Here's the news: We will be webcasting, recording, photographing, videotaping and blogging from the South by Southwest Music Festival again this year. We'll also present a lineup of hand-selected bands, which you'll be able to hear live from the comfort of your home.

Headlining our coverage at SXSW on March 18 at Stubbs Bar-B-Q:

The Decemberists, premiering The Hazards of Love in its entirety
The Avett Brothers, premiering music from a new, Rick Rubin-produced CD
The Heartless Bastards, playing songs from The Mountain

Then, on March 19 at the Parish, starting at around 12:30 p.m. ET, we'll have:

Blitzen Trapper
Dirty Projectors
K'NAAN
BLK JKS
Blind Pilot
Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down

This should be a thrill ride. I'll be there with NPR's Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein, NPR's Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson and All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton. We'll be ready with recording devices, cameras and blunt blogging instruments, finding the best new music, interviews and videos to send along.

This blog is how we'll keep you most informed. There will also be Twitter, on which you can follow me @allsongs. Also on Facebook under Bob Boilen or the All Songs Considered fan page.

And so the process begins. We've started listening to 900-plus MP3s from the bands in attendance to figure out what we want to hear from the 18th of March until the last band plays in the wee hours of the 21st. You can do the same by going here.

Let us know which bands most excite you: Tell us what you want from our coverage, and we'll do our best to deliver. Please don't pitch your own band here — we get plenty of that already. We want to know your passions and current obsessions.

Let the SXSW Madness begin.