DOUG BROD -- EDITOR IN CHIEF, SPINBest Set: The Jim Jones Revue at Emo's Jr., Friday night. Until the Hives get back to touring this…

BEST BAND TO WATCH THROUGH A FENCE: PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEARTCheer Up Charlie's hit capacity for the Pains of Being Pure at Heart,…

The fact that Kanye West was gracing Austin with his presence was no surprise. Even the fact that he'd brought Jay-Z with him wasn't a…

It was no stunner that Ted Leo, punk-ethos lifer and reluctant interlocutor in South By Southwest's music-industry minstrel show, provided the most cutting epilogue to…

BEST RIDDIMS: LITTLE DRAGONBacked by her chopsy wrecking crew of stone-cold Swedes, Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano was the perfect musical muse and master of ceremonies,…

As the Isley Brothers' cinematic wet kiss "Between the Sheets" faded down (at the buzzkillingly named Klub Krucial), Los Angeles indie-pop troupe Puro Instinct launched…

If TV on the Radio wanted to reintroduce themselves to their audience and get people excited about April's Nine Types of Light, they couldn't have…

In a SXSW sideshow with no shortage of highlights -- the proposition of Odd Future, Das Racist and a 40-year-old doom metal band sharing a…

BEST POWER (POP) TRIO: DINOSAUR PILE-UPIt's difficult to write about this trio from Leeds, England, without mentioning thattrio from Seattle. Nirvana's gritty (but not grungy)…

Being partially jaded and partially giddy before the Strokes' free show at Auditorium Shores Stage Thursday night -- their second of the year supporting new…

When Friendly Fires released their excellent debut album in 2009, the British quartet proved LCD Soundsystem weren't the only band who knew how to throw…