Headstash

REVIEW: Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band “Doin it Hard”

There are some days when I sit down at my computer and struggle with the question, “Should I listen to some electronic, jam or funk music today?”

With Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band’s new release, “Doin’ it Hard,” I can now eliminate this question and enjoy all three genres at the same time.

Formed in 2002, the group has spent their entire career experimenting with different sounds to attract followers. As a six-piece from the Southern United States consisting of a bassist, saxophone player, trombonist, keyboardist, guitarist and drummer, they already have all the necessary components to produce a colorful, funky style.

“Doin’ it Hard,” their second studio album, has added a new electronic synth sound, presenting the music as a little more current and up-to-date, while still maintaining a wholly organic, technical and personal feel.

The album begins with “True Battle,” which starts off with a fading synthesizer and a light drum beat and eventually blends into a dirty horn line used as the basis for the song.The song starts the album off with a bang, with some soaring guitar and sultry vocals punctuating the track.

[FOLLOW Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band on Facebook.]

“Horn Stars,” the sixth track off the album, begins with a smooth electronic jam and eventually turns into a soulful horn duet, showing off how the band can play funk powerfully as well as with finesse and soul. Though still up-and-coming, the band shows glimpses of greatness in this studio effort with as many catchy hooks as jammed-out segments.

The female vocals in "Lovin'" were a welcome change of pace and evoked images of 60s counter-culture with the dripping bass and flute-like high-end.

“@$$” and “Hot Pizazz” showcase the silly, fun side to the band without making listeners forget how musically talented the group truly is. Any song that utilizes the word "badonkadonk" in a serious manner is worthy of a listen.

The album as a whole is a fun take on the genre with equal parts ridiculousness and expert playing. It's the kind of music you envision playing at an old-school block party. It's an odd mix of futuristic sounds and a retro style.

As catchy and amusing as the album may seem, almost every song is over five minutes long, and can sometimes be a tad repetitive. Their consistent style is both a blessing and a curse. Still, this is an enjoyable, funky record and certainly worth the listen.

“Doin’ it Hard” was released in stores on March 27, and can also be downloaded on their Bandcamp for any price you name. Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band will also be spending the rest of the spring and summer touring the Northeast to support the album. For more information on the band, visit their official website.

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"Doin' It Hard" Track List

1. True Battle
2. @$$
3. Lovin'
4. Neat Little Package
5. Sunday Afternoon
6. Horn Star
7. Chaos
8. Cancion Del Fuego
9. With True Feeling
10. Lucky
11. Hot Pizazz
12. Shadows & Sunshine

Upcoming Tour Dates

Apr 12: Athens, GA- The Melting Point
Apr 13: Wilmington, NC- The Soapbox Laundro
Apr 14: Greensboro, NC- Blind Tiger
Apr 20: Winthrop Lake, SC- Winthrop Lake
Apr 21: Athens, GA- Sweetwater 420 Fest
May 2: Huntsville, AL- Humphrey's
May 3: Starkville, MS- Dave's Dark Horse Tavern
May 4: New Orleans, LA- Howlin’ Wolf
May 5: Elberta, AL- Pirates Cove
May 5: Destin, FL- Funky Blues Shack
May 11: Charlotte, NC- The Neighborhood Theatre
May 12: Raleigh, NC- Lincoln Theatre
May 18: Carthage, NC- Shady Grove Music Festival
May 24: Charleston, SC- Charleston Pourhouse
June 2: Asheville, NC- Beer City Festival
June 8: Allentown, PA- Blues, Brews, & Barbecue
Jun 14: Chattanooga, TN- Riverbend Festival
Jun 16: Nashville, TN- Exit In
Jun 21: Ferguson, NC- High Country Motorcycle Camp
July 17: Nantucket, MA- Chicken Box
July 18: Nantucket, MA- Chicken Box
July 26: Lone Jack, MO- Dawg Daze of Summer Fest
July 27: Lone Jack, MO- Dawg Daze of Summer Fest
Aug 10: Prospect Hill, NC- Possum Holler
Aug 11: Beech Mountain, NC- The Festival of Gnarnia

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Source: Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band

Enter To Win A Pair Of Tickets To WAKARUSA

For four days this summer, Mulberry Mountain in Arkansas is clearly the place to be if you’re a music fan. With an eclectic mix of jam bands (Umphrey's McGee, Slightly Stoopid), rock bands (Primus, The Avett Brothers) and electronic acts (Pretty Lights, Big Gigantic, EOTO), Wakarusa's lineup has enough to satisfy a wide range of festivalgoers.

