SXSW Unloads Headliners

Combing through South by Southwest’s last eight band lists totaling some 1,593 artists, we’ve asked ourselves, “Where’s the beef?” There were ample up-and-comers, international intrigue, and local luminaries, but few – if any – headliners. Until now.

Today, SXSW puts to rest the issue of flagship festival fodder with a stout list of 137 artists highlighted by folk favorites the Avett Brothers, nerd rock superstars Weezer, and hip-hop greats Wu-Tang Clan. Like the Wu, this music list “ain’t nuthin’ to fuck wit.”

Other rappers flying down from the boroughs for next month’s mega-fest include Bronx A$AP Mob affiliate A$AP Twelvyy, Brooklyn MC Joey Bada$$, and Harlem’s Smoke DZA, an old head who just jumped back in the game with Pete Rock on Don’t Smoke Rock.

Also added to the Mar. 10-19 docket are re-trending space-pop vets Grandaddy, jangle rock faves Real Estate, Canadian pop collective the New Pornographers, punk howlers Radkey, indie pop duo Sylvan Esso, NOLA R&B upstart Benjamin Booker, and Big Star’s Third, a tribute to the Memphis cult heroes 1975 album Third/Sister Lovers. Meanwhile, the music fest also taps roots songstress Valerie June, who performs at the Paramount on Tuesday, Houston sissy bounce king Vockah Redu, world sound DJ collective/band Thievery Corporation, pop-punk sister act Bleached, “Headstrong” nü-metal act Trapt, Mexican dark rockers Le Butcherettes, vintage pop sophisticate Nick Waterhouse & His Tarots, Kentucky cellist/storyteller Ben Sollee, synth-pop act Poliça, and reformed alternative rockers Royal Trux.

Locally, glammy punks A Giant Dog, electro eclectics Octopus Project, and Goth-y synth personality Mr. Kitty top a list that also includes All in the Golden Afternoon, Arkansas Dave, B1, the Bad Lovers, Baggage Boys, Khali Haat, Mluna, Murdocks, Justin “Dat Boy Supa” Porter, and Théorie Ornery.

Today’s potent batch elevates SXSW’s grand total to some 1,730 acts. Expect a final weekly list next Friday, followed by a few more late-breaking headliner bulletins. Here’s today’s full list:

24Hrs (Atlanta, GA.)

A$AP Twelvyy (New York, NY.)

Active Bird Community (Brooklyn, NY.)

A Giant Dog (Austin)

All in the Golden Afternoon (Austin)

Arkansas Dave (Austin)

Avett Brothers (Concord, NC.)

AV the Great (Denton)

B1 (Austin)

Joey Bada$$ (Brooklyn, NY.)

The Bad Lovers (Austin)

Baggage Boys (Austin)

Baya (Kolsås, Norway)

Bearson (Oslo, Norway)

Big Star’s Third (Memphis, TN.)

Blackway (Baldwin, NY.)

Blang (Orange County, Calif.)

Blank Range (Nashville, TN.)

Bleached (Los Angeles, Calif.)

The Blind Owls (Corpus Christi)

Benjamin Booker (Virginia Beach, VA.)

Boyfriend (New Orleans, LA.)

Miss C Brown (Birmingham, England)

Julie Byrne (New York, NY.)

Call of the Void (Boulder, CO.)

Casper Skulls (Toronto, Canada)

Casper Tielrooij b2b Orpheu the Wizard (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Chill Moody (Philadelphia, PA.)

Chrome Sparks (Pittsburgh, PA.)

Cosmonauts (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Deep Creep b2b Malika (Austin)

Deltatron (Lima, Peru)

Diamond Thug (Cape Town, South Africa)

DJ Kaydence (Los Angeles, Calif.)

DJ Questionmark (Taipei, Taiwan)

DJ Speedway (Austin)

DJ Trauma (New York, NY.)

DJ Xanax (New York, NY.)

