The folks behind annual Austin music bacchanal South By Southwest have announced the first round of bands set to play the 2013 event, which will run March 12 through 17. Lest we forget the enormity of the massive fest, this initial list tops out at a whopping 230 performers — the total is typically over 2,000 official acts, with countless more showing up to play any street corner, drinking hole, or house party that’ll have them. While organizers’ vow that this’ll be their “greatest and most diverse line up to date,” will be tough to quantify, these early confirmations include a whole lot of promise and hail from all over the world. To help you suss out out your potential pilgrimage to the Live Music Capital of the World, SPIN has broken up the SXSW first round picks into three categories: the must-see, the decent to good, and the unknown.
See These:
Alt-J (Cambridge, UK-ENGLAND)
BADBADNOTGOOD (Toronto, ON)
The Bug (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Eric Burdon (Brooklyn, NY)
Congo Natty (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Guards (New York, NY)
Haim (Los Angeles, CA)
Ryan Hemsworth (Halifax, NS)
ITAL (Brooklyn, NY)
Lecrae (Atlanta, GA)
Thurston Moore (Northampton, MA)
Daniel Mustard (New York, NY)
NO CEREMONY/// (Manchester, UK-ENGLAND)
Spain (Los Angeles, CA)
Marnie Stern (New York, NY)
Amon Tobin (San Francisco, CA)
Toddla T (Sheffield, UK-ENGLAND)
Jonathan Toubin (New York, NY)
Turbo Fruits (Nashville, TN)
Why? (Cincinnati, OH)
The Zombies (St. Albans, UK-ENGLAND)
Safe Bets:
Akron/Family (Los Angeles, CA)
Atlas Genius (Adelaide, SA)
Jesse Boykins III (New York, NY)
Brendan Benson (Nashville, TN)
Buck 65 (Toronto, ON)
Chris Cohen (Shaftsbury, VT)
Coldcut (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Dels (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Drop The Lime (New York, NY)
He’s My Brother She’s My Sister (Los Angeles, CA)
Sarah Jaffe (Denton, TX)
Klaxons (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Of Mice & Men (Costa Mesa, CA)
Pokey LaFarge (Ballwin, MO)
The Postelles (New York, NY)
Reptile Youth (Copenhagen, DENMARK)
Quiet Company (Austin, TX)
Said The Whale (Vancouver, BC)
Small Black (Brooklyn, NY)
Suuns (Montreal, QC)
Go Rogue:
Albatross (Kathmandu, NEPAL)
Lauren Aquilina (Bristol, UK-ENGLAND)
Attomica (Sao Paulo, BRAZIL)
Authorities (Vancouver, BC)
Autosalvage (Santa Cruz, CA)
The Away Days (TURKEY)
Daniel Bachman (Fredericksburg, VA)
Baishui (CHINA)
Bastille (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Battleme (Portland, OR)
Bernhoft (Nittedal, NORWAY)
The Black and White Years (Austin, TX)
The Blackout (Cardiff, UK-WALES)
Black Pistol Fire (Austin, TX)
Blackstone Rangers (Dallas, TX)
The Blue Van (Copenhagen, DENMARK)
Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers (San Francisco, CA)
BNegão & Seletores de Frequência (Rio De Janeiro, BRAZIL)
Boats (Winnipeg, MB)
The Boxing Lesson (Austin, TX)
Broncho (Norman, OK)
Brothers In Law (Pesaro, ITALY)
Brutality Will Prevail (Cardiff, UK-WALES)
Brutal Juice (Austin, TX)
Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown (Nashville, TN)
Tego Calderon (San Juan, PUERTO RICO)
The Calm Blue Sea (Austin, TX)
Campo (Montevideo, URUGUAY)
Cave Painting (Brighton, UK-ENGLAND)
Cayucas (San Luis Obisbo, CA)
Cello Fury (Pittsburgh, PA)
Chaos Chaos (Brooklyn, NY)
Cheers Elephant (Philadelphia, PA)
The Chevelles (North Fremantle, WA)
Charlotte Church (UK-WALES)
Churchill (Denver, CO)
CINE (Sao Paulo, BRAZIL)
Civil Twilight (Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA)
The Congregation (Chicago, IL)
Constantina (Belo Horizonte, BRAZIL)
John Cooper Clarke (Manchester, UK-ENGLAND)
Crooks (Austin, TX)
Current Swell (Victoria, BC)
Dash Rip Rock (New Orleans, LA)
Sammy Decoster (Grenoble, FRANCE)
Mac DeMarco (Montreal, QC)
Luther Dickinson (Hernando, MS)
DJ Edu (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Dolores Boys (Brooklyn, NY)
Doyle (San Antonio, TX)
Driver Friendly (Austin, TX)
Ben Dukes (Hollywood, CA)
The Dunwells (Leeds, UK-ENGLAND)
Dusted (Toronto, ON)
Eagulls (Leeds, UK-ENGLAND)
Tim Easton (Nashville, TN)
Elias Haslanger (Austin, TX)
Ronnie Fauss (Dallas, TX)