Music goes all day and night and this year, the conflicts of year's past will be lessened with so many artists given more than one set to perform. Check out the promotional video and more headliners below.

Other acts slated to perform this May 31 to June 3 include Weir, Robinson and Greene Acoustic Trio, Girl Talk, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, Fitz and The Tantrums, G. Love and Special Sauce, The Del McCoury Band, Matisyahu, Ghostland Observatory, Perpetual Groove, The Travelin' McCourys and many more.

For more details on Wakarusa including camping prices and the complete lineup, check out the festival's official website. Tickets are now just $179.00 for GA and $635.00 for VIP.

Contest is over. Congratulations to MINDY NGUYEN. Check your email, Mindy.

Stay tuned to Headstash for more contests and find more information on your favorite festivals including complete lineups, ticketing information and analysis in our 2012 Festival Guide.

Good luck!

ART COLLECTIVE: Christian Jaxtheimer – Live Painter

Name: Christian Jaxtheimer

Trade: Live Painting

Highlights: Creating art on stage with STS9, String Cheese Incident, Papadosio, Zoogma, Emancipator and at Electric Forest, Rootwire and Bear Creek.

Like so many people in the live music community, Christian Jaxtheimer was inspired by the ubiquity of art that he found in the lot.

His interest in art and animation inspired him to attend Savannah College of Art and Design in 2005. It was there that Jaxtheimer really developed his artistic skills. While attending SCAD, Jaxtheimer geared many of his projects toward poster design, as he got more involved in the live music and festival scene.

By 2007, Christian was on the road.

“I was on the road with my girlfriend, and we had a poster for every festival,” he said. “It just felt good meeting so many people who loved artwork.”

While his artistic skills were rooted in figurative illustration, his aesthetic gravitated towards geometric abstraction after graduation.

“I think where I’m at now is just a combination of everything I’ve been doing, and I’m just trying to build on it,” he said.

During his time at SCAD, Jaxtheimer met Andrew Wagner, a fellow artist and live music enthusiast. After a brief and unfulfilling stint with a screen printing company, he moved back to Savannah and started live painting with Wagner in 2009.

“I did my first three or four live paintings with him,” Jaxtheimer explained. “They were just real big and colorful and full of geometry and layering. I absolutely loved it because it was a way to interact with the crowd.”

Jaxtheimer has now painted live with some of the biggest artists in the jam and electronic scene, including STS9, The String Cheese Incident, Papadosio, Emancipator and Zoogma. He’s also painted at Electric Forrest, Rootwire, Bear Creek, Blackwater and AURA festivals.

“You get such a great reaction from people [while live painting],” he said. “I’ve had conversations with people at festivals about how our galleries and our paintings were their favorite part of the entire weekend.”

Jaxtheimer has also given back to the community, working with Conscious Alliance to create a collaborative poster with fellow artists Wagner and Andy Reed for a Colorado Papadosio run.

“I feel like that was a moment where I had gotten to another level,” he said.

Most recently, Jaxtheimer teamed up with Conscious Alliance again to create a poster for STS9’s first Great Cycle Spectacle in Denver.

“I had done the painting at Bear Creek Festival a couple months before, and it felt like it had the right physical quality to it befitting the Great Cycle Spectacle,” he said. “It turned out to be one of the best-selling Conscious Alliance posters they’ve had in three or four years. I felt super humble about that. I think they sold out of them before the show on the first night.”

Jaxtheimer has also recently had his work displayed alongside top-name artists at Northern California’s Tribe 13, an art gallery at the forefront of the visionary art movement.

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Look for Christian this summer at Electric Forrest and Impulse Music Festivals and check out more of his art on his official website, where he has more pictures of his work, along with prints and apparel for sale.

