5 Favs From SXSW 2018

BY: Rudie Obias

This year’s SXSW showcased some of the most exciting acts in music for 2018. Here are just a few recording artists who caught our eye.

Snail Mail

Straight outta Baltimore, Maryland, Snail Mail captures artful tones with youthful style and energy. Led by indie phenom Lindsey Jordan, the band made quite the splash at this year’s SXSW, as Snail Mail moved from Baltimore to Brooklyn, NY after signing with Matador Records. Their debut album is due to drop later this year.

R.Lum.R

After making quite the impression in 2017, alternative R&B crooner R.LUM.R (whose real name is Reginald Lamar Williams, Jr.) surprised and entertained festival-goers during SXSW in Austin, Texas. R.LUM.R’s stripped down sound focuses more on his robust voice and artful songwriting than studio production tricks. And as NPR Music wrote in 2017, R.LUM.R is a “fast-rising artist whose falsetto is no joke.” I think I have to agree with that sentiment!

Ought

Hailing from Montreal, Canada, art-punk band Ought has been slowly building a following since the band got together in 2011. With a few albums on smaller indie label Constellation Records, Ought is about to get a bigger push after signing with major indie Merge Records, who just released the band’s third album Room Inside the World in 2018.

Kelela

Washington D.C.’s-own Kelela takes a futuristic and progressive approach to R&B with haunting tones, smooth vocals, and queer-friendly subject matter, as she was featured on online platforms Pandora and tumblr. during SXSW. Kelela’s debut album Take Me Apart was released last year, but look for more exciting things from this artist in 2018.   

Superorganism

London-based indie synth pop band Superorganism formed in early 2017, but made a big splash (ironically) online with electronic songs about Internet instant celebrity and social media pitfalls. Their debut self-titled album just dropped in early March 2018 on Domino Records and the art pop, hipster cool band is now positioned to gain more recognition IRL.