With the massive music industry conference SXSW about to draw half the music world to Austin, Texas for a week of shows and schmoozing, our local festivals are getting in on the act, with St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival throwing a party, while Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival are accounted for by the party being thrown by the promoter of both festivals, Secret Sounds.

While a lot of us won’t be able to jet over to the States to catch them, these parties might just give us some hints about what sort of genres and acts we can expect from our next round of festies, with the next Splendour coming up in July, Falls of course taking over NYE, and the next Laneway early next year.

For their part, Laneway have booked in a tightly-curated bunch of acts, headed by a US pairing of indie rockers Chastity Belt and hyped singer-songwriter Alexandra Savior, as well as an excellent Aussie contingent of Tame Impala’s Cameron Avery and Seekae frontman Alex Cameron.

The rest of the lineup gives us an idea of the sort of acts that could be making their way to our shores in July, or are at least on the radar for future festivals, and includes hazy Indiana alt outfit Hoops and soulful newcomer Nick Hakim, as well as punk outfit Downtown Boys, UK art-pop duo Let’s Eat Grandma, London alt-indie quartet The Big Moon, and finally Spiral Stairs, the solo guise of Pavement’s Scott Kannberg.

Things get a little more eclectic at the Splendour/Falls gig, which boasts the Aussie pairing of surf-rockers Hockey Dad and pop/hip hop talent Tkay Maidza, supported by the likes of US punk rockers Sløtface, Norwegian folk singer Sigrid, rappers Kaiydo and Topaz Jones, UK pop singer Youngr, while Dream Wife, Lo Moon and QTY rep the alt-indie side of the equation.

So, even if you don’t exactly have a ticket to Austin next month and are considering a local road trip instead, it could be worth giving all of these bands a quick spin, as you might very well be seeing some of them the next time these festivals roll around. At the very least, having been hand-picked by some of our favourite bookers, you know they’ll be quality.

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