Hello from Florida. New Stuff from a Pair of SXSW Triumphs.

Jessica Weiss (Fear of Men) and Mish Barber-Way (White Lung) at SXSW 2016.

Florida / Fear of Men / White Lung

We're big picture thinkers, CoolMom and me. She's a brilliant PhD economist, and I like to think of myself as being kind of on the ball. Details, though, sometimes aren't our strong suit. Remember how I told you that we had this big Paris / London adventure planned? Well...

As we prepared to leave for the airport on Friday, CoolMom noticed that CoolDaughter #1's passport had expired. Change of plans. We ended up piling in the van at that very moment and driving down to Florida to visit my parents for the week. We picked up CoolNiece on the way and made the 18 hour drive to Bradenton.

The Universe works in mysterious ways. We're out a few bucks in change / cancelation fees sure; but, so far, things have been great. Sun, beach, pools, baseball, family, and theme parks. The cooldaughters are having a better time than they ever would have had traipsing around cold European cities. Not bad.

That means some light posting for this week, but I'm always game to share stuff that quickly catches my eye. Going through my email today, I found two new things from bands who were primary draws for me at South By Southwest and who delivered amazing sets when I saw them.

Fear of Men, "Island" Video

Brighton's Fear of Men were nothing short of brilliant at Sidewinder on the Friday night at South By Southwest. I shared "Island," the first single from their upcoming Fall Forever a few weeks back; and the band have just released a video for the song. In it, Jessica Weiss channels her live performance, this time in a grey, natural, clearly British setting.



White Lung, "Kiss Me When I Bleed"

White Lung played their first set at the Ad Hoc day party at Cheer Up Charlie's on the Wednesday afternoon. Frontwoman Mish Barber-Way is another revelatory performer. On "Kiss Me When I Bleed," her voice combines with the high-pitched buzzsaw of Kenny William's guitar to create something that slices and cuts at high velocity. White Lung's new sound retains the intensity of their past work, while setting them up for what could be a big breakout. The band come to Brooklyn's Baby's All Right on May 7th.



Until next time. I think it's almost time for happy hour at the tiki bar.