Before taking on Day 4 of SxSW in Austin, Meg and Laura headed to the hotel cafe with the SxSW Bible and a highlighter. As they spent all the money they do not have on pancakes, they went over their plans for the day. They took their last sips of coffee and fought against time to make it to the Day Party at The Tap Room to interview David Wax Museum. To their annoyance , the venue turned out to be +21 and the band’s publicist did not put the eighteen year olds down for media passes.
Heads down low, the two marched down Colorado Street in an attempt to shake off their collective disappointment. They hailed a bus to the Hampton Inn for their next appointment, an interview with the Estonian singer-songwriter, Kerli. As the two reached the hotel, they were ushered up to Kerli’s hotel room by her manager, Bruce. “Kerli’s getting ready for her show, so if you girls don’t mind coming up for the interview, that would be great”. Meg and Laura happily agreed, knowing it would be a great experience actually watching the performer prep for her show. “Watching Kerli get dressed is sort of like watching a cartoon explode”, explained Bruce. Intrigued, the duo, stepped inside expecting to find the synthetic made up Kerli who could easily pass off as one of Gwen Stefani’s harajuku girls in her videos but instead found a real person: a barely 5’1″ blond girl with her face clear of makeup and her wet hair in a messy bun. Baroque shaped styrofoam cutouts outlined with neon shoelaces were strewn all around the couch and coffee table. A pair of astounding 7″ platform shoes with the same pattern stood on top of the bureau. On the floor was the singer herself, putting the outfit together as she answered their questions. The Estonian native came across little and belittled as she talked about her childhood experiences and her transition to the U.S.. She discussed how young love was nearly was the death of her and how she used it as a motivator to strive harder for her dreams. “You know how hard it is being 18”, to which the duo chimed in in response, “Oh yes, do we know.” Kerli then stepped out of her role as an interviewee and bonded with the girls over well, being girls. She commended them on their perseverance, giving them props for sticking together in the midst of a catty jungle where women hide behind their oversized shades and fake smiles stuck in lipstick. “Just wait till you turn 25 and hit the quarter-life crisis. You start examining all your accomplishments and wonder if you’re successful enough,” joked the singer. The duo wished her luck on her preparations for the show and made an exit.
As Meg and Laura watched the sun set on their bus ride back to the convention center, they agreed that this recent experience was one of the more interesting adventures they’ve had, and for those of you who don’t know, these two don’t embark on your average everyday adventures. Back on Chavez, the happening ladies were faced with the daily challenge: which show to go tonight? As they made their way across downtown Austin, en route to the venue walk-through before shows started, a distinctive synth-y noise surfaced in the air. They stopped and exchanged enchanted looks. Could it be? They crossed over to the Myspace Showcase and interrogated the bouncer; “Is that Sleigh Bells?” And of course, it was. There was no way these audiophiles could confuse the sound of Infinity Guitars for any other. The bouncer let them in on the fact that they were soundchecking and told them to be back at the venue to line up at 7pm if they wanted to get in. They took the tip but since it was still early they continued to venture around the wild Chavez until then.
Dodging drunk bullets and catching some talented street performers along the way, when the clock struck 6:30pm they headed back to the line outside the Myspace Showcase where they found that a swarm of Austin Sheriffs armed at the doors of the venue had replaced the friendly bouncer. Nervous that they wouldn’t be able to work their wits through this one and that they’d miss another great show in the process, the duo decided to resort to plan B: The Mass Appeal Ice Cream Official SXSW Social Showcase at the Austin Music Hall. Despite their doubts, this show was far less guarded and the two made it right in. In the day and age of incessant social media updates and overworked iPhones, the girls took some time to charge their cells while opening rappers Rockie Fresh and Roc Marciano took to the stage. With 100% battery they hit the floor and squeezed their way to the best spot in the house: The front of the stage near the VIP entrance where they caught glimpses of Hip Hop legend Pharrell while they waited for the one and only Kendrick Lamar to take the stage. When he finally appeared, the wild crowd he opened with “Hol’ Up” and followed with “ADHD” and kept up the energy with “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe”. Just when everyone thought it couldn’t get better, he brought Ab-Soul onstage for the track “Terrorist Threats” and later blew minds when he brought out not only ScHoolboyQ but T.I. as well. The show ended with a performance by Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon and the duo walked home in a musical stupor. So out of their minds that Laura drew parallels between Destiny’s Child and Wu Tang.
There is something about SxSW that makes Meg and Laura want to hold hands and skip together and slide down a banister of razor blades into a pool of alcohol at the same time. By day three, the two of them were holding their heads in their hands, running on nothing but caffeine and two hours of sleep. After complaining about the nonexistence of cloning machines that would allow them to attend every amazing showcase at once over one, two, then three pots of coffee, they make peace with the fact that they just would have to prioritize.
That been said, Meg and Laura headed on over to the VH1 Cafe and tried to keep it cool as they weave their way around tables of celebrities to make their way to minimalist rapper, Zebra Katz. Laura suppressed the urge to point out that David Guetta just walked in as they sit down for the interview. The fashion-forward Zebra Katz shared the experiences that got him where he is today. He talked about growing up in New York City and how working as a staff manager at a catering company helped him in his rapping career. The graceful rapper rose out of the stereotype as he talked about the meaning behind the lyrics of “Ima Read” and the importance of education in society.
After the interview, Laura rushed to the Austin Convention Center and charmed her way to the front of the line for the SxSW interactive interview with Clive Davis. Bill Werde opened the interview with the question, “What do you do as the head of Columbia?” to which Clive Davis subtly responds, “You watch and you listen”. Though this industry executive has made enough contributions to the music industry for his work to speak for itself, he graciously tells all the stories behind the music. Werde tucks in controversy in his questions, asking the music mogul about his bisexuality, the on-going conflict with Kelly Clarkson and his reaction to Whitney Houston’s death. In the words of Werde “when you interview Clive Davis, you’re kind of just along for the ride”. This statement really couldn’t hold more true.
After the interview, Laura got her copy of “The Soundtrack to My Life” signed and lined up with Meg for the next panel. The two were ready to check off one major to-do off their bucket lists: seeing Stevie Nicks in person. And as the black dress donned Bella Donna herself took the stage, every empty night the duo spent singing along on the top of their lungs to “Edge of Seventeen” felt suddenly redeemed. Stevie Nicks dished on her experience with Fleetwood Mac and her decision to pursue her solo career along the way. She claimed that she just had so much music inside of her that not expressing it was not an option. “Yeah, Lindsay can go ahead and lock himself in a room, recording songs that no one will ever listen to but I had to put mine out there”. The singer-songwriter certainly doesn’t hold herself back at any point throughout the interview. Just like her music, her voice is raw and uncensored but lovable to say the least. “Some moments in life are sad but they make for a beautiful song”, says Nicks. She injected a sense of humor as she comes clean about the origin of the title “Edge of Seventeen”; she heard her friends say, “age of seventeen” but heard it wrong. “It sounded great so I decided to go with it”, professed the poet. The two left the panel covered in goosebumps, fueled by inspiration.
As the day turns into night, the girls decided to part their ways. Laura headed over to the Warner showcase at The Belmont to watch the incredible lineup of Joy Formidable, alt-J, and The Flaming Lips while Meg decided to head toRepublic Livefor Adrian Lux, Congorock and Benny Bennassi and then back to La Zona Rosa to catch Zedd, Krewella, and Wolfgang Gartner.
As she waited in line outside the red bricked Republic Live, Meg is filled with awe as she’s taken back to the moment in 10th grade when she first fell in love with EDM upon hearing Benny Bennassi’s track “Come Fly Away”. She then realized that she is about to finally see him perform. She could already hear EDM star Congorock’s blasting his track “Ivory” from the street and when she finally got through the usual gang of bouncers, she was handed a pair of raver shades and a giant glow stick. The nightclub is polarized by dueling stages where Congorock and Adrian Lux trade off their DJ sets, making the drunk music industry executives and geeks dance.
