Death Cab for Cutie arrive to the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards
Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — The spirit and energy of the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards — the madcap awards show that celebrates independent music and college radio across the country — was distilled entirely in the show's opening performance.

Once the lights dimmed at Roseland Ballroom, house DJ Diplo cranked out booty-shaking jams while the giant video screens showed Brooklyn new-wave duo Matt and Kim riding through the city on bicycles. Once they arrived, they stormed the stage and kicked into "Lessons Learned." Flanked by eight backup singers who gradually stripped down to their underwear (in a nod to the Video Music Award-winning video for the same song), the duo jubilantly pounded out the song. Unlike this year's VMAs, stage crashers were welcomed during Matt and Kim's three minutes of joy, and Kim herself mounted the crowd at the end.

	Woodie Awards Show Highlights

From there, Pete Wentz — dressed casually and holding a red plastic cup (a common accessory throughout the evening) — sauntered onstage and officially kicked off the show, which airs December 4 at 10 p.m. on MTV, MTV2 and mtvU. What followed was a cavalcade of fun-loving guest appearances, energy-packed performances and plenty of enthusiastic crowd interaction.

Zooey Deschanel appeared next, running off a long and complicated story about cloning herself to find out about more bands and presenting the Breaking Woodie award to Never Shout Never. 3OH!3 turned plenty of heads when they appeared dressed in the same red-lace costume Lady Gaga wore to the VMAs, then handed the Left Field Woodie to a grateful Tech N9ne. Other winners included Hotel of the Laughing Tree (the Long Island quintet who picked up the Best Music on Campus Woodie and seemed overwhelmed by the whole fiasco), Green Day (who were absent, forcing Asher Roth to accept in their honor — which he did by leaping into the crowd while wearing a throwback basketball jersey) and Matt and Kim (who won the Best Video Woodie for "Lessons Learned").

On the performance front, nobody could quite match the manic grandeur of Matt and Kim, but Passion Pit (who whipped the crowd into a frenzy with a ridiculous rendition of "The Reeling") and the Clipse, (who brought out Cam'ron and Rick Ross for a chaotic but thrilling run through a handful of lightning-tongue verses) came pretty close. With all the flailing limbs and semi-nude people, it was easy to miss the easy poise of Death Cab for Cutie, who rolled through their "New Moon" soundtrack song, "Meet Me on the Equinox," with an arena-rock grace, clearly cementing themselves as not only the night's elder statesmen, but also the band ready for much bigger rooms than Roseland.

By the end of the evening, the crowd was soaked with sweat but still swaying and dancing and drinking. Like the best college party, it hardly mattered who won in the end (that would be Kings of Leon, who scored the night's top honor of Woodie of the Year).

Don't miss the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards, airing on December 4 at 10 p.m. on MTV, MTV2 and mtvU!

• Woodie Awards 2009: Show Highlights
• Woodie Awards 2009: Red Carpet

• Kings Of Leon
• Death Cab For Cutie
• Passion Pit
• Matt and Kim

Rick Ross
Photo: Michael Loccisano/ Getty Images

The list of nominees reads like an iPod party mix, so naturally, the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards have lined up an eclectic list of performers and presenters too.

Passion Pit and the Clipse — featuring Cam'ron and Rick Ross — have just been confirmed to perform at the sixth-annual Woodies, joining already-announced acts Death Cab for Cutie, the Dead Weather and Matt & Kim. Breakout Woodie nominees Passion Pit will be performing their breakout single "The Reeling," while the Clipse will take on a pair of tracks, teaming with Cam on "Popular Demand (Popeye's)" and Ross for "I'm Good." Genre-blurring DJ/producer Diplo, who lately has been spending time as one half of Major Lazer, has also been announced as the house DJ for the night.

But all the onstage action won't just be of the performance variety. On Monday (November 16), the Woodies also announced a slate of big-name presenters, including Pete Wentz, Zooey Deschanel, 3OH!3, Mary-Louise Parker, David Cross, Janelle Monáe, and Woodie of the Year nominee Asher Roth.

The 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards will take place this Wednesday at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. The show will then premiere Friday, December 4, at 10 p.m. ET on mtvU, MTV, MTV2 and Palladia.

Winners in all Woodies categories — like Woodie of the Year, the Breaking Woodie and the Left Field Woodie, to name just a few — are determined by you, the college music fan. Voting is still open through Monday over at Woodies.MTV.com.

