SXSW Music: First List
Conference releases initial list of 171 showcasers
By Chase Hoffberger, 10:02AM, Wed. Oct. 22, 2014
Like that, South by Southwest is back – and bearing down equally on your calendar and psyche.
The Music portion of the Austin’s annual mega-conference, March 17-22, 2015, released its first batch of official showcasers just now, revealing 171 total acts. The cull touches on six of seven continents (sorry, Antarctica), as well as 24 local mainstays, not including Ssleeperhold, which claims dual citizenship with Los Angeles. There’s Suboi from Saigon, El Freaky from Colombia, and a songwriter named Charlotte OC from Blackburn, England.
Locally, SXSW extends invitations to Ume, Sorne, and Emily Wolfe, just off a premiere gig at Austin City Limits Music Festival. Expect to see fellow rockers Residual Kid and the Sour Notes, songwriters Jess Williamson and Colin Gilmore, plus established acts including Ben Kweller, Nakia, and the Octopus Project, as well as a whole slew of hip-hop: Kydd, Sertified, Crew54, and Krypol Haze. Newbies are represented by synth-popper Mr. Kitty, Institute, and filmmaker Sarah Lipsite’s Noveller.
Elsewhere, the Chronicle’s Music team found itself aghast over the relative dearth of Brooklyn acts – only two: Dream Police and the exciting, adventurous Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, which purports to hail from Chicago – although seven entities claim New York nativity. Twelve visitors from Pakistan and South Korea combined counts as notable, and five hail from Copenhagen, which is more than double the Nashville contingent – Blacklist Royals and Hotel Vegas regulars Natural Child.
Regarding better known acts, SXSW’s first round names the Dodos, Thee Oh Sees, nerdcore staple MC Lars, and New Orleans bounce provocateur Vockah Redu, likely part of an eventual tribute to Nicky Da B, who passed away last month. Detroit rapper/producer Black Milk will be there (fifth solo album If There’s a Hell Below currently streams through The New York Times), as will bonkers Colombian cumbia group Bomba Estéro.
Scott Weiland takes chief billing on the lineup, though he’s listed as appearing with the Wildabouts and not Stone Temple Pilots, who fired the lead singer last summer. A Festival reunion perhaps? A lot can happen between now and mid-March.
Agoraphobia (Boiro, Spain)
Agosto (Buenos Aires, Argentina )
Alvvays (Toronto, Canada)
Angus & Julia Stone (Sydney, Australia)
Babes (New Orleans, LA.)
Baby in Vain (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires (Birmingham, AL.)
Ballet School (Berlin, Germany)
Ball Park Music (Sydney, Australia)
The Barberettes (Seoul, South Korea)
Courtney Barnett (Melbourne, Australia)
James Bay (Hitchin, England)
Be Forest (Pesaro, Italy)
Big Phony (Seoul, South Korea)
Bishop Nehru (New York, NY.)
Blacklist Royals (Nashville, TN.)
Black Milk (Detroit, MI.)
Black Taxi (New York, NY.)
Bloods (Newtown, Australia)
Bogan Via (Los Angeles, CA.)
Bomba Estéreo (Bogotá, Colombia)
Bonaparte (Berlin, Germany)
The Boxing Lesson (Austin)
Brolin (Yorkshire, England)
Butcher Brown (Richmond, VA.)
Buenaparte (Lecheria, Venezuela)
The California Honeydrops (Oakland, CA.)
Ben Caplan (Halifax, Canada)
Carl Barat & the Jackals (London, England)
Ceschi (New Haven, CT.)
Charlotte OC (Blackburn, England)
Cheerleader (Philadelphia, MN.)
ChihiroYamazaki+ROUTE14band (Tokyo, Japan)
The Church (Sydney, Australia)
Civil Twilight (Cape Town, South Africa)
Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers (Phoenix, AZ.)
Coasts (Bristol, England)
Crew54 (Killeen)
Dark Time Sunshine (Seattle, WA.)
Deers (Madrid, Spain)
Dena (Berlin, Germany)
Diwan Saz (Yodefat, Israel)
The Dodos (San Francisco, CA.)
Cettina Donato & Serena Brancale Group (Messina, Italy)
Dream Police (Brooklyn, NY.)
Dry the River (London, England)
East Cameron Folkcore (Austin)
Eastern Sidekick (Seoul, South Korea)
EE (Seoul, South Korea)
El Conjunto Nueva Ola (Los Angeles, CA.)
El Freaky (Bogota, Columbia)
Él Mató A Un Policía Motorizado (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Fatherson (Glasgow, Scotland)
Marcelo Fruet & Os Cozinheiros (Porto Alegre, Brazil)
Colin Gilmore (Austin)
GoldLink (Washington DC)
The Gooch Palms (Newcastle, Australia)
Jenn Grant (Halifax, Canada)
Haioka (Tokyo, Japan)
Happyness (London, England)
Haroon (Islamabad, Pakistan)
Danny B. Harvey (Austin)
Mekaal Hasan Band (Lahore, Pakistan)
Heat (Montreal CANADA)
Heaters (Grand Rapids, MI.)
