SXSW Music Updates: The Quiet Storm Edition

Usually by this time in January, the rumor-mongering and hype about SXSW has reached a fever pitch. PR people are playing coy, bands are surprising fans via MySpace announcements, and dayshows begin to rear their heads. But with the economy in a tailspin, the Obama inauguration, and people's minds generally on weightier things, the buzz about SX '09 is understandably sedate. It didn't hurt that SX organizers went ahead and threw out a list of over 1,000 participating acts in mid-January, stopping the proliferation of unofficial lists before they really got too far along. Some notable items from the past couple of weeks:

• Paul Lamere of Sun Microsystems Labs may have built the coolest SXSW webapp of all time. His simple but robust page gathers information from Last.fm, YouTube, SXSW.com, and Google Maps to let you search artists by name, popularity, region, or, um, hotness. Anyhow, this truly nifty page provides photos, bios, and the opportunity to see that Austin's Explosions In The Sky are the 2nd most popular Last.fm band playing SX09. Tinker with it yourself here - and shoot, why not make it a mission to find 10 bands you've never heard of that you must see this year. Way to go, Sun Labs guy!
• Our old pals at Done Waiting (who have been doing the SX coverage thing far longer than us!) have also arrived early to the party with a useful hybrid of their blog and the very popular SCHED.org scheduling application. The resulting site isn't fully functional yet (after all, you need times to have a schedule), but looks like a promising blend of news updates and party planner. It also has a running SX countdown for those stuck in a cubicle waiting for their spring vacation in Austin, which is nice.
• SXSW organizers have been fairly quiet about additions to their program, but did announce that "Little" Steven Van Zandt will speak on 3/20 as part of the conference's interview series. As a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, the host of a hugely popular radio show (Little Steven's Underground Garage), and a cast member of "The Sopranos", it's safe to assume that Van Zandt will be not be short on conversational fodder.
• Austin's Andrew Kenny (of American Analog Set) has signed to Barsuk Records for his new project The Wooden Birds. The band also includes Lymbic System drummer Michael Bell and composer David Wingo. The band will showcase their upcoming album Magnolia with showcases at SXSW. Kenny will also be playing a special American Analog Set gig during the festival at Insound's annual party.

If there's any SXSW Music news of import that you'd like to point out, let us know in the comments.