As amazing as The Joy Formidable sounded, Laura was willing to bet that it would have been a far better experience from inside the venue, rather than waiting in line outside. However, alt-J and The Flaming Lips make the two-hour-long wait more than worthwhile with their stage presence. It is true, alt-J really makes indie rock feel sexy. Between all the neon balloons, glow sticks and the inexplicable monster mascots, the venue is ablaze with energy. Though the Flaming Lips do not play Laura’s favorite, “Chewin the Apple of My Eye”, the set consisted of all the songs from Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. The opener, “Fight Test”, set in itself was a guarantee for the night, nothing bad could possibly happen at this show. Wayne Coyne talked about the story behind “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell”, mentioning how they lost the original demo but decided to write a new song for the title. Their lush performance was enough to get Laura successfully through the night.
At a little past 2 AM, Laura casually witnesses a street fight as she marches past Lavaca and Colorado to catch the bus back to her hotel with Meg. Guess it’s just another night in Austin.
It’s a sunny Wednesday afternoon in Austin, TX and Meg and Laura make their way to the Moonshine Grill on Red River Street to sit down for lunch with one of SXSW‘s must-see acts, the Swedish Synth Pop duo Icona Pop.
Mary Morgan Craig: So how has SXSW been treating you so far?
Caroline Hjelt: Great! It couldn’t be better!
Aino Jawo: It’s really been good.
CH: Everyone warned us that it would be crazy and we can totally feel the vibe and the craziness.
MMC: But a good kind of crazy, right?
AJ: Yes, definitely!
CH: It’s all about the positive chaos!
Gauraa Shekhar: Totally! How was your show last night?
AJ: Our show was amazing! Well, at least the first one we did. The second would have been amazing but we blew the sound system out so we couldn’t go through. We just played one song. Our lovely fans that were standing there for hours were so disappointed so we were like, “we’re so going to make it up to you tonight.”
CH: We have four more gigs to go and we’re so excited!
GS: Well I know everyone asks you this question, and there are so many different versions of this story, but how exactly did you guys meet?
AJ: We met in 2009, and I was heartbroken. We have this amazing mutual friend called Emily and she would call me everyday for two weeks and she was like, “you have to get out of bed” and then one day she just came over and forced me out of bed and she took me to an amazing party. This woman here, Caroline, she was the one hosting the party. She used to throw a lot of good parties those days.
CH: My apartment was like the center of the party and everybody was welcome. We were having a lot of fun.
AJ: Basically the hippie collectives, really.
CH: But yeah, I met Aino there and it was love at first sight. We definitely felt like we had this special connection immediately. We went out dancing the whole night. When I woke up the next morning, I was a little bit nervous that it was just the wine talking. I really wanted it to work out because we started talking about how we should do something together but Aino called me the day after and she was like, “Hey, I’m on my way to your place with a computer and a bottle of wine” and we just started over a drum, writing our first song, and since that day we decided that, “Okay, we’re a band”. A lot of our friends were definitely laughing at us but we knew that “Yeah, this is great”.
AJ: When you think about it now, it’s kind of sick how I can kind of just laugh at all of the situations we put ourselves in because both me and Caroline are people who do stuff and then we think and sometimes it’s good but sometimes it’s really bad. But I guess that’s how we kind of put ourselves in chaotic situations and kind of rise out of it. I feel like you two are kind of the same!
GS: Yes, definitely. Story of our lives!
CH: I mean, if we don’t have enough chaos in our lives, we create it. That makes us so creative also!
AJ: Yeah, we’re two girls from Sweden sitting in a sofa riffing this song we wrote four years ago and now we’re just cruising around in America!
GS: And now you’re one of the must-see acts of SXSW. That’s amazing!
CH: Yeah, that’s crazy! It’s a little bit unreal and I have to pitch myself once a day.
