South by Southwest season is upon us. This year, 1,400 bands will travel to Austin from all over the world for the music festival and conference taking over downtown Austin from March 13-18.
With the March madness days of superstar pop-ins mostly behind us, the lineup leans into the festival’s original identity as a discovery event and a place where legacy artists can launch new projects.
We’ll do a deeper dive into the roster over the next week, but here are 20 artists our critics are most excited about. We’ve listed official showcases, but as usual with SXSW, you’ll have more than one chance to catch most of these acts.
DEBORAH SENGUPTA STITH’S PICKS
PinkPantheress
The British singer-songwriter hits the fest as “Boy’s a liar, pt. 2,” her collab with red-hot rapper Ice Spice, hovers near the top of the Billboard charts. Reminiscent of the time when an ocean-eyed Billie Eilish hit the fest on her first sold-out tour, this is your chance to hear the 21-year-old singer’s evolved bedroom pop up close as she bursts into stardom. Will Ms. Spice make a surprise appearance? It does not seem unlikely. (Time TBA March 14 at Mala Vida)
New Order
New Order is a band that was born under a cloud of trauma. Ian Curtis, the frontman of the group’s original band (post-punk outfit Joy Division), committed suicide days before the release of their second album. As the remaining band members muddled forward in the wake of his death — aided by copious amounts of heavy drugs — they landed on a synth-heavy sound that melded their moody ethos with the underground dance music that was sweeping through clubs in the ‘80s. They helped pioneer the early electronic music movement, creating visionary sounds for sweaty dancefloors. All of the original members except bassist Peter Hook are still with the band. New Order is in town promoting a new music conference and festival in their hometown, Manchester. In addition to their performance, they will participate in a keynote conversation at 1 p.m. on March 15. (midnight March 13 at ACL Live)
Orchestra Gold
Built around the expressive vocals of Mariam Diakite, the Oakland ensemble amps up Malian blues with funky horns and then drapes everything with grungey surfside fuzz. The bombastic jams feel like they could be piped in on an old transistor radio from a faraway land. Or another dimension. (1 a.m. March 18 at Hotel Vegas)
Ric Wilson
Oh, you’re looking for this year’s Anderson.Paak? This Chicago funkmaster infuses his hip-pop with dance floor popping disco grooves that draw on the city’s rich house music tradition. No lightweight on the lyrics, the lifelong activist was part of a delegation that traveled to the United Nations’ Geneva office in 2014 to allege the Chicago Police department had participated in acts of genocide and torture actions against the city’s Black and brown youth. (Time TBA, Venue TBA)
Thee Sacred Souls
The Daptones record label has left such an indelible mark on SXSW that many of us carry a Charles Bradley-shaped hole in our hearts this time of year. On their 2022 debut for the imprint, this San Diego trio mines the familiar analog vault to create sweet slow burners that ache with bittersweet nostalgia and heart. The band arrives at the festival on a North American tour that’s selling out venues around the country. (Official showcase: Time TBA, Venue TBA; The band is also on the roster for KUTX and ACL Radio morning broadcasts and the free South by San Jose day party.)
Girl Ultra
The artist aka Mariana de Miguel made waves on our side of the border with the 2019 Cuco collaboration, “DameLove,” and a feature on last year’s Adrian Quesada album “Boleros Psicodélicos.” On her latest, “El Sur,” she winds her smoky vocals over breezy club grooves that recall her days as a house DJ in Mexico City. (Midnight March 15 at Speakeasy. Girl Ultra will also appear on a KUTX morning broadcast.)
