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THE LITTLE ONES
The L.A. based indie pop outfit kicked off a dance party under the tent at the Cedar Door with a live sound far more engrossing than anything exhibited on their 2006 EP, Sing Song. Up close and personal, the lil' group is infectiously good-natured (spring-loaded guitarist Ian Moreno in particular) and has significantly more rhythmic and vocal bite; songs like ''Lovers Who Uncover'' and ''Oh, MJ!'' took on new life as tank-topped coeds danced in front of the stage. Bonus points for the hooky ''Ordinary Song,'' which they claimed to have just written that day; points off for lying, as the song is all over the Internet, part of their label-nonsense-delayed full-length, Morning Tide, which will hopefully hit shelves this summer.
DOWNLOAD THIS: Ordinary Song
ROGUE WAVE
Zach Rogue's failing voice didn't stop the Oakland boys from turning in a jubilant, warmly-received Cedar Door set, featuring both Asleep At Heaven's Gate tracks (''Like I Needed,'' big fat Microsoft commercial ditty ''Lake Michigan'') and old favorites writ new: ''Every Moment'' is now arena-rock ready, while ''Bird on a Wire'' has been slowed down, turned metronomic and echoey with a deconstructed finish that results in Rogue, guitarist Gram LeBron, and drummer Pat Spurgeon pounding away on every tom in sight. ''I love SXSW, cause you never know what's gonna happen,'' announced Zach, before bringing out Nada Surf's Matthew Caws to duet on ''Chicago x 12.'' The two bands are tight thanks to several years of touring together — they just returned from a jaunt through Europe — and their mutual affection on stage and off permeated the rest of the evening.
DOWNLOAD THIS: ''Lake Michigan''
DR. DOG
"Is this the worst trip you have ever been on?" several of Dr. Dog's members sang together at Cedar Door's parking lot toward midnight. As a matter of fact, the Philadelphia psych-pop quintet's sped-up, electrified ''Worst Trip'' was taking us on one of the best trips we'd been on all week. They pumped their sweetly retro tunes up with a palpable jolt of soul (imagine the Beatles circa the White Album reincarnated as a super-tight jam band). Bobbing enthusiastically around the stage, they nailed immaculate multi-part harmonies without even seeming to try. Equally harmonious: the adulatory vibe emanating from the packed lot.
DOWNLOAD THIS: ''The World May Never Know''
NADA SURF
If Rogue Wave's set was lush and engrossing, Nada Surf took that stored-up energy and blew it into a million pieces, scattering the cumulative good vibes across the tent during a too-short set of whole-hearted joyful noise. Caws had by this point donned a top hat; he led the crowd in a sing-a-long to “Weightless'' and a Pips-inspired dance routine for ''Inside of Love'' that kept grins on the faces of folks up way past their bedtime for the third night in a row. The opening chords of songs off the recently-released Lucky (''Whose Authority,'' ''Beautiful Beat'') were met with as much anticipatory audience excitement as standards like ''Happy Kid'' and ''Fruit Fly,'' and by the time things closed out with ''See These Bones,'' it's not a stretch to say that though the sun had set long ago, the Cedar Door parking lot was the warmest place in Austin.
DOWNLOAD THIS: ''Whose Authority''
