Sometimes you hear a record and it makes you stop. You sit there as a feeling of realization, a eureka moment if you will, washes over you.
In that moment you now know that a star has been born.
Speaking from a local, micro musical level, Brick+Mortar has been a band that has been woven into the DNA of the famed Asbury Park music scene for the past few years. The duo of Brandon Asraf and John Tacon have captured the collective musical hearts and minds of people within the scene with their gritty electro-based indie rock.
Yet, there’s always been something about them. An it factor that you saw lurking around the edges of the band. The big question was — would the band be able to realize their full potential or would they be another in a long list of would-be heroes from the scene that Bruce built.
Bangs, their latest seven song EP, is that realization.
With this EP, Brick+Mortar can be looked at on a more macro musical level. This record is readymade for today’s musical scene. With groups like Imagine Dragons melding electro into their sound and scoring big time with it, Bangs came along at a perfect time. The fruits of their labor are already paying off as the EP’s self-titled first track is the song that scores the trailer for the new CW Network show, Tomorrow People.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for this record as every track on the EP could be released as singles, a rare find in music today. Tracks like “Keep Things Beautiful,” “Locked in a Cage” and “No I Won’t Go” have the same potential as “Bangs” — perfect for commercial use but also surefire radio hits. “Keep Things Beautiful” is especially perfect for radio as its big, anthemic chorus is the type that’ll be on constant loop inside the heads of the masses.
Brick+Mortar is destined for big things and it’s going to be this EP, Bangs, which will help propel them into the stratosphere of stardom. Then for those of us lucky to have experienced them on the smallest of levels will sit back, smile and reminisce about the days of Brick+Mortar past.
Looking to see B+M in the local Jersey scene? Check them out at The Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, N.J. on Friday October 4. Click here for tickets.