Are you an artist looking to be featured in our Art Collective series? Email editor Nick Rhodes at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let us know.

Bassnectar Releases New Album, "VaVa Voom"

Today, bass music pioneer Lorin Ashton, aka Bassnectar, released his ninth official full-length studio album titled, "VaVa Voom." The 11-track album, on the heels of the highly successful "Divergent Spectrum," is filled with incredible beats and collaborations, with special guests ranging from hip-hop star Lupe Fiasco to dubstep innovators Jantsen and ill.Gates and even a tribute to California punk-rock band Pennywise. Check out the tracklist below.

In typical Bassnectar fashion, Ashton blends elements of dubstep, hip-hop, breakbeat, and other genres into his own unique sound. He even includes a beefed-up 2012 version of the classic "Laughter Crescendo." Stream the album for free via Rolling Stone, or download it via Bassnectar.net.

And for those of you just can't get enough Bassnectar, be sure to catch him on his VaVa Voom Tour, rolling through cities nationwide this spring and summer. With headlining performances at festivals like Camp Bisco and Electric Forest and two dates at the world-renowned mecca of live music, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, fans can be sure to get their fix of earth-shattering bass. Check out our 2012 Festival Guide for more info on these events and others like them. See the full list of VaVa Voom dates below.

As Lorin puts it ever so eloquently on his website: "By combining sound and force with weight, the Bassnectar experience engulfs the senses. It is as physical as it is auditory; the adventure has no rules, no limitations, and no hesitation in fusing the familiar with the strange or the classic with the cutting edge."

Featuring state-of-the-art light shows and a booming soundsystem, each show is guaranteed to assault patrons with deliciously crunchy basslines and breathtaking visuals. Check out VaVa Voom for just a preview of the Bassnectar experience.

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VaVa Voom Tracklist:

1. Vava Voom (feat. Lupe Fiasco)
2. Empathy
3. Ugly (feat. Amp Live)
4. Ping Pong
5. What (feat. Jantsen)
6. Pennywise Tribute
7. Do It Like This (feat. ill.Gates)
8. Laughter Crescendo (2012 Version)
9. Butterfly (feat. Mimi Page)
10. Nothing Has Been Broken (feat. Tina Malia)
11. Chronological Outtakes

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Bassnectar 2012 Tour Dates:

4/11 Indianapolis, IN — Egyptian Room SOLD OUT
4/12 Kansas City, MO — The Midland SOLD OUT
4/13 Madison, WI — Exhibition Hall @ Alliant Energy Center
4/14-4/15 Chicago, IL — Congress Theater SOLD OUT
4/17 Burlington, VT — Memorial Auditorium SOLD OUT
4/18-4/19 Boston, MA — House of Blues SOLD OUT
4/20 Philadelphia, PA — The Liacouras Center (Bass Center V)
4/21 Rochester, NY — Rochester Armory
4/24 Norfolk, VA — The NorVA
4/25 Richmond, VA — The National SOLD OUT
4/26 Knoxville, TN — Knoxville Civic Coliseum
4/27 Greenville, SC — Bi-Lo Center
4/28 Birmingham, AL — Boutwell Auditorium
4/29 Tallahassee, FL — The Moon SOLD OUT
5/03 Santa Cruz, CA — Santa Cruz Civic Center SOLD OUT
5/04 Sacramento, CA — Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
5/05 San Jose, CA — San Jose State University Event Center
5/10 Blue Lake, CA — Blue Lake Casino
5/11 Portland, OR — Roseland Theater SOLD OUT
5/12 Seattle, WA — WaMu Theater (Bass Center VI)
5/19-5/20 East Rutherford, NJ — Electric Daisy Carnival New York
5/24-5/28 Silverado, CA — Lightning In a Bottle
6/1-6/2 Morrison, CO — Red Rocks Amphitheatre
6/28-7/1 Rothbury, MI — Electric Forest
7/12-7/14 Mariaville, NY — Camp Bisco
7/13 Louisville, KY — Forecastle Festival

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Source: Bassnectar

REPORT: Eminem, Warren G and Wiz Khalifa To Join Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg at Coachella

***UPDATE: Wednesday, April 11 - 2:25 a.m.*** Domenick Nati of Celebrity Services (an organization that represents Warren G) sent us this statement shortly after publishing this nug:

"Warren G is not announcing that he and Eminem will perform with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Warren had no knowledge that any such announcement was being made until after it was posted. Any postings involving him and other artists were made without his knowledge or consent and he is not willing to confirm or deny anyone's involvement in this years Coachella event. We apologize for any confusion that this caused."