Hey Marseilles (Seattle, WA.)
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (Brooklyn, NY.)
Ibeyi (Paris, Frabce)
The Inspector Cluzo (Mont De Marsan, France)
Institute (Austin)
Jared & the Mill (Tempe, AZ.)
Jitterbug Vipers (Austin)
Alexz Johnson (New York, NY.)
Joycut (Bologna, Italy)
Dustin Kensrue (Orange County, CA.)
Khumariyaan (Peshawar, Pakistan)
Hanne Kolstø (Oslo, Norway)
Krypol Haze (Austin)
Ben Kweller (Austin)
Kydd (Austin)
La Orquesta Vulgar (Mexico City, Mexico)
The Last Bison (Chesapeake, VA.)
Howie Lee (Beijing, China)
The Lonely Wild (Los Angeles, CA.)
Lost Midas (Los Angeles, CA.)
Demi Louise (Boronia, Australia)
Love Inks (Austin)
Low Cut Connie (Philadelphia, PA.)
Low Roar (Reykjavik, Iceland)
Luluc (Melbourne, Australia)
Lust for Youth (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Lydia (Phoenix, AZ.)
Mai Dhai (Thar Parker, Pakistan)
Marching Church (Copenhagen, Denamrk)
MC Lars (Oakland, CA.)
Mew (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Mini Mansions (Los Angeles, CA.)
Miss Chain & the Broken Heels (Thiene, Italy)
Modestep (London, England)
Moon Duo (Portland, OR.)
Angelo Moore & the Brand New Step (San Francisco, CA.)
Mothercoat (Fukaya, Japan)
Mr. Kitty (Austin)
Nakia (Austin TX)
Jay Nash and Josh Day are the Contenders (Los Angeles, CA.)
Natural Child (Nashville, TN.)
Nightmare Air (Los Angeles, CA.)
No Brain (Seoul, South Korea)
Noveller (Austin)
Ocellot (Barcelona, Spain)
The Octopus Project (Austin)
Panda Elliot (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
The Parrots (Madrid, Spain)
Pharmakon (New York, NY.)
Pommez Internacional (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Poor Rich Boy (Lahore, Pakistan)
The Pop Group (London, England)
Publicist UK (Longmont, CO.)
Quantic (New York, NY.)
Que (Atlanta, GA.)
Rangleklods (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Residual Kid (Austin)
Roddy (New Orleans, LA.)
Royal Teeth (New Orleans, LA.)
Sain Tanveer Brothers (Sialkot, Pakistan)
Sertified (Austin)
Seven Davis Jr (Los Angeles, CA.)
Sexores (Barcelona, Spain)
Silk Rodeo (Austin)
Charanjit Singh (Bombay, India)
Skinny Lister (London, England)
Sleep ∞ Over (Austin)
Luisa Sobral (Lisbon, Portugal)
Songhoy Blues (Bamako, Mali)
Sorne (Austin)
The Sour Notes (Austin)
Ssleeperhold (Los Angeles, CA.)
The Stone Foxes (San Francisco, CA.)
Suboi (Saigon, Vietnam)
Suicideyear (Baton Rouge, LA.)
숨[su:m] (Seoul, South Korea)
Summer Heart (Malmo, Sweden)
Sy Ari Da Kid (Atlanta, GA.)
Tanya Tagaq (Brandon, Canada)
Talking to Turtles (Leipzig, Germany)
Talkshow (Bratislava, Slovakia)
The Big Pink (London, England)
Thee Oh Sees (Los Angeles, CA.)
Jonathan Toubin (New York, NY.)
Tourmaline (Portland, OR.)
Transit (Calgary, Canada)
Hailey Tuck (London, England)
Twerps (Melbourne, Australia)
The Twilight Sad (Glasgow, Scotland)
Twin Peaks (Chicago, IL.)
Txarango (Barcelona, Spain)
Ume (Austin)
Vaadat Charigim (Tel Aviv, Israel)
Vampillia (Nihon'odori, Japan)
Vockah Redu (New Orleans, LA.)
Vuurwerk (Brussel, Belgium)
Wand (Los Angeles, CA.)
Jessie Ware (London, England)
Warm Soda (Austin)
Lewis Watson (Oxford, England)
Weekend Money (New York, NY.)
Scott Weiland & the Wildabouts (Los Angeles, CA.)
Hank West & the Smokin Hots (Asheville, NC.)
Whitehorse (Toronto, Canada)
Jess Williamson (Austin)
Emily Wolfe (Austin)>
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Raoul Hernandez, April 3, 2015
Nov. 16, 2018
SXSW Music 2015, Ssleeperhold, Ume, Sorne, Emily Wolfe, Ben Kweller, Nakia, Octopus Project, Kydd, Sertified, Natural Child, blacklist Royals, MC Lars, Vockah Redu, Scott Weiland, Black Milk, Stone Temple Pilots