Maine's 'Mad-Hatter' of Hip-hop

Brzowski's brand of hip-hop is not the kind you hear on MTV, but it should be.
By Jaye Drew, freelance writer
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
If you haven't heard or seen Brzowski don't expect to get a good grasp of what his music is about by reading this article. As proficient of a writer as I may or may not be, this particular brand of art is one that must be experienced in order to be understood.

Brzowski is a poet - and he uses music as a vehicle to carry the listener down a dark staircase into the cellar of his mind.

At first glimpse you probably wouldn't assume that this man is a 'hip-hop' artist. He hardly dresses the part, just as he fails to conform to a genre in his art. The only judgment I could make based on his appearance is that he's got a good dose of Irish in his blood.

Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Brzowski ventured to Vacationland in 2001 to study painting and art history at MECA as well as to enrich the Portland music scene. Having picked up the guitar at the age of 12 (because he wanted to join the band 'Metallica'), he worked in various projects in Rhode Island and Mass starting in 1993. Brzowski's debut in Portland included collaborations with producer AGENT8 and a 'revolving door of disc-jockeys.' He released his first full-length album 'MaryShelleyOverdrive' (Milled Pavement Records) after hand to hand sales of his self-released compilations 'New England Gothic' and 'Perpetual Winter' reached several thousand.

Brzowski will release the sequel to his 'Blooddrive,' 'Volume 2, The Wreckage Between' in June and will follow it up with East Coast/West Coast U.S. and European tours. The 'mix-tape' album includes collaborations with an all-star list of chums including AWOL ONE from The Shapeshifters and Hangar 18 based out of New York.

When it comes to his art, Brzowski ain' foolin' around, "I'm not interested in being a local legend, I'm too old for that. If I'm gonna waste my life doing music I'm gonna do it correctly."

And with tracks that span genres in every corner from metal to techno/industrial to punk-rock and always married to hip-hop, Brzowski isn't wasting time trying to sound like anything or anyone but Brzowski. His brazen disregard of fitting into any category fits the subject matter, "It's definitely not party music - you know what I mean? It verges on the personal as well as my skewed social commentary. It's a comfortable scope."

Brzowski delivers his work with the same passion and care he puts into creating it - like a madman making sense.

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