Lil Yachty
A new FutureMood video of a surfside conversation between Lil Boat and Drake is a treasure trove of clumsy revelations (Drake wants to build with aliens! Yachty thinks it’s OK to forget your mom’s birthday!). But the biggest take-home point is that the candy trap rapper doesn’t appreciate being underestimated. This should come as no surprise to anyone still reeling from a left field wallop of unexpected artistry in his career redefining masterwork “Let’s Start Here.” The nautical rapper leads listeners on a fantastic voyage, swapping spacious grooves of the trap house for fuzzed-out guitars, otherworldly funk effects and heart-ripping hooks. This will be one of his first live performances of the new material. (Time TBA on March 16 at Waterloo Park. $50 tickets are on sale to the general public through Ticketmaster. )
M(h)aol
The Dublin five-piece channel the fierce energy of their namesake, the 16th century Irish pirate queen Gráinne Mhaol, throughout their catalog. With brass knuckles punk sludge and biting wit they create rough and rugged anthems for a generation fed up with a culture that abuses and objectifies women. Pronounce it “male” (and pour out a little whiskey for the rigid gender roles you are killing). (10:10 p.m. March 15 at Mohawk indoor; 8 p.m. March 16 at Velveeta Room.)
Balming Tiger
“I don’t want some random 50-year-old to approve my music,” South Korean rapper Omega Sapien told Vogue in February. He was explaining why his underground music collective, Balming Tiger, chooses to remain independent, even as they log massive collabs with label-backed superstars like RM of BTS. Creating outside the strictly regimented, idol-driven Korean music machine, this collective of singers, rappers and visual artists crafts a vibrant alternative K-Pop. You can sample some of the best sounds from indie Korea (and beyond) when the band co-presents Tiger Den, an evening of talented artists from across Asia that includes experimental electronic artist CIFIKA. (Tiger Den kicks off with a 2 p.m. day party on March 15 at Cheer Up Charlies. Balming Tiger will close out the showcase at 1 a.m. that night.)
Killer Mike
Last year, the king of the mosh pit rap heavies took a break from obliterating racists, hypocrites and crooked cops with Run the Jewels to release his first solo music in a decade. At 47, the elder statesman of rap is leaning into his role as a leader of the resistance. His single “Run” was a battle cry, a pep talk to the soldiers feeling beat down by a system that refuses to recognize the value of Black life. He thinks of the song as a love letter to all the people “beating the odds like a drum,” he told Jimmy Fallon in October. “We gotta keep running toward victory and freedom,” he said. (Time TBA March 16 at Stubb’s BBQ; featured interview 2:30 p.m. March 15 at Austin Convention Center)
ERIC WEBB’S PICKS
Girli
I freely confess that I rely on aGLIFF, the city’s annual LGBTQ film fest, for new queer music discovery. Their pre-screening playlists are unmatched. That’s how I discovered “Day Month Second,” an insanely catchy dance-floor kiss-off from the U.K. artist aka Amelia Toomey. “Sucker”-era Charli XCX is a good point of reference, or maybe Foxes with a little more grit beneath her soles. Girli’s got the goods to be the next pop artist that gays call “mother” on TikTok. (10 p.m. March 15 at British Music Embassy at the Courtyard; 11 p.m. March 17 at Velveeta Room)
Gay Meat
Now there’s a SXSW band name. North Carolina’s Karl Kuehn (formerly of Say Anything) makes solo music as Gay Meat, which sounds like the title of a Kim Petras EP, but in fact, the material is sensitive, emo-inflected guitar-and-drums stuff, with the odd synth thrown in. For the queer person who likes to feel their emotions in a very specific Fueled By Ramen-era vein. “Bed of Every” grapples with his mother’s illness; “Heart Shaped Flail” is an upbeat overthinker’s lament. (8 p.m. March 15 at Velveeta Room)
Their / They’re / There
