John Maus

that was sporadically awesome and he def punched himself a lot

― the late great, Sunday, July 15, 2012 3:54 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Saw him live last week ... pretty awful/hilarious. Like, I understand if you're a press-play-&-karaoke-your-own-songs performer and feel the need to maybe compensate by "losing yr shit onstage" and "going bananananans" etc., but someone needs to sit him down for a bit and explain that his stage persona undercuts like 95% of his show and maybe consider toning down the pacing around / intense-hair-grabbing / GRRRR INTENSE stuff?

Sounds entertaining. But I think I'd rather just listen to his records.

i don't understand how him jumping around and being intense undercuts the performance when that is the performance?

i don't understand how him jumping around and being intense undercuts the performance when that is the performance?

If I'm parsing you correctly, it's because the "intensity" seems like so much of a put-on (ie, pre-meditated / disingenuous) that it was unintentionally funny, which almost never happens? Thrashing around on stage and looking like you've got bees in yr pants is a pretty standard performative pose; usually, as someone in the audience, you either buy in or watch w/o much interest in the physical performance. Out of the thousand different ways a singer can look intense onstage, he found some sweet-spot where he looked silly enough that I was perma-chuckling/cringing for the whole 30+ minutes. It probably didn't help that he was kind of running through the same four or five physical ticks throughout the whole show.

There was other stuff not to like -- same echo effect on vox, bad skip-track transitions -- but I thought his stage presence was irl lol. Then again I didn't spend any money on the show, so can't really complain that much.

This is coming from someone who likes his music fwiw.

i bought in pretty easily

i admit i did go outside during the last two because i felt like i had seen all of his poses by then but i also just wanted fresh air

i liked his unamplified screaming parts too because there

Huh, I might be in the minority then, although I saw a few people around me who were lolling as well (I was kind of on the outskirts though, rather than down front w/ people who were a little more amped). Was just disappointed since I really like the tracks he puts out; but, if other people are connecting to it, I guess, more power to him.

i liked his unamplified screaming parts

Agreed, which is always good!

i was lolling too, i think inside john maus was lolling at times, the only people who never cracked a smile were the girls from tropic of cancer, who i was surprised to see were unaccompanied by silent servant, who was also lolling

it was lolling with rather than lolling at

my friend regifted to john maus a carpentry and paint build-your-own-toy-pirate-ship kit that i had given him, john maus lolled at that but i think that was lolling at

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/john-maus-we-must-become-the-pitiless-censors-of-ourselves-round-41-toms-selection/

That album has only gone up and up in my estimation since last year. It's a record I can just have on repeat and not notice it's been looping for about three hours. Helps that it's nice and short.

no one's been talking about it here but the 'rarities & unreleased material' record is a party & absolutely worth your time.

It certainly is a grower and I find the sound of the album - that deliberately 80s sounding synth cheese with doomy vocals thing - to be really intriguing...it should be awful!

now on his wikipedia:

Underground Releases
1984: Maus
1985: Maus Time
1986: Baumaus
1987: Man or Maus?
1988: Maus and the Gang
1989: Maus and the Gang 2: Return of the Maus
1990: Maus and the Gang 3: This Time It's Mausy
1991: The Janitor's First LP, with Sam Anderson and Cory Boik
1992: The Janitor's Second LP, with Sam Anderson and Cory Boik
1993: A Janitor's EP, with Sam Anderson and Cory Boik
1994: Early Songs 1, with Cory Boik
1995: Early Songs 2
1996: Early Songs 3
1997: Early Songs 4
1998: Mass Appeal, with the Tony Alonso Ensemble
1998: The Mystery Molasses LP, with Ian Stahl, Jay Jensen, Gabe Schlake and Jess Bednar
1998: Early Songs 5
2000: Fish With Broken Dreams
2000: Love Letters From Hell
2001: Snowless Winters EP
2003: I Want to Live
2011: Demos

"Believer" is some next level shit

pretty much

All-time break down

Psyched to hear that he's planning new music for next year.

We Must Become has to be one of the most surprisingly enduring records I've heard in recent years. I didn't expect to give it more than just a cursory listen when it first came out, but I ended up just having it on repeat for weeks and I still play certain tracks on a fairly frequent basis.

^^ otm. It's in my top ten of the last ten years probably. Never expected it because his previous work was so scruffy and scrappy, but We Must Become is a stone cold classic start to finish.

Great news that he's going to make music again, was afraid he'd stick to lecturing.

I just got my first Twitter follower who's not a member of my family - John Maus!

just realized new gold dream by simple minds feels like a total blueprint for the john maus vibe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzMgfi9y-nc

https://t.co/NebtrtwBRF
Aug 19th

— John Maus (@JOHNMAUS) May 18, 2017

Aug 19 at moma?

Hope it’s something to do with Spotify.

I can sort of understand the New Gold Dream comparison in terms of the