Now that I have recovered from nine days and nights at SXSW, I can tell you that it's all downhill from here for the world's greatest music festival. No way could anything top that. 1750 bands and hardly any of them sucked. How does that happen?

Plenty of free food, beer, no lines if you had a badge. Stalwarts like The Stooges, Pete Townshend, Robyn Hitchcock, Public Enemy, Peter Case, Rickie Lee Jones, and Slash were there. And youngins like Lily Allen, Sondre Lerche, and Oreskaband were there too. Mere drops in the bucket in the perfect town for something like this, at the perfect time in the festival's growth, at an excellent time in music thanks to Myspace, blogs, and YouTube. Not to mention the best time in technology. When Amy Winehouse pushed her show back an hour, it was on Twitter immediately and those in the know were able to see the Naked Trucker's Iron Maiden cover band during that hour... or Bloc Party.

The venues were good about not letting too many people into the clubs, so there was plenty of room to stretch out and rarely were the beer lines an issue even in huge places like Stubbs.

Therefore something has to ruin this thing soon because it can't stay this perfect forever. Because it is perfect, you see.

After the jump check out just a few more pics from the festivities by Sonny I. LaVista.

Besides exposure for new and upcoming music, SXSW also serves as a launching pad for products, companies and shows like MTV's upcoming Human Giant. Starring funny men Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer, the show kicked off a sneak preview party last night at Friends on 6th St. We ran into Sam Grossman, development exec at MTV. He talked about the new sketch comedy show with us over beers.

“There’s a Bugs Bunny aspect to it. People are blown up and then two minutes later they are fine. We call it cartoon realism for the video game generation,” he laughs.

Half the episodes were shot in LA and half were shot in NY. Why? Actors Huebel and Scheer live in LA, while Ansari and writer/director Jason Wollner live in NY. Cameos are made throughout the season from comedians like Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman and Jonah Hill. The preview played in front of a packed house and we can attest, this shit is funny!

We also learned that MTV’s accompanying Thursday night lineup includes Short Circuitz, a sketch comedy show starring Nick Cannon, and Adventures in Hollywood, a reality show following Atlanta’s Oscar-winning rappers 36 Mafia on their move to Los Angeles. We're really excited about the latter. Posh Spice is gonna have nothing on them.

We're also pleased to report that the Wilmer Valderrama-hosted insult competition Yo Momma will not be returning.

Human Giant premieres April 5.

One of my favorite parts of the "How to Rawk at SXSW" panel that I was on was Andrew Huff and Nick Douglas telling hundreds of people what to get rid of in their huge schwag bags that everyone gets here.

It was brutal and honest and totally funny because it was true. As I pack up to go back to LA my hotel room floor is littered with all the crap that I have no interest in. However it's the thought that counts, so schwag sponsors, thanks for trying.

He's probably best known for his "Hi How Are You" tshirt that Kurt Cobain often wore, but if you don't know Daniel Johnston's music you're really missing out and you should definitely pick up the award-winning DVD, "The Devil and Daniel Johnston". Equally amateurish and darkly genius, Johnston's tunes lie somewhere between Brian Wilson and Wesley Willis while being heavily influenced by the Beatles.

He took to the stage yesterday at the Convention Center in an appearance only open to artists and platinum badge holders but that limitation did not stop the room from being standing room only with hundreds being turned away at the door. Joined by a group of string instruments, guitar and bass, Johnston stood at a podium and sang to an appreciative crowd who laughed with him as his voice cracked on some of the high notes, and marveled at his honesty, simplicity, and lack of ego.

Tonight's 4:20 video is a song from his 30-minute set yesterday, a cover of the Wing's classic "Band on the Run".

Every year that we come to SXSW we fall in love with a band that was completely off our radar and surprises us with their cuteness and charm. Last year it was The Go! Team and The Grates, this year it the all-girl high school ska band from Japan, Oreskaband who are so good and infectious that we immediately ran to the back of the Elysium and bought their cd.

Then we interviewed the band. Then we interviewed the manager. Then we stuck around for the next band, The50Kaitenz, even though we were exhausted from eight days in Austin.

And while we were taking in all of this Japanese energy we discovered something wonderful, that Oreskaband, The50Kaitenz, and the rest of the kids who performed last night during Japan Nite at SXSW will be playing at The Knitting Factory this Sunday night, so if you didn't make it out to Texas this year, some of the best music here will be coming to LA tomorrow. So say arigato, and get your tail over to Hollywood and cheer on these kids.

After the jump, a video from their song "Chuck"

When I die I want to go to Austin.

