The first thing that jumps out about rising rapper Sugar Tongue Slim is his playful, funny, generous spirit. Surrounded by a lively and crackling backing band — a laptop, turntables, bass and a full drum kit — STS cut a smiling and conspiratorial figure on stage at NPR Music's SXSW day party, held Thursday at The Parish in Austin, Texas on March 15, 2012. Language Advisory: This is a live concert recording, and may contain language not suitable for all audiences.

Backs to the stage, shirts drenched and spattered with blue paint, La Vida Boheme opened NPR Music's SXSW day party in kinetically jumpy style Thursday. A boundlessly gleeful young band, La Vida Boheme invigorates Latin rock with the grit and viscera of punk and the churning drive of dance music. Hear the band perform live at The Parish during the South by Southwest music festival on March 15, 2012.

Highlights from day one at SXSW included discoveries, old favorites and NPR Music's official showcase at Stubbs, featuring the return of Fiona Apple.

Classically trained and once known as a purveyor of old-time hot jazz, Andrew Bird is now the picture of indie-pop sophistication, known for employing $10 words and the clearest, most identifiable whistle in the business. Naturally, both came into play when Bird took the Stubb's stage as the headliner of NPR Music's SXSW showcase in Austin, Texas on March 14, 2012.

Led by Brittany Howard, one of the most charismatic up-and-coming singers in the business, the group enjoyed an auspicious breakthrough with a self-titled record last year. But this is a full, tight, ridiculously proficient rock/soul band with remarkable live chemistry and a strong, consistent catalog. A staple of "Bands To Watch" lists far and wide, Alabama Shakes sure didn't shrink under the open Texas skies during NPR Music's SXSW showcase at Stubb's in Austin, Texas. Hear the band perform live in concert, recorded on March 14, 2012.

Few high-profile musicians fit into the SXSW crowd as seamlessly as Dan Deacon, who doesn't exactly cut a lithe, otherworldly, Mick Jagger-esque figure offstage. But everything about his live show is a raving, raging bundle of surprises: Deacon puts on some of the most rivetingly unpredictable, oddly interactive concerts in the business, whether he's teaching the crowd how to move in choreographed unison or issuing a long spoken riff that somehow invokes both Avatar and the mom from the movie Big. Hear Dan Deacon's set, recorded live from Stubbs during SXSW on March 14, 2012.

At SXSW in 2010, Sharon Van Etten slunk shyly onstage at a church to tentatively sang breathtakingly fragile songs from her breakthrough album, Because I Was in Love. It's almost impossible to comprehend the transformation she's made since, as her wounded acoustic material gives way to "Serpents," the bracing and caustic rocker which closes Van Etten's performance during NPR Music's showcase at Stubb's in Austin, Texas. Without sacrificing the intimacy of a small club Van Etten flexed her songs' newfound muscle without obscuring the beating heart and raw nerves that lie beneath. Hear Sharon Van Etten's set performed live during South By Southwest on March 14, 2012.

All Songs Considered is Austin-bound! On this week's show, host Bob Boilen, producer and co-host Robin Hilton, editor Stephen Thompson and NPR Music critic Ann Powers talk about the bands they're most excited to see this year at South by Southwest. The four-day music festivalkicks off on Wednesday, March 14 in Austin, Texas, and features roughly 2,000 artists, spanning countless genres.On the show:Bad Sports: "Can't Just Be Friends" Lady Leshurr: "Lego" Filastine: "Colony Collapse" Quiet Company: "You, Me and The Bottom" Mr. Gnome: "House of Circles" Teen Daze: "Let's Groove" Bright Moments: "Natives" The City And Horses: "We Will Never Be Discovered" No: "Stay With Me" Sauti Sol: "Soma Kijana" Daughter: "Landfill" Impending Doom: "There Will Be Violence" The Black And White Years: "Up!" Mirel Wagner: "No Death" Deafheaven: "Violet" Trippple Nippple: "LSD" Line Upon Line Percussion: "A Man With A Gun Lives Here" Clyde And Clem's Whiskey Business: "The Ballad of Ed Geen" Young Prism: "Floating In Blue" Sore Losers: "Letter To My Competition" ZZ Ward: "Criminal" Kishi Bashi: "Bright Whites"

Julia Holter's music is hard to pin down. With 'Ekstasis,' she blurs the line between composer and songwriter, between ambient and pop. Hear Holter turn pop music inside-out in her first-ever New York City performance, recorded live from Le Poisson Rouge on Tuesday March 6, 2012.

It got loud when NPR Music live webcast these full concerts from two of the grittiest rock duos of the past decade, The Kills and JEFF The Brotherhood. Each band has an outsize sound, fueled by deafening guitar noise and trashy rhythms, and is known for feverish but playful live performances. JEFF The Brotherhood opened the webcast from Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club, followed by The Kills. Real-life brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall founded the duo JEFF The Brotherhood in Nashville in 2001. Over the course of a half-dozen full-length albums, they've built a reputation on distorted, noisy rock with a wry sense of humor. For the band's Tiny Desk performance at the NPR Music offices, they insisted on removing their shirts for what they called "a sad love song," which was immediately followed by plenty of guitar shredding and messy beats. No promises on whether the duo will shirt-up for Thursday's live webcast.