Best Fit’s SXSW lineup is here: YHWH Nailgun, jasmine.4.t, Black Fondu + more

Taking place across two stages at the Swan Dive – our home at SXSW since 2018 – the 12-name strong line-up cuts across the genres to offer a glimpse into some of the artists who are forging new directions in songwriting and sonics.

Boygenius-produced singer and songwriter jasmine.4.t was the first UK signing to Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory label and released her You Are The Morning earlier this year. Her songs pull from dark moments to tell her incredible story and the record is one of the best debuts you’ll hear this year.

Experimental and visceral, YHWH Nailgun makes music that encapsulates the information overload of our times and sound like someone put Talking Heads and Vampire Weekend through a post-hardcore grinder. A standout during last year’s SXSW, their first album 45 Pounds is set for release at the end of March via AD 93.

Best Fit on the rise artist Emmeline blends spoken word with shifting beats and has made her name for herself on the UK's performance poetry circuit as well as at underground cyphers and beat showcases. She’s the founder of ESS Sessions, a community night for female and non-binary musicians to showcase their skills, and share their experiences of the industry.

Case Oats is the new project from Casey Walker and Spencer Tweedy. Transplanted from Missouri to Chicago, Walker has a knack for getting to the “gooey heart” of relationships and experience, of bringing a city-dwelling life back down to earth in songs about moving on, about growing up in the Midwest, and about loyalty to desperately flawed people.

Moshi Moshi-signed DIY pop duo Chinese American Bear prides themselves on being completely DIY. Anne Tong and Bryce Barsten write, produce, engineer and mix everything themselves and make music that blends Chinese mando-pop with the Western indie pop canon; their live shows that push the envelope for surrealist fun.

Hyped 21-year-old avant-grime auteur Black Fondu is mashing electronics with hip-hop to create a sound all of his own. The Accra-born artist patchworks his array of influences – from the simple to the extreme – across innovative, visceral and intense live performances.

Talking folk sounds into new and exciting places are Ireland’s John Francis Flynn and Best Fit on the rise artist Amelia Coburn. Flynn’s latest album Look Over The Wall, See The Sky was released on Rough Trade imprint River Lea, and is a powerful re-imagining of traditional Irish music: immersive, hopeful and free. Middlesbrough-born Coburn worked with Bill Ryder-Jones on her debut record and draws inspiration from gothic literature and the shadowy allure of film noir.

Since their debut at 16 years old, Fat Possum-signed Man/Woman/Chainsaw have proven themselves as one of the most exciting and unpredictable young acts in the capital, both joyous and raucous in equal measures. With over 150 shows under their belt, they’re fresh from playing Best Fit’s Five Day Forecast last month.

From Brooklyn are two bands putting their own unique spins on shoegaze. Shower curtain – the quartet fronted by Brazilian-American artist Victoria Winter – channel the sludgy distortion of the 90s sound, and three-piece Nara's Room weave experimental textures into their hazy soundscapes.

The project of the Copenhagen based visual artist and songwriter Simona Catala, simmcat has created a musical world that’s homage to the natural melancholy forged by memories. Her album I Heard She Lost You arrives on 7 March, a week ahead of her SXSW appearance.