Prior to the scene that ensued at Johnny Brenda's on Tuesday Dec 4, I had only heard about this impressive duo's complimentary exchange.  If you know anything about the Philly music scene, you know about the Halloween party at the Arts Garage with Grimace Federation.  Before that, was the Ropadope, "What is Jazz?" series at the World Cafe Live back in 2005 where DJ Logic joined them.  How could I not jump at an opportunity to see them in the new Fishtown hot spot?

Philly's own Calvin Weston has been known to play throughout the city's smaller venues with the likes of some of the most famous Philly-based musicians as well as Billy's MMW band mate John Medeski and Living Colour's Vernon Reid.  Calvin is known for his sporadic and ferocious wails between intoxicating beats.

In the Sigur Ros documentary Heima, there was a segment about a native Icelander who made xylophones from flat pieces of collected rock.  This guy spent hours with a mallet finding the perfectly pitched pieces.  In the same spirit, armed with not only a full drum set, but an old-fashion tribal xylophone (which after researching I found was a balaphone), congas, a floor littered with miscellaneous metal percussion devices like short hollow bamboo sticks and a milk crate full of exotic, eclectic noisemakers, including a mbiras, a flute from uncertain origin and a whistle, Billy Martin redefines the drum.

Although it was only a 45-minute set, the two played a "mixed bag" of non-stop, improvised music.  At one point, Calvin was playing drums and trumpet at the same time.  A close personal friend of mine, who is also an up-and-coming East Coast Drum & Bass DJ, was, to say the least, extremely impressed by the nonstop, primal dance party the two drummers created.

I hardly noticed the time go by.  To take a listener to a sacred place of musical appreciation where he or she has no concept of time, is no easy feat for a band, let alone two guys playing drums. During the last musical movement- I hesitate to say "song"- the two invited another local Philly musician Elliot Levin to play saxophone, which was a treat.

Though the shitty quality and brevity did not capture their very real and very raw energy, in true Indie-style, I took a 15-second video on my phone of the three of them jamming out.

The Philadelphia Weekly described the duo as "...a rare cohesion, fusing jazz, hip-hop, African rhythms and funk...invigorating and exploratory..." My night at Johnny Brenda's only affirms my conviction that this desire and drive to make out-of-the-box, authentic music is what sets Billy Martin and Calvin Weston from the rest of the chumps who call themselves Indie musicians.  Simply put, Billy Martin and Calvin Weston redefine the rhythmic boundaries of a drummer in their own right.