Fear Of Men (Brighton, UK-ENGLAND)
Fister (St Louis, MO)
Follakzoid (Santiago, CHILE)
fo/mo/deep (Columbus, OH)
Forests (Taipei, TAIWAN)
Fredda (Paris, FRANCE)
Funeral Suits (Dublin, IRELAND)
Ezra Furman (San Francisco, CA)
Galaxy Express (Seoul, SOUTH KOREA)
Gallows (Watford, UK-ENGLAND)
Gato 6 (Austin, TX)
Ghost to Falco (Portland, OR)
GHXST (New York, NY)
Colin Gilmore (Austin, TX)
Gliss (Los Angeles, CA)
Gold Fields (Ballarat, VIC)
Jenn Grant (Halifax, NS)
Hashback Hashish (New Delhi, INDIA)
Hawthorne Heights (Dayton, OH)
Heidi Happy (Luzern, SWITZERLAND)
Hexvessel (Helsinki, FINLAND)
Highasakite (Oslo, NORWAY)
Hiss Golden Messenger (Chapel Hill, NC)
The Holydrug Couple (Santiago, CHILE)
Holy Esque (Glasgow, UK-SCOTLAND)
HolySexyBastards (Valencia, VENEZUELA)
Howling Brothers (Nashville, TN)
Peggy Hsu (Taipei, TAIWAN)
Huehuetl (Tonala, Guadalajara, MEXICO)
Humans (Vancouver, BC)
Il Pan del Diavolo (San Lorenzo Colli, ITALY)
Immanu El (Gothenburg, SWEDEN)
In-Flight Safety (Halifax, NS)
Tiago Iorc (Sao Paulo, BRAZIL)
Islet (Cardiff, UK-WALES)
Matthew Perryman Jones (Nashville, TN)
Jung People (Calgary, AB)
Grace Kelly (Brookline, MA)
Kill It Kid (Bath, UK-ENGLAND)
Jess Klein (Austin, TX)
La Chiva Gantiva (Brussels, BELGIUM)
La Cuneta Son Machín (Managua, NICARAGUA)
Language Room (Austin, TX)
Marit Larsen (Oslo, NORWAY)
The Last Bison (Chesapeake, VA)
League of Extraordinary G’z (Austin, TX)
Les Mentettes (Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA)
The Linus Pauling Quartet (Houston, TX)
Los Bunkers (Concepcion, CHILE)
the Lost Maples (Nashville, TN)
Emma Louise (Toowong, AUSTRALIA)
Lu Horta (Sao Paulo, BRAZIL)
Luke Sital-Singh (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Mahogany (Chicago, IL)
Massive Scar Era (Cairo, EGYPT)
Mavin All Stars (Lagos, NIGERIA)
Mike and the Moonpies (Austin, TX)
Andy Mineo (New York, NY)
Derek Minor (Nashville, TN)
Modestep (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Mompox (Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA)
Monster Cat (Singapore, SINGAPORE)
Ian Moore (Seattle, WA)
Muthoni The Drummer Queen (Nairobi, KENYA)
My Education (Austin, TX)
My Jerusalem (Austin, TX)
Nerves Junior (Louisville, KY)
Nubes en mi Casa (Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA)
Pacific Air (San Diego, CA)
PAJARO (Gelves, SPAIN)
Doe Paoro (Brooklyn, NY)
Paper Lions (Charlottetown, PE)
Triana Park (Riga, LATVIA)
Peterson Brothers Band (Bastrop, TX)
Promise (Toronto, ON)
Pumcayo (Guadalajara, MEXICO)
David Ramirez (Austin, TX)
The Relatives (Dallas, TX)
Remate (Madrid, SPAIN)
The Rocketboys (Austin, TX)
Roge (Rio De Janeiro, BRAZIL)
The Sam Willows (Singapore, SINGAPORE)
San Cisco (Fremantle, WA)
Satchel Grande (Omaha, NE)
Danny Schmidt (Austin, TX)
Seth Sentry (Melbourne, VIC)
Shakey Graves (Austin, TX)
Silencio (Pittsburgh, PA)
Six60 (Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND)
Sizarr (Mannheim, GERMANY)
Sahara Smith (Wimberley, TX)
Social Studies (Phoenix, AZ)
Soley (Reykjavik, ICELAND)
Somebody’s Darling (Dallas, TX)
The Sour Notes (Austin, TX)
Spindrift (Los Angeles, CA)
The Spring Standards (New York, NY)
Star & Micey (Memphis, TN)
The Staves (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Jake Stone Garage (Tokyo, JAPAN)
Suie Paparude (Bucharest, ROMANIA)
Supersubmarina (Madrid, SPAIN)
Swamp Cabbage (Savannah, GA)
Swim Deep (Birmingham, UK-ENGLAND)
Tako Lako (Copenhagen, DENMARK)
TAM (Plateau Mont-Royal, QC)
Hudson Taylor (London, UK-ENGLAND)
Tedashii (Dallas, TX)
Kristian Terzic Band (Rovinj, CROATIA)
Tesoro (Tucson, AZ)
The Harlequins (Cincinnati, OH)
Andre Thierry & Zydeco Magic (Richmond, CA)
Thi’sl (St Louis, MO)
Tipo Uísque (BRAZIL)
The Trews (Toronto, ON)
Truth Universal (New Orleans, LA)
Turbina (Mexico City, MEXICO)
Two Hours Traffic (Charlottetown, ON)
Vaudeville Smash (Melbourne, VIC)
The Vespers (Nashville, TN)
Virals (Worcester, UK-ENGLAND)
Zak Waters (Los Angeles, CA)
While She Sleeps (Sheffiled, UK-ENGLAND)
Glenn White (New York, NY)
White Lung (Vancouver, BC)
Wild Cub (Nashville, TN)
Wizkid (Lagos, NIGERIA)
Carolyn Wonderland (Austin, TX)
WonFu (Taipei, TAIWAN)
Woodpigeon (Vienna, AB)
Young Von (Houston, TX)
