When Florence and her acoustic machine came through the Levi’s®/FADER Fort at the Ace Hotel last month, she was wearing 6-inch heels, which unfortunately in the clips below you cannot see. HOWEVER, trust us when we tell you the following: she was both tall and awesome. Check our visual recaps of “Dog Days” and the ever-so-singable, “You’ve Got The Love” below.

The Temper Trap not only stirred things up in our backyard this summer, but they excited and maybe confused everyone at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort by playing one of our favorites, “Sweet Disposition” and the appropriately named, “Fader”. Even amid the din, frontdude Dougy Mandagi sounds like an angel!

You might say Micachu raised some eyebrows down in Austin during SxSW in March. People were either peeing their pants or on one another each time the Londoner and her Shapes kicked out helpings of their schizo-pop. Words and phrases like “fresh,” “yikes,” and “oh, good heavens,” were thrown around with equal abandon. BBQ sauce was spilled. Chaos ensued. All that’s bound to happen again this summer when Micachu returns for a set of US tour dates. The wave of epileptic fits begin in Chicago!

07.13.09 – Chicago, IL (Schubas Tavern)
07.14.09 – Toronto, ON (El Mocambo)
07.15.09 – Montreal (Ill Motore)
07.16.09 – Boston MA (Great Scott)
07.17.09 – Philadelphia, PA (World Cafe)
07.18.09 – Brooklyn, NY (Siren Festival)
07.21.09 – Los Angeles CA (Echo)
07.22.09 – San Francisco (Rickshaw Shop)
07.23.09 – Portland (Doug Fir)
07.24.09 – Seattle (Capitol Hill Block)

It was the Tripwire day at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort, and I’m talking to Women as we’re all anticipating the spectacle that will be the first ever Tinted Windows performance, when in walks Devo (in full garb mind you). In one of, if not the, most surreal moments of my career, I witnessed all of Devo walking past me and into the dressing room as Taylor Hanson and James Iha walk out. Seriously, you can’t script this stuff.

Devo was actually there to do an interview with another media outlet, when the bells of “hey, this is our venue, maybe we should talk to them too” went off. It all happened so fast, we didn’t have time to mic them or even find a space where they all could sit. Not to mention they had a full video crew documenting their every move for an upcoming film about the reunion and subsequent album and tours. So we crammed roughly ten people, four cameras and two studio lights into the dressing room and threw a FADER mic in front of them as I tried to summarize the last 20 years of the band’s existence in a ten-minute interview. All in all, it was a pretty exciting moment, my only regret is that I didn’t ask them what it was like to do an interview without one “Whip It” question.

It’s no secret we’re fans of Women; aside from the On The Cover feature we ran last November, we surmised that that their self-titled debut was the 6th best record of 2008. So when I was asked what band I would most like to see play the Tripwire day at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort, the choice was simple.

Having played right before Tinted Windows, it created an odd paradigm — one that wasn’t lost on the sound guy apparently. But Women did stick around long enough to see Devo, Peter Bjorn and John and for us to talk to them via flipcam while they were loading out.

Imagine for a moment that you don’t live in the United States (for those of you outside of America, it should be a fairly easy task). Now picture your first trip visiting the States is a stop in the middle of Texas during a giant music festival. And Hatcham Social frontman Toby Kidd thought television exaggerated the American lifestyle.

Just as the band was starting to get used to french fries (chips) being served with every sandwich they order, Toby and keyboardist Jerome Watson took some time after their performance at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort to speak to me about their first trip across the pond and their recently TBD / Fierce Panda-released LP, You Dig The Tunnel I’ll Hide The Soil. Like my interview with The Strange Boys, their demeanor makes me like them more than their music ever could, but their pretty good at that whole band thing too.

Is it too much of a pun to say we’re getting bored of “So Bored”? To be fair to Nathan Williams — aka Wavves — he wrote it and it is one hell of a catchy tune, but we heard it a lot at SxSW, only to find out at subsequent non-Wavves shows that the Vivian Girls were also covering and playing it live. But then we heard our 8-bit heroes Anamanaguchi’s version of it, taking it out of the garage rock murk and giving it new life. Now we’re pumped on it again.

Before listening to the song below, we strongly suggest checking out our profile on Anamanaguchi for a few original tracks and you can watch Wavves playing “So Bored” live in Austin, TX here.

Anamanaguchi – “So Bored” (Wavves Cover)

Whew! What a week it was. Sure, we might not have seen as many bands as we did during CMJ, but cut us some slack, we were like 1500 miles away from our office. Besides, at CMJ we didn’t see bands the scope of Devo, Kanye West, Crystal Method, Echo and the Bunnymen… well, you get the idea. Keep in mind, this doesn’t include some of the bands we will have for you next week in video interviews, nor the many bands we saw when our cameras died or malfunctioned. Still, our tans don’t nearly reflect the amount of time we spent in the Texas sun soaking up the best of SxSW.

