The first wave of Australian acts who’ve been invited and accepted to play at the influential South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, has been announced. A total of 25 artists (as well as 13 from New Zealand) comprise the initial selection, with SxSW running from March 14-18, 2007.

The non-profit Australian Music Collective has also confirmed that for the fifth year running it will conduct a series of showcase gigs around the festival. As well as shows in Austin during SxSW, there will be two showcases in Los Angeles the week before SxSW, a pair in New York the week after and a final one in London at the end of March.

Up to a dozen more artists are expected to accept an invitation to SxSW in the coming weeks, but for now the list of 25 Australian acts is: Airbourne, Architecture in Helsinki, Beasts of Bourbon, Sarah Blasko, Brave Radar, George Byrne, Children Collide, Evermore, The Gear, Hoodoo Gurus, I Heart Hiroshima, Kiosk, Little Birdy, Macromantics, New Buffalo, Paul Kelly, The Panda Band, Josh Pyke, Spod, Starky, Sunwrae, Via Tania, Andrew Winton, Youth Group, The Zebras.

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