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.   #20 Elijah & The Moon - Winter Trees During the 2nd Anniversay show, Elijah Wolf and Gianluca Minucci ; known then as Elijah and the Moon wowed as part of a 6 band celebration.  Check out "Winter Trees&qu

Sofar Sounds is based on the idea "Songs for a Room".  A "room": meaning not a warehouse, not an amphitheater, not a club.  These intimate shows are built around fans having a premier experience without the normal trappings of lines, cover charges, overly loud P.A. systems, and uncomfortable venues.  Instead you have bands intermingled with fans in comfortable homes and unique places.  In the case of the June '14 Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia the room is " The Rivals House " aka Nomad Recording Studios aka, home of SwiftLessons .  Whatever you want to call it, it's a cozy place to listen to live music. In fact, it's comfortable enough that we find ourselves back at The Rivals House for the third time in the last year.  Coincidentally enough each time at the Rivals house, the show has involved the Satellite Hearts.   They played the show in September '13 with The Unlikely Candidates , Penrose , and Murchant .  Lead singer Justin Pelle

Last Friday night, MilkBoy Philly hosted a stellar line-up of local acts to support national act Desert Noises .  The local line-up itself was solid in its own rights and here's what you need to know: Mike Southerton of Song Dogs The Bernhardts   Jerry Bernhardt / Kate Bernhardt The Bernhardts have to be one of Philly's biggest buzz bands right now.  Members have been all over town in as parts of other bands.  Kate Bernhardt is often found backing Ali Wadsworth , Ben Plotnik plays bass now for Levee Drivers , and Jerry Bernhardt can be found with Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang or sometimes with Mike McMonagle.   Regardless of whom else they team up with, when they get together the Bernhardts have an unmistakable draw.  In fact, the whole crowd stopped to watch just on the sound check they did right before their set. The songs are simple in nature, but it's not just a pretty voice and face playing with her bro.  The harmonies are great, ev

#PhillyPresents: by August John Lutz II Your band name:   Levee Drivers Style:   Country Sleaze Years on the scene : 4 Current Project: Levee Drivers are in the finishing stages of mixing and mastering our brand new upcoming EP (date TBA) Members : August John Lutz II - Vocals/Harp/Guitar Kyle Perella - Bass/Guitar/Vocals/Mandolin with the help of:   Jeff Orlowski - Drums Chelsea Mitchell - Vocals/Mandolin Music info/source site for Philly : Kyle Perella's Twitter! Most unique show : Hands down.. .TJ Kong' s Halloween Costume Ball Rock & Roll Murder Show at Underground Arts in 2012. It was an amazing event and lineup to be a part of, it had some out of control costumes and to top it off it was definitely a booze filled experience put together by the talented Dan Bruskewicz . And I finally got to see a female version of Han Solo ( Lynne Krohn - manager of the great and powerful Penrose) . Introducing : The Rivals The Ri

What a great weekend of music.   I can honestly say there are few places that have such a multifaceted multi-genre scene as the Philly area.  You can really pick from an a la cart menu of bands and venues and not be disappointed.  This weekend for Root Down In The Shadow, included a Friday night show at Maxwell's on Main in Doylestown, the Tri State Indie Awards, and a mixed bag at Kung Fu Necktie.   ║CRAFT CULTURE║ February 15th ║  THE LAWSUITS TAKE-OVER with JEREMIAH TALL ║ Buck's county superstars The Lawsuits were the pick to start off the weekend.  The cover was FREE, but the quality was great.  Jeremiah Tall brought his one man extravaganza to open the night.  (Can you even call it that, when they don't go on until 10-ish?).  The Lawsuits, deep in their home territory, played a good selection of new tracks including the popular 'Ten Cent Piece'. TSI MUSIC AWARDS (the pre party) On Sunday, Tri State Indie Music Awards .  At 3pm Upstairs at World Caf

A few days before Saturday's show I found out about the secret Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia house concert.  I saw the lineup was DRGN King , The Gallerist, Aaron Brown and Mo Lowda and The Humble .  They had me at DRGN King; I was in!  Sadly, despite being in Philly for nearly 4 years now, and a big music fan, I didn't know much about the line up.  I knew DRGN King was streaming their new album on the Key as I coincidentally just started listening to them a week prior.  They had a Spinner.com mp3 of the day freebie, and I found  a track from last year on the The Key Studio Sessions Volume 3, I found a Mo Lowda and the Humble album on B andcamp , and a song from The Gallerist on B andcamp .  The only reason I struck out on Aaron Brown was because I didn't search for the correct band Aaron & The Spell .  It didn't matter, I was in. House concerts are the best way to get an intimate look at new bands.  Why not go? There is such a great equalizer at these even