I had no business being at the Hi Lo Club Thursday evening when Slash walked on stage to join the southern rock Georgia quartet Blackberry Smoke, but sometimes you're precisely in the right place at the right time.

Last year I was working with Buzznet who co-sponsored a few parties with Red Bull as part of their legendary Red Bull House. This year the Red Bull House's website hadn't been updated but a friend said that it was a few blocks off the main drag. My friend Sara K. Smith works here in Austin near the Hi Lo Club so we met nearby and when she said she had no plans after work, we decided to roam around 6th Street, but before we did that we figured we'd try to see if, indeed the Red Bull House was at the Hi Lo.

When we saw a familiar face at the door we hugged, reminisced, and I asked who was sponsoring the house this year. The young lady said Activision was promoting Guitar Hero 2. Who doesn't love Guitar Hero, I asked. And we all laughed and she said that it would be ok if I looked around the place with Sara.

After an hour of eating their food and drinking complimentary Red Bulls and vodka someone accused us of being their to see Slash. We asked, "Slash is going to be here?" And they said, "yes, in 15 minutes".

And sure enough the little tiny stage at the front of the club was set up for the Georgia rockers and their BFF, the top hatted one with the curly hair.

This is what SXSW is all about.

After a half hour the music started and it was like Lynrd Skynyrd minus the super long guitar solos, but just as soulful, just as honest, and just as rockin. Even before the former Guns guitarist joined them, Blackberry Smoke had become my new favorite band.

Because we have the greatest boss ever who just let's us do whatever we think is the right thing to do, we gladly accepted his invitation to post on Austinist this week while we're at SXSW. So yesterday we told the nice people here of Texas what we thought the best LA bands were who were playing. One commenter was negative to our suggestion that Har Mar Superstar was worthy of inclusing. Well last night he put all haters, doubters, and cynics to rest with a sweaty, cocky, beautiful set at the Flamingo Cantina as part of the Dim Mak showcase on 6th Street.

Following the hard rocking set by those long-haired Willowz (who reminds us a lot of the hairdos by Redd Kross), Har Mar took to the stage and not only demanded respect and applause but continually ordered Jagermeister's from the bartender from the stage.

And yes, he made out with a variety of willing young ladies, all while mostly naked and sporting one of the biggest beer bellies in the house.

Inspiring only begins to describe the evening.

There are tons of "street team" kids out here working the crowds trying to drum up interest in bands, Mentos, beer, and even condoms. It doesn't matter who you're trying to hype, nothing beats human, personal contact, "hey big fella, you're gonna totally need these Trojan brand condoms."

Yesterday we saw a half dozen super hot girls in rollerskates crossing 6th Street like they were recreating the Abbey Road album cover. So of course we whipped it out (the camera), and followed them and asked their leader what the heck was going on. Turned out they were promoting the LA band No More Kings (whose new cd we had just received before we made it out here to Austin).

Do yourself a favor and watch the video all the way through because it's pretty funny.

Wanna know why LAist has four writers at SXSW all of whom paid their own way? Because LA loves music and LAist is obsessed with good tunes. Below are just some of the killer acts playing today here in Austin. Yes be jealous, but better, come here next year and party with us.

LA Bands:
4pm: Ozomatli @ Austin Convention Center
8pm: The Chairs of Perception (formerly Urinals) @ Soho Lounge
10pm: Dengue Fever @ Emo's
10pm: Midnight Movies @ Beauty Bar
10pm: Cold War Kids @ La Zona Rosa (yes they're OC but whatevs)
Midnight: John Doe @ Continental Club
1am: Pop Levi @ The Ale House
1am: The Bird and the Bee @ Opal Divine's Freehouse

Non-LA Bands:
3pm: Kaki King @ Austin Convention Center
5pm: The Fratelli's @ Fader House
8pm: Sage Francis @ Emo's
9pm: Joan as Policewoman @ The Ale House
9pm: Bob Mould @ Buffalo Billiards
9pm: Funky Nashville @ Uncle Flirty's
10pm: Kaki King @ Cedar Street Courtyard
10pm: Catfish Haven @ Mohawk
10:30pm: Sondre Lerche @ Antone's
11pm: MuteMath @ Dirty Dog Bar
11pm: The Octopus Project @ Emo's
11:30pm: The Hush Sound @ Redrum
Midnight: Amy Winehouse @ Eternal
Midnight: Bloc Party @ Stubb's
Midnight: Robbers on High Street @ Blender Bar
12:30am: The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello acoustic solo) @ The Parish
12:45am: Against Me! @ Exodus
1am: Menomena @ Buffalo Billiards
1am: Albert Hammond, Jr. @ Blender Bar
1am: What Made Milwaukee Famous @ La Zona Rosa

photo by Sonny I. LaVista

The Austin duo Ghostland Observatory, recently played an LA show to a captive audience of taxidermied bison and eager beavers. Their hypersonic, March 2nd gig at the Natural History Museum was without question the auditory equivalent of the visual representation of launching into light speed.