MMC: So how’s the transition been from Sweden to the U.S?
CH: It’s been a major difference, of course. Sweden is a very small country, you know. But really, we don’t even have a home anymore. My home is wherever this beautiful lady is (points at Aino). That’s the thing that keeps me going. I feel very home and safe wherever we go because we’re always hanging out and we have each other.
AJ: We’re good at creating homes. We’re like snails, carrying everything within ourselves.
CH: For us to come over here and not just be in New York and L.A., but to actually go to places like Milwaukee and meet people who’ve been listening to our songs on the radio; it’s crazy. It means so much to us to be able to share that connection with our fans. We really do love our fans, they’re the best. They’re such rebels. They stand with their fist in the air and dance their asses off every night too.
MMC: Yeah, I mean, back at Syracuse, “I Love It” is the biggest pre-game song.
GS: Actually, we opened our radio show this semester with your song! It’s actually incredible to be sitting here a couple months down the line and actually be interviewing you. I mean when you talk about crossing boundaries, it’s amazing because Morgan’s from Boston and I’m from Jakarta, Indonesia and we’re in Syracuse listening to a Spanish DJ remix your song and here we are discussing it Austin.
AJ: Wow! I feel so honored! Thank you! That means so much to us. You go, girls. A friend of ours goes to school in Syracuse. We must definitely perform there sometime soon. She’s a fashion design major.
MMC: Speaking of style, who inspires you fashion wise?
CH: I think we’re all about feeling, you know. Especially when it comes to performing on stage. We wanna express how we feel when we sing that song. We want something that extends our movements, you know. Dramatic stuff. But if you’re thinking about icons, we love Prince, David Bowie, Patti Smith…
AJ: …and PJ Harvey, of course. With the leather pants, leather jacket, in white. Ah, she’s so cool. I love it. Not to mention the red lipstick. But we don’t really follow any trends, we’re really bad when it comes to that. In the beginning, we would kind of sewing our own stuff. The first time we were in Paris, Air France lost our luggage and then we ended up cutting and sewing our own stuff after that. We love the side of fashion when it comes from an arty perspective.
CH: When it comes to expressing ourselves, we’ve been to a lot of fashion weeks and we love it. Just the energy and the clothes, you know. Some people spend a whole year working on it and it’s cool because it’s chaos backstage but when they go out there everything is perfect. It’s so beautiful and well put together. We’re actually really bad at following trends though.
GS: It doesn’t even matter because you guys set them, really.
AJ: Aw, thank you!
GS: Well, you guys have an amazing stage presence. Is there any specific routine that you guys follow before you go on stage to pump yourselves up?
AJ: Oh, yeah. We call it the band tattoo. It’s kind of like a horn. We stand in a ring and choose one person that stands in the ring and we stand around the person, doing…well, it’s actually really embarrassing.
CH: Yeah, it’s really embarrassing. We do this rock pose and we scream, “YEAH!”. And you can feel the energy when you’re doing it. It’s really amazing! It’s kind of liberating!
AJ: It’s liberating and yet at the same time you feel like the biggest geek on Earth. But you do it because you can’t be any more geeky anyway. And really, whenever we don’t follow through with this routine, it turns into the worst show ever.
MMC: Yeah, definitely keep doing that! Do you ever get nervous before you take the stage? And if you do, how do you deal with it?
CH: Oh yes. When it comes to lifestyles, we want to keep it interesting for ourselves all the time so we can also keep it interesting for the people in the audience. I mean, I’m always nervous when I go onstage because we always keep on adding stuff so I’m like, “Shit, the synthesizer and the vocals should be different, etc…” I mean it’s a lot of stuff to think about but when you’re out there you don’t end up thinking so much, you just become one with the whole thing.
MMC: Yeah, I bet. So how did you start learning to DJ?