Angel Deradoorian
Bad Veins
Beach House
Bearsuit
The Beets
Bell
Best Friends Forever
Black Lips
Blk Jks
Blower
Busdriver
Camera Obscura
Casio Kids
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
Common
Crystal Antlers
Crystal Method
Crystal Stilts
Cut Off Your Hands
Dappled Cities
Datarock
Desolation Wilderness
Devo
Echo and the Bunnymen
Erykah Badu
Evangelicals
Ferraby Lionheart
Fishboy
Flosstradamus
Grizzly Bear
Golden Boots
Harlem Shakes
Health
Holy Ghost
The Intelligence
J. Mascis
Jane’s Addiction
Kanye West
Kid Static
Kuroma
Kurt Vile
Late of the Pier
Laura Marling
Little Boots
Local Natives
The Love Language
The Mae Shi
Matt And Kim
Marnie Stern
Mirah
Muggabears
Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head
New Villagers
Nite Jewel
No Age (and again here)
Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Pete And The Pirates
Peter Bjorn and John
Pocahaunted
Polka Dot Dot Dot
Pterodactyl
Ra Ra Riot
Ryan Anderson
The Soft Pack
Solange
The Splinters
Still Flyin’
Team Robespierre
Thomas Function
Tinted Windows
Tara Jane O’Neil
Themselves
Tricky
Vivian Girls
Wallpaper
The Warlocks
Wavves
Wild Moccasins
Women
Young Widows
Zola Jesus

We just caught Graham Coxon playing at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort — where we got to speak with the former-now-current-again Blur guitarist. Now we’re excited to announce he has released the new artwork for his upcoming album, The Spinning Top, which is due out in mid-May. 

Coxon just revealed the cover art, which is a drawing of a distorted, spinning woman (above), exclusively to NME. The cover was drawn by Coxon himself, but this isn’t the first time the singer/songwriter has designed an album cover. Coxon has made all of the artwork for his solo albums, as well designing the sleeve for Blur’s 1999 record, 13. 

The Spinning Top will be released on May 11, and was produced by Stephen Street, who is known for his prior work with Blur. Coxon and the rest of the guys from Blur will be reuniting later this spring for a stint of summer shows as well, including a headlining gig at the Glastonbury festival in late June.

If you would’ve told me when I started doing all of this, that one day I’d be interviewing Taylor Hanson, I probably would’ve laughed. No offense to him or his brothers, but Hanson was not on my radar for bands I should be covering. But as fate would have it, the stars have aligned — literally — as Taylor is now the front man for the infamous WTF supergroup Tinted Windows.

Hanson, along with former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos and Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne made their official debut at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort in Austin last week, and my guess would be this was also their first time facing the media. The answers were primed as they all seemed to be well prepared to handle the onslaught of curiosity that surrounds them. There were so many questions I wanted to ask — some I did, others I was asked not to — but all in all, who could complain about spending 20 minutes with a few iconic musicians? And now I can say I interviewed Taylor Hanson.

He’s showed us love, so we feel the need to show it back. Albeit from the side of the stage because the front was way too packed. That’s ok, because you can see Kanye in full force (with the G.O.O.D. Music crew) performing “Love Lockdown” here.

[Janelle Monae enjoying Kanye's show]

When I heard Graham Coxon was playing the Levi’s®/FADER Fort, I knew he was someone I had to interview. Besides having a new solo album set to drop in May, he’s touring with Pete Doherty and getting back together with this little band called Blur too. All were up for discussion on this warm, first day of Spring in Austin, Texas.

Tripwire correspondent Meiyee Apple takes us through her guide of SxSW day parties with her search for free music and drinks on Saturday, March 21. Check out her Thursday and Friday installments too — her liver appreciates it.

After the serious day bender from Friday, I felt I had to lay a little low for Saturday. I felt that way, but I didn’t actually do that.

For the sake of this video diary, I needed to hit as many parties as I could, plus it was the last day; my final effort. Of course nothing ever goes as planned.

The Rachael Ray Party had a line half way around the block. As much as I love fancy food and Ra Ra Riot, I don’t like snaking lines just for a tiny nibble and to hear the excessive use of the term “Yum-Oh.” No thanks. [Editor's note: Meiyee's video shows nothing she describes above or below, but we won't fault her for it since she was drinking the whole time.]

After hitting the Carrera Café for food and booze, I stumbled to the Rusty Spur for some Americana from an LA singer/songwriter by the name of Austin Hartley-Leonard. I’ve come to notice that the parties that I attend look sparse, but it really varies depending on my position in relation to the bar.