Never before have two people made so much damn noise at a museum. Aaron Behrens and Thomas Turner brought us their fabulous, electro-stupefying dance magic -- sometimes glittery, sometimes gooey, and always just shy of piercing shrill.

Dressed respectively as a laid back, neo-Pocahontas and a futuristic Count Chocula, these two gentlemen trampolined around the stage like kids at Halloween on acid. But louder. And cooler. Synth beats and rock riffs were offered with sweaty passion, and the sizable crowd sang along, leaping in un-selfconscious awe.

My guess is that tomorrow’s SXSW performance will be a grand display of musical mindfucking. If you are in Texas, don't miss it.

MP3 - “Sad, Sad City” (via #1 Hits From Another Planet)
Ghostland Observatory - MySpace / Website
Interview - Austinist
Interview - Gothamist

Photo by Christopher Hogenson

Drew Barrymore's favorite new band, the Swedish trio Peter Björn and John, filled the Red Eye Fly this afternoon as the headliners for the Little Radio barbecue. Hipsters were lined up down the street in the drizzle getting their lo-tops muddy in the puddles, and to be honest, the boys might be super sweet but their music isn't meant for a live crowd. It's mellow, introspective, and not at all partying.

The whistle song, "Young Folks" was the only thing that got the kids excited but because they had to wait so long to get it and because they were so smooshed into the Red River Road club that they couldn't get any beers, hardly anyone danced.

But LAist was there to record the song for you so crank it up real loud and enjoy it there in your home.

Tonight we're headed to the Dim Mak party being headlined by Har Mar Superstar so we plan on busting with our '70s disco moves, so look out!

Even though the blogosphere has over 75 million blogs, Hugh MacLeod is easily one of a kind that stands out. His cranky cartoons on his blog Gaping Void are so loved that when Hugh figured out a java script solution to get them syndicated on blogs everywhere, they were picked up by thousands of fans.

Known for bashing ad firms ("If you talked to people the way advertising talked to people, they'd punch you in the face") and crappy bloggers, the former Madison Ave. PR man, Hugh was fed up dealing with "dickless bosses" and packed up shop and moved to the UK seven years ago. It took an invite from SXSW to get him to cross the pond and return to the states for the first time in those seven years, so when we heard that he was going to speak on a panel clear across the convention center from the very popular Bruce Sterling Rant, we knew we had to see and hear Hugh.

Afterwards we shared drinks with him and discussed blogging, art, giving away your stuff for free, the squigglies in his business card sized cartoons, and love, but somehow didn't talk about his hugely successful South African wine business.

Maybe we'll go over that when he returns in 2014.

Matthew Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress is one of those young people that your parents like to point to when they ask you what the hell you're doing with your life.

Last week PC World named him the 16th most-important person on the web (two slots above the of the founders of Yahoo!), which isn't bad for a 23-year-old who gives it away for free.

But what we find most impressive is if you ever want to check in on his site all you have to do is type "Matt" into Google and he comes up at the #1 return, above Mr. Drudge.

Last night we got to spend a few minutes with him at the Ginger Man in Austin just as last call was being announced.

At LAist, we've done everything to convince ourselves that we're not missing out (tho we could use the rain) by steering clear of SXSW (did somebody say 5 weeks 'til Coachella?). Enter our new buddy Finetune. This music-streaming app, a veritable iPod shuffle for the world to share, combines Pandora's music recommending capabilities with Last.fm's social scene and takes the "Web 2.0" look, tagging and sharing mechanisms a step further. So take a break from slacker for a minute and come play with us. We selected a bunch of audio tracks from the Finetune library and embedded it quite simply, below. Go ahead, press play.

You're listening to a 47-song playlist as selected by LAist and played in random order. Why 47 songs? Finetune requires that every playlist be at least 45 songs, without playing more than 3 cuts per artist. We selected from only the artists scheduled to perform at SxSW this week. As frustrating as it was to scroll through the list of roughly 1,500 bands on the SouthBy sched, it was even more of a drag to dig up tracks from said bands in the Finetune archive. But never mind to what lengths we'd go for rock 'n' roll.