AJ: Well, we just threw ourselves out there and we couldn’t even insert a CD when we started. It started out with the fact that we had a lot of parties. We decided to move in together and we had a lot of parties at our apartment, so much so that the neighbors started to complain so we had to take the party to another place; I mean, we’ve been club kids since we were sixteen years old so we knew everyone and were like, “Please, can we have a club?” and the club owner was like, “Yeah, I know you’re gonna draw a lot of people there” so we started having clubs and we didn’t even know how to DJ so that was a problem. We got so much energy out of it. In the beginning we didn’t see ourselves as DJs, we saw ourselves as just changing songs but then we saw an interest growing out and we started to love it. It was a way of expressing ourselves.
CH: Yeah, I think it’s very important to start somewhere.
AJ: Yes, you have to dare to make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. Just learn from them. I mean, no one’s going to judge you for that, it’s very important to start somewhere. Worst comes worst, the crowd will be angry for messing up the song. But that’s the worst scenario. You just have to go to a club and practice. It’s crucial. You just have to do it so if you just play music that you love and have fun, it doesn’t matter if you make a few mistakes.
MMC: That’s great advice! Have you ever had people give you a lot of attitude?
AJ: Most definitely. We’ve been through a lot of shitty situations. Times when we would come into clubs and would try to play music and people would be like, “Who the hell are you”? It’s been terrible sometimes and I think that makes you become a stronger person. I mean, there are so many times when we went to clubs and guys have been DJing. So many guys DJing before us have been like, “So girls, this is the button you push to play a song and this is where you eject a CD”. I don’t think they mean to be condescending but they just don’t know better and I think we’re here to change it.
CH: Yes, and instead of trying to work against each other, girls should realize the power of supporting each other and building each other up. You have a lot to learn from each other and it would be so much better for everyone to understand that. That’s really important to remember. Sometimes you might feel like someone’s trying to pull you down but then you have to remember that that person is probably insecure. You should know better to do it back.
MMC: Solid advice.
GS: Who were your musical heroes growing up and what’s getting most play on your iPods right now?
AJ: Well, we love Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, David Bowie, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Destiny’s Child. Also, the one hit wonders and the boy and girl bands. But I think there’s a lot of women like Tina Turner and Beyoncé that we really love. The most played song on our iPod–that’s tough.
MMC: What about recently added?
CH: We love the producer that we worked from the start, he produced the Rihanna single, “Stay”. We love that one a lot, we’ve been listening a lot to that. The Knife is great, too. A lot of Swedish bands, too, ha.
GS: Do you think it is true that you need music the most when you’re falling in and out of love?
AJ: Yes. It’s a good way to escape. Sometimes when you’re really sad, you just listen to a song and it helps. When you’re talking about love, either you feel more or you feel less. It’s very important to listen to the right kind of music.
CH: If you’re hurt, it’s important to let yourself cry. When you’re sad, you just need to take your time but it’s also important to have those pick-up songs that really make you feel a little bit warmer inside and a little bit stronger.
MMC: We couldn’t agree more.
GS: Yeah, “I Love It” was that pick-up song for us, ha.
AJ: Thank you! It makes us very happy to hear you say that!
MMC: Well, you have already given us some very good advice and our final question for you is if you have something to share with us for aspiring females in the music industry?
AJ: Yeah, most importantly, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. That’s what you learn from. You learn from them so much more than you learn from people telling you what to do.
CH: If you just take a direction and go with it, the worst thing that could happen is you have to change the direction and move another way but if you never dare to do anything, you’ll be walking around in circles wondering what it would be like if you tried it. Just don’t be scared. Surround yourself with people you love and who love you.
Two girls, one from Boston the other from Jakarta, Indonesia, sit down at a cafe in Austin with a Swedish synth-pop duo and their British PR agent, discussing a song remixed by a Spanish DJ in Syracuse. It’s safe to say that SXSW really crosses borders.
