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.

Seriously, Kanye is effing everywhere. There’s his Louis Vuitton sneaker collaboration, which we’ve been anticipating. Then there was the whole wah-Radiohead-waaaaah squabble, which entertained us for a fun few days. After that, we started fixating on the fact that he technically opened for Kelly Clarkson on American Idol. (In an unlikely and troubling jeans-on-jeans ensemble, no less.)

Next, he confirmed that he employs two people–two!–to help him run his infamous little corner of the Interweb. Just yesterday, we learned via People that West will lay down vocals for a Family Guy spin-off, in which he’ll play rapper Kenny West. Dropsonic thinks West is a bit of an egomaniac, but not so, according to the show’s producers!

According to executive producer Richard Appel, “Before we came to the table … there was only one line he didn’t love and he came up with another idea and in a completely modest, nice way said, ‘Would you mind if I changed just this one line?’ And our feeling was, how many raps have we written? One? And how many has he written? Be our guest!”

See? He’s humble, too! And this morning, the AP finally confirmed West’s performance at SXSW. So what will he perform? Will he turn up the 808s for “Heartless”? (Our personal favorite “my life is over and you suck” jam)? Another rousing reinterpretation of “Love Lockdown”? Is it possible Young Jeezy can make time in his schedule to join West in “Amazing”?

Perhaps he’ll go old-school with some cuts off Graduation. That would make us happy. Optimism really does abound at SXSW, despite our fiscal apocalypse! Or so we continue to tell ourselves.

It’s sort of the band version of failing out and being sent to summer school, isn’t it? The Klaxons recorded what they thought would be the successor to 2007′s Myths Of The Near Future with producer James Ford, but when their label, Polydor, heard the results, they sent the dance-punk trio back to the studio for another go. Band leader Jamie Reynolds told the NMEit was because they “forgot” that they were a pop outfit. Which apparently means they’re never allowed to experiment. Or, you know, grow artistically:

“Yes [we were asked to re-record part of the album],” he confirmed to NME.com. “Because we’ve made a really dense, psychedelic record. We’ve made a really heavy record and it isn’t the right thing for us, I understand and know that. First and foremost we’re a pop band. I haven’t thought about that for a long time, and now it’s in the forefront of my mind.”

Reynolds added that the Klaxons have been given a four-week deadline to rewrite a bunch of songs and finish up the album, after which, he noted, “everything should be dealt with.” What a great way to produce new, exciting music! Gee, that doesn’t sound stunted, clinical and horribly un-rock’n'roll at all!

The Grammy Awards must have been pretty darn stressful for Radiohead frontman and spikey-haired, lazy-eyed hot-hottie (shush, there’s no accounting for taste!) Thomas Edward Yorke. First, he was too busy being a genius to say “hello” to super-fan Kanye West backstage, insulting the rapper so much West “sat the fuck down” during the band’s amazing performance of “15 Step.”

But Kanye wasn’t the only one whom Yorke pissed off for refusing to exchange celebrity niceties. Miley Cyrus, better known as Hannah Montana, was snubbed as well! While we can understand the pain and disappointment she must have felt at that moment, we don’t understand why she felt the need to go on the radio and attempt to destroy Radiohead:

“I left, ’cause I was so upset. I wasn’t going to watch [them perform]. Stinkin’ Radiohead! I’m gonna ruin them. I’m going to tell everyone.”

Oh, Miley. You have much to learn.

Yorke, who we imagine having a bit of a sardonic laugh over both blog-generated spats, addressed both beef rumors on the band’s Dead Air Space site: “Wish us all a safe journey if you still like us and you’re not one of those people I have managed to offend by doing nothing, xx.” But he went a step farther; paying special attention to Cyrus’s efforts to “ruin” them by releasing a statement to US Weekly: “When Miley grows up, she’ll learn not to have such a sense of entitlement.”

SNAP. Major chastisement. Girl is never gonna listen to OK Computer and feel the same way again. Which, according to The Soft Pack, is just fine, because Radiohead whines too much!

(For what it’s worth, we heart Thom, but we do think Miley could totally TAKE HIM DOWN in a physical altercation.)

It was Michael Jackson night on yesterday’s American Idol, and, conveniently, tickets went on sale bright and early this morning for the King of Pop’s “This Is It” run of ten retirement shows in London. (He’s only doing it so he can, like, pay his rent and stuff). But! As traffic overwhelmed the Ticketmaster site this morning, Rock & Roll Daily reports that Jackson took pity on the obsessed fanatics willing to shell out for his performances and added 12 more dates–and counting:

As the opening shows began to sell out, new dates for the “This Is It!” run were being added to Jackson’s tour page at Ticketmaster, proving that this wasn’t really it. At first only two new shows were announced, but that number blossomed to four, eight and now, as it stands at press time, 10 additional shows…

Just as the world suspected, “This Is It” isn’t “IT” until M.J. has paid for a new wardrobe of crystal-encrusted gloves and bedazzled military jackets. (The old stuff is going to be sold off in an auction, naturally). In the event that you’re dying to see Jacko and are still shut out of tickets, throw Thriller on in the background, sit back and listen to Kaki King do an impression of her grandma, who sounds disturbingly like Michael himself. It might not get you into the 02 Arena, but it sure is hilarious.

The aging dieties that are U2 played a not-so-secret show at Fordham University in New York City over the weekend to promote their new album, No Line On The Horizon. It had already been a very U2-ish week in New York, what with the whole temporary renaming of West 53rd St between Broadway and Eighth Ave “U2 Way,” and a five-night residency on the Late Show With David Letterman.

But on Friday night, the Times was there to cover something far more important than the silly band on stage. How far would some hairdressers from Michigan go to get close to Bono? Bribes? Begging? Physical violence? Cookies?

Attempt #1:  “We heard it was a free concert—we didn’t know you needed ID to get in,” said one of them, Liz Jones, 28. “We’ve tried begging, pleading, jumping the fence. We can’t get in.”

Attempt #2: They approached Officer Richard Black, who was posted on Fordham Road. “Please, can you get us in?” Ms. Jones said. “Look where they put me,” Officer Black said. “Do you think I could get you in? I can’t even get myself in.”

Attempt #3:  The women tried a different entrance and told the security guards there: “We don’t have any weapons. You can strip-search us.” The guards declined, and the women tried the next entrance. They heard a roar go up from inside the campus, and one of them, Felicia Duron, 24, grabbed the fence and groaned.

(MORE EXTREME U2 FANS)