By sheer coincidence — or maybe not, considering how international SXSW has become – three of the sets I chose to catch Wednesday afternoon at the fest were/are being broadcast out to the world. Funny: A few years ago, the only “broadcasters” at SXSW were from the Austin Music Channel on local cable access TV.

Flash forward to 2008, DirecTV has entered the picture. The satellite provider erected two elaborate sound stages inside the Austin convention center to broadcast showcases live on their Channel 101. Click here to see the schedule. I caught the Noisettes‘ 2 p.m. set there, which was a blast. The spunky, hard-boogying London punk trio has a grade-A frontwoman/bassist, Shangai Shoniwa, who adds as much visually (you can see below she’s stylishly cool but also a whirlwind on stage) as she does musically (her soulful voice makes them more than just a garagey punk band).

Before the Noisettes, I took in Swedish bloggers-darling Jens Lekman’s set that went out on www.NPR.org/music (National Public Radio’s new music vehicle; R.E.M.’s set from last night should be archived there). I honestly wasn’t sure what to make Lekman (pictured below from the show). He didn’t have his full band, just two string players and a percussionist, but the arrangements weren’t what turned me off. It was Lekman’s frilly, fluffy singing and songwriting style. And I’m not just referring to the song he played about his hairdresser, “Shirin.” He sounded like he wanted to be the Morrissey of modern indie-rock (great!), but he came off more like Mika’s artier kid brother.

I ran into Eau Claire’s Justin Vernon, a k a Bon Iver, before Lekman’s set (he was performing for NPR.org two sets later). He said he was having a blast being one of the buzz acts du jour at this year’s SXSW, following last month’s Jagjaguwar re-release of his self-made album “For Emma, Forever Ago.” But, he said, “if it all ended tomorrow, it would have exceeded my expectations.”

In a little bit, I’m heading over to the Current/89.3’s outdoor stage – which is broadcasting bands live to back home — for Cloud Cult’s on-air set. I’m not looking forward to walking back down Sixth Street in the daylight, when it shows all its scars from the night before (trash, booze, urine stains).

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 3:51 pm and is filed under SXSW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.