But before divulging any more details, let’s go back to the start. It’s 9 AM on a Wednesday morning, three hours of sleep and ten outfit changes into the day, when Meg and Laura head out to take on the first of four interviews they have scheduled for the day. They head downtown to the Hilton Garden Suites to interview Ioanna Gika of I O Echo. Once in the lobby, which is bustling with the voices and ringing phones of busy band managers and artists, they find Ioanna and bandmate Leopold Ross waiting in line for some coffee at the hotel Starbucks. Ioanna donning a comfy blue smiley faced crew-neck sweatshirt and silky pink kimono graces us with her presence. There is something about her warmth that permeates the morning, setting a bright tone for the day.
A surge of nostalgia fills the room as she takes the duo back to the bar where she first met Leo. “Neither of us knew that the other made music, but we bonded over the song “Venus in Furs” and clicked immediately”, spills Ionna. Over the course of an hour, Ioanna dished on the inspiration behind her edgy fashion choices, laser harps and growing up in South East Asia. The gracious singer songwriter talks about her upcoming projects and her collaboration with fashion designers on holographic I O Echo kimonos. After learning the intimate details behind the eccentric artists creativity the two packed up their mic and ventured across the street to hear about another’s.
Next on agenda: an interview with the Stockholm/London based co-ed duo K.I.D.S. As Meg and Laura set up their equipment on the porch of the Moonshine Grill and Patio, they are interrupted by paparazzis shouting from across the street: “K.I.D.S. are the next big thing! Keep an eye out for them!” The girls sit down with the band to listen to backyard tales from their childhood. They learn that despite the duo’s polarizing taste in music – as diverse as Kendrick Lamar and Yoko Ono – they bring a refreshing twist to the musical table and share one of their music making secrets which is, “Don’t take yourself too seriously.” Just like a couple of kids, with hearts warmed by the bands take on music and life and with two interviews down, Meg and Laura move from the porch to a table on the Moonshine patio for a third interview.
You would think that any artist with a single sitting on top of the charts for as long as Icona Pop’s hit “I Love It” would have big egos. As Meg and Laura sit down to have lunch with the duo, they’re pleasantly surprised to find their feet on the ground and their hearts still very much into the music. There was a certain sincerity in the advice they had to offer which made Meg and Laura feel like they were listening to their own story. “We find ourselves constantly trying to create chaos in our lives so that we can rise up above it.”, claims Aino. The co-hosts exchange bewildered looks – an undeniable and almost tangible synergy is shared at this table for four along with the compulsive need to keep the adrenaline pumping.
Only hours later, the two put their life motto into practice as they marched purposefully to each and every +21 venue determined to get in. Five rejections and failed attempts at pulling the we-know-the-manager card later, the two did what any two girls would do to get in (and no, they didn’t pull up their shirts to get in if that’s what you’re thinking). They took the road less traveled, i.e. the dark alleyway that led to the back door. Let’s just say they pulled a G.I. Jane but got to keep their hair. As it turns out, La Zona Rosa is much more fun when you’re inside, falling victim to Rudimental’s jazzed out drum and bass Meg, being the heavy bass line fiend that she is, decides to stay backstage at the venue to watch 12th Planet, UZ, and Baauer do the real-live Harlem Shake while Laura gets religiously overpowered by her Faith…Paloma Faith, that is. She decides to head over to Eighth Street to the Central Presbyterian Church to catch the British songstress in person.
Though being chased down four blocks by a homeless man while navigating her GPS was a little more than Laura had bargained for, it was well worth seeing the performer take the altar in her all her glittering glory. The church resonated with hits like “Agony” and the singer got hearts racing as she raced down the pews in her Christian Louboutins with the grace of a goddess and a Chelsea Handler-esque sense of humor.
The best part about SXSW is never knowing whats in store! Stay tuned for tales from day 3 of #LostinAustin. For more details, follow @themegandlaura
Being at South by Southwest is kind of like being a kid at Disney World. Between the sun and the millions of rides to choose from, you’re left delirious to make your decision. Meg and Laura weren’t any different. Well, except for the fact that they had press passes hanging from around their neck this time.
