My annual trip to SXSW Music has begun... So who have I seen so far?

Casiokids @ Radio Day Stage
Sea of Bees @ Red Eyed Fly
The Limousines @ Red Eyed Fly
Weekend @ Emo's Annex
Givers @ Mohawk
Cloud Nothings @ Mohawk
Tennis @ Club DeVille
Mister Heavenly @ Emo's
Telekinesis @ Waterloo
Yourself & The Air @ Maggies Gibson Room
Erland & The Carnival @ Club DeVille
The Riff Raff @ Barbarella Patio
New Cassettes @ 512
The Vaccines @ Club DeVille
Liam Finn @ Red Eyed Fly
Tahiti 80 @ 512 Rooftop
These United States @ Ten Oak

Band of the Day: Erland & The Carnival - I had heard good things but never actually heard the band before walking up to DeVille... Absolutely awe inspiring. They were perfect in every way... Each musician singularly awesome but collectively stunning. The Love comparisons are on target and I will absolutely try to catch them again as it could be awhile before they make it to Chicago.

Song of the Day: Heartbeat from Tahiti 80 - Despite being one of my favorite bands ever, I've never seen Xavier and Co live. Too many new songs (alright fine you have a new record to push) but they won my heart all over again with Heartbeat.

Oops of the Day: Trying to see the Vaccines I ended up at Michael Cera's gig. Mister Heavenly, not so heavenly.

Incredibly Short Set: The Vaccines - 13 minutes? Really? That's it? I understand the hype... They are incredibly accessible and could have mass appeal but it would have been nice if they'd appear to try a bit harder.

Nice Surprise: Tennis - I want to hear more but I was not expecting to like her as much as I did.

Best start to the festival in recent years: Casiokids - Electroawesomeness from Norway that NEVER disappoints. Danceable fun!

Liam Finn: I have never been afraid to exclaim my love for Liam's live loop pedal madness. I was a bit taken aback at first to see him with a full band. By not having to tweak the knobs and keep up every instrument in every song the gloves have come off... He's alarmingly explosive and seems to have way more fun on stage now. I didn't realize "more fun" was even possible.

Tribal DDB (Hong Kong) developed a fantastic program called Lipton Millionaire to excite their Lipton brand managers and company partners to engage with the Asian brand standards. With the incorporation of new technology and a twist on a typical brand guidelines they turned a typical throwaway piece into a game to encourage participation and competition among their marketing partners. The sense of humor and whimsy involved is really engaging.

Zooming down Lake Shore Drive on Thursday night we came across a huge fireworks show in progress near Navy Pier. Twenty or so cars had pulled over to the side of the highway to watch and we joined in. As we hopped off the bike and enjoyed the end-of-summer breeze faintly tainted with sulphur, the city was electrified.

Iconic British shoe brand Dr. Marten is running a great new promotion to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Borrowing on their history as a mainstay within the British Music scene they worked with a wide variety of musical artists to record cover songs (with music videos!) for a bevy a similiarly iconic songs. With tracks from The Buzzcocks, The Stone Roses, The Human League, Jeff Buckley and the like being covered by some of today's great musicians this is sure to connect well with their audience. Personally I'm totally enamoured with the Raveonettes cover of I Wanna Be Adored. Check it out and partake of their free mp3s at http://50.drmartens.com/.