Live In Concert from NPR's All Songs Considered Folgen

Emerging out of the sound of the spring peepers that close her new album, Middle Cyclone, Neko Case and her five-piece band opened the night's performance with "Maybe Sparrow." The stage was set in something out of a nature cartoon with trees painted on long banners and an owl overseeing it all. Behind them videos of cyclones, airplanes and anthropomorphic animals were projected on a screen. But the attention was clearly on Case, her stunning voice, as well as her solid backing band. She gave a full concert from Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club, which was webcast live on NPR.org.

The music of Mates of State has always been playfully innocent and unabashedly upbeat. Since forming a decade ago in Lawrence, Kan., the husband-and-wife duo of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel has released a string of sticky-sweet studio albums with hooky synth lines, two-part harmonies and bounding rhythms. But on their latest CD, Re-Arrange Us, Gardner and Hammel show that they've grown a little older and wiser, with their richest and most reflective collection of songs to date. The band was recorded live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on Apr. 4, 2009.

Since the 2009 South by Southwest music festival and conference ended a week ago, we've spent much of our time back decompressing and making sense of everything we saw and heard. All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen, Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein, All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton and Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson discovered dozens of new bands, took in more concerts than most people see in a year, and came back with some new favorite artists. On this edition of All Songs Considered we wrap up our SXSW '09 coverage with a final look at some of the most memorable acts.