At the end of January, when I first glanced at the tentative list of acts chosen to perform at this year's South by Southwest festival, I did a double take. The lineup looked like a holdover from the first Bush administration, the days when gas was still under two bucks a gallon and Americans thought a terrorist attack on its soil was improbable: DeVotchKa, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, the Apples in Stereo, Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Granted, those last two outfits didn't actually end up on the final confirmed list, and there's a slew of other bands crashing the party — including Git Some, Hearts of Palm (né Nathan & Stephen), the Swayback, Autokinton, Kingdom of Magic, Mustangs & Madras, the Photo Atlas, Oakhurst, Breathe Carolina and the Chain Gang of 1974 — but still, you get the picture. Two of the outfits that garnered official invitations from SXSW to represent the Mile High City this year aren't... More >>>