Tocquigny

Being headquartered in the heart of the Live Music Capital of the World, it’s all but a requirement for music to play a pivotal role in the lives of all on the Tocquigny team. Take a walk around the office. At any given point in the day, ~7 out of 10 Tocquigny-ites can be spotted bearing headphones — each head bobbing to a different beat. Some could say that we’re wild about music.

Companies in the Northern US have snow days; banks have Federal holidays; we have SXSW music days. Once a year, 2,000+ musical artists arrive in our neighborhood for the famed SXSW Music & Media Conference, momentarily rubbing shoulders with the Silicon Valley & Madison Avenue elite evacuating the town following the close of SXSW Interactive. Every bar, restaurant, theater, yard, street, bowling alley and power plant in Downtown Austin is taken over by the world’s most prominent musicians playing alongside the crème de la crème of under-the-radar acts. The latter is what the conference is really about — discovering what’s next.

So without further ado, my personal Top 5 Breakout Musical Artists of SXSW 2011:

1. Givers

I’ve never seen an act as platonically unified as this five-some on stage at The Windish Agency’s Saturday afternoon showcase. Their Dirty Projectors-inspired pop music is sonically complex, yet perfectly constructed for an afternoon of dancing in the sun.

2. Foster the People

Also a part of the Windish day-party, I was tipped off by Thrillist, FILTER, MTV and a handful of other sources about this LA indie rock trio. Spinner referred to them as “the next MGMT”, but I left their show digging them infinitely more than the 2008 breakout artist.

3. Cults

I don’t know what it is about these folks. Recently signed to Columbia Records, I attached to them immediately after they plucked the first notes of “Go Outside” at the [hot, hot, hot] Columbia showcase. Four guys and a gal, Cults not only played an authentic energy-infused show, but were even more fun to hang out with after. Surf-rock? Twee-pop? I’m not sure how to describe them, but count me as a new fan.

4. Oh Land

Beautiful and talented, Oh Land is the electro-pop music project of young Danish (by way of NYC) songstress, Nanna Øland Fabricus. I kicked off my SXSW marathon week with her performance at our client’s FADER Fort by FIAT side-festival — just days after watching her American TV debut on Late Show with David Letterman. Oh Land is about to blow up.

5. Skrillex

I’ve never really gone out of my way to listen to house/electronic music — that is, until October 2010 when I caught Deadmau5’s inspiring sunset performance at Austin City Limits Music Festival. Weeks later, Deadmau5 tweeted about Sonny Moore and his music project, Skrillex. All it took was one tweet to suck me into the dubstep craze. While I saw Skrillex live a month ago, SXSW 2011 seemed to be Sonny’s ‘coming-out’ party. As he opened for Duran Duran at C3 Presents’ famed Late Night Party, the crowd of music industry influencers and celebs (including Kevin Costner & Mischa Barton) caught on. As dubstep slithers its way into pop music vernacular, Skrillex will be the genre’s leader.

Bonus: DeYarmond Edison

Okay, so not a “breakout artist”, per se, but a breakout show. Rumored for over a week, and finally confirmed on the FADER Magazine website on Friday, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon reunited with his college buddies for a once-in-a-lifetime 3-song performance at the FADER Fort by FIAT. (If you don’t know Bon Iver, stop what you’re doing right now and grab a copy of the 2007 masterpiece, For Emma, Forever Ago.) Tucked in between a set by South African hip hop artist Spoek Mathambo and super secret surprise guest, Diddy, Vernon & team silenced the audience with their powerful indie folk ballads. Wow. This half hour defined SXSW 2011 for me.

Hard choices. Thoughts?

In this year’s quest for more SXSW google geekery and cloud commentary, one session rises to the top: Jeff Jarvis’ solo rendition of “Let’s Get Naked: Benefits of Publicness v. Privacy.” 

He opens with a reminder that as Gutenberg’s press came on the scene, large elements of society were “freaked.” They winced at the thought of ideas becoming permanently associated with an author’s personal identity and that it would be an ever-lasting public record - duplicated and shared all-too-easily. 

Hmmm…mechanized book-printing causing privacy concerns? Never thought of that. Ok, point taken…go on…

Then he cites a few public uproars over the release of the first personal Kodak camera, wherein (gasp!) photography is put in the hands of the common man (no longer just within the confines of the commissioned photographer’s studio).  This meant anyone could just run up to you and steal your photo! Combine that with mechanized print, and it’s mass mayhem. 

You see where this is going…Web…Facebook privacy…Wikileaks…wow.

Jarvis shows a photo of a German public street in Google Street View with everything in sharp detail, except for a large privately-owned house that is obscured by pixilation. The crowd laughs as he describes Germany’s intense cultural proclivity for privacy, and confesses that he too laughed when he heard about the Germans forcing pixilation of private homes on Google Street View. He wasn’t laughing anymore when he actually first laid eyes on this photo; once the argument became a visual reality, he shuttered at the thought that laws are being enacted that allow such a desecration of the “public digital landscape.”

He argues that technology – whether Gutenberg’s press or Google’s Street View – is leading us down a righteous, inevitable path that brings us to full-on transparency and that we should not resist it. He believes that transparency breaks down the lies and false perceptions that the ‘powers that be’ use to maintain societal strongholds. 

This is a radical view; whether you agree with it or not…you can follow his discussion further. Look out for his forthcoming book entitled PUBLIC PARTS; tentatively subtitled “What Happens When Companies, Governments, and People Let It All Hang Out.” He’s also featured on a weekly iTunes podcast called ‘TWig’ (This Week in Google)that covers the latest Google and cloud computing news.

As a social responsibility enthusiast, I was engaged and inspired by TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie’s keynote earlier today at SXSWi.



If you know the TOMS Shoes story, you know the company gives a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased. They call it the “One for One Movement,” and it illustrates the kind of strategic corporate social responsibility that truly can be admired. After all, giving attracts and retains customers, employees, and partners.



It’s this foundation of values that can spur sustainable business success. It just has to be executed irreproachably.



Interestingly enough, Mycoskie announced today that on June 7th of this year, TOMS will make a huge announcement that will change them from a shoe company to a “One for One” company. TOMS has figured out how to create sustainable business - and social success - with shoes, and now they’re working to replicate it once again.

Innovation, as it is, can come in all shapes and sizes. We talk a lot about innovation in technology and business, but I see true beauty (and business value) when organizations and people can find ways to seamlessly integrate that sort of innovation with social innovation.

After all the strategic competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy is not a new concept, but these new organizational iterations, where social responsibility is integrated from head-to-toe, certainly present some structural ideas to consider.

If you had your eyes open at SXSWi this year, you probably ran into a few grilled cheese sandwiches here and there. So, what’s the deal? Are grilled cheese sandwiches the new cupcakes? What do you think: grilled cheese #FTW or #WTF ???