Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew / Photo by Matt Kiser
BEST WARM AND FUZZY FEELINGS: BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
"Good luck, America," BSS frontman Kevin Drew told a late-night crowd at Stubb's, "I believe in you through all this shit, I really do." Tell you what, Mr. Drew, with an attitude like that -- and songs like your sextet played -- SXSW believes in you, too. On Thursday night, the Canadian collective gave a giddy crowd a taste of the songs from their forthcoming Forgiveness Rock Record, due May 4, and a few big gulps of all-around optimism. A cameo four-piece horn section beefed up one sprawling jam, and Metric's Emily Haines guested on the lovely "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl." -- KEVIN BRONSON
BEST GET UR FREAK ON: ESTELLE
The saucy U.K. vet sure knows how to throw a wicked nasty dance party. Between rapping about motherf**ckin' cheating boyfriends, grinding against a hunky dude from the audience, giving her female fans tips on straying without getting caught, and repeatedly warning everyone to get their hands up in the air cuz she's watching (and she was), Estelle also managed to sing a breathtaking soul version of Smokey Robinson's "Get Ready," do a call-and-response take on her hit "American Boy," cover Coldplay, and bring Gym Class Heroes leader Travis McCoy onstage to rap. Whew! Girl packs a lot into 45 slim minutes. -- MARK BAUTZ
Emily Haines / Photo: Matt Kiser
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Nicole Atkins / Photo: Kyle Dean Reinford
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BEST FLANNEL-CLAD CROWD-PLEASERS: BAND OF HORSES
From the moment Ben Bridwell and bandmates hit the first notes of the echoing, hypnotic "Is There a Ghost," the South Carolina stars had the capacity crowd at Stubb's in the pocket of their flannel shirts. Even between songs Bridwell was nothing less than buoyant, joking of his trip to Austin, "They gotta start abbreviating South by Southwest to just By Southwest." Meanwhile, the band's 45 minutes of lightly psychedelic Southern-fried roots-rock -- highlighted by a grand singalong on "The Great Salt Lake" -- included three songs from their forthcoming album Infinite Arms, out May 18, including a scorching finisher filled out with some rapturous guitar solos. -- KB
BEST FEMME FATALE: NICOLE ATKINS
Currently working on the full-length follow-up to 2007's Neptune City, Nicole Atkins' sexy early evening set at La Zona Rosa had me checking for the album's release date (there isn't one yet -- dammit) as tough and twangy tearjerkers like the new "Civil War" mixed moody keyb-and-guitar interplay with dusky vocals. Every lovesick song Atkins sang (with a special nod to the languidly rocking, cheekily titled "Oh Canada") made it sound as if she'd spent roughly equal time breaking hearts and being burned. The noirish music almost made me want to go order a Scotch on the rocks and call an old girlfriend just to tell her a lie about love. Almost. -- DAVID MARCHESE
BEST NOT SO VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER: MIDLAKE
The Courage of Others, the most recent album from Denton, Texas' Midlake, is a cryptic collection of songs that sound as if designed to accompany druids dancing the quadrille -- it's also a bit of a slog. But live, when the drums hit heavy, the guitars crackle, and the bass rattles in your chest, the eight-piece band becomes an altogether woollier and more impressive beast. (And they still hit all their intricate, spooky harmonies with uncanny accuracy.) Midlake would absolutely kill at Stonehenge. Someone make it happen. -- DM
BEST BID AT THE BIG TIME: POMEGRANATES
Few feelings are as awesome as seeing a band you like live for the first time, and leaving liking 'em even more. Such was the case with this Cincinnati, OH, quartet, who've refined their sound since first popping on SPIN's radar in 2008. They've added a glossy polish to their art-pop and punk with reverb-y, anthemic yet meandering guitar lines that'd raise the eyebrows of both Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock and Coldplay's Chris Martin. On their set-closer, "Cakin," a demo for their next album, thrift store boys Joey Cook and Isaac Karns -- who split guitar and keyboard duties -- traded vocals, Cook's a low mutter and Karns' a high-pitched squawk, and created the kind of electrifying melodic charge that might be enough to push this band out of obscurity. -- WILLIAM GOODMAN
BEST DRESSED: A CLASSIC EDUCATON
While these Italians don't hail from the boutique-clogged streets of Milan, they certainly know how to fill out a suit. Jammed into the front window of 6th Street gin mill Friends, the sextet looked far classier than the club's regular clientele -- flat-screen TVs on the walls cycled through photos of buxom beauties in low-cut tops -- and had chops to match. The tightly wound, mandolin-led "What My Life Could Have Been" closed the set with panache, a spazzy college rock romp (think SXSW 2009 breakout band Pains of Being Pure at Heart) adorned with Old World orchestral touches. -- PETER GASTON