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Rolling Stone Magazine is reporting that heavyweights Eminem, Warren G and Wiz Khalifa will accompany hip-hop innovators Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg during their already highly-anticipated closing set at Coachella Music Festival in Indio, CA. Kendrick Lamar and Daz Dillinger are also reported to be joining what is shaping up to be a legendary performance.

It is apparently still unconfirmed whether these special guests will be appearing at both weekends of Coachella (April 13 to 15 and 20 to 22), but either way those lucky enough to have snagged tickets to this colossal event (which sold out months ago) are certainly guaranteed to get their moneys worth, especially considering the already stellar lineup scheduled to play at the Empire Polo Club this weekend.

Visit our 2012 Festival Guide for more details on Coachella and other festivals taking place throughout the summer.

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Source: Rolling Stone

ART COLLECTIVE: Jarred Trantham - Leatherworker

Name: Jarred Trantham

Trade: Leatherwork

Highlights: Created instrument straps for Phil Lesh, David Murphy, Zach Deputy and Keller Williams.

There’s nothing better than being able to buy art that is not only beautiful but practical in your everyday life. Jarred Trantham has seamlessly blended these characteristics in his artistic endeavors as a leatherworker, creating useful works of art for the likes of Phil Lesh, David Murphy and Zach Deputy.

Trantham specializes in hand carving custom leather items, including but certainly not limited to belts, bracelets, purses, guitar straps, book covers.

A fourth-generation leatherworker, Trantham carries on the family legacy, utilizing the skills passed down from great-grandfather to grandfather to his mom. At age eight, Trantham and his mother began with just $800.00 and a box of wallets and purses.

Now, 23 years later, they run two family-owned leather stores in Jacksonville, Florida. Their stores sell all the typical leather goods you might expect – gun holsters, knife sheathes, motorcycle attachments, book and bible covers, leatherwear and more.

Trantham is also a music and festival junky, selling his utilitarian art in lots and at festivals across the country under the name Lost Sailor Designs.

“’Lost Sailor’ is one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs,” Trantham said. “I had a really inspiring moment at a Dark Star [Orchestra] show. As soon as I put the three initials together, it was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to keep this name forever.’”

The LSD name is definitely an improvement from Trantham’s original label as the “Vegan Nightmare.”

“I’ve had a lot of intense conversations with [vegans] . . . and my answer is, ‘Look, I know where you’re coming from, but if I didn’t do this on this leather it would all get thrown away,” he said. “When I make key chains, I go and pick up big boxes of industrial scraps and cut them into little pieces and give them away for free. I try to be as wasteless as possible.”

Trantham’s leatherwork has caught the eye of some of the biggest musicians in the community. He’s made instrument straps for Keller Williams and Perpetual Groove’s Brock Butler, too.

“Zach Deputy wears his religiously," Trantham said. “Me and my apprentice, Katie Sandeen, actually had the opportunity to take my leather tools and go sit in the middle of the crowd and tool out the rest of his guitar strap while he played live, which was really just a treat to be able to do that.”

Trantham has recently started producing utility belts that put stash pockets for all your goods at an arm’s reach away. He doesn’t just customize the hand carving on his belts – he also customizes the way you use it.

“I just made one for a live painter that had a place for a cup of water and a bunch of brushes,” he said.

Engrained in the jam band community, he has also been the art director at festivals like Bear Creek, Big and Hearty, Blackwater, and Purple Hatter’s Ball, facilitating a symbiotic relationship between artists and a charitable organization sponsored by the festival. This allows for the charities to get artwork and the artists to vend and get booth space free of charge.

