Features

SXSW is a difficult creature to try to describe to someone. Sure, one could just say: "It's a music festival that's in Austin, Texas." But that fails to describe many of the nuances that are present at the festival.

For instance, the festival has expanded to more than just music. It has now incorporated tech, film, comedy, and video games under it's umbrella. True, all of them are segmented into their own "mini-festivals", but they overlap with one another over nine days, making a combination of artists, business people, film critics, gamers, and general festival goers into a large mass.

Le festival Chromatic d’art et de musique célébrait son dixième anniversaire en grand cette année, avec une plus vaste programmation et un parcours d’exposition atypique.

En entrant dans l’ancienne usine de confiture au cœur du Village gai, à la soirée d’ouverture le 11 mai, on comprenait rapidement d’où venait l’engouement pour cette semaine d’expositions, de conférences, de films et de musique électronique. Le bouquet d’artistes et de DJs invités était à l’image du public, jeune et dynamique.

Photo: Xenia França by Thomas Artuzzi

At this year’s SXSW, I saw a lot of female artists.  On Thursday March 14, I saw Xenia França from Bahia, Brazil who was part of a showcase for world music day at the Austin Convention Centre. She put on an incredible show.  She sang about female empowerment and loving yourself while being backed up by her band playing sounds of Brazil that made you want to move.

Photo: Manvs

When it comes to TV, a series’ best episode is often what’s known as a “bottle episode,” where the entire plot takes place in one sole location (e.g. Seinfeld and the Chinese restaurant).  What makes these episodes so good is that they give the characters a chance to let their chemistry shine through without distractions.

We here at CJLO love heavy metal, despite its many flaws. It’s not just a few bad apples spoiling the genre. Some cases are evidence of cultural intolerance infiltrating the scene, getting worse as the music becomes more extreme. This two-part series will examine the problematic nature of metal. We’re only scratching the surface here, the subject matter can fill books and multiple documentaries. But only by acknowledging the problem, can we change it for the better.

While contemporary heavy groups are busy hugging trees and familiarizing themselves with legal botany, Assimilation occupy themselves with cultivating relentlessly crushing death metal. Often operating with beers in hand, the quartet finds an odd but fitting balance between crushing sonics and laid back attitudes. Here's a look into what makes them tick.