¡Bienvenidos a SXSW!

Hola! My name is Andrew Casillas, and I’ll be Club Fonograma’s official guide to this year’s South by Southwest Music Festival in lovely Austin, Texas. Above is a picture of me with the Tamale Kingpin himself, Chingo Bling, at last year’s festival (in case you're confused, I'm the one not wearing a cowboy hat). In addition to being an avid stalker of crappy Latin rappers, I’m a resident of Austin and a former writer for Stylus Magazine (R.I.P.).

For those who aren’t aware, SXSW is one of America’s largest and most prestigious music festivals. Every spring, over 1,500 bands converge on downtown Austin for four nights of music, booze, and “PARKING LOT FULL” signs.

Over the next week, I’ll be chiming in with reviews of showcases from some of your favorite artists, including Natalia Lafourcade, Hello Seahorse!, Juan Son, and Ximena Sariñana. After that, it’s pretty much a free for all—interviews, random photography, failed attempts at getting interviews, journal entries about the SXSW experience, pictures of bodily bruises after getting tackled by security during failed attempts at getting interviews, etc. Some of it will be stimulating, some of it will be humorous, some of it will be just downright weird. But it’ll all be in an effort to serve you, the loyal and good-looking readers of Club Fonograma.

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back on Wednesday with my first entry. Now someone get me a Big Red to go with these tamales…