The organizers of the music festival South By Southwest (SXSW) recently announced the first round of artists to be included in its lineup. SXSW 2015 will be held on March 17 through 22 at various venues throughout Austin, Texas.

Over the past two years, the amount of participating SXSW musicians from Korea has increased. In 2012, SM Entertainment's f(x) performed at SXSW, while Jay Park, HyunA, Nell, Crying Nut, and Idiotape were included in the lineup for SXSW 2014. The first leg of the Seoulsonic Tour which Glen Check, Love X Stereo, Rock N Roll Radio, Big Phony, and No Brain also appeared at SXSW in 2014.

The first round artist lineup for SXSW 2015 includes a variety of music from Korea, ranging from traditional musicians, a '60s-inspired girl group, a psych-rock duo, and K-Rock.

Retro throwback trio, The Barberettes, will bring their pinup style to Austin. The trio recently performed at MU:CON and delivered a recital of the music at KT&G Sang Sang Art Hall.

SXSW 2014 performers Big Phony, who also recently participated in Culture Collide with the Seoulsonic Tour, will bring their rocking sound to SXSW 2015.

Korean punk rock band No Brain are repeat SXSW performers who will also return to SXSW. No Brain recently released a rock album with Crying Nut and continue to have a growing fan base.

Eastern Sidekick are a stylistically sophisticated K-Indie rock quintet who have previously performed as session musicians for Jang Geun Suk's Japanese tour.

As opposed to previous lineups which were heavy on Korean rock and pop, the inclusion of traditional music duo 숨[su:m] proves that the lineup for SXSW 2015 will be epic. The duo recently performed throughout Europe, where they performed their unique take on Korean traditional music.

EE helps to round out the lineup, for music lovers who have an appreciation for the avant garde.

Badges for SXSW can be obtained through the event website. Many showcases will be individually ticketed, with ticket information posting prior to the events.