Ace Fu buzz crew Annuals have come on strong in 2006, thanks to their luminous debut Be He Me and tours with The Dears and Calexico; besides that, they got a song on "Veronica Mars," and is there no surer indie taste-maker these days? Bassist/engineer Mike Robinson kindly spoke to us about, well, SXSW and everything:

If you could open for any artist living or dead, in any era of their career, who would it be?

The BEATLES. Or The Beach Boys! Or The Smashing Pumpkins. Or Roy Orbison... stopping.

What’s your mode of transportation for the week going to be? Tell us about your van, car, caravan, bus or donkey.

1997 Dodge Ram Van, white except it looks greyish/black from accumulated dirt. And a silver trailer with its insides falling apart and the tires close to exploding.

What album of 2006 can you not leave at home? All-time?

The Eraser [Thom Yorke], Z, Yellow House [Grizzly Bear], Antarctica s/t, many more. All-time? Ah man... Y'know this isn't really such a big problem anymore with the ole' iPods running amuck. Thank Zeus.

Who are you most excited to see play at SXSW?

We're hoping to catch Beirut, definitely gonna watch Blonde Redhead (can't BELIEVE we're getting to play with them!), Grizzly Bear, and Hella (pretty sure they're playing, thought I read that somewhere).

Pitchfork: Do you even read it?

Sure.

Any previous trips to Austin? Betcha something fun happened-share it please.

One previous trip last year- we played the worst show of that particular 12 month span. Hoping for retribution!

How do your parents describe your music to people?

"Good!" "Great!" "Sooooo good!" We love our parents.