The duo kicked off Monday by sharing the bus with The X Factor Contestants to the Austin Convention Center, where all the conferences were taking place. The ACC was bustling with people from every corner of the world talking about music. Being thousands of miles away from home, there was something easing about being surrounded by chatter about music that made feel like they belong.
After getting their bearings straight (a.k.a. capitalizing on the abundance of free food), the pair decided to take on the big panel challenge that had been surfacing the air – getting into room 12AB for Richie Hawtin’s interview with deadmau5. So they did what any other fan girls would do: they decided to line up three hours before the panel. “You could probably go to the Building Movements panel before deadmau5 so all you can just stay in the room for the next one”, suggested one of the staff members. And so that’s what they did.
Not to say that watching Andy Ross talk about another life threatening concept idea for the next OK Go music video wasn’t enjoyable, but if only Meg and Laura knew about the last-minute room change for deadmau5, they would’ve stayed in line outside. When Meg’s Twitter feed updated her on the room change, the two headed for the door and found themselves to be the last ones in a long and winding line, surrounded by people pronouncing the DJ’s name as “dead-mau-five”. It wasn’t long till the co-hosts charmed their way to the front with their radio personality (a.k.a. they spewed sarcastic remarks at everything that moved, until the people in front of them budged). Cut to: two seats, five feet away from deadmau5. The wait was definitely worth it. Though it took Laura a second to recognize the DJ without his headgear and Meg to well, keep her composure, the wait was well worth it. deadmau5 addressed a lot of the difficult points concerning EDM that most DJs prefer not to discuss. He advocates “throwing away being a purist”, specifically talking about how style isn’t something that can be taught. There are many institutions today that focus on teaching people the art of EDM. Instead of teaching students how to think, they teach them what to think, pigeonholing their creativity in the mold of preset sub-genres. The DJ also comments on how the industry has homogenized EDM, saying, “it seems like all the mainstream EDM artists are making the same cookie-cutter tracks, and then I wonder why the people at the labels don’t just go home and try to make the music themselves. I mean, why not just cut of the bands?”. Although Hawtin and deadmau5 are glad that EDM has appealed to the masses, they reminisce the two percent days back when it wasn’t so homogenous.
With less than two hours of sleep from the night before, and a truckload of work to do, obviously the only sensible solution was to go out. The two knew that it would be impossible not to spend the night out on the town when they were in the live music capital of the world. Meg and Laura took the streets of Austin, scouting from venue to venue, in search of good-time. After being turned down at The Warner Sound, The Belmont, and Maggie’s, the two realized that they had a hook-up: The North Door. Nicolas Jaar, minimal house DJ, was spinning a set and they knew his manager Alastar Dunkin. At 1 AM, the ambitious duo walked over about a million and one blocks over to Brushy St. in the unwelcoming windy weather (I guess Syracuse isn’t the only place with bipolar weather), and pulled the press card from under the sleeve. There was no way they were going back without getting in to a show.
Jaar played Meg’s favorite track, “The Ego”, putting the lyrics, “the ego is the most expensive thing” on loop. Jaar really did speak the truth with his minimalist beat that took us on a tempo roller coaster. Unlike the typical female vocals that DJs sample, Jaar used a voice modulator to sample his own soulful vocals, giving the track a jazzier feel and filling up the entirety of the room with sophistication.
All in all, adventures and glitches accounted for, there really couldn’t be a better start to South by Southwest for Meg and Laura. As it turns out, everything really is bigger in Texas.
Continue following the #lostinaustin for more updates of Meg and Laura’s SXSW antics on Twitter!
Mary Morgan Craig: So how has SXSW been treating you so far?
After getting their bearings straight (a.k.a. capitalizing on the abundance of free food), the pair decided to take on the big panel challenge that had been surfacing the air – getting into room 12AB for Richie Hawtin’s interview with deadmau5. So they did what any other fan girls would do: they decided to line up three hours before the panel. “You could probably go to the Building Movements panel before deadmau5 so all you can just stay in the room for the next one”, suggested one of the staff members. And so that’s what they did.