“As vendors go, setting up at a music festival is very expensive,” Trantham said. “So, when a festival gives us the space and we can display our art, it’s like a dream come true.”

Trantham and Lost Sailor Designs will be at a number of festivals this summer, including Wanee and Impulse Festivals, as well as the String Cheese Incident’s summer tour.

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For more information about Jarred and Lost Sailor Designs, visit the Lost Sailor Designs website.

Jerry Joseph and The Jackmormons: "Happy Book" CD Review and Interview

Jerry Joseph may not be a household name or your archetypal rock star, but the quintessential musician’s musician has been flying steadily just under-the-radar for nearly three decades, influencing major players such as Widespread Panic along the way.

While he may not bestow the glitter of super-stardom or gold records, his latest double album, “Happy Book” is proof that sometimes, all that glitters is not gold. Sometimes gold lies in the grey area between the arena-touring heavyweight and the starving artist on a street corner – thus is the case of Jerry Joseph and The Jackmormons.

With their latest release, this nearly two-decade old band has successfully put out a completely raw, emotionally driven record that can be appreciated by generations across the board. Over his 30-year career, front man Jerry Joseph has established deep roots within the jam community.

[FIND news, downloads and tour dates on Jerry Joseph's official website.]

Having previously played in bands with everyone from Dave Schools of Widespread Panic to Wally Ingram and more, “Happy Book” finds Joseph and his longtime trio playing with their most seasoned level of confidence and craft to date. Sit-ins from members of The Decembrists, Blitzen Trapper and Richmond Fontaine flesh out the sound of the album and showcase Joseph’s musical street cred.

“At a certain point you just try not to hate each other’s guts,” Joseph said jokingly of his longtime band members. “It becomes, ‘Shit man, if we break up, who else is going to remember that weird night in Prague when we were drinking Absinthe?’”

Joseph likened his band to a marriage, citing that bands that broke up and got back together often were “trite.”

[BUY "Happy Book" via Cosmo Sex School Records.]

The new double release is without a doubt a record that’s been 17 years in the making. The band has arrived at a sound that is both mature and complacent. “Happy Book” is 15 tracks of pure, unadulterated rock and roll influenced by the basic, fundamental elements of folk, blues and country.

Paired with Joseph’s knack for storytelling, the formula is timeless and the record is something that can be enjoyed by new age and old-school music fans alike.

The album flows from nitty-gritty, folk-rock songs with an edge such as the opening, title track, “Happy Book,” into a countless array of other sounds.

“I’m not really sure I have a process,” Joseph said about his songwriting. “My brother has a house in Baja, Mexico and a lot of times I’ll go down there and give myself a week or so to just go at it. The bulk of ‘Happy Book’ was pretty much all written in Mexico.”

“Radio Cab,” is a major highlight on the release with its harmonized hooks and broad musical range. As is the country-influenced track, “The Road Home” which finds Joseph belting out heartfelt, emotional lyrics atop steel string guitar and banjo.

[FOLLOW Jerry Joesph on Facebook.]

Joseph and the band recently embarked on to an exotic locale to play their unique brand of music.

“[Touring] Southeast Asia was really about going somewhere where no one had ever heard of me,” he said. “It was an exercise of walking into a room every night full of people who had no clue who we were and couldn’t understand why we were yelling and screaming and banging on guitars.”

Joseph added that putting music in front of a crowd with no cultural preconceptions is humbling and telling – sometimes failing and sometimes creating a nearly indescribable connection.

“I’d like to do that every year,” he said. “We’ve talked about maybe Africa or Iran. It’s pretty raw, you have to figure out what the commonality is – mainly that we’re all human.”

All in all, “Happy Book,” is a double album actually worth listening to from start to end. Produced with heart, soul and time-honored components, the album is a great introduction for those who may still be unfamiliar with this long-running act.

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Purchase "Happy Book" and find news, tour dates and other information on Jerry Joseph and The Jackmormons on their official website.

SXSW and turntable.fm: ?uestlove, Diplo and A-Trak

During his keynote speech for the 2012 SXSW Music Conference, Bruce Springsteen spoke of a digital music renaissance. The low price of storage space, the high speed of the Internet and the proliferation of music-creating devices have destroyed the barriers of entry and made it possible for an explosion of musical genres.

