Photo of Girl Talk by Davisayer on FlickrFun Fun Fun Fest lived up to its name in spades last weekend, showcasing local and not-so local bands of all genres on three stages in two short days. Day one included local acts White Denim, Brothers and Sisters and Okkervil River, as well as touring acts like Neurosis, Final Fantasy, of Montreal and Girl Talk. Last year's event was a success, albeit overshadowed by too-cool temperatures and......

Andrew Bird (5:30pm): After this set, one Austinist staffer remarked: "This guy just beamed in from planet music." And with a stage full of spinning gramophones, violins, finger cymbals, and glockenspiels, it was hard to dispute that quip. Bird took the stage slightly late due to a tardy finish by Blue October, which had the crowd snarling over their shoulders at the lengthy drum and guitar codas coming off the main stage. But when......

Once in a while, we like to take some time to introduce you to bands -- both local otherwise -- that we think you'd enjoy. Le Diamont Brut aims to showcase those MySpace gems we hope to see shine. Recommend your local suggestions by emailing music@austinist.com. FINAL FANTASY What’s the Deal: Final Fantasy is Owen Pallett, and yes, he is a fan of the game series. That’s actually where he got his name. His music......

The Austin City Limits Festival gang are smart enough to know that a) all the people lining up with their plastic cups full of merlot waiting patiently to see Los Lonely Boys and proudly displaying their It's Been a Crazy Weekend henna tattoos aren't just tying their kids up to trees when they leave, and b) there is an ever-growing market for music aimed at kids and families. Combining these two concepts (we assume)......

After a month of guesswork, the ACL Fest lineup is here. And it's quite a good one. While the wild speculation of headliners like Neil Young and Stevie Wonder once again proved false, the key items one sees this year are depth and balance. Having spent yesterday looking over the roster, we have the following observations on the 2007 edition of ACL. The Good: A Great Top 10. Had you told us that we'd......

The 2007 ACL Fest lineup came into focus a bit earlier than expected this afternoon. Much like last year's online scavenger hunt, the folks at Charles Attal have decided to whet appetites with an ACL Crossword puzzle in this Thursday's Chronicle. The two big names revealed today: The White Stripes and Björk. Well played, ACL. The crossword reveal: The White Stripes, Björk, The Decemberists, Peter, Bjorn, and John, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Robert Earl Keen,......

Andrew Bird Armchair Apocrypha (Fat Possum) In a strange small way, Bird's violin and trademark whistle takes a backseat (driver) position on Armchair Apocrypha, allowing more emphatic drumming and leading guitars to rise to the occasion. The album is undoubtedly Bird, showcasing songs about mountains of handkerchiefs and Scythian empires, violin picking and soaring harmonies supporting his soothing croon as expected. "Imitosis" finds his songwriting taking a slight turn in a darker direction, while......

Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha arrives officially on March 20, and after his performances here for SXSW, he'll embark on an international tour to support it. The Suzuki method-trained violinist, whistler and multi-instrumentalist is known for heart-stoppingly impressive live sets, and his use of Line 6 DL4 Delay Modelers for live phrase samples has prompted a wave of innovative live acts, as artists like Feist and Final Fantasy make use of similar modelers during their......

Cortney Tidwell may be from Nashville, but her music seems to be the product of an entirely different world. Her debut album, Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up, makes you struggle to keep up with comparisons and references to other bands you might admire (our list included Hope Sandoval, Mogwai, St. Etienne, and Bjork.) This is all quite wonderful, because the parts all meld into a style that is dreamy, catchy, and quietly......

The good people of Austin realize that SXSW is a time to capitalize on the teeming hoards of dirty musicians rolling in to town in vans and pulling trailers. Especially those good people who own parking spaces. Finding a parking spot during the week is like discovering the purple diamond the old lady dropped into the ocean at the end of Titanic. Ohio's Lovedrug is one such band who has encountered this parking problem.......

The Glass Family is a talented indie-rock band from Austin that caters to fans of melodious, riff-friendly pop soundscapes. Although possibly a little under-rated as compared with (the hype associated with) other local outfits, their solid debut effort on i eat records, Sleep Inside This Wheel is chock full of multi-instrumental, well orchestrated pop-rock that does us just fine. Michael Winningham shared his thoughts with us recently. Share a story about a visit to......

Update: Our band listings are now sortable by band name and origin. SXSW unveiled the official lineup around midnight on Wednesday. You can find the roster in table format here -- we'll be adding more functionality to this list in the coming days. A quick glance down the initial list, which currently numbers just over 1,300, indicates that we were pretty close with our initial predictions. Short of a small handful of nice surprises,......

Austin's Black Before Red have grabbed the reins of a wagon we've been glad to see getting its spokes dirty lately, a wagon loaded with swelling harmonies, subtly layered multi-instrumentation and compositions reminiscent of some of the greatest songs in America's catalog. Listening to their new album, Belgrave to Kings Circle, is like listening to glistening 70's California pop classics and Sea & Cake's Nassau simultaneously. Marc Ferrino's voice is definitely in the neighborhood......

The holidays are over, there's an all you can eat grackle buffet downtown, and it's January 9, the first proper release week of 2007. How fitting: the damned Canadians are dominating it. Neko Case Live From Austin, TX (New West Records) Though Case's recording from Austin City Limits is four years old (recorded originally in 2003), it stands as a testament to the unequivocal talent those not in the audience that night were privy......

If you've never heard Jolie Holland, here are some things you should know. Tom Waits thinks she's fantastic, and nominated her first album for the Shortlist prize. AllMusic puts her sound somewhere between Nina Nastasia and Andrew Bird. And along with Waits, she's recording on the Anti- label along with Neko Case and Daniel Lanois. Now that we have your attention, perhaps you'll download some free MP3's from her site and see why it......

*Update: this post has been revised after receiving some very helpful feedback. For a while now, we've been hearing good things about the Tonewheel Collective, a bi-weekly acoustic happy hour show on Thursdays hosted by members of some of Austin's best bands. Two weeks ago, we finally had the opportunity to experience it for ourselves. And, to put it succinctly: wow. Members of Tonewheel include Jared Van Fleet (Voxtrot, Sparrow House), Martin Crane and Mark......

While scores of wonderful albums from already well-established indie acts like Broken Social Scene, Of Montreal and The Decemberists were all but predestined for greatness this year, others seemed to appear from nowhere. Case in point: Sup Pop phenoms Wolf Parade, emerging from Montreal with a series of cameos in various compilation albums that left American fans in a rabid frenzy before finally dazzling us with their debut LP, Apologies to the Queen Mary;......

It's the night before Austinist embarks on our Spring Road Trip to the Coachella Music Festival in the California desert, and we've all but finalized our itinerary and list of distractions to keep our eyes off the road. Here's what we're taking along for the ride out and back: All those recent copies of New Yorker, The Nation, The Believer, Harper's, Saveur, Paste, and maybe even the piles of SXSW schwag that have been......