SXSW Releases First Wave of 2018 Performers

For most of us, South by Southwest remains a distant concern – still five months away. For the conference’s music programmers, however, the culling of talent has been going on for months and now the unloading begins. Today’s list, numbering 207 acts, represents a 10th of the talent that will ultimately descend on Austin March 12-18, 2018.

As usual, this initial announcement trumpets beaucoup international hopefuls, including German R&B singer Ace Tee, who had a viral hit with “Bist Du Down,” Dead Oceans-signed dark songwriter Marlon Williams from New Zealand, funny Indonesian rap sensation Rich Chigga, reggaeton/trap/pop artist Farina from Colombia, and her Roc Nation labelmate Jay Park, who represents South Korea.

Swedish indie rock charmers Hater, Tokyo garage rockers DYGL, Chinese good-time rappers Higher Brothers, British indie veterans the Wedding Present, British singer-songwriter Lucy Rose, and UK rapper Stefflon Don also arrive as emerging talent.

Stateside buzz includes recent ACL Fest performer R.Lum.R, a talented guitarist and alternative R&B songwriter, “On the Regular” singer Shamir, bedroom pop trio Snail Mail, and Dallas doomers Wo Fat.

Austin lands a neat dozen acts into the fold: the Bishops, Cilantro Boombox, Curved Light, Charlie Faye & the Fayettes, Greenbeard, Warren Hood, Leather Girls, Night Beats, Oliver Rajamani, David Ramirez, Adam Torres, and Lou Rebecca, who’s listed as being stationed in Paris, but has lived locally for a few years.

Here’s the full list:

Ace Tee (Hamburg, Germany)

Aero Flynn (Minneapolis, MN.)

Altre di B (Bologna, Italy)

Antytila (Kyiv, Ukraine)

Aries (Bilbao, Spain)

Automelodi (Montreal, Canada)

Avatar Darko (Seattle, WA.)

Bad Moves (Washington, DC.)

Bad Pony (Sydney, Australia)

Alice Bag (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Lee Bains III + the Glory Fires (Birmingham, AL.)

Bajaga & Instruktori (Belgrade, Serbia)

Baywaves (Madrid, Spain)

Benin City (London, England)

Dan Bettridge (Bridgend, Wales)

The Bishops (Austin)

Blackberries (Solingen, Germany)

Blood Wine or Honey (Hong Kong, China)

Boogat (Montreal, Canada)

Moses Boyd Solo Exodus (London, England)

Brightness (Newcastle, Austraila)

The Britanys (New York, NY.)

Abraham Brody (Vilnius, Lithuania)

Marla Brown (London, England)

Buddy (Compton, Calif.)

C-Kan (Guadalajara, Mexico)

Dylan Cameron (Austin)

Fabrizio Cammarata (Palermo, Italy)

Cape Francis (Brooklyn, NY.)

Castlecomer (Sydney, Australia)

ChihiroYamazaki+Route14band (Tokyo, Japan)

Cifika (Seoul, South Korea)

Cilantro Boombox (Austin)

Cirkus Funk (Cali, Colombia)

C. Macleod (Stornoway, Scotland)

Kelvyn Colt (Bingen, Germany)

Coma Pony (Chihuahua, Mexico)

Crumb (Brooklyn, NY.)

Cursed Earth (Perth, Australia)

Curved Light (Austin)

Cut Worms (Brooklyn, NY.)

Mikaela Davis (Rochester, NY.)

Jarv Dee (Seattle, WA.)

Helena Deland (Montreal, Canada)

Deluxe (Aix-En-Provence, France)

Dirgahayu (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Stella Donnelly (Fremantle, Austrailia)

Keelan Donovan (Portland, ME.)

Joey Dosik (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Draper (London, England)

DYGL (Tokyo, Japan)

El Otro Borges (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

El Otro Grupo (Santa Marta, Colombia)

Farina (Medellin, Colombia)

Fatai (Melbourne, Australia)

Favx (Madrid, Spain)

Charlie Faye & the Fayettes (Austin)

Ruby Fields (Cronulla, Australia)

Fis & Rob Thorne (Palmerston North, New Zealand)

The Fish Police (London, England)

Flyte (London, England)

The Foreign Resort (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Forever (Montreal, Canada)

Foxtrax (New York, NY.)

Francobollo (London, England)

Freedom Hawk (Virginia Beach, VA.)

Fuglar (Santiago, Chile)

Ganges (Madrid, Spain)

Gang of Youths (Sydney, Austrailia)

Nubya Garcia (London, England)

Samantha Glass (Madison, WI.)

William Harries Graham (Austin)

Grand Analog (Toronto, Canada)

Grandchildren (Philadelphia, PA.)

Greenbeard (Austin)

Grim Streaker (Brooklyn, NY.)

Grupo Rebolu (Colombia, NY.)

Gulfer (Montreal, Canada)

Gurr (Berlin, Germany)

Sinead Harnett (London, England)

Hatchie (Brisbane, Australia)

Hater (Malmo, Sweden)

Ashley Henry Trio (London, England)

Higher Brothers (Chengdu, China)

The Homesick (Dokkum, Netherlands)

Honduras (Brooklyn, NY.)