Rather than being a divisive force, this music coexists on our smart phones and unites us all through our shared need to listen. South by Southwest fosters this communal spirit of artistic expression and audience participation with expert panels, musical showcases and rocking parties

If you were at SXSW, you heard the buzz surrounding the turntable.fm and DoLab showcases throughout the week. During the interactive portion, they threw what was widely heralded as one of the best shows of the conference, bringing together electronic music super-producers Flying Lotus and AraabMuzik to entertain a sold-out crowd.

But I was delighted to find out I was invited to their second and even more star-studded showcase. Turntable.fm had been saving their big guns for the music portion – AraabMuzik, A-Trak, Reggie Watts, ?uestlove and Diplo. Roots, rock, reggae, electronica, comedy, soul and hip-hop all brought together in a nondescript warehouse in Austin.

Once I got there, the controlled chaos that is SXSW began. A horde of drunken fans eager to dance the night away lined up around the block, while stressed security guards leafed through phonebook-sized lists to dole out the appropriate wristbands.

However, this is all just part of the fun of SXSW, where agonizing over which party you will go to and the anxiety of whether or not you will get in somehow augments the experience.

With such a solid line up of headliners, the opening acts had a lot to live up to. But this is SXSW and these up-and-comers did not disappoint. The Jane Doze, a female production duo, warmed up the crowd with their pop-inspired tunes mixed with hip-hop samples.

Next was Nick Hook, who increased the energy with an electro-house set reflective of his namesake. Though relatively unknown and playing to a not-yet-filled house, these producers threw down like they topped the bill.

In a frenzy of excitement the first headliner, AraabMuzik, took the stage. Like many producers he is an unassuming guy, unrecognizable to any but the most die-hard of fans. But once he gets behind the turntables, that all changes. The man is an absolute wizard with a drum machine, and his energy and skill is unparalleled within the industry.

It’s no wonder he had a prolific career as a hip-hop producer years before he became a successful DJ. The whirlwind of drumbeats, bass lines, rap lyrics and soul samples blew through the crowd, as the set flew by in an instant.

In between headliners, Reggie Watts curated the affair with his distinct brand of comedic musicality. Watts wields his sampling machine and sharp wit like weapons on the stage. His distinctive Afro and rotund shape soften his presence and add levity to his performance. The 15-minute snippets of Mr. Watts were welcome comedy relief, but they left me craving more.

Next up was legendary producer A-Trak, of Duck Sauce fame. A-Trak is an affable character and a fantastic musician. He is friendly with fans, nice to the camera and pleasing to the ears – what’s not to like? From his Duck Sauce shenanigans (see “The Big Bad Wolf” music video) to his seriously danceable DJ sets, he is probably the most likeable DJ/producer in the scene today.

After a long night of anticipation, ?uestlove, the famed drummer of hip-hop group The Roots, took the stage at midnight. There had been much speculation as to whether he would be playing live or doing a DJ set, but the suitcase of records trailing behind his enormous ‘fro laid all rumors to rest.

Instead of bringing his drum kit, ?uestlove brought the hits. He took the audience on a musical journey spanning every genre as well as the last five decades of musical history.

From “Pass The Dutchie” to “Seed 2.0” and everything in between, ?uestlove was the unlikely highlight of the evening.

Last, but certainly not least was the jet setting, Blackberry wielding, powerhouse that they call Diplo. Chalk it up to jet lag or the fact that it was probably his tenth performance of the day, but the performance wasn’t his best, although everyone really enjoyed it. And in the end, that is really all he needed to do to put the cherry on top of an already extraordinary night.

His trademark moombahton invigorated the excitable ones to continue on into the night and his promiscuity with musical genres reinforced The Boss’s message into my mind as I headed home.

After such an amazing show I felt truly blessed to live in this musical renaissance – a time when genres are mashed up, transcended and redefined while they coexist harmoniously on our phones or at a particularly good concert.

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Find more information on SXSW and turntable.fm on their websites.