My Morning Jacket's Jim James performs at Austin Music Hall during the South By Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas. JASON HALSTEAD/SUN MEDIA

Politics may make for strange bedfellows, but SXSW can make for some strange musical pairings.

That was the case Thursday at the vast and newly refurbished Austin Music Hall, where My Morning Jacket, Yo La Tengo and The Whigs shared one of the night’s biggest and best-attended bills.

Despite seeming to have little in common musically or sonically, the three bands quickly made it clear that they share an eclectic approach and the love of a loud, distorted guitar.

Up first were The Whigs. The Athens, Ga., power trio used to be known as “the best unsigned band in America,” and while its has since gained a record deal, it hasn’t lost its edge. “We’re not used to playing places this big,” confessed singer-guitarist Parker Gispert.. You’d never have guessed from the way they energetically commanded the stage, tearing through songs that fuse influences from Nirvana and The Pixies to Kings of Leon and The Beatles.

They were followed by New Jersey indie-rock vets Yo La Tengo, featuring the husband-and-wife team of singer-guitarist Ira Kaplan and drummer Georgia Hubley. The quirky trio has dipped its toes into everything from noisy rock to sweet pop over its 23-year career, and on this night, gave the crowd a bit of everything, bookending more melodic cuts such as the disco ditty Mr. Tough with a pair of guitar-abuse epics that would have satisfied any Sonic Youth fan.

But in the end, the night belonged to Louisville’s My Morning Jacket. Shrouded in dry-ice mist and bathed in dense washes of monochromatic lighting, singer-guitarist Jim James and his bandmates delivered a 90-minute set of trippy Southern art-rock. As they sprinkled cuts from their upcoming Evil Urges CD between crowd faves such as Off the Record, the band dished up servings of funk and folk to go with its trademark guitar heroics and jammy arrangements.

Taken as a whole, the night may have been a little strange. But it was strangely inspired.