• Woodie Awards 2009 Performers And Presenters
• Woodie Awards 2009 Nominees

• Rick Ross (Hip-Hop)
• Cam'ron
• Clipse
• Passion Pit
• Fall Out Boy

Passion Pit
Photo: Jamie McCarthy/ WireImage

Passion Pit are VMA virgins, so we're willing to give them a pass on this one. But, if we could give them one piece of advice, it would probably be this: The next time you're asked about your first-ever Video Music Award nomination, you probably shouldn't answer like this:

"When I found out we got nominated, I was in the car with my mom and I got an e-mail," bassist Jeff Apruzzese laughed. "I was like, 'Hey, mom! We got nominated for a VMA!' "

Uh, cool! Still, there's plenty that the guys in PP are still learning ... after all, they've only been a band for a little more than 18 months. But, thanks to their eye-popping video for "The Reeling," they're now officially VMA nominees in the Breakthrough Video category, which puts them up against some rather stiff competition.

"I thought it was a joke at first, and then I went on the Web site and I saw all the other nominees, and I was so flattered that we were even nominated with all these bands that I've listened to all these years," Apruzzese said. "Like, Death Cab for Cutie were my favorite band for a really long time."

"If you ask me, we don't have a chance of winning," keyboardist Ayad Al Adhamy laughed. "Seriously, we have absolutely no chance of winning this."

They're just being modest, believe us. Because "The Reeling" — directed by a first-time music-video director named Humble — most definitely has a shot at winning, thanks in no small part to it's time- and space-warping special effects, which actually come from a very old-school method.

"Every 10th frame was reprinted on newspaper and then torn and re-shot again, so it was kind of back-end stop-motion photography," drummer Nate Donmoyer explained. "And so I think that's what people react to the most about it ... nothing really looks like that anywhere else."

Which means that "The Reeling" might actually be the favorite to win Breakthrough Video, or at least strong enough to give the bigger names in the field (Death Cab for Cutie, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Gnarls Barkley, to name just a few) a run for their money. And money is what they all have in common — and it's what separates them from the guys in Passion Pit.

"Don't all those other bands have VMAs already?" Donmoyer joked. "They have VMAs, Grammys, tons of money — they don't need this like we do."

"I think we're the underdogs," Apruzzese added. "Definitely. We're the official underdogs."

The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards will take place September 13 at 9 p.m. ET. Nominees, celebrity presenters and additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks. To be the first to find out the inside scoop, follow the Inside MTV Twitter account at Twitter.com/InsideMTV.

• The 2009 VMA Nominations Are In!

• 2009 VMA Nominees

• Passion Pit

Passion Pit
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — We've been to some unusual record-release parties, but Passion Pit's — held on a boat cruising New York Harbor on Monday night — just might take the cake.

The Boston quintet — who we spent a day with at the CMJ Music Marathon last year — is riding high on positive reviews and Internet buzz for their debut LP, Manners, which was released Tuesday (May 19). So in celebration of their album release (as well as frontman Michael Angelakos' 22nd birthday), the band took to the open seas — or at least the Hudson River — and played an hour-long set for a ship full of eager seafaring guests.

Even before the band took the stage, it was clear that the crowd of New York hipsters was excited to be taking part in such a unique experience. As the partygoers danced to music from DJs, MTV News sat down with Passion Pit in the galley (that's ship-speak for "kitchen"), and they were psyched to be performing their debut full-length album in such a unique setting. While talking about their specific reasons for wanting to be playing a set of mostly new material in the rough waves of New York Harbor, Angelakos mused that playing in an unconventional locale seemed fitting considering the conditions under which they recorded Manners.

These days, bands garner buzz so quickly that they end up rushing their recordings in order to finish them before the buzz wears off. It's a reality Passion Pit had to deal with as well.

"Things just started happening so quickly and unexpectedly that it was really hard to grapple with what was going on," Angelakos said. But he added that many of the songs were "based on improvisation and gut feelings," which the band would then go back over and re-evaluate and see what worked and what didn't. "I think it really encapsulates what we stand for, which is on-the-fly, very explosive energetic music."

The band decided that music was perfect for an unconventional record-release party. "This album presented so many different challenges and things we had to deal with, we really wanted to celebrate in a different way," Angelakos reflected. But then synth player Ayad Al Adhamy chimed in with what everyone was already thinking: "And boats are fun!"

Clearly, playing on a boat (not to mention premiering a lot of new material) comes with challenges, chiefly the fact that the venue is constantly moving. Bassist Jeff Apruzzese said that setting up on the boat "was probably one of the hardest sound checks we've ever done, because of the rocking back and forth." Drummer Nate Donmoyer even had to leave their soundcheck briefly because of seasickness.

