
Sam.