Coyote Kisses and Manila Killa

Today is all about Austin's very own, SXSW. For those of you who may not know, SXSW is a festival that celebrates film, music, and innovation. The week long festival brings people in from all over the world, to showcase what they have. One such artist is Coyote Kisses. Now, it has been a long time since I last blogged about the electronic duo, but I felt so compelled to do so after watching Coyote Kisses perform tonight for SXSW. A huge shout out to chill nation and the whole squad of "nations" for putting together a show and line up as wonderful as the one I just saw. But when it comes to Coyote Kisses, I have to say I was incredibly impressed. We got half the duo (Joe Sussingham I believe) but it was still such a wild show. I guess the first part of what made this so great was the venue. A small enough venue with a relatively smaller crowd. SXSW has everyone spread out and on the move, so for the most part the venue was decently crowded but not overly full. This automatically gave the show a more intimate and tailored sound. Every song was a reaction to how we were interacting with the music. Coyote Kisses also dropped the beat so well. I'm not entirely sure parachutes could save us from some of those drops! Silly jokes aside, this show was far from being a laughing matter. There was a pristine sharpness to much of Coyote Kisses did. The beats were heavy, resembling a bit more of a trap sound rather than a chillstep sound. However, for the point in the night that this show took place, that genre switch was definitely warranted. That crispness in sound is what really made Coyote Kisses stand out. While the music itself didn't sound calculated or carefully planned, it is clear that everything was deftly crafted to come together into a seamless mix of songs and sounds. There were no hiccups or odd pauses, simply a continuous flow of very well produced songs. Coyote Kisses also refrains more from lyrics than other electronic artists. I really started to notice that fact from today's show. What the duo lacks in lyrical and vocal content, they make up for in melody and rhythm. There is a greater complexity of rhythm with Coyote Kisses than many other EDM groups. There were beat changes and key signature changes woven into one another so that the beats would always change up. The tempo stayed relatively constant from build up to build up, however, it was the rhythmic pattern which made things feel alive and moving. There is a beautiful dynamism to the way the rhythm would change from being quarter notes to eighth notes, speeding up into faster and faster rhythms. However, the beat of each song remained at the same steady tempo. If we put a metronome to the beats of Coyote Kisses' music, it would fall perfectly in line. So to kind of keep up with the Coyote Kisses high that I am on, the first song of the day comes from the phenomenal duo. While they may not be incredibly popular in the mainstream flow of music, the EDM crowd loves these guys, and for good reason. So, I hope you enjoy this song by Coyote Kisses just as much as I do! Today's second song is by another artist who performed tonight. Now I hadn't really heard much from Manila Killa, but man did he absolutely kill it on stage! Manila Killa is definitely more on the chillstep side of music, with slight dabbles in the house realm of electronic music. His hour long set was one that I couldn't stop dancing to. From current pop songs to classic dance songs to original work, we got to hear the full spectrum of his work. I thoroughly enjoyed his set not only because his music was so much fun, but because it was so carefree. There was an absolutely wonderful light hearted and playful sound to his music. I know it sounds more like I am describing a tropical house kind of artist, but Manila Killa was just oozed fun and enjoyment. It was a very different sound compared to Coyote Kisses, but both were equally as good. Manila Killa is an artist I definitely need to take some time to listen to more because I am such a fan! I am so glad that I got to see these two artists perform tonight, and again, thanks chill nation for putting this together! I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!