The future of music will be front and centre in London in June when SXSW rolls into the city for a second year.
An eclectic line-up of established and rising talent will grace venues, clubs and cultural spaces across Shoreditch as part of the festival’s music programme from June 1 to 6.
This year’s roster includes American rapper Earl Sweatshirt, afrobeats queen Tiwa Savage, south London punks Shame, indie titans Circa Waves, and alt-pop singer songwriter Rachel Chinouriri.
Today, Metro can reveal Dallas rap collective Cure for Paranoia, K-Pop idol Yunjin, Croydon-based grime artist Jords, folk-pop supremo Oscar Blue, and Finnish bunnymetal band Rabbit Cult have been added to the final line-up that includes artists spanning hip-hop, R&B, electronic, indie, jazz, global club, gospel, rock, and experimental sounds.
Adem Holness is the festival’s head of music and has shaped this year’s programme with co-curators within the music industry.
Adem, who was previously head of contemporary music at the Southbank Centre, was also behind last year’s line-up, which included Erykah Badu (appearing under the alias DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown), Alice Glass, and Tems.
He told Metro: ‘The ambition for the festival is that we are not just presenting individual artists, but the context that they come in. And as a Londoner born and raised, what I love about London is that you can step out and find yourself in a really distinct community.
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‘I want each of our showcases in all of these amazing, iconic East London venues that we take over and collaborate with, to be a gateway or a window into one of those different underground music scenes from a different part of the world.
‘Each of those showcases is presented by organization or a collective who has a who’s embedded in a specific music culture, and together, we work on presenting the future from their perspective.
‘Bands like Shame are part of the Huck magazine showcase looking at underground youth culture. Having a band who are absolutely paving the way on their own terms, and come from the Windmill scene in south London, which is a really important one that gets reflected by us.’
He tipped Chicago soft rock siblings Infinity Song as one of the acts to see at this year’s event, which also includes shows from Hackney-based, Jamaican Guyanese singer-songwriter Amaria BB, and Grammy-winning music producer Fraser T Smith.
Adem added: ‘We have about 200 artists playing and we are invested in each and every single act who plays. I feel so honoured that each and everyone one of them are showing up with us.
‘With Infinity Soul, you can really feel some of the soulful influences in what they’re doing. They’re such fun and the music is amazing.
‘I’m really excited about the way Caribbean music culture is going to show in the festival this year, too.
‘Our festival is for people who are independently minded, who want to experience music in real life and want to discover artists who in the future might be some of the biggest in the world, who are changing their local music culture.
‘It’s somewhere for people to discover what the future of music is going to be.’