This Chicago trio of Evan Thomas Weiss (Into It. Over It.), Matthew Frank (Loose Lips Sink Ships) and Jared Karns (Kiss Kiss) has a proud Illinois emo pedigree; along with Weiss’ own considerable cred, Mike Kinsella (the generational voice behind American Football and Owen) helped form the group. Kinsella’s no longer in the band, but Weiss’ conversational vocals and Frank’s nimble math rock guitar licks scratch an itch that can only be scratched by the sounds of a house show in 2007. (11:30 p.m. March 16 at Cheer Up Charlies inside)
Sorry Mom
The name is especially funny when you consider their most-streamed song on Spotify is called “I (Expletive) Yr Mom.” That track recalls the most snot-nosed, ribald brand of garage punk, and elsewhere, the NYC trio dips into more melodic rock a la Charly Bliss (“Molly Sells Molly By the Seashore”) and more introspective yearncore that recalls Diet Cig (“2006”; I just came up with the word yearncore, don’t bother looking it up). The college friends-turned-rock band promise explorations of “queer experiences and suburban despair,” and they sound like they’d play their way through a hell of a catharsis. (10 p.m. March 14 at Low Down Lounge)
Ariel & The Culture
The Dallas artist was recently in town for Eso Es, Resound Presents’ mini fest celebrating the new hotness in Latinx sounds. If you missed him then, now’s the time. Ariel & The Culture’s romantic, bilingual pop music sounds like Coca-Cola tastes, sweet and fizzy but with a little bite, too. Think Neon Indian meets Japanese city pop. In January, he told North Texas radio station KXT 91.7: “Being a child of immigrants drives everything I make. I have generations of family members that never had the opportunity that I do — I cannot afford to make average music.” (10 p.m. March 14 at Shagri-La)
Go_A
As was perhaps always my destiny, I have become a Eurovision person. Ukrainian group Go_A makes music like you’ve never heard before, and I implore you to seek out their 2021 performance of the song “SHUM” on the annual song contest. With driving, madness-inducing rhythms, traditional instrumentation given an otherworldly electronic twist and Kateryna Pavlenko’s haunting but urgent voice, they’re a must-see, and also part of the SXSW Stands With Ukraine lineup. (Time TBA on March 18 at Inn Cahoots outdoor)
Ena Mori
Japanese-Filipino sensation in the making with a smart, spare approach to electro-pop. ”Banged out Chopin and Mozart pieces as a kid; now churning bangers,” her bio reads. Last year’s “DON’T BLAME THE WILD ONE!” album is full of emotive hooks and colorful lyrics, and it all sounds oh-so-shiny. (11 p.m. March 14 at Iron Bear)
Enumclaw
This Tacoma, Washington, band channels the ghosts of grunge into something that fits as neatly on your playlist alongside Soccer Mommy as it does classic Sub Pop. Guitar sounds that shake out into steel wool. Lazy, hazy vocals from lead singer Aramis Johnson. Songs with titles like “Jimmy Neutron” and “Cowboy Bebop,” if you need a POV check. Make sure to be specific in your Googling; one of the top search results for the band’s name is the Wikipedia page for “Enumclaw horse sex case.” (Midnight March 18 at Swan Dive patio)
Charmaine
Born in Zimbabwe and based in Canada, rapper Charmaine is a bit of a Swiss Army knife. Across 2022 EP “Hood Avant Garde,” her flow bounces from down-low catwalk strut to wound-up gymnast to trappy staccato, sometimes all in one song. “Bad Bitch Mentality,” a 2021 single, feels like it should be viral. Go stream it. (10 p.m. March 17 at The Drafting Room)
Tangerine Dream
If you’ve heard of Tangerine Dream, you’re probably already intrigued. If not, you’ve certainly experienced the feeling with which the German synth band’s music has become synonymous. When you think of synthwave, outrun, dreamwave, whatever — Tangerine Dream pioneered that neon-streaked-night-sky sound. Their resume, more than 100 albums long, is deep and hits many cultural touchstones. Soundtracks for movies like “Risky Business,” “Legend” and “Firestarter” boast their ethereal, trance-like music, as does the video game “Grand Theft Auto V.” Plus, Austin artists Survive, who composed the “Stranger Things” theme song, has cited Tangerine Dream as an influence, and some of their tracks have been used in the retro Netflix hit. So it’s not gonna be a turn-up, but it’s gonna be pure vibes. (12:20 a.m. March 17 at Parish)
