Day 1.

It’s that time of the year for the most cliche of blog cliches….the SXSW wrap up. This wasn’t quite the gasket-blower I had last year, and that’s a good thing! I’ve dedicated myself to keeping my rock-out endeavors limited to 48 hour runs. This year was all about hanging out with friends (old and new) and catching some great gigs. I left work in time to get to Austin around 7:30 in the evening, checked in the hotel and made my way to the Mad Decent/I Heart Comix party. The line was nuts, and I wasn’t trying to wait around, so I split, then ended up coming back in time to catch diplo’s set. Good times, but way too crowded.

(diplo at mad decent/i heart comix party)

So, I split after about 30 minutes, meet up with New Berlin and his crew and headed to the Blender Party to see the Cool Kids. The Blender jump off was nice. I got a chance to meet some folks face to face who I only knew online. I saw DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives of Reprogram Music and Crunc Tesla (aka DJ Raedawn), both of who I’ve only talked with via email and myspace. Yep, pretty crazy. Then is was on to the show…

The Cool Kids set was on point. I was rowdy enough to have Inglish pass me the mic and I beat boxed while the CK’s free-styled….true story. Then is was A-trak, Diplo (again), Kid Sister and the whole east coast party click that seems to be a staple at all these types of industry dust-ups. I really wish I would have seen Santogold, but you know, there’s always next year.

Day 2 was a more low-key affair, but held some of most significant moments for me as far as shows were concerned…and I was in the same place all day. Stay tuned.