Screenshots and more after the jump.

Starting today, South by Southwest is transitioning over from the Internet and Film festivals to the Music festival, but before we dive in to the 1,500 bands that will begin rocking Austin, we still have a lot of Interactive interviews to share with you.

The Internet darlings of this year's SXSWi is Twitter, a social networking service where you tell your friends what you're doing through SMS, provided by Obvious Corp., San Francisco start-up founded by the inventor of Blogger.com, Ev Williams. But LAist learned here that Ev didn't create Twitter, indeed Jack Dorsey earned that title, so we tried to interview him in the wee hours on the dark streets of the state capitol to humorous results.

The plans went out the window when former Google/Blogger geniuses (who now work at Obvious) Jason Goldman, and Biz Stone jumped into the conversation with Ev and Jack. And to make things really fun, current Googlers Eric Case and Jason Shellen made cameo appearances.

Join us now as we meet the boys who were still aglow from their recent SXSW web award victory for best blog and their product's second birthday.

Artist: Apostle of Hustle
Album: National Anthem of Nowhere
Release Date: 2/7/07
Label: Arts & Crafts
Apostle of Hustle's MySpace

Apostle of Hustle is the brainchild of Andrew Whiteman, member of the Toronto ensemble, Broken Social Scene. National Anthem of Nowhere follows 2004's respected Folkloric Feel. The three core members, Whiteman, Dean Stone, and Julian Brown, are joined by Justin McWilliams and Daniel Stone and several other guests and the resulting rambling record has the kind of expanded sound one might expect with so many additional helpers.

The album opens with "My Sword Hand's Anger" which has the dissonant drive of some of Pavement's best tunes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Whiteman, who is the musician's musician, isn't afraid to use electronics in his work and this first song has electronic embellishments that Whiteman seasons several of the other eleven songs on this record. Another thing I liked about this record is the fact that Whiteman uses horns (sax, trombone) on several songs, including the title track - bringing brass back to rock n' roll is a good good thing.

Generally these songs are pleasing, the musicianship is excellent, and the lyrics pretty good, see "The Naked And Alone" and "Justine, Beckoning" for standout examples. I just felt that the more straight-ahead rock n' roll tunes could have used some more extremes: the vocals could have been more ragged or plaintive, or, for godssake, cut loose with a guitar solo - really rip one out. Whiteman is reserved and in control and if that's something you go for, then this is the record for you as subtlety is probably wasted on me.

Two examples that take us into more liberated territory are "Rafaga!" and "Fast Pony For Victor Jara" - both done in Spanish, which seems to have freed up both the lyric structure as well as the music. Whiteman is obviously not afraid of experimentation - National Anthem of Nowhere is a collection of fearless efforts, and I'm hopeful that Apostle's next effort will feature less restraint and studied expressiveness. Perhaps some sloppiness is on order Andrew, we will forgive you for it.

My understanding is that Apostle of Hustle does a great live show. If you are at or are going to SXSW you will have several chances to see them:

3/14/07 Emo’s Jr 5:20pm
3/15/07 Red Eyed Fly 2:00pm
3/16/07 The Mohawk 2:00pm
3/16/07 Habana Calle 6 Annex 12:00pm
3/17/07 Hotel San Jose 8:00pm

Yesterday we showed you an interview from upstairs of the Austin Convention Center at SXSW where companies are answering questions about their Internet- and film-related products. Today, thanks to the Houston Chronicle, who took this footage above, we can show you a small glimpse of what's happening on the bottom floor of the Convention Center, in the video game area -- where things are getting mighty interactive.

There you will see the new Nintendo DS game that lets you play guitar on your portable device, you can play the Wii for the first time, you can play the new Guitar Hero, or check out stuff that won't be in your living room for a long, long time.

Rarely when people say "interactive" do they really mean it, but here at SXSW they're not playing messing around.

South by Southwest is best known for its music and film festivals, but as you might be aware of, there's also a pretty serious Interactive presence here in Austin.

Over the next few days we will be interviewing movers and shakers from some of the coolest, most-popular, and new companies in the Internet world.

This morning we present an interview with Mary Colvig from the Marketing Team of Mozilla who bring you Firefox, LAist's web browser of choice. Please excuse the ambient noise, the tradeshow floor was extremely loud as it is one of the most popular areas of the SXSWi experience.

Imagine that, a conference where people actually attend the panels and go to the tradeshow area - and party at night! You might call the attendees geeks, but these geeks are spending very little time in their hotel rooms, and most of their days and nights working hard and playing hard.

