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It’s never too early to start doing your research into SXSW artists, and the lovely folks at Do512 are helping out with an extensive list of confirmed and rumored musicians for 2009.

Among those in the confirmed category are Beach House, Simian Mobile Disco, St. Vincent, VHS or Beta, and Z-Trip. The rumored artist list is also full of awesome names (keep your fingers crossed!) like Bloc Party, Crystal Castles, Morrissey, and Santogold.

We’ll be keeping you updated with more confirmed names and some of the cool speculation for SXSW 2009 as we hear it… remember, it’s only a few months away!

A tradition that started with Emo’s, Free Week was all about bolstering the local music scene during a time of the year when not many people were going out. With Graham William’s switch to Transmission, the guy behind Emo’s Free Week has now extended it to venues such as the Mohawk, Beauty Bar, and Red 7, to the benefit of all local-music-lovers. As added incentive, both Mohawk and Emo’s will be running shows on both indoor and outdoor stages just about every night. If there was ever a week to call in sick to work, this is it – every single band listed here are definitely worth catching live, so be prepared for some Red River bar hopping.

Friday
Mohawk – Built By Snow will be playing their quirky brand of nerd rock; also on the bill, Low Line Caller and the Always Already
Emo’s – the Lemurs, Ringo Deathstarr, and Mike Booher (Zykos) with his new project, the Ovenbirds, will be playing outside, and various Belaire members will play their own side-projects at the inside stage (Pataphysics headlines)

Saturday
Beauty Bar – Capricorn Chillout 3; with the Shuttle Debris dudes organizing and playing this showcase of great chill musicians from all over Texas, if you’re in the mood for some downtempo grooving times this is for you
Mohawk – for those of you out there who want some grit to your evening, Mohawk offers a lineup that is at times psychedelic, funky, bluesy, and old-school southern garage rock. Bankrupt and the Borrowers, Harlem, Cartright, and Riverboat Gamblers are there to give you some raucous fun… and remember, you have all Sunday to recover
Emo’s – a lineup of indie rock locals-made-good, with Oh No! Oh My! opening for What Made Milwaukee Famous

Sunday
Emo’s – The Always Already and Haunting Oboe Music inside, the Tunnels and Christian Bland (of the Black Angels) ouside

Monday
Emo’s – Zookeeper, Booher and the Turkeyz, Frank Smith, Masonic, and Sad Accordions all at the indoor stage make this a night you don’t want to miss
Beauty Bar – Le Ren is downtempo electronic along the lines of Thievery Corporation, and when you hear that Le Ren’s creator Nardo once played with West Indian Girl, you may begin to get some idea of the sound. Opening is HerMitts, featuring some dreamy female vocals

Tuesday
Beauty Bar – Built By Snow is playing again, in their 2nd of three Free Week performances, along with Wine and Revolution

Check back at the beginning of the week for the second part of our Free Week recommendations.