Two more Australian acts picked for SXSW; Apple’s Eddy Cue, YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki swell speakers lineup

Two more Australian acts have been picked to showcase at South By Southwest (SXSW), as the major Austin-Texas festival revealed 113 new additions from around the world.

The two latest to join the Australian contingent are Melbourne’s electro-soul duo Hoodlem and indie-folk band Sons Of The East from Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Hoodlem have been relentlessly touring North America and Europe and are, indeed, playing through the US as the country suffers a snow-shrouded freeze!

“Hope it’s hot in Austin!” they said as they announced the news.

Hoodlem‘s self-titled EP was released two years ago through Caroline Australia while a collaboration with Swedish artist Tobtok, ‘Free’ was released via French label Kitsuné.

Sons Of The East released their debut EP in 2013, while the follow-up 8-track Already Gone broadened their sound.

With an acclaimed live show, last year saw Dan Wallage, Nic Johnston and Jack Rollins generate over 30 million Spotify Streams, 6.5 million YouTube view and 24,000 Facebook followers.

The track ‘Into The Sun’ had 15 million streams, according to the band, while they’re getting triple j spins for the radio remix of ‘My Repair’.

In the meantime, Jess Ribero has been fund raising for her trip to SXSW with her new band.

A crowd- funder at Pozible has almost reached its target of $10,000 with four days to go.

She offers a number of enticements including a house concert anywhere in Australia, a songwriting workshop and a Oracle/Tarot reading session by hers truly.

She’s also doing some SXSW fund raising shows at the Tote in Melbourne (February 28), The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine (March 1) and the Grace Darling (March 2).

These will road-tune the band and preview material from her third album, due later in 2018.

Most of SXSW’s latest showcase additions are from the US, and include Todd Rundgren, Blonde Maze, Fire From The Gods and EZI.

From elsewhere in the world are England’s DJ Ace, LIFE and Ida Mae; Ireland’s The Academic; Spain’s Belako; Canada’s Acid House Ragas, Little Destroyer, Skratch Bastid and Chastity; China’s Moxizishi & Jikehabu & 3He Project, Second Hand Rose and Xiaoxia & Mr. Asbo & Soulspeak; Germany’s Florian Kupfer and Linda Lee; Norway’s Idk Ariel, France’s Papooz; Panama’s Señor Loop; the Netherlands’ Mozes and The Firstborn and Yori Swart; and Chile’s Valvai.

The latest speakers for the music, film and technology sessions include Eddy Cue from Apple, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, actor Ethan Hawke, director Spike Lee, Girls creator Lena Dunham, Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ director Rian Johnson and the cast of Westworld.

2018 topic additions to the music conference cover ’From CBGB to the World’, teamwork and innovation, creative strategy in social media, best use of Instagram and artistic discovery in social media-driven landscapes.