BEST ACT OVERALL: Heartless Bastards (see previous entry) or the Delta Spirit. The latter is a San Diego quartet with a heavy rock sound but soulful overtones. Singer Matthew Vasquez sang with Waterboy Mike Scott’s scratchy urgency, and the band kept up a driving, persistent pace that was downright visceral.

CRAZIEST SET: Surprisingly, it wasn’t King Khan & the Shrines (see next entry), it was Atlanta neo-soul/funk singer Janelle Monae, who sang at the Austin Music Hall a few slots before her pal Big Boi and left everyone there wondering what they had just seen. With a big pointy haircut and a hyper showmanship, she looked and sounded like an unlikely cross between Grace Jones, Prince and Gwen Stefani (the latter of whom, I found out later, she’ll open for on the upcoming No Doubt tour). Weirdest of all, her songs were all like 12-minutes long, including a Judy Garland-like torch ballad called “Smile” that broke up her band’s P-Funk-like funk.

BEST SET THAT COULD’VE BEEN MUCH BETTER: King Khan & the Shrines. The Montreal-reared, Berlin-based freakshow of a frontman Khan came out in a cape and hat with a cheerleader/go-go girl by his side and was all set to blow, but the club (El Sol y La Luna, a restaurant on non-SXSW week) had a fizzling sound system. The crowd kept yelling, “Turn it up.” Even muted, though, Khan’s horn-blasting, organ-laden, guitar-grinding ’60s garage-rock/soul band clearly had a great thing going on, with totally unhinged energy and songs that would’ve been hits in 1965.

BEST NEW SONG BY A MINNESOTAN: “Hell and Back” by Haley Bonar, which she played during a solo/acoustic set Thursday afternoon at the convention center’s day stage while Quincy Jones was giving his keynote speech a few doors down. It was Bonar’s first time at SXSW, and she said, “I think I’ve finally come up to speed with the madness.” She said she was thrilled about her set the previous night inside Sixth Street’s posh Driskill Hotel (right before Mark Olson and Gary Louris), and she had two more shows to go through Friday.

BEST OLD SONG BY A MINNESOTAN: “Take Me Home” by Brother Ali, with which he raised the (tent) roof late Thursday near the end of the Rhymesayers showcase outside the Habana Bar, which also included a fine coming-out of sorts by Toki Wright plus I Self Devine, Eyedea & Abilities, P.O.S. and some of the label’s non-Twin Citian crew. 

DISAPPOINTING SET: Genuinely not a single one on Thursday night, out of about 10. Really pretty amazing.

So now I see why M. Ward comes to South by Southwest almost every year: He rents a sweet little house in a quiet and picturesque corner of South Austin, where I interviewed him Thursday morning. This year is his biggest yet, and he said he’s having a blast so far. After not touring for a while, and then touring just for a little with She & Him, Ward said, “I have sort of rediscovered the joys of performing again.” One of the ways he keeps it enjoyable, he said, is by mixing solo shows with full-band sets. The latter is what he played Thursday night on Auditorium Shores downtown, where shows are free and open to everyone. Thus, probably 7,000-8,000 people were there. And Ward wasn’t just going through the motions when he said, “Austin, Texas, how’s it going?” because there really were a lot of Austinites there (you can tell them by the fact that they don’t think they’re too cool to wear shorts on an 80-degree day). With the openers “Chinese Translation,” “Requiem” and “To Save Me,” the band showed off a punchy, rollicking, “Highway 61 Revisited” charm that was irresistable. Minnesotans can see Ward and the band April 25 at First Avenue (and look for my interview to run that weekend).

No surprise to anyone who caught their recent 400 Bar gig — and certainly not to moi, who’s been raving about them since SXSW 2005 — the Heartless Bastards went over like champions Thursday afternoon at their third of six or seven gigs this week. My guess is they especially brought their A-game to this one, which was an annual SXSW benefit for musicians health services at Threadgill’s headlined by the revived Roky Erickson (backed by Okkervil River). A very Austin kind of show, in other words.

The Ohio-reared howl of a garage-rock band is now based in the Texas capital, where frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom relocated and put together an all new four-piece lineup. We can officially declare it a better lineup, too, with more muscle and energy if a little less of the bluesiness from before. Wennerstrom’s powerful, Bessie Smith-meets-PJ Harvey voice and fragile but ferocious writing style remains the star attraction, though, as they tore through the new Fat Possum album, “The Mountain,” including the standout ”Out at Sea.”

Minnesotans can see the Bastards again in two weekends when they play with the Gaslight Anthem at the Varsity.

A sign of the times in medialand, the Current (89.3 FM) scaled back its SXSW team this year from about 15 staffers to two and is only doing one band broadcast tonight at 8 pm.; The Decemberists‘ show at Stubb’s last night, which it’s picking up from NPR (National Public Radio). Meanwhile, NPR scaled back to only one day of broadcasts, which was today live from a poorly air-conditioned Parish.

The last two bands of the set were two bands I recently missed in Minneapolis — only one of which I now regret. That would be Blitzen Trapper, the quirky but ambitious and waaay-hippie Portland sextet that melds everything from Zappa and Bowie to CSNY and even America. That mix came off more impressive on stage than it does on record, especially the big 3- and 4-part harmonies — which is something a lot of current buzz bands are trying.

