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• The relentless "Get Fucked" tagline, which the band VANITYITES repeat ad nauseam in online media campaigns, has gotten a liiiiittle tired and transparent lately. However, addressing it to "homophobes," as the band have lately done to promote their upcoming Equality Maine benefit show (and debut CDEP-release, Oct 27 at Empire Dine and Dance), finally lends the message a little heft. Their EP, Once Again to Lillith, four songs of anthemic, dirtied alt-rock, could be available even sooner than the show, which also features FOAM CASTLES, SUNSET HEARTS, DEAN FORD, and JEFF BEAM. Music promotion is tricky business, but it's gotta be noted that aimless displays of anger have been historically packaged with dumb, boring bands. Vanityites are neither dumb nor boring; just clearly capable of much weightier stuff. I mean, we're as little concerned with upholding rules of decorum as the next guy, it's just that smashing them is a way more interesting choice when the effect isn't so clearly self-aggrandizing. We care because we can't get "I Am the Liquor" out of our heads, either.• Highlights of BRZOWSKI's recent interview in the latest Dead Magazine (outta Berlin) include him taking a shot at hip-hop tradition, burying the trope that he's an "Abstract Expressionist" rapper, and likening distorted guitar to "liquid magic." He also drops hints about a genre crossover in the next record. It says a lot about an artist when they can speak so passionately about styles they have nothing to do with. When Brzowski talks about the non-rap music he's into, it's genuine and deep, and refreshingly free of any whiffs of PR stink. Punk and hip-hop had a really, really bad marriage the first go; if they have to get back together, Brzowski's as decent a minister as any.
• Sean Morin, ex- of the Cambiata, dropped a new EP under the name MAI, MAI last month. Five songs of a chamber-pop that's as complex and cinematic as it is pristine, located somewhere near the crossroads of Stereolab and S. Carey (of Bon Iver). Totally satisfying. As much as we'd dig a live set, for now at least, Mai, Mai seem like a studio project, mostly because the players Morin's enlisted (Sara Hallie Richardson, D.J. Moore, Billy Libby, Stu Mahan, et al.) are all so busy with their other bands. Hope we're wrong. Visit maimai.bandcamp.com for a free DL.
• "Hot as hell," "wicked cool," and "actually really quiet," are three descriptions of the new DIY venue at 131 WASHINGTON ST. overheard at its first show last weekend. HUAK and MOUTH WASHINGTON played with newcomers HEAVY BREATHING and PAIGE TURNER to a full, sweaty, windowless room without a bar in sight. Right now, there's no centralized website for future shows, so keeping poring our Concerts listings for clues (hint: it's a Saturday).
Topics:
New England Music News
, Jeff Beam, Jeff Beam, Dean Ford, More 
, Jeff Beam, Jeff Beam, Dean Ford, Dean Ford, Huak, Huak, Brzowski, Brzowski, Foam Castles, Foam Castles, Less 
