The 23rd South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, is set to have an all-star Aussie and Kiwi contingent. More than 60 artists from our neck of the woods have been summoned to the industry love-in, which takes over various venues from 18-22 March 2009.

From the 10,000 acts that applied to make the pilgrimage, 18 antipodean bright lights have accepted their showcase invites. The roll-call highlights some of 2008’s hardest working bands, including The Grates, The Drones, Birds Of Tokyo and The Boat People. Going on the homegrown line-up alone, it looks like SxSW is shaping up nicely. One of the standout events is set to be the Australian BBQ, where our lil’ Vegemites will play to a bunch of industry bigwigs resembling Rob Lowe.

Here’s who’s repping for down under at South by Southwest 2009…

AUSTRALIA
Blue King Brown
Anthony Snape
The Boat People
The Fumes
The Chevelles
Birds of Tokyo
The Drones
Infusion
Josh Pyke
Angus and Julia Stone
Naked On The Vague
Andy Bull
My Disco
The Temper Trap
The Grates

NEW ZEALAND
Elemeno P
Midnight Youth
Kylie Harris