The Dirty Projectors, who went on before BT, should try again. Their harmonies were just plain off-putting. So were the New York band’s jaggedy, driving, vaguely African, Eno-esque/Talking Heads rhythms, also something a lot of new bands are jumping into these days — and many of them are doing that better, too.

BEST ACT OVERALL: Austin’s Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, followed by St. Vincent (see previous posts).

WORST ACT OVERALL: Ladyhawke, who actually has a pretty big buzz right now, apparently among people too young to remember that New Wave mostly sucked. This New Zealand singer blatantly lifts from such ’80s acts as Missing Persons and Berlin, and her sexpot act isn’t even all that sexy.

BEST ACT I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT: Cut Off Your Hands, another New Zealand act, this one much more original. The quartet’s members looked to be all of 16 and put their youthful energy to good use. They sang urgent, big-sounding choruses that were like U2-meets-Minor Threat, while the music bounced and boiled over like jubilant Clash. 

BEST ACT I KNEW EVERYTHING ABOUT: Gary Louris & Mark Olson, who performed in a bar in the historic Driskill hotel and offered up harmonies as regal as the surroundings. Granted, these guys used to play the biggest halls in towns with the Jayhawks, but SXSW is no longer focused on the rootsy/Americana acts it rode in on. A great showing nonetheless.

WORST ACT I KNEW EVERYTHING ABOUT: Echo & the Bunnymen. The Liverpool quartet, who I’ve always rated as underranked, were mostly just plain rank. They had to stop one tune mid-song from mucking it up. Frontman Ian McCulloch mumbled a lot and sang with little of his old gusto. They relied too heavily on lackluster recent material (which isn’t to say all their recent stuff is lackluster), but they even sounded half-cocked on the oldie “Back of Love.” Hopefully, they’ll be in better shape Friday afternoon when they headline the big Spin party, although Brits outdoors on a hot Texas day with barbecue in the air isn’t usually a good combination. 

WORST ACTS I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT: I swear I have nothing against the influential Brooklyn Vegan blog, but not only was Psychedelic Horsesh– performing under their banner (also mentioned in a previous post), so was Dear Tick, a hillbilly-ish cow-punk band from… Providence, R.I.?! You get the picture.

BEST NEW SONG BY A MINNESOTA ACT: “Dear Caroline,” by Romantica. Ben Kyle and Co. literally brought this tender but rollicking gem to light outside Threadgill’s at a day party hosted by its management company, September Gurl, and Minneapolis’ own Ripple Ent.

BEST COVER SONG OF THE DAY: Otis Redding’s “Look at that Girl,” turned into a grinding rocker by San Antonio’s Hacienda, an organ-tinged garage band whose CD was produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach (who also played SXSW on Wednesday night).

BEST QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’ve never performed in front of a death-metal pizza joint before.” So said M. Ward, referring to the Hoek’s Pizza stand outside the window from his stage (locals often pronounce “Hoek’s” as if hacking up a loogie).

SECOND BEST QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I heard the strippers ordering drinks better than I heard my guitar.” Said by former Husker Du co-leader Grant Hart, complaining afterward about his gig at Aces Lounge, a Sixth Street strip club converted to a rock club for one week only with a stage literally above the bar.

Click here for Tony Nelson’s SXSW photo gallery from Day One.

One thing South by Southwest is still a pretty good tool for is building hype around noteworthy new albums by acts who’ve already been around the block. This was especially apparent on opening night with these two big showcases…

St. Vincent: After a widespread blogger/ga-ga fanboy buzz over her 2007 debut album “Marry Me,” the indie-rock starlet also known as Annie Clark could’ve been easily set up for a sophomore slump. Or she could do what she already seemed to accomplish on SXSW’s opening night, which was to not just reinforce her artistic merit but add an extra dose of oomph to it.

The Dallas-bred singer-guitarist (she’s a pretty great guitarist, too) performed in the Central Presbyterian Church, an actual operating house of holy that has become a religious site for SXSW goers who really want to listen and absorb a show. She gave them plenty to take in, too, with a band that rotated between instruments (violin, keyboards, sax, clarinet) and a set focused mostly on the new album, “Actor,” out May 5 on 4AD. New songs such as “Save Me From What I Want” and the must-hear “Actor Out of Work” sounded like more complete and punchier versions of the tracks on her debut, with a charming mix of Bowie, Blondie and Bjork. And no, I’m not just going for B singers. My guess is this one record that will earn plenty of A ratings.

The Decemberists: Portland’s pleasant, sweet, pink-faced indie-folk band has up and gone metal on us. Well, not exactly, but there were moments in the group’s set outdoors at Stubb’s that recalled Spinal Tap’s ”Stonehenge” debacle, not because of any props but because of an omnipresent mysticism and occasional headbang-worthy rock ‘n’ roll. The band was in town to preview its first disc in three years, “The Hazards of Love” (due next week), which is a concept album veering toward a rock opera. The album was played in its entirety, which is always a bold move that I believe more bands should try. Another interesting twist: Frontman Colin Meloy stood back a lot to make room for more female vocals, including a stellar surprise guest turn by My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden. The overall results were better than it sounds, but just by a hair. As in hair band.