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VIP ticket purchasers should plan to arrive thirty minutes prior to doors in order to participate in the VIP experience._________Maia, aka mxmtoon, had the career come-up most teen musicians could only dream of. At 17, the Oakland-raised multi-hyphenate artist began releasing music from the privacy of her bedroom and quickly acquired an online fanbase drawn to her earnest yet witty lyricism and no-frills production. Her instrument of choice was a ukulele and she wasnt above using common household objects (a hair straightener, for example) as a percussive tool. After uploading a stream of one-off singles to various social media platforms, mxmtoons debut EP, plum blossom, dropped. It garnered the attention of a broadening fan base with sold out tours and multi Platinum records, but also earned the stamp of approval from mainstream media outlets like The New York Times and NPR. Since then, mxmtoons output has been prolific. Last year, she released her sophomore LP, rising, which followed 2019s the masquerade, all while maintaining a creative practice outside of music.With another album on the horizon 2024, mxmtoon is poised to premiere plum blossom (revisited), a reconsideration of the early songs that propelled her to fame. While Maia is only 23, the amount of growth in the five years since plum blossom debuted is unmeasurable. She came out as queer, moved to Brooklyn, and experienced a year of familial tragedy. Her grandmother, a visual artist who has inspired Maia throughout her life and encouraged her music career, died of cancer. In the aftermath of enormous loss, and in the midst of another close family members illness, Maia found a sense of wholeness by reimagining the music that made her. My mom really loves my early music, so in a sense, I did this for her as much as I did it for me, Maia says.She tapped Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs) as co-producer, Maryam Qudus as engineer, and together they spent two weeks at Oaklands Tiny Telephone Studios, where Maia was both overwhelmed by and delighted with the amount of gear she had at her disposal. I chose to work with Merrill and Maryam because I could see myself shrinking back into the self-conscious person I was at 17 making the EP, and I knew I wouldnt feel that way with them. I dont think its anybodys dream to be listening to your 17 year old voice in front of other people, Maia says. Additionally, in the years since plum blossom came out, shes rarely found herself in the studio with women, a circumstance thats frustrated her to the point that she hopes to continue working exclusively with women and gender nonconforming producers on her next project, with mixing on this album from Laura Sisk and mastering by Idania Valencia. Garbus is a playful collaborator, and at one point, had Maia bang out a beat by slapping two books together, which wasnt a far cry from the original techniques employed on plum blossom. I wanted the production on this new version to be elevated, but I also didnt want to lose the childlike sense of wonder that limited resources can produce, Maia says.
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