I’m not a huge fan of conferences. I’m not exactly businesspilled and the mere mention of networking makes the DIY musician in me squirm.

XOXO has always branded itself as a festival, in no small part, I imagine, to lampshade the fact that it is a conference. But by being very selective in its curation of presenters, guests and attendees, XOXO never gave me that same ick.

I wrote a bit about past XOXO experiences before flying down to Portland, and this year’s event ably carried on the legacy of previous XOXOs. A stellar collection of weirdos, artists and nerds all agreed to be Chill in the same place for a couple days. That’s no small feat to pull off. Credit to Andy, Andy and the team of volunteers for making an inclusive space to hang and talk about how the internet is dying and—crucially—how we’ll all keep making dope shit anyway.

Day One

The indie media track on day one had a couple major highlights for me. I’ve been reading and supporting Garbage Day for over a year now, and Ryan and the crew over there really have their finger on the pulse of Online. It gives me permission to Log Off, knowing I’ll get a concise, trenchant roundup of what’s going on in Tiktok Purgatory and Twitter Hell.

After Ryan’s talk, I needed an introvert break to recharge, but it was good running into some old buds who’d come down from Canada.

There were a bunch of social events scheduled for the first day, including a photo walk. I’d never actually gone on an organized group photo walk before. I loved seeing the variety of styles and setups everyone brought—everything from an iPhone to newer Leicas to 70s medium format rigs. A couple of us Fuji dorks, too, of course.

I was very much looking forward to the first-ever live show from Never Post, which has rapidly become a “drop everything else I’m listening to” podcast. Their show didn’t disappoint and the recording is already up here. Give it a listen.

Chatted a bit with friends afterward and met Dan Olson who gave a great talk on occupational envy on day two. Speaking of:

Day Two

I’m bad at taking notes and worse at remembering things. Day two started late for me so I ended up grabbing lunch with Portland homie jacksonfromonline.

The two mile walk from where I was staying to the XOXO venue gave me ample opportunity to do one of my favorite things: take pictures of cool vehicles.

Back at the venue, Dan Olson‘s talk focused on the internal drive to make cool shit being at least somewhat fed by seeing other cool art and thinking “I could make that”. It’s something I think about all the time and it’s really bit me in the ass over the years.

I remember first getting into synths in the late 2010s, listening to popular dance music with its relatively simple harmonic content and structure and thinking “Pshhh, I could make that”. Or worse, “I could make that, but better”.

Cut to me struggling mightily to get a kick to sit nicely in a mix or compose a bass line that perfectly rides the line between being catchy and not standing out so much that it becomes repetitive. Shit’s difficult.

Anyway, good talk, Dan.

Had the pleasure of chatting with Tony and Taylor from Every Frame a Painting a good deal. Great folks. So glad they brought back the series this week and showed the first episode as well as their new short film at the conference.

Ran into some other old Canadian buds and had several bevvies on the roof of Rev Hall before calling it a night.

Here’s a handful of other photos from the weekend: