Root Down in the Shadow

Somehow Sofar Sounds : Philadelphia is hitting their 4th Anniversary. The now world-wide phenomenon was a few shy of twenty cities world-wide when Philadelphia joined the ranks. These days, the shows are all over the globe and it seems like there are just shy of twenty dates in NYC alone each month. It all started in London, back in 2009, and slowly spread during the next two years to New York, Paris, DC, Los Angeles, Pune India, Houston, Brighton, Seattle, New Dehli, Sydney, Madrid, Berlin, Toronto, Dallas-Forth Worth, and Glasgow before hitting the City of Brotherly Love.  During the next 10 days I'm going to look back at four years of Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia trying to give my version of the best videos. Please comment and share what were your favorites. #8 Our Griffins - Not Entirely Here Some bands just seem to be made for Sofar Sounds.  Our Griffins seems to be one of those bands.  For the 2nd Anniversary show in November 2013, Our Griffins...

Covers Mix #12 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio .

It's our favorite time of the year: XPoNential Festival time!  Like most things here at Root Down In The Shadow we're going to take a band-centric view of the festival and let them tell you who to go see this year at the 2014 XPoNential Music Festival Presented by Subaru, brought to you by WXPN . SATURDAY - RIVER STAGE - 12:30 PM-1:00 PM Davis Howley - Vox/Guitar - Commonwealth Choir Band Most Excited to Share the Festival Stage with : " Jenny Lewis & Dawes are both really significant to the band.  Rilo Kiley (Jenny Lewis' former band) was sort of the cross over artist for us, as teenagers moving from punk & hardcore to a new genre, they exposed us to country & folk in a modern way, but still bad-ass & sexy.  It's really expertly crafted music." Band Most Excited to see live at #XPNFest :   "We all became obsessed with Dawes .  Individually we started going to see them at shows, covering them at parties, drawin...

  Welcome back to Cover Club.  This week we premiered the popular Our Griffins cover of Strand of Oaks "Last To Swim" .  The emotional cover was spread about the internet by favorite sites, WXPN 's The Key , Philebrity , The Deli Magazine - Philadelphia , and Swollen Fox .  This type of publicity for Our Griffins is soon to be the norm.  This year has been a steady climb upwards, for the band.  Opening at Johnny Brenda's for Lost In The Trees , a trip to SXSW , opening for Kishi Bashi & Buried Beds at the TLA , and night-cap slot at the fun Communion Club Night at Underground Arts are just a few examples of Our Griffins' hot shows.  This Friday, they play the Former Belle release show at Bourbon & Branch with Maitland and Jeremiah Tall.  And for what quite possibly is their most exciting show yet, in late July they play the incredible XPoNential Festival .    Our Griffins at Johnny Brenda's - Photo Dan McGurk ...

You would think for Cover Club, a series based on covers, that it might be heavily influenced with what might be popular with viewers.  However, that's the least of the considerations for the amazingly respectful Philadelphia bands doing these Philly-centric covers, celebrating their scene.  Some choices are born from days shared on the road, like Joe Fletcher with Toy Soldiers or Aaron Brown covering Allison Polans/Paper Trees .  There are instances from days shared in the studio, such as Kevin Killen covering Ben Arnold .  In some cases, the songs chosen are based simply on mutual love of Ween shared between Root Down In The Shadow and the cover artists including Brian Strouse & Vanessa Winters or The Fleeting Ends. For today's session, the path to the cover started as a fan catching shows.  Alex Luquet of Our Griffins told Root Down In The Shadow all the details:  "The first time I saw Strand of Oaks was two years ago at Union Tran...

Yet again, the peeps at Communion brought a festival sized lineup to Underground Arts for the monthly club series.  With a mix of local, national, and international bands, the tour brought a diverse line-up to the masses.  Let's take a look at some of the highlights: Brisbane, Australia natives Cub Sport made their first Philadelphia stop a memorable one as the four-piece band played tracks from both of their EP's Paradise and Told You So.  The quirky medley of "Independent Women", "Jumpin Jumpin," and "Crazy In Love, " a little Destiny's Child/Beyoncé covers mix certainly was notable, although perhaps it was the irony of Tim Nelson doing the vocals for "Independent Women" rather than Zoe Davis, that made it stand out .  "Pool," an ode to one particular swimming pool they liked to take late-night hops into, was flashback to my own risky youth.  Whether ironic cover or relateable lyric, from over half the world away...

*At Johnny Brenda's opening for Lost In The Trees* On a dreary Tuesday night in Philadelphia one of the best things you can do is go see some live music.  The amazing benefit of being in a city with such a huge population and an amazing depth of musical talent, is that you can easily find a "local" artist opening at most shows.  The promoter to band connection works extremely well in matching up Philly area bands with artists that are coming through town, a situation that would not happen in a majority of the cities across the country.  On this particular Tuesday, Our Griffins came down from the Lehigh Valley to support the tour of Lost In The Trees and  All Tiny Creatures.    On the day Lost In The Trees released their new album Past Life , they were also treated to some amazing Philly talent with Our Griffins starting off the night at Johnny Brenda's . Our Griffins played just six songs, but did a great job to impress the crowd.   New so...

For those of you who don't know what Sofar Sounds is here is their story: "We have created a movement which brings music lovers together in secret living room locations to hear some of the world's most cutting edge artists." **Unless noted, ** All photos from Lindsey Borgman** Links to earlier SofarSounds: Philadelphia reviews November 15th University City - Philadelphia, PA Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia's November 2013 show marked the 2 year anniversary of the most special music series to hit the banks of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers.  In anticipation of this momentous show, I had asked some friends what have been the surprises, favorites, and overall thoughts of the preceding shows. The best synopsis came from my pal, concert buddy, and site contributor Mariel Lorenz : " There is nothing quite like your first time.  The secrecy surrounding a show is a little thrilling in itself.  I didn't know where to go until a few days befor...