Texas boys Best Fwends are back at SXSW this year, bringing their video game-centric melodies and hurried electronic downbeats to old fans and new ones. Call them out on their tongue-in-cheek approach to music making if you must, but these cats know exactly what they're doing, and manage to make three-dimensional songs that also know how to get down. Does Antony know how to get down? No, he really doesn't. Via email, Best Fwends Anthony and Dustin talk with us about their storied history, SXSW, and Daryl "Fucking" Hall....

It would be hard to go wrong by attending Sub Pop's SXSW showcase on March 14th. Seattle's little label that can has released some awfully wonderful records in their day: Nirvana, The Shins, The Postal Service, and Band Of Horses to name just a few. Don't you owe these guys the benefit of the doubt? This year's Sub Pop party at Emo's IV will feature Oxford Collapse, Kinski, and Tiny Vipers, a one-woman band......

Seattle's Aqueduct have been doggedly honing an indie/laptop pop sound for several years. Essentially a one-man studio band, David Terry channels influences ranging from a suburban Oklahoma upbringing to fandom of Guns 'N' Roses and The Princess Bride into his catchy, lo-fi home studio creations. Live, the band is a very different animal: at SXSW two years ago, they simply demolished the crowd with a blend of original tunes, rap covers, an Aqueduct theme......

The new year started off pretty slowly for music, with a few lackluster albums (The Strokes' third LP, Morningwood's bubblegum rock rehash) failing to excite, really, anyone. Not today. Cat Power's eagerly awaited follow-up to 2003's You Are Free comes out alongside the new Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley, The Postal Service) side project, Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins and Richard Ashcroft's Keys to the World. Other notable bands include the unfortunately-named Test Icicles,......

When we first heard Southern California-based Rilo Kiley's More Adventurous last fall, we were hooked almost immediately. Lead singer Jenny Lewis, also part of synthpop group The Postal Service, pens melancholic tales of heartache, betrayal, loss, and even the occasional social commentary, with the rest of the band supplying a sound that alternates between folk pop and surf rock.In our opinion, the lyrics are the driving force behind Rilo Kiley's success. The songs have......