Welcome back to 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. Today, we’re investigating the sweet, neat, petite Here We Go Magic.

The newish band, conceived and born in the still respectably gritty Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has turned making do into an art form: their self-titled debut was recorded at home, in stream-of-consciousness writing/composing mode with their trusty, if not exactly high-tech, analog synths. The result is a philosophical, dreamy but strangely danceable and totally narcotic album that will likely please fans of living room dance parties stocked with PBR and those who favor patchouli-scented tambourine-tappin’ boho fests in Prospect Park.

The something-for-everyone vibe extends to their disparate takes on le dernier cri – a superskinny, gorgeously mop-topped tall, dark and handsome man who looks like he shops the vintage racks in Paris (check!); impish blue-eyed blond with dimples and a naughty glint in his eye with a soigné cardigan on his back (check!); a man in black (check!); long-tressed hipster chick who was probably born strapped into a pair of skinny jeans and a complicated-looking black top that looks super expensive but you just know she totally got it for a song (double check!).

As the band prepares for official take-off, they look at a road littered with pink slips and terminations. It’s a good thing their music doesn’t suck, because they ain’t making it at Tower Records, bakeries, florists or as personal assistants.

The crowds have stumbled back home, the streets have been cleaned and the lights are out on SXSW 2009. There’s nothing quite like this big party, considered to be the most intimate of music festivals. You never know who you’ll be standing next to while in line for a beer or rocking out with while in the crowd. Even big names show up in Austin, like this year’s visitors Kanye West and Metallica.

Uncensored Interview chatted it up with dozens of bands in our RV, where we talked about everything from the questionable fashion choices from mothers to wrongly imprisoned youth. But this year we noticed a new trend: everyone was all a -Twitter! Amanda Palmer is probably the most prolific Twitter-er of all UI artists, while Margaret Cho, Little Boots, An Horse, Thunderheist, Lisa Hannigan and DM Stith are also busily tweeting.

Check out what Ms. Palmer has to say about maintaining a community of peeps. She does ticket giveaways and Q&A sessions with fans via Twitter and even takes song requests during performances. She denies being addicted to the microblogging trend, but who can blame her? She’s all about staying in touch with everyone (as long as “everyone” doesn’t become “the entire world” and all their issues).

Thunderheist and Amazing Baby also have some very hilarious Twitter-worthy insights, while Margaret Cho drops some political knowledge. And since we know you can’t get enough, be sure to follow us on Twitter here!

Some moms are just living in their own worlds:

You can do whatever you want in the key of D:

(MORE SXSW HIGHLIGHTS HERE)

Spring has sprung, which means there’s a new music festival on the horizon every time you get the urge to travel, check out new artists and do some debauching during the day. After the whirlwind of SXSW last week, this week dance music fans are heading down to Miami for the Winter Music Conference.

Everyone from artists, DJs, producers, radio and video programmers, retailers, distributors and audio manufacturers show up, including UI artists Daedelus and Bitter:Sweet. Plus, there are dozens of panels and DIY workshops to choose from, like “Producing Music for Film & TV/Soundtracking” and “How To Get A Massive Sounding Mix.” Of course the real action happens at night, with parties galore to hit at clubs along the beach. Not a bad way to spend the evening, even if you’re Daedelus.

The Decemberists kicked off SXSW earlier this week with songs from their forthcoming album “The Hazards of Love,” due out next Tuesday, March 24. The band is one of the most adored performing at the fest this year, and we’re willing to bet most of their fans will sit down and take the time to listen to the whole album when they get it into their dirty little paws. In the days of single downloads and mixtapes a million, sometimes you just want to spend a little quality time with a band.

And for those of you at SXSW who still have some energy to wrap up on a high note, here are a few UI artists performing this weekend. Just click on their names for set times. And be sure to check out our SXSW feed as we interview dozens of bands playing the fest.

Advice from Lady Sov on how to win the SXSW crowd over. A little liquid courage helps, we hear. The Uglysuit have two performances today, while Crystal Antlers take the stage after midnight. Catch Beachouse tomorrow afternoon, Earlimart in the evening and wrap the madness up with Marnie Stern at the end of the night.

And an extra special shout out to the staff at the Hotel San Jose who has been so generous to the UI team. We wouldn’t survive Texas without their WiFi, electricity, parking spot for our RV and lots of good advice.

Welcome back to Flashion Backward, a new 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 kickass score…

Post-post-punkers and former Montreal art students The Stills have been blithely living the rock ‘n’ roll dream since 2003, walking the thinner and thinner line between cheesing out and keeping it real. They’ve appeared on the (99% cool) soundtrack for the (49% cool) cinematic tour de farce Wicker Park, opened for the likes of Oldey McMoldy (but still 51% cool) Paul McCartney and (89% cool) Kings of Leon and played with the 210% cool Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Four albums later, they’re churning out at one moment experimental, the next stadium-worthy rootsy rock that seems sweet but has a bitter bite, like a marshmallow peep followed by a double shot of bourbon. The band members look like the Bowery circa 1998, when the grit still eclipsed the glam, but it was starting to smell suspiciously pretty. Their trippy aesthetic reflects their sound and their aspect – some weird amalgamation of a pouting Marcel Duchamp with a generous (and ironically applied, natch) dollop of Bob Ross.

Here, they describe what would happen if they were allowed to design their own album covers, which, for everyone’s sake, their label, Arts & Crafts, should look into STAT: they essentially envision white cats on stairs hopped up on steroids with toilet paper flowing all around them; on the magically animated cover, the felines would frolic joyfully about for our bemusement. LOLcats!!

The 2009 SXSW music festival officially kicks off today, and Uncensored Interview is in Austin to enjoy all the briskets, booze and bands we can physically handle. We’ve interviewed hundreds upons hundreds of artists, and we shed a little tear of joy to see so many of them playing SXSW this year. You never know who is in the crowd in Austin, and it could make a world of difference for the performing bands.

Here are a few artists we’re particularly proud of that are reppin’ down south this week. And be sure to check out our SXSW Highlights feed, which we’ll be updating as this crazy week continues!