SXSW Music 2016 Announces Preliminary Lineup, and These Massachusetts Bands Made the Cut

This post originally appeared on Vanyaland.

Northampton’s And the Kids / Courtesy photo via Bandcamp

These days pretty much every band “plays” South-By-Southwest, whether in an official “invited” capacity, or as rebellious musicians rolling down to Austin to play under bridges and powerlines and maybe, hopefully, for a few cherished minutes in front of that so-hot-right-now taco truck to impress hungry music fans at 3 a.m. before the police arrive to break it up.

But there’s still something so lovely about reading the first wave of official, “showcasing” bands. Maybe it’s because CMJ is over. Maybe it’s because you love music. Or maybe it’s because, for us here in New England, winter is coming, and SXSW provides our annual spring break and reintroduction to T-shirts.

Today, SXSW started the official countdown to the March 15-20 music portion of the festival—hope you locked in that hotel room by now—with a first wave of announced bands set for, wait for it, SXSW Music 2016. And it has something for everyone, from the buzzy (Alex G, Hinds, A Giant Dog) to the still-cool known commodities (Crystal Castles, Caveman, Yuck) to fast-riding New England hopefuls, like Providence’s Downtown Boys, Western Massachusetts’ And The Kids (pictured up top), and Boston’s Ballroom Thieves. We even spied David Wax Museum on the list, but turns out these Boston Music Award winners recently moved to Virginia. (Hey, it happens. Now they have less of a travel burden to Austin.)

Russia’s answer to U2, Mumiy Troll, will also be representing, which likely means a tour around the rest of the country before or after. No one travels from Vladivostok to play one town.

Peep the full list of first-wavers below, and stay tuned for more, more, and mooooooooore SXSW announcements between now and March. Applications to play, officially, at SXSW are still open. The deadline is Friday.

