Sunday night brought with it a trek to the Austin City Limits studio, where Lightspeed Champion and The Spinto Band were set to play. (Also, free tamales.)

I’ve seen a good amount of press for Lightspeed Champion, but hadn’t actually heard anything of theirs before Sunday. I wasn’t sure what to expect, to be honest; what I ended up seeing were two guys, one on acoustic guitar and vocals and one playing the violin. Self-deprecating pop songs, winning the crowd over from the start and just self-aware enough to make it all work. If they’d had records for sale, I would have bought one.

I’d seen The Spinto Band once before, and my take on them circa March ’08 is about the same as it was in June ’07: they’re a fine pop band with a few close to transcendent moments, the single “Oh Mandy” being one of them. As for them, I had already picked up Nice and Nicely Done at said June ’07 show, so…