Drama Diablo (Toronto, Canada)

Duhrdy (Austin)

Eloq (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Emoni (Nashville, TN.)

Fast Forward Austin (Austin)

Femdot. (Chicago, IL.)

Flipp Dinero (Canarsie, NY.)

Future Islands (Baltimore MD)

Devon Gilfillian (Nashville, TN.)

Robert Glasper (Houston)

Gold Star (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Grandaddy (Modesto, Calif.)

Nick Grant (Walterboro, SC.)

Coco Hames (Memphis, TN.)

Hanson (Tulsa, OK.)

Annie Hart (New York, NY.)

Devan Ibiza (Bronx, NY.)

Ile (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

Ivy Lab (London, England)

Jacques (Paris, France)

Jay Dot Rain (Tuscaloosa, AL.)

Valerie June (Memphis, TN.)

Ken Blvd (New Orleans, LA.)

Khali Haat (Austin)

Kid Wave (London, England)

Tim Kinsella (Chicago, IL.)

Krudas Cubensi (Havana, Cuba)

Lawrence (New York, NY.)

Le Butcherettes (El Paso)

Lil Ronny Mothaf (Dallas)

Little Simz (London, England)

Lolo (Jackson, TN.)

Lonesome Heroes (Austin)

Peewee Longway (Atlanta, GA.)

Calvin Love (Edmonton, Canada)

M.A.R. (Bridgeport, CT.)

Matt Maeson (Norfol, VA.)

Majix (New York, NY.)

Mammút (Reykjavik, Iceland.)

Mary Magdalena (Austin)

Maybird (Rochester, NY.)

Frank McFly (Brooklyn, NY.)

Me & My Brother (Keswick, VA.)

Don Michael Jr (Camden, NJ.)

Mir Fontane (Camden, NJ.)

Mister Saturday Night (New York, NY.)

Mkf Kunst (Houston)

Mluna (Austin)

Molecule [DJ set] (Paris, France)

Andreas Moss (Nashville, TN.)

Mr. Kitty (Austin)

Mt. Joy (Philadelphia, PA.)

Murdocks (Austin)

New Politics (New York, NY.)

New Pornographers (Vancouver, Canada)

Nick & Sammy (Seoul, South Korea)

Nightly (Nashville, TN.)

Nook Turner (Austin)

No Sleep (Pittsburgh, PA.)

Octopus Project (Austin)

Oddcouple (Chicago, IL.)

Omen (Chicago, IL.)

Pavo Pavo (Brooklyn, NY.)

Perera Elsewhere (Berlin, Germany)

PJ Sinsuela (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

Poliça (Minneapolis, MN.)

Justin “Dat Boy Supa” Poter (Austin)

Radkey (St. Joseph, MO.)

Rah-C (New York, NY.)

Rapsody (Snow Hill, NC.)

Lauren Ray (South Jersey, NJ.)

Real Estate (Ridgewood, NJ.)

Vockah Redu (Houston)

Rio Jordan (San Antonio)

Rome Castille (Los Angeles, Calif.)

The Roomsounds (Dallas)

Frances Ros (New York, NY.)

Royal Trux (San Francisco, Calif.)

The Shacks (New York, NY.)

The Shelters (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Smoke DZA (Harlem, NY.)

Sneaks (Washington, D.C.)

Ben Sollee (Louisville, KY.)

Supa Bwe (Chicago, IL.)

Sylvan Esso (Durham, NC.)

Tall Heights (Boston, MA.)

Tanktop NYC (New York, NY.)

Théorie Ornery (Austin)

Thievery Corporation (Washington, D.C.)

Jonathan Toubin (New York, NY.)

Trace (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Trapt (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Unlike Pluto (Los Angeles, Calif.)

War Party (Fort Worth)

Nick Waterhouse & His Tarots (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Weezer (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Willtothe (Austin)

Zooey Wonder (Taipei, Taiwan)

Wu-Tang Clan (Staten Island, NY.)