Guess what? We went to SXSW 2012. Without further introduction, here are our SXSW superlatives for 2012: BEST BEARD:The one on the bassist from Black Tusk, which swings around impressively when he…   Read Story »

Norah Jones played two earlier SXSW shows with country project the Little Willies before taking center stage at a packed La Zona Rosa early Saturady evening to debut her forthcoming breakup concept…   Read Story »

Several Stereogum staffers made it out to Vice's fest-closing Vice Killed Texas showcase, a lineup that featured the particularly resplendent Trash Talk followed by ASAP Rocky and Fidlar. Well,…   Read Story »

Bethany Cosentino's Best Coast, now with an expanded four-person live lineup, used the 35 Denton Festival then SXSW to debut songs from the forthcoming Jon Brion-produced The Only Place. One of the…   Read Story »

Last week, Fiona Apple played her first two solo shows in a few years at SXSW. The one I saw, at Stubb's, was a pretty magical affair -- a great talent gutting her way through obvious issues of…   Read Story »

On SXSW's third night, we threw a party that went almost until sunrise. It was a pretty good time! Thanks to all who braved the line and came to hang, and salute to our estimable lineup -- Lakutis,…   Read Story »

The "discovery" function of SXSW faded long ago, when the internet democratized access to information and YouTube brought every band's live show to everyone's laptops. And at SXSW, this annual cattle…   Read Story »

Part of the deal with loving Fiona Apple is feeling protective of her, perhaps even condescendingly so. It's tough to judge her new songs on first listen, especially live, because you (you meaning…   Read Story »

Generally, Wednesday is when the music things get going in Austin, and Tuesday is the changeover between the SXSW festival's Interactive portion, and the full-force band fare. And yet there were…   Read Story »

Tonight, Jay-Z is in Austin, digging deep into his endless bag of awesome songs as some sort of American Express promotional stunt that's presumably netted him only god knows how much money. But…   Read Story »