Warren Hood (Austin)

Husky Loops (London, England)

Huxless (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Iamddb (Manchester, England)

Izzy True (Trumansburg, NY.)

Jade Imagine (Melbourne, Australia)

Joji (Tokyo, Japan)

JP the Wavy (Tokyo, Japan)

Keith Ape (Seoul, South Korea)

Sarah Klang (Gothenburg, Sweden)

La Banda Morisca (Andalucía, Spain)

Manu Lanvin (Lyon, France)

Leather Girls (Austin)

Luna Lee (Seoul, South Korea)

Lethal Bizzle (London, England)

Benji Lewis (Melbourne, Australia)

Dean Lewis (Sydney, Australia)

Lng/Sht (Cancun, Mexico)

Los Wilds (Madrid, Spain)

Lolo Lovina (Sydney, Australia)

Luneta Mágica (Manaus, Brazil)

The Magnettes (Pajala, Sweden)

Manatee Commune (Seattle, WA.)

Mannequin Pussy (Philadelphia, PA.)

Maréh (Cali, Colombia)

Marlene (Stockholm, Sweden)

Anna McClellan (Brooklyn, NY.)

MC Lars (Berkeley, Calif.)

Melo Makes Music (Chicago, IL.)

Milk & Bone (Montreal, Canada)

Miqui Brightside (DJset) (Madrid, Spain)

Mogli (Hamburg, Germany)

Mothership (Dallas)

Museless (Barcelona, Spain)

My Life as Ali Thomas (Bangkok, Thailand)

Hans Nayna (Mahebourg, Mauritius)

Night Beats (Austin)

Not3s (Hackney, England)

No Vacation (San Francisco, CA.)

October (Auckland, New Zealand)

Nnamdi Ogbonnaya (Chicago, IL.)

Okey Dokey (Nashville, TN.)

ONR (Glasgow, Scotland)

The Orielles (Halifax, England)

Our Girl (London, England)

The Outer Vibe (Nashville, TN.)

The Outfit, TX (Dallas)

Jay Park (Seoul, South Korea)

Partner (Windsor, Canada)

Peach Pit (Vancouver, Canada)

Sloan Peterson (Sydney, Australia)

pH-1 (Seoul, South Korea)

Phe Reds (Seattle, WA.)

Sara Pi (Barcelona, Spain)

Plastic Picnic (Brooklyn, NY.)

Pronoun (Brooklyn, NY.)

Punjabtronix (Bristol, England)

Oliver Rajamani (Austin)

David Ramirez (Austin)

Rancho Aparte (Quibdó, Colombia)

Ratboys (Chicago, IL.)

Gemma Ray (Berlin, Germany)

Lou Rebecca (Paris, France)

*Repeat Repeat (Nashville, TN.)

Jess Ribeiro (Melbourne, Australia)

Rich Chigga (Jakarta, Indonesia)

R.Lum.R. (Nashville, TN.)

Lucy Rose (London, England)

Rude Kid (London, England)

RVG (Melbourne, Australia)

Salem’s Bend (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Sammus (Ithaca, NY.)

Sarasara (Lille, France)

Sassy 009 (Oslo, Norway)

Say Sue Me (Busan, South Korea)

Ed Schrader’s Music Beat (Baltimore, MD.)

Shamir (Las Vegas, NV.)

Shopping (London, England)

Sik-k (Seoul, South Korea)

Silibrina (São Paulo, Bazil)

Raz Simone (Seattle, WA.)

Smut (Cincinnati, OH.)

Snail Mail (Baltimore, MD.)

Sonars (Bergamo, Italy)

Sports (Philadelphia, PA.)

SsingSsing (Seoul, South Korea)

Steak (London, England)

Stefflon Don (London, England)

Stonefield (Macedon Ranges, Australia)

Sturle Dagsland (Stavanger, Norway)

Sun Seeker (Nashville, TN.)

Surfbort (Brooklyn, NY.)

Surma (Leiria, Portugal)

Talisco (Paris, France)

Tennis System (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Terry vs. Tori (Seville, Spain)

Theodore (Athens, Greece)

Tika (Toronto, Canada)

Adam Torres (Austin)

Totally Mild (Melbourne, Australia)

Touts (Derry, N. Ireland)

Uni (New York, NY)

Us & Us Only (Baltimore, MD.)

Dhruv Visvanath (New Delhi, India)

Vowws (Los Angeles, CA)

Voyager (Perth, Australia)

VVV (Austin)

Warbly Jets (Los Angeles, Calif.)

The Watchers (San Francisco, Calif.)

The Weather Station (Toronto, Canada)

The Wedding Present (Leeds, England)

Jerry Williams (Portsmouth, England)

Marlon Williams (Christchurch, New Zealand)

Wo Fat (Dallas)

Woodie GoChild (Seoul, South Korea)

World Music Unleashed by SIPM (Austin)

Yemen Blues (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Yultron (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Yungen (London, England)

The Zephyr Bones (Barcelona, Spain)

Violetta Zironi (Reggio Emilia, Italy)