As any music lover knows, South by Southwest (aka. SXSW) is the center of the Universe every year in mid-March. Everyone from emo punk rockers to hipsters fill the streets of downtown Austin, Texas to hear the latest sounds from around the world in every genre that anyone could ever imagine. Over 2,000 artists perform in more than 90 venues during the 4-day music portion of the festival.
It is not uncommon to see various celebrities strolling the heart of the festival during the event. Just last year there were celebrity sightings of Nick Jonas, Perez Hilton, Conan O’Brien, Mike Tyson and many more.
This year’s first round release of showcasing artists stays true to the SXSW roots. Performers from Austin to Australia, Ireland to Kenya will rock the heart and souls of thousands during the event.
Check out the list below and start scheduling your stay in Austin during SXSW. Hotel rooms are already going quick!
First Round of Official 2012 Showcasing Artists:
Akina Adderley & The Vintage Playboys (Austin TX)
Against Me! (Gainesville FL)
Agent Fresco (Reykjavík ICELAND)
Ambition (Halifax CANADA)
ANR (Miami FL)
Antoine Reverb (Guadalajara MEXICO)
Avalanche City (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Balthazar (Gent BELGIUM)
Bare Wires (Oakland NY)
BeatauCue (Caen FRANCE)
Bestial Mouths (Los Angeles CA)
Big Deal (London UK-ENGLAND)
Big Scary (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
The Black and White Years (Austin TX)
Black Books (Austin TX)
The Black Ryder (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Michael Guy Bowman (Los Angeles CA)
Cashier No.9 (Belfast UK-N. IRELAND)
Class Actress (Brooklyn NY)
Cloud Nothings (Cleveland OH)
Com Truise (Princeton NJ)
Delay Trees (Helsinki FINLAND)
Delhi 2 Dublin (Vancouver CANADA)
Marianne Dissard (Tucson AZ)
Duck Fight Goose (Shanghai CHINA)
The Ettes (Nashville TN)
Fanzine (London UK-ENGLAND)
Fat Tony (Houston TX)
FEAR (Los Angeles CA)
Free Blood (Brooklyn NY)
THE GRANNIES (San Francisco CA)
Guadalupe Plata (Andalusia-Ubeda SPAIN)
He’s My Brother She’s My Sister (Los Angeles CA)
Howler (Minneapolis MN)
Ice Choir (Brooklyn NY)
I Got You On Tape (Copenhagen DENMARK)
il abanico (Bogota COLOMBIA)
Matthew Perryman Jones (Nashville TN)
Jonquil (Oxford UK-ENGLAND)
Just A Band (Nairobi KENYA)
Marit Larsen (Oslo NORWAY)
Letting Up Despite Great Faults (Los Angeles CA)
Library Voices (Regina CANADA)
Love Inks (Austin TX)
Maxim Ludwig & The Santa Fe Seven (Silverlake CA)
Mahogany (Chicago IL)
Marmalakes (Austin TX)
The Men (New York City NY)
Mind Spiders (Forth Worth TX)
Motopony (Seattle WA)
Mujeres (Barcelona SPAIN)
Musikanto (Chicago IL)
My Education (Austin TX)
Niki & The Dove (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Not In The Face!! (Austin TX)
Of Monsters and Men (Reykjavík ICELAND)
120 Days (Oslo NORWAY)
Outfit (Liverpool UK-ENGLAND)
The Parlotones (Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA)
Parlovr (Montreal CANADA)
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (Waitsfield VT)
Pure Love (Brooklyn NY)
Molly Rankin (Charlottetown PE)
ROGe (Rio De Janeiro BRAZIL)
Peter Rosenberg (New York NY)
Rosie and Me (Curitiba BRAZIL)
Royal Canoe (Winnipeg CANADA)
Gabriel Santiago Quintet (Rio de Janeiro BRAZIL)
Sauti Sol (Nairobi KENYA)
Say Hi (Seattle WA)
The Scoundrels (Las Vegas NV)
Shout Out Out Out Out (Edmonton CANADA)
Skewby (Memphis TN)
Skinny Lister (London UK-ENGLAND)
Soft Metals (Los Angeles CA)
Some Community (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
Something Fierce (Houston TX)
Sore Losers (Lancaster TX)
SPEAK (Austin TX)
Spectrals (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)
Spycatcher (London UK-ENGLAND)
Sudakaya (Quito ECUADOR)
Talking To Turtles (Leipzig GERMANY)
Team Me (Elverum NORWAY)
Telebit (Bogotá COLOMBIA)
Thee Oh Sees (San Francisco CA)
THULEBASEN (København V DENMARK)
Timbuktu (Toronto ON)
Truth Universal (New Orleans LA)
Turbogeist (London UK-ENGLAND)
Uncle Bad Touch (Montreal CANADA)
Uncle Lucius (Austin TX)
UV POP (Doncaster UK-ENGLAND)
Vampillia (Tenjinmachi JAPAN)
V for Volume (Bogota COLOMBIA)
VHS or Beta (Brooklyn NY)
WAX (Dunkirk MD)
We Are The Ocean (London UK-ENGLAND)
We Barbarians (Brooklyn NY)
The Wedding Present (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)
Chelsea Wolfe (Los Angeles CA)
Young Magic (Brooklyn NY)
Yukon Blonde (Vancouver CANADA)
Yuksek(Paris FRANCE)
The Zoltars (Austin TX)
