Tonight, the White Stripes will appear on the final episode of Late Night in New York before host  Conan O’Brien takes over The Tonight Show in Los Angeles. The gig marks the minimalistic duo’s first performance since they canceled a tour in 2007. What brought them out of hiding? Well, in addition to having a really good relationship with O’Brien, it probably helped that, as he told Rolling Stone, they offered the Stripes “a cash payment…It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally in show business you get exactly what you want. It’s the inverse of the Rolling Stones song.”

We’re partial to the belief they would have come out to support Conan even without buckets of monies. (Or, well, maybe fewer buckets.) The O’Brien/White Stripes BFF adventure began in the ’90s, when the three of them first met and hung out at some obscure Detroit bowling alley. Eventually, the White Stripes were invited to play a four-night residency on Late Night in 2003, and O’Brien appeared in the Stripes’ Michael Gondry-directed video “The Denial Twist.” But O’Brien says that having them play his show has always seemed like a organic match:

“Musically they’re beyond the pale, but there’s something else they have that fits,” he explains. “They’re very creative, and they’re very committed to altered reality. Our show has always existed in sort of a little bit of an alternate universe–we have puppets and bears and wizards standing up in the audience.”

Clearly, O’Brien should invite The Silent Years to play his reincarnation on The Tonight Show. They love wizards and patronuses, and they aren’t ashamed to admit it! Don’t be jealous, Meg and Jack. You’ll still be #1.

Welcome to a fresh spankin’ new edition of Flashion Backward, a UI feature that’s the spiritual cousin of our recently debuted Flashion Forward. Here, we rifle through our treasure trove of interviews to fish out a vintage gem–the better to explore the strange vortex in which fashion and musicians meet. Onto this week’s sweet steal ….

Kaki, a diminutive but tough, little imp, got her start busking in the New York City subway system. What could have been (and generally is) a mad, bad and dangerous way to launch a career in the music biz ended up being a stroke of brilliance, thanks to Kaki’s strange and potent brew of intricate, ethereal guitar fretwork, soaring lyricism and her “Whatcha talkin’ ’bout Willis?” ironically scowling rock n’ roll attitude.

And like a musically inclined Frida Kahlo for the aughts, (the hair; the brows; the penchant for off-kilter fashion; the gaze), Kaki’s background also involves a flirtation with Communism, though in her case I don’t think she bedded any revolutionary leaders in the process.

What led to her temporary embrace of all things pinko? Why Jesus crack of course!

Following last week’s Almost Famous huzzahs handed to the buoyant Chicago-bred duo Walter Meego, we’re back to bonding with our European brethren for Almost Famous UK, in which we offer Strongbow and sticky pudding to those British artists and bands who we believe deserve to be as buzzed about in the States as they are in Blighty…or, in this week’s case, Ireland.

Yes, we’re cheating and abandoning the motherland for a brief sojourn, making a sharp left at Liverpool and straight for Eire to note the ascendance of ferocious Dublin rockers Fight Like Apes, who deserve many, many pints of Guinness and an economy-sized bag of Tayto crisps.

To be fair, the surname-vague quartet–vocalist MayKay, synth master Pockets, bassist Tom and drummer Adrian–has been spending a lot of time in the UK and touring with British bands like The Ting Tings and the Prodigy, who handpicked them for their December road trip. The dynamic Irish thrashers caused a stir on the BBC Introducing stage at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival and racked up much-praised, joyfully demented sets at T in the Park, Reading and Leeds.

(MORE ALMOST FAMOUS: IRELAND)

South by Southwest just got a whole lot weirder: Smashing Pumpkins’ James Iha, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, Taylor Hanson and Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne have united to form Tinted Windows, and they’ve already recorded a debut album, out this spring.

We wonder: what in God’s name are their band practices like? We picture behind-the-scenes strife, with previous pop star personas battling and hurling insults at each other, but in reality, it might not be all that juicy–they formed a band together, right? Admittedly, we have absolutely no idea what the heck they’re going to sound like. But Scouting for Girls seems to have the proper formula down: take a perfect, three-minute pop song and boil it down to the non-cynical essence. We’ll wait to catch Tinted Windows at SXSW before making a final call, if only because witnessing them all on the same stage, interacting with each other and playing in unison is gonna be quite the sight.

Time to chart new territory with Flashion Forward, a new UI feature in which we endeavor to explore the ever-expanding universe of sonic style. Each week, we’ll pluck a recently added interview from our warehouse of current clips and try to read between the artist’s sartorial lines.

Lady Sovereign is magna cum laude of the School O’ Hard Knocks, growing up fast and tough in London’s public housing project, Chalkhill Estate. She’s also one of the few white chicks to be taken (even somewhat) seriously in England’s notoriously no-nonsense and slightly grim amalgamation of hip-hop, U.K. garage, punk and dancehall music, a.k.a. the grime scene.

She roundly rejects overtly feminine trappings, instead embracing an androgynous look primarily comprised of colorful too-cool-to-sweat Adidas tracksuits, over-sized tees and occasional flashes of bling that push gloriously and glitteringly past the boundaries of classic British austerity and restraint.

So there’s no surprise (but much cackling) to be had when you flip to her recent UI rant on Britain’s version of American Idol, dubbed X Factor on that side of the pond. It seems their contestants also appear to be pampered, entitled egomaniacs who will frustrate “true” music lovers with the inevitable, undeserved, overflowing gravy train the show will launch them on. Oh, and AI’s fans across the pond are also as annoying and boring as ours are. Thanks, Lady, for succinctly saying what we’ve all been thinking.

Dig that sturdy cotton T-shirt emblazoned with the faces of five tough manly men out of the back of your closet, because Limp Bizkit is back. (You can call it “vintage” now!) After an eight year hiatus, the nu-metal Floridians have decided to reform their original lineup.

The choice was really a lesser-of-two-evils kind of thing, according to the defensive public statement they made explaining the reasons behind their forthcoming reunion, which will include a new album and a world tour this spring:

“We decided we were more disgusted and bored with the state of heavy popular music than we were with each other. Regardless of where our separate paths have taken us, we recognize there is a powerful and unique energy with this particular group of people we have not found anywhere else. This is why Limp Bizkit is back.”

And there you have it. Nothing at all to do with the nookie. Now that the Bizkit’s back, we figure everyone on Team Robespierre can agree that they’d like to trade places with Fred Durst for a day. Why bother with Dave Navarro or George Bush when you can moonlight as a hot-headed metal hip-hopper attempting an ill-advised comeback?

Ugh, internships. Years ago I told my dad that I was going to take an internship, and he scoffed at the idea. In his classic liberal fashion, he criticized internships as a violation of the Constitution–the 13th Amendment to be exact. He told me that if I did work I should get paid for it; that’s our system.

In these tough times, businesses are cutting back–apparently even on free labor–and internships are often as tough to get as a real job. In the business world, if a entry level job is in a highly desired field you can cut the salary of a fresh employee. Apply that same mentality to the world of internships and the next logical step becomes clear: charging interns.

Business have already picked up on this idea, and media companies are particularly heinous. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that “a one-week internship at a music-production company sold last month for $12,000.”

(MORE INTERNSHIPS ARE THE NEW SLAVERY)