With so many performances and surprises happening all over the city last Saturday for Record Store Day, it was impossible to see every great moment. Luckily, the Bands in the Backyard crew staked out a spot at AKA Music in Old City for the store’s showcase of local music by Heyward Howkins, Mikele Edwards, Bridge Underwater and Restorations. Check out two videos BITBY filmed during the day featuring Bridge Underwater and Restorations below.
Record Store Day is Saturday, April 20th. Started in 2007, RSD brings together independent brick and mortar record stores and musicians to celebrate music and to offer some amazing special releases. Locally, many stores are participating, including A.K.A. Music, who are teaming up with Philebrity, for an event from 1PM-5PM featuring performances from Restorations, Heyward Howkins, Mikele Edwards, and Bridge Underwater. Below, sample some of the goods, including a free download of a “Kind Of Comfort” by Restorations, which we offered as part of our recent Unlocked series on the band. Go here for a list of participating stores in your area.
Philadelphia indie rock duo Bridge Underwater was featured on this month’s edition of Bands in the Backyard, which premiered last week. They preformed the title track off their latest EP Dead Man; check out the video below.
Also known as the singing half of garage-psych duo Bridge Underwater, Philly’s Patrick Mellon explores his indie-folk interests on a new free-downloadable EP released earlier this month. Different Mind is jangley and snappy like BU’s work, but without the distortion-pedal grit (and occasional and spacey synthesizers). It’s more pared down to strummy acoustic guitar, shuffling egg shaker percussion and snappy choruses. Grab a pay-what-you-wish download of the EP below.
Philadelphia indie pop power duo Bridge Underwater released a snappy new single today, “So What,” which you can grab a free download of below. The band, Patrick Mellon and John Basile, have a knack for crafting bite-size, rough ’round the edges music that hooks you in and leaves you wanting more. “So What” is no exception, leaving traces of surf drumming, 50s pop melodies and rockabilly energy lingering in my headphones after a two minute / five second burst of energy. Over the past year, Bridge Underwater has released about a half dozen songs in similar fashion: catchy tunes presented as standalone singles, which begs the question when their eventual next full-length might be enroute. While we wait, this song is a good one to rock out to, and their back catalogue and live appearances (next one at Gunner’s Run in Northern Liberties on Aug. 12) are twice as nice.
Tonight, minimal Philly psycheduo Bridge Underwater plays at the latest Bands in the Backyard showcase – the No Alternative video party at Silk City. Joining them on the bill of this free show are sludge rockers Spirit Animal and harmonizing folkies Market East. To give you a taste of what’s in store, dig in to today’s Philly Local Phile – the latest Bridge Underwater single, “Take A Piece of Me.” The the 808-esque drumloop and odd samples peppered throughout give this a nice Flaming Lips vibe, but note bandleader Pat Mellon’s melodious voice and jangly playing underneath. It gives the song such appeal that – as with most Bridge Underwater singles – I’d be just as eager to hear it stand-alone, without the stylizations, as I am to listen to it all warped and weird. We’ll see which way they swing tonight. Bridge Underwater plays the BITBY No Alternative Party at Silk City tonight a 8 p.m. with Spirit Animal and Market East; admission to the 21+ show is free.
Bridge Underwater released a new single a couple of weeks ago called “BeLoved.” In the studio, Bridge Underwater is the work of Patrick Mellon—who peformed, recorded, and mixed the track by himself. The song has a snappy, ’60s-style Kinks power-pop vibe to it, with vocals that recall the late Marc Bolan of T. Rex. Mellon’s musical releases stretch back to June 2006, and he’s progressed nicely from lo-fi pop tunes to more shiny, highly produced indie-pop songs.
