Pitchfork

It won't be long now 'til South by Southwest, the annual culture festival/spring break for gangly people in black jeans. In fact, it's just a couple months away, with the musical portion spreading roughly a billion bands over the five glorious sun-soaked, Shiner-swilling days of March 12-16.

We've already mentioned a few well-prepared folks who'll make their way to Austin for this year's festivities, including the Breeders, Man Man, and A Place to Bury Strangers, while White Williams, the Kills, Lightspeed Champion, Sons & Daughters and These New Puritans will hit up the Domino Records showcase. Not to mention talks given by Thurston Moore, Lou Reed, Daryl Hall, Steve Reich, Seymour Stein, and a bunch of other wisdom-imparting elder statespeople.

To that end, then, the newest crop of South by Southwest additions is highlighted by a group who could just as easily drop some worldly knowledge and run down the template for post-punk: R.E.M. will be there to preview tracks off their new one, Accelerate. Bun B will perform, though sans his longtime partner, the late, great Pimp C. My Morning Jacket will be pleased they're keeping those manes of theirs a little trimmer of late as they strut around in the heat. Vampire Weekend will show the folks of Austin just what all that buzz is about. Jens Lekman will appear to melt his Swedish hind in the hot Texas sun. And his countrywoman Robyn will be there, bringing her awesomeness to North American on a rare U.S. stop.

As is always the case with SXSW, there's plenty more where that came from, with Blitzen Trapper, My Brightest Diamond, the Black Keys, Frightened Rabbit, Bowerbirds, Foreign Born, the Raveonettes, Ralph "Soul" Jackson, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, Ra Ra Riot, the Von Bondies, Hanne Hukkelberg, the Heavy, Daniel Lanois, DeVotchKa, Sia, Uffie, MGMT and Tech N9ne all making themselves known throughout the long weekend. There'll also be a Smalltown Supersound showcase with Kim Hiorthøy, Lindstrom, Tussle, Bjorn Torske, Arp and KXP.

Just when and where each band will appear remains to be seen on most counts. But gorging one's self on barbecue, stumbling into a dimly-lit club and running into Mike Mills is at least half the fun of SXSW, innit?