The Levi’s®/FADER Fort had a special treat for all of us. Kanye West performed with special guests Common and Erykah Badu. Watching indie kids dance around pretending they like hip-hop is almost as entertaining as what’s on stage.

Afterward, I roll over to the Perez Hilton party — as relevant as he is in our music world — where we were treated with Solange (you may know her sister better), Little Boots, and Perez Hilton bitching about Lady Sovereign being too sick to show up. He continued to berate her, and might as well have put up a picture of her on the stage and paint fake cocaine from her nose and jizz from her mouth. Kanye showed up there as well.

The next late-night jaunt was to the Vice party held at a closed down booty club. It was the usual hellish line only to find out that when you finally were let in barely anyone was inside. Oh, but there was tequila and hardcore bands.

Capping off the night with a trek to Taco Cabana, I’d have to say it was a good SxSW.

Thanks Austin for showing our drunk asses a good time. See you next year.

Hey y’all, we’re in the Lone Star State this week, reporting live from the captial of Austin for this year’s SxSW. Check back often for updates and live coverage, including a live video feed of the Tripwire day at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort on Friday, March 20.

We know you’ve all been planning your TX days and nights without worrying about the Levi’s®/FADER Fort, because you already knew that it’s all day, every day from Wednesday, March 18 through Saturday, March 21. And we know you already had planned to be there regardless, you were just waiting to hear where it is and who would be there. Well, now you know.

This year we’ll be holing up at a new Fort, on 1101 E. 5th Street (between San Marcos & Waller), and the only way to get in is to RSVP. The Tripwire day is Friday, March 20, but you can check out the full lineup and additional sponsors below. And this year, anytime you want the latest info, text the word “FORT” to FADER (32337) to get Levi’s®/FADER Fort updates sent to your mobile device. Because we’re technical like that.

The Levi’s®/FADER Fort: 1101 E. 5th Street (between San Marcos & Waller)
RSVP

Wednesday, March 18
1:30 – 1:55 American Princes
2:15 – 2:40 Let’s Wrestle
3:00 – 3:25 The Strange Boys
3:45 – 4:10 Esser
4:30 – 4:55 Post War Years
5:15 – 5:40 Abe Vigoda
6:00 – 6:25 Graham Coxon
6:45 – 7:10 Micachu and the Shapes
7:30 – 7:55 B.o.B.
8:15 – 8:45 Little Boots

DJ’s sets by DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives, DJ Kayper, Rezound

Thursday, March 19
1:30 – 1:55 Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head
2:15 – 2:40 Handsome Furs
3:00 – 3:25 Janelle Monae
3:45 – 4:10 Amazing Baby
4:30 – 4:55 The Hot Melts
5:15 – 5:40 Francis & The Lights
6:00 – 6:25 Late of the Pier
6:45 – 7:10 Lissy Trullie
7:30 – 8:10 Tricky
8:30 – 9:00 The Warlocks

DJ’s sets by Disco Shawn and Oro 11 (Bersa Discos), Jokers of the Scene, DJ Diabetic, Egg Foo Young aka Michna

Friday, March 20 (The Tripwire Day)
1:00 – 1:20 The Kidz in the Hall
1:40 – 2:05 The Love Language
2:20 – 2:45 Coupleskate
3:05 – 3:30 Solid Gold
3:45 – 4:10 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
4:30 – 4:55 We Have Band
5:15 – 5:40 Women
6:00 – 6:25 Hatcham Social
6:45 – 7:15 Tinted Windows
7:45 – 8:45 Peter Bjorn & John

DJ’s sets by Round Table Knights, The GrooveLayers, Holy Ghost!, Flosstradamus

Saturday, March 21
1:30 – 1:55 Blank Dogs
2:15 – 2:40 Wavves
3:00 – 3:25 Theophilus London
3:45 – 4:10 Maluca
4:30 – 4:55 Popo
5:15 – 5:40 Major Lazer
6:00 – 6:25 Rick Ross
6:45 – 7:10 Jadakiss
8:30 – 11:00 Good Music with Kid Cudi, Big Sean, GLC, Consequence, Really Doe, Tony Williams, Mr. Hudson and special guests

DJ’s sets by Brick Bandits / Ghetto Division, Nick Catchdubs, Paul Devro (Mad Decent), WE MAKE IT GOOD with Pretty Titty, Chris Devlin, XXXChange & Blaqstarr, Green Lantern

Additional sponsors: East Village Radio (EVR), Guitar Center, Skull Candy, Xbox, Ray-Ban, ShockHound, Budweiser, Budweiser American Ale, Southern Comfort, Pepsi, Ace Hotel.