Anyways, if you haven't tried Firefox you're insane. It's far far far superior to Internet Exploder and if you know a few things about the web and computers you can customize your browser in a variety of excellent ways using their free Add-ons developed by cool people from around the world.

Tucker Max spoke yesterday here at SXSW on a panel called "Turning Your Blog Into A Book" where he explained the success of his website and how it landed him, first a book deal with a $7,500 advance, and once his book "I Hope They Sell Beer In Hell" spent a fortnight on the NY Times Best Seller's List, a new book deal worth $300k.

So not only were we all ears, but we were lucky enough to sit down and talk to him about a variety of topics from the rule-breaking coolness of The Best Page In The Universe to how you score chicks despite having a blog that talks about all the chicks you nail.

We must admit that before we met him we underestimated Mr. Max as just being another bragging frat boy, or a poor man's Dane Cook / Tom Leykis, but after hearing him talk and sharing a beer with him, we're now on the bandwagon.

He's definitely not someone who appeals to more refined or sensitive tastes, but if you appreciate brutal honesty and sophomoric humor and laugh at things you see on College Humor, you will probably get a kick out of the guy who banged Miss Vermont, wrote about it, and got sued.

Tucker's blog + Tucker's message board + Tucker's book (fucker's #393 in Amazon's book rankings despite the book being over a year old)

LAist is representing at the SXSW. Yesterday was the first day of the Interactive and Film Festivals and yours truly (far left) was a panelist of the "How To Rawk at SXSW" discussion.

Providing tips to about 150 attendees in our session, we suggested that people go to that one extra panel, party, or show. We suggested that people sign up for Twitter so they can be contacted via SMS the minute someone wants to report an excellent (or crappy) party or event. We also suggested for the peeps not to stay in their safe little circles of established friends and branch out and omg meet people - which might be a stretch for the admitted geeks in the house.

While our panel doled out these bits of wisdom we did something that we hope spreads not just on other SXSW panels, but through panels worldwide: after each panelist spoke, they were required to take a swig from a huge bottle of Jack Daniel's wrapped in a brown paper bag.

Not only was the bottle drained by the end of the hour discussion but, needless to say, as the panel went on the conversations grew more lively and... loose.

More reports of this groundbreaking panel here here here and here.

photo by Aeioux

It was a toss-up for the headline of this story. I was saying it should be "Golden AX Wins the LAist Rock at SXSW Contest", but the marketing team kept saying, "Look at the poster, you drunken fool! That's not Golden AX. That's Rocket! And look at the picture on this post! Rocket! Plus you haven't told anyone that LAist is not only going to represent at the biggest film / music / Interweb mashup in the entire world, but we're going to be there in a big big way. Brag a little, boy,"

And of course they're right. But I wouldn't call it a mashup. It's like the best drunken rock convention ever, that just happens to have a great opening act of dot-com coolness during the only film festival I ever end up at.

LAist are big fans of Room 710, a sweet club on Red River, a block off 6th. And only because of Asher, the owner of the club, were we able to swing a jam-packed night of rock for your SXSW-attending ass. And we're passing that luck over to you!

While it might appear that the evening will be a showcase of up-'n-coming new music (that you'll be bragging about years from now: "I saw them for free, bitch!"), it will secretly be a tag team battle royale between two Austin bands and two LA bands.

From Austin, we have the sweet sounds of Quiet Company and the metal riffs of Blackholicus. And from here in LA we've got Golden AX and LAist favorites Rocket.

After the jump, check out the kickass poster created by bloopy...

SXSW is right around the corner, in fact LAist will be there in less than a week.

We are currently holding a contest to let a local band play at SXSW, and now we want to let someone local make our concert poster.

Coincidentally, we also have 10 pairs of tickets to see the outrageously wonderful Macy Gray on Thursday, March 8th. But not just any old Macy Gray show (as if there was such a thing), but a private show at an LA jazz club. Basically, a one-of-a-kind opportunity.

The lucky winners will probably get to hear choice cuts from Macy's upcoming new cd Big, that drops on March 27.

So if you want to enter, make a poster for our SXSW show. Heres the info we would like to see on the poster: It's on March 11 at 9pm, at Room 710, which is at 710 Red River St, Austin, TX 78701. The bands that will be playing are Rocket, Blackholicus, Quiet Company, and a Special Guest. Free admission. And it's the LAist SXSW Party.

Make your poster and send it to the email address that awaits you after the jump...