By my count, there are 9,294,392 bands set to invade Austin, Texas, when the music portion of South by Southwest comes to town on March 11th. That’s a whole lotta mouths to fill with tacos. And music to listen to. Too much music, actually. To help out any prospective SXSW-goer making the venture down Texas way, I’ve put together a list of slightly lesser known bands and artists that are worth seeing during the multi-day festival. (“Lesser known” basically means they’ve only been written about once or twice, or not at all, on UPROXX, so no Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Cloud Nothings, etc. You already know to see them.) I’ve also included a “perfect for fans of” section for everyone listed, because there’s nothing like overgeneralized genre buzzwords to get you to check out new music.
Related: the Smoking Section’s “Go Out of Your Way to See These 12 Rappers At SXSW 2014”
Perfect for fans of: Will Oldham, Cat Power, lovely voices over a fuzzy roar, loneliness.
Perfect for fans of: R&B, THE FUTURE, production where clicks sound like icicles snapping.
Perfect for fans of: trip-hop, Portishead, U.K. bands that are about to be huge in America, the word “chic.”
Perfect for fans of: bleary alt-country, cow-punk, other genre mashes of rock and country (and whiskey).
Perfect for fans of: the Replacements with horns, subversive indie rock, parties, beer, men and women.
Perfect for fans of: going round and round and round and round in a metal moshpit.
Perfect for fans of: white guys who sound like black preachers, Alabama soul, vests.
Perfect for fans of: HAIM but if HAIM was a lot more depressing and seductively hazy (and not sisters).
Perfect for fans of: Nashville country by way of the Byrds and Ryan Adams.
Perfect for fans of: the music you hear on The Walking Dead, layered rhythms, awesome frontwomen.
