Together The Clams provide a secret ingredient that binds together doo-wop, early rock and R&B, girl group classics, 60's garage/psych, surf and glints of punk in a way that's hard to get across in words. You have to listen to it. You have to see it when it comes to your town. You have to be there and feel that moment when you're compelled to turn to the stranger next to you and slow dance together to a song like "Done With You" and then immediately shake every part you got that shakes to "The Cult Song".

The Sour Notes are a DIY independent six piece rock band based in Austin, TX. Led by frontman/songwriter Jared Boulanger since 2008, consisting of members Jessica June Kim, Rene Chavez, Amarah Ulghani, Courtney Howell & Erin Howell. In 2012, they completed their 6th tour of USA & Canada in support of their album 'Last Looks.' They return to SXSW as an official artist with a new album 'DO WHAT MAY' mixed & mastered on hand, set for an official vinyl release summer 2013.

Having a vision, getting it done.

Like a wildflower of positive energy spreading its seed through song, Bergen collective Young Dreams are coming for the head and the heart. An album of stirring, symphonic wonder, Between Places is Young Dreams' first cultivation of a rich patch of sonic earth, to be released in March 2013.

The Coathangers were a band before they were musicians. The Atlanta quartet started out as an excuse to hang out and play parties. Their jokey attitude ran deep, right down to their name—a self-admittedly crude abortion reference for an all-girl group. The whole knowing-how-to-play-an-instrument thing was just a minor hurdle in their musical mission. And to their credit, The Coathangers stormed onto the scene, regardless of the handicap, as a completely unaffected, unpretentious, deliciously sloppy, and totally infectious rock band.

The first releases by Suie Paparude - between 1995 and 1998 ( the first LPs Suie Paparude (1995) and Salveaza-te (1997), and the 1998 EP Musca) wear engraved in their soul and tempo the rave period harmonic curves of percussion and rhythm electronics that go beyond the membranes of the decade's speakers. An aggressive yet gentle start, like a firm embrace.

Boy Friend - Labyrinth": SXSW 2013 Showcasing Artist Boy Friend is an Austin TX based three-piece with a passion for dark pop melodies and thick atmospheric backdrops. Christa Palazzolo & Sarah Brown (formerly of Sleep Over) have self-released EP’s as well as records with Hell, Yes! (Berlin), and recently added Tiffanie Lanmon (of Mirror Travel) on bass/drums.

BLUE SKY RIDERS (Kenny Loggins, Georgia Middleman, Gary Burr)

Nick Scalise and Gregory Shanahan are in Bestfriends. The young pair has big plans to push the post-disco envelope as far as humanly possible.

The Chicago-based duo composed all the music and played all the instruments on their self-titled EP, released in early 2012. They also produced, mixed and mastered the sixsong album and directed videos for two of the songs.

First meeting in preschool, the multi-instrumentalists met up years later to join internationally touring bands and shared the stage with several of contemporary music's most popular acts.

"How do you write about a musician who has spent more than 30 years defying musical conventions? You could trot out all the cliched rock-critic terms: seminal, hyperbole, incendiary, eponymous, masterful, achingly poignant, priceless, alt-country, old-school, outlaw. Some of those might even fit if you shoehorned them into context.

2012 was a big year for The Sideshow Tragedy: in addition to continuing their tireless, never-ending tour of The United States, the band also completed their first European tour and released a new record, Persona. Recorded and produced by Austin TX funk outfit T Bird and the Breaks, the LP is the Austin, TX duo’s rawest, bluesiest, dirtiest offering to date.