You've read how Minnesota bands fared at South by Southwest last week in the local press, but what about the national media?

Doomtree got an awesomely meaty write-up at RollingStone.com, where the writer brought up the collective writing that went into the "No Kings" album: "The unified nature of those songs help them get blown up and turned into a pummeling force in concert." Esteemed New York Times critic Jon Pareles also sang Doomtree's praises, saying the group "put the crunch of rock samples behind forthright messages of defiance and self-confidence."

Spin magazine's writers listed Howler right below Springsteen among their Thursday highlights, riffing on their young age and their "delightful, surfy racket." The Toronto Sun's music critic also named Howler one of his top 5 of the week: "Believe the hype," he wrote. Both Howler and Night Moves made the MTV Buzzworthy list of 15 favorites from the whole fest, saying Night Movies "occupies that space between psych-rock, dance and country."

Poliça was outright named "band of the festival" by the music blog Drowned in Sound, while the IFC's blogger said they "create beautifully fuzzy songs that bore into you." Maybe the most significant thing about the latter write-up was the use of "arresting" in the headline, officially pushing that pun into the moratorium phase.