Seattlest is quaking in their boots (bought especially for the occasion) with excitement for this years SXSW in Austin, Tex. We're making our initial sojourn to the festival and are so pleased to see there will be a strong Seattle contingent joining us in Austin this year.

There are, to our calculations, 29 Seattle bands officially associated with the festival this year. These bands will be playing sanctioned showcases, what we will call "the official SXSW circuit." The 29 Seattle bands lucky enough to get the prestigious invite?

David Bazan, The Blakes, The Blue Scholars, The Boss Martians, The Cave Singers, Sera Cahoone, Choklate, Coconut Coolouts, The Cops, The Fall-Outs, Femurs, Fleet Foxes, Fourcolorzack and Pretty Titty, Grand Archives, Grayskul, Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden, The Lonely H, Ian Moore, Mark Pickerel, The Presidents of the United States of America, The Saturday Knights, Say Hi, Search/Rescue, Steve E Nix & The Cute Lepers, Super Suckers, Throw Me the Statue, J Tillman, Trespassers William, and Unnatural Helpers

For those of you heading to Austin, there are three Seattle-related shows you should not miss. You have two stellar day parties on Thursday to choose from--The Above The Radar Party (co-hosted by local music blog Sound on the Sound. Full disclosure: we work for Sound on the Sound) and the Free Ballard Day Party. The Above the Radar party will feature local heavy rock'n'rollers Thee Emergency, as well as national acts The Shackeltons and Dead Confederate, with ten other bands rounding out the line-up.

(More show info and posters after the jump.)

The Free Ballard party has an almost solely local line-up, featuring The Hands, The Lonely H, Feral Children, and four others. The other notable Seattle show, is the SX Seattle Showcase on Saturday the 15th, hosted by Seattle Sound Magazine and KEXP. We're super excited for this show, because it will be the first time we get to see local superstars The Fleet Foxes. The Pecknold boys will be joined onstage by local acts Feral Children, Holy Ghost Revival, The Cops, and Throw Me The Statue.

Our -ist family will also be involved in a number of shows. For obvious reasons, this is a big week for our friends at Austinist, who offer some of the best coverage anywhere about the festival. Austinist is hosting a number of events, including a day party with Gothamist, the original -ist.

We hope to see some of you over good bbq and free beer in Austin!