But if the band was worried, it didn't show once they took the stage. Fans crowded around the small stage area and danced enthusiastically — and dancing is not easy on a crowded seafaring vessel. You haven't seen audience enthusiasm until you've seen dozens of people swaying in unison, trying to keep their balance and dance as the floor rocks back and forth ...

• Passion Pit's Boat Show
• Passion Pit Take Over New York

• Passion Pit

Photo: sxsw.com

South by Southwest is sort of like running a marathon, except you're drunk most of the time, and there's nothing but BBQ and tacos to eat, and have sun stroke, and you basically hear live music from the moment you wake up until the second you pass out. So, actually, it's not really like a marathon at all, except in duration (and probably perspiration).

Yes, it's that time of year again — SXSW is upon us. It's a magical week that comes around each March, when the city of Austin, Texas is overrun with hundreds of bands and thousands of hipsters in really tight pants, all braving the blazing Texas sun to catch can't-miss sets from much-buzzed blog acts, top-secret performances by some of the biggest names in music (there's a couple of doozies this year), and have a really gigantic, really debauched party.

At SXSW 2008, there were performances by mainstays like Paramore, N.E.R.D., R.E.M., and My Morning Jacket, star-making turns by Vampire Weekend, No Age, MGMT and Katy Perry, appearances by Perez Hilton and Rachael Ray, even a Britney Spears rumor (and, as luck would have it, we spoke to almost all of 'em). Rumor has it, there was also plenty of partying — though we don't really remember, to be honest.

This year, things are looking to be just as awesome. There are rumors (repeat: rumors) of performances by Metallica — under the relatively awesome Norse name of Volsung — on Friday and Kanye West on Saturday. We'll see the return of alt-rock greats Jane's Addiction — in all their original-lineup glory — and faerie queen Tori Amos. Big Boi, Rick Ross and Jadakiss are all scheduled to appear. There will be sets by the Silversun Pickups, Explosions in the Sky, Primal Scream, Devo, the Hold Steady, M. Ward and Peter Bjorn and John. Plus, indie heavyweights like the Thermals, the Decemberists (performing their new album, The Hazards Of Love, in its entirety) and Grizzly Bear, who will unveil tracks from their much-anticipated Vecktimest album at what promises to be a revelatory church show.

We know it's a lot to handle.

Of course, it wouldn't be SXSW if there weren't also a ton of up-and-comers grabbing headlines, too. From lo (perhaps even no)-fi noisemakers like San Diego's Wavves and Brooklyn's the Pains of Being Pure at Heart to NME-approved female electro-poppers Little Boots and Ladyhawke, there's no shortage of buzzed-up bands to catch in and around Austin this week. And that's not even mentioning bands like Passion Pit, Crystal Stilts, the Dirty Projectors and Marnie Stern — who's already given us an SXSW preview of her own. Throw in a strong hip-hop contingent — multiple sets by Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, Kid Sister and B.o.B — and you can see why the whole "marathon" comparison is more than apt. There literally is not enough time in the day to see everything, but that doesn't mean you're not gonna try your hardest to do it.

And, of course, MTV News is going to be there too — checking out bands, staying up way too late, making terrible decisions and trying very hard to remain sane. We'll be bringing you up-to-the-minute updates on SXSW on MTVNews.com, the Newsroom blog. We'll have live video of shows, interviews with bands and even a BBQ story or three. In short, we're going to try and bring you everything you're missing at SXSW 2009. It's hard work, for sure. But we do it because we care.

MTV News will be all over the South by Southwest festival this week, with blogs, articles and video on all the gigs, the artists and the scene!

• South By Southwest 2009: Looking Back

• Passion Pit
• Metallica
• Silversun Pickups
• The Decemberists
• Kanye West

Woodie Awards 2009: Red Carpet

• Death Cab For Cutie
• Asher Roth
• 3Oh!3
• Hellogoodbye
• Passion Pit

Woodie Awards 2009: Show Highlights

• Matt and Kim
• Never Shout Never
• 3Oh!3
• Tech N9ne
• Passion Pit

Woodie Awards 2009: Bearded And Beautiful

• Death Cab For Cutie
• 3Oh!3
• Passion Pit
• Tech N9ne
• Chromeo

Woodie Awards 2009 Nominees

• 3Oh!3
• Alicia Keys
• Amanda Blank
• Animal Collective
• Anjulie

Woodie Awards 2009 Performers And Presenters

• 3Oh!3
• Asher Roth
• Cam'ron
• Clipse
• The Dead Weather

Don't Mess With Texas: SXSW 2009

• Metallica
• The Decemberists
• The Von Bondies
• Voxtrot
• Tori Amos