Brick + Mortar, Jive Grave, Flying Cranes @ Maxwell's 2.10.11

Brick + Mortar

Jive Graves

Flying Cranes

More Photos Here

By: Kiani Angus-Torres

Maxwell’s maintains its reputation for sustaining fertile ground for new and breaking artists, even as the cement and soil around it are frozen solid in mid-February.  The Hoboken venue proved the perfect meeting place for three stellar bands hailing from Philly, Brooklyn, and Asbury Park, whose members all have deep roots in the Garden State.

Robin Carine and his band Cranes Are Flying from The City of Brotherly Love brought their melodic soul-infused rock-n-roll sound.  Cranes Are Flying recently released their first EP ‘Somnambulist,’ which shows a lot of potential for the band whose sound is layered in beds of soft funk melodies, with churning rhythm guitar as Carine’s tenor-ific voice articulates an emo-pop sensibility, anchored by real rock.

On the avant-garde tick, Geo Wyeth crossed the two rivers with his band Jive Grave, and had in tow a pair of brass players, including trumpet and saxophone, while he played keys and guitar, backed by a drum kit.  Jive Grave, who’s second EP ‘Blackone’ was just released in the fall of 2010, has its roots in jazz and soul, while his songwriting and performance style is purposefully indecisive, constantly evolving rhythmically and melodically.  

Jive Grave’s deconstructions were an oddly complimentary match for Asbury Park’s Brick + Mortar, who brought their stealth and steam to Maxwell’s for a third time.  Despite the frigid weather, drummer John Tacon deemed it necessary to strip of his shirt as he knocked around, bouncing between his drum kit and synth pad, while jumping up to lead the audience in singing, stomping, and clapping along.  Singer Brandon Asraf, in the meantime, kept his cool and his clothes on, while plowing through a new arrangement of their unreleased “For Yellow Walls,” as well as a few familiar tracks from ‘7 Years In The Mystic Room.’

Comments

[Jenna]

Nice photos! B + M are pretty cool. I have to check out these other bands.

[Mark]

The other bands are called Cranes Are Flying and Jive Grave, not Flying Cranes and Jive Graves as written in the captions.