Zella Day, classified as a pop artist, performed music from her
EP album on Saturday afternoon on the Ballroom stage.
The Lion's Roar / Allison Crady

After four years, the BUKU Music + Art Project festival continues to grow as they hosted their first sold out year with 14,000-a-day expanded capacity. 

This year’s lineup featured a variety of local and visiting artists primarily in the electronic and Indie genres. Hosted last Friday and Saturday, the list included names such as Bassnectar, Passion Pit, Empire of the Sun, Zella Day, RL Grime, Odesza and many more. Nestled in New Orleans, La., the colorful venue included large-scale artwork displayed throughout and five stages with music playing until 1 a.m.

In interviews, several artists commented on the youthful audience as well as the mix in featured genres.

“This is definitely the youngest festival that you will ever go to. The age is way down,” said Sam Craft of the band Sweet Crude. “It’s pretty critical for word-of-mouth and social media to have young, technologically-able people. This is a great market.”

Craft and Alexis Marceaux make up Sweet Crude and self-identify as a “high-energy Louisiana jungle pop” group. 

“We didn’t know if we’d be eaten alive by kids on ecstasy or if there would be a good reception,” said Craft. “It’s been a really pleasant surprise to see the open-ears that everyone has at this thing. Everyone just gets it. They understand the positivity of the carnivalesque environment.” 

According to Marceaux, none of their music is pre-recorded but created organically on stage.

“They’re wanting and craving new stuff,” said Marceaux. “We’ve gained new fans today.” 

While the crowd was generally younger, several of the artists were young as well. Many were fresh out of college or still enrolled and got to perform for their friends in the crowd.

“We literally have all our friends here supporting us, which is pretty awesome,” said Michael Pearson of the band SFAM. “The younger crowd definitely plays into our favor, considering we look very young. Sometimes people may not feel as comfortable if there’s like a grown man.”

One unique element of BUKU Music + Art Project was the emphasis on showcasing up-and-coming artists. SFAM, made up of Pearson and Jacob Hoerner, identify their style as deep house, a sub-genre of house and dubstep electronic music. 

“We’ve been DJing together for about a year, and we’ve been working on music production for six or seven months. So we’re very new on the scene,” said Hoerner. “We got to play it sold out, so that’s pretty awesome. I never realized how many people were going to be out here.”

Overall, artists enjoyed the energy, youth and exhilaration of performing for a crowd of music lovers. 

“It was probably the most energy I’ve ever felt at a show, and I’ve had some pretty amazing shows,” said Andre Waguespack, known as Klutch when DJing. “I don’t think I’ve really ever felt on top of the world before, and that was definitely an on-top-of-the-world moment.”

Waguespack volunteered three of the four years the festival has been running but got paid to attend this year. He reflected on his mission as a performing artist.

“I just want to smile. That’s the problem with the world, not enough people smile,” said Waguespack. “It’s really all about how many people you can evoke emotion out of and really feel something. I think that’s what all artists want. At the end of the day, I want other people to smile with me.”

 

The DJ’s of SFAM also performed at the Back Alley Stage.
The duo is based out of New Orleans and made their start over a year ago.
The Lion's Roar / Megan Ferrando