Pitchfork

Rev up the Blackberry, 'cause it's time to do some serious jotting. Late last week, the powers behind the 2006 South by Southwest Music Conference unfurled the schedule for their annual live music orgy, which will take place March 15-19 in the bars, clubs, dancehalls, auditoriums, lounges, theaters, public parks, restaurants, BBQ pits, pool halls, honky tonks, cantinas, church basements, street corners, and backyards of Austin, Texas.

As previously reported, there are approximately nine gajillion bands playing SXSW this year. Most of them have been organized into some semblance of order now, slotted into lineups that range from the sensible (Islands, We Are Wolves, and Vietnam at Carribean Lights on March 17) to the inane (the eMusic showcase at the Town Lake Stage at Auditorium Shores on March 16, featuring Mr. Lif, Blackalicious, Spoon, and Echo & the Bunnymen), and the hyped beyond belief (March 18 at the Fox and Hound: We Are Scientists, She Wants Revenge, Be Your Own Pet, Forward Russia, and Whirlwind Heat...gag) to the under the radar (March 16 at the Central Presbyterian Church: Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad, Zeena Parkins, San Augustin, Arnold Dreyblatt Ensemble, and Jonathan Kane's February).

Just about every indie rock label in the world will present a showcase, including Merge, Matador, Polyvinyl, Rhymesayers, Astralwerks, Birdman, Absolutely Kosher, Saddle Creek, Barsuk, Flameshovel, French Kiss, Yep Roc, Babygrande, GSL, Lookout!, Bloodshot, Kill Rock Stars/5RC, Beggars Group, Suicide Squeeze, Locust, Fat Cat, Paw Tracks, New West, the End, the Militia Group, Ace Fu, Monitor, Mush, the Leaf Label, Sub Pop, Kemado, Tee Pee, Bar/None, Drive-Thru, Alternative Tentacles, Domino, Misra, Ninja Tune/Big Dada, Victory, Tigerbeat6, Gearhead, Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguwar, Anti-, Startime Intl., 679, Relapse, and yo mama.

Every British post-punk band the NME has liked for the past two years will be there, but most of them will play to half-empty clubs because everyone will be waiting in line to see Arctic Monkeys (who, along with Art Brut and surely many others, have yet to be put on the schedule). Morrissey will appear at the BBC Radio 2 showcase at the Austin Music Hall on March 16, along with Richard Hawley, Goldfrapp, and the Zutons. We will cry if we don't get into that one.

Apparently, Andy Dick (yes, Andy Dick) is performing at the Molotov Lounge at midnight on March 15. We're not sure exactly what he's going to do, but he's listed under "Avant/Experimental", so drones and found sound, maybe?

During the day, the bleary-eyed masses will stumble around the conference's headquarters, the Austin Convention Center, taking in interviews with the likes of Morrissey, the Beastie Boys, the Pretenders, and Neil Young, and arguing with panels about blogs, Houston rap, podcasts, artist development, and "Ten Things You Can Do to Change the World". That last one would sound kinda lame if Jenny Toomey from Tsunami/Simple Machines/Future of Music Coalition wasn't moderating it, and Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Chris Walla, and Hank Shocklee weren't the panelists.

Of course, the zenith of SXSW 2006 will be Pitchfork's own day party (co-presented by the wonderful Windish Agency), which will take place March 17 from noon to six at Emo's Annex. Funnydude Patton Oswalt will MC the shindig, Death Vessel, José González, Hot Chip, Spank Rock, the Juan Maclean, Love Is All, and Art Brut will perform live, and Ladytron, Audion, and Rjd2 will spin records. It's free and open to the public, so start lining up NOW.

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