Official 2016 SXSW Showcasing Artists (as of October 20)
3ballMty (Monterrey MEXICO)
Abjects (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Academic (Mullingar IRELAND)
Barry Adamson (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)
Adée (Kalmar SWEDEN)
Alex G (Philadelphia PA)
Alice on the roof (Brussels BELGIUM)
Aloa Input (Munich GERMANY)
Altimet & the Kawan Band (Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA)
Anamanaguchi (New York NY)
And The Kids (Northampton MA)
Angelo Moore & The Brand New Step (San Francisco CA)
Astrid S (Berkak NORWAY)
Autobahn (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)
Avec Sans (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Ballroom Thieves (Boston MA)
The Band of Heathens (Austin TX)
Bee’s Knees (Los Angeles CA)
Better Person (Berlin GERMANY)
Beverly (Brooklyn NY)
Big Phony (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Bird Dog (Los Angeles CA)
Birdy Nam Nam (Paris FRANCE)
Birthmark (Brooklyn NY)
Black Asteroid (Brooklyn NY)
Bombino (Agadez NIGER)
Boulevards (Raleigh NC)
Brass Bed (Lafayette LA)
Bye Bye Badman (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Laura Carbone (Mannheim GERMANY)
Rosie Carney (Donegal IRELAND)
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes (London UK-ENGLAND)
Cash+David (London UK-ENGLAND)
Caveman (New York NY)
Ceasetone (Reykjavik ICELAND)
Chambao (Málaga SPAIN)
Chirkutt (Dhaka BANGLADESH)
Cirkus Funk (Cali COLOMBIA)
Cóndor Jet (Providencia CHILE)
Consulado Popular (Bogotá COLOMBIA)
The Crookes (Sheffield UK-ENGLAND)
Crystal Castles (Toronto CANADA)
Dash Rip Rock (Slidell LA)
David Wax Museum (Charlottesville VA)
Demob Happy (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)
Élage Diouf (Montréal CANADA)
Dirty Fences (Brooklyn NY)
Dolce (Umeå SWEDEN)
Downtown Boys (Providence RI)
DRELLER (London UK-ENGLAND)
Dubioza Kolektiv (Sarajevo BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)
Eau Rouge (Stuttgart GERMANY)
Elias (Stockholm SWEDEN)
EMUFUCKA (Tokyo JAPAN)
Expert Alterations (Baltimore MD)
Sarah Farina (Berlin GERMANY)
Lena Fayre (Los Angeles CA)
Fear of Men (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)
Few Bits (Antwerp BELGIUM)
Ian Fisher (Berlin GERMANY)
The Foreign Resort (Copenhagen DENMARK)
Andy Frasco & the U.N. (Los Angeles CA)
A Giant Dog (Austin TX)
Matt Gilmour’s Patient Wolf (Austin TX)
Gold Class (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Jon Dee Graham (Austin TX)
William Harries Graham & the Painted Redstarts (Austin TX)
Guerilla Toss (New York NY)
HÆLOS (London UK-ENGLAND)
Haihm (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Hanggai (Beijing CHINA)
Har Mar Superstar (Minneapolis MN)
Hinds (Madrid SPAIN)
Howardian (New York NY)
Hyperpotamus (Caranca SPAIN)
Illionaire Records (Dok2 & The Quiett) (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Silvana Imam (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Imran Aziz Mian Qawwal (RawalPindi PAKISTAN)
Into It. Over it. (Chicago IL)
Is Tropical (London UK-ENGLAND)
Jahkoy (Toronto CANADA)
Jambinai (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Joan Of Arc (Chicago IL)
John GRVY (Madrid SPAIN)
Jointpop (Port of Spain TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO)
Judah & the Lion (Nashville TN)
KAO=S (Tokyo JAPAN)
Marina Kaye (Marseille FRANCE)
Josh Kelley (Park City UT)
The Kickback (Chicago IL)
La Banda Morisca (Jerez de la Frontera SPAIN)
Lazyeyes (Brooklyn NY)
Lois (Madrid SPAIN)
Demi Louise (Boronia CANADA)
Love X Stereo (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Lushes (Brooklyn NY)
LV (London UK-ENGLAND)
Mai Nimani (Hyderabad PAKISTAN)
Mamamoo (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
MC Lars (Oakland CA)
Methyl Ethel (Perth AUSTRALIA)
Micachu and the Shapes (London UK-ENGLAND)
Mise en Scene (Winnipeg CANADA)
Missi & Mister Baker (Portland OR)
Moving Panoramas (Austin TX)
Mr Muthafuckin eXquire (Far Rockaway NY)
Mumiy Troll (Vladivostok RUSSIA)
The National Parks (Provo UT)
Now, Now (Minneapolis MN)
Oil Boom (Dallas TX)
OKRAA (Bogotá COLOMBIA)
Paul Oscher (Austin TX)
Overload (Lahore PAKISTAN)
Owen (Chicago IL)
The Parrots (Madrid SPAIN)
PHASES (Los Angeles CA)
Platonick Dive (Livorno ITALY)
The Pocket Rockets (Los Angeles CA)
Ron Pope (Nashville TN)
Prince Rama (New York NY)
PUP (Toronto CANADA)
Pure Bathing Culture (Portland OR)
Quebe Sisters (Dallas TX)
Quiet Life (Portland OR)
Reuben and the Dark (Toronto CANADA)
Emitt Rhodes (Hawthorne CA)
RIVRS (London UK-ENGLAND)
Self Defense Family (Los Angeles CA)
Skyline (Austin TX)
Sleepers’ Reign (Herentals BELGIUM)
Son Little (Trenton NJ)
Southern Hospitality (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Spook School (Edinburgh UK-SCOTLAND)
Suboi (Saigon VIETNAM)
Summer Heart (Malmo SWEDEN)
Sunflower Bean (New York NY)
Sur du monde (Rosario ARGENTINA)
Sy Ari Da Kid (Atlanta GA)
Tarmac (Medellin COLOMBIA)
The Nightowls (Austin TX)
Throwing Shade (London UK-ENGLAND)
Vaadat Charigim (Tel Aviv ISRAEL)
Victim Mentality (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Victoria+Jean (Brussels BELGIUM)
Waco Brothers (Chicago IL)
Wahid Allan Faqir (Rahim Yar Khan PAKISTAN)
The Wet Secrets (Edmonton CANADA)
Glenn White (New York NY)
Wildhoney (Baltimore MD)
Marlon Williams & The Yarra Benders (Christchurch NEW ZEALAND)
Womps (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)
Wordburglar (Toronto CANADA)
XYLØ (Westlake Village CA)
Yarn (New York NY)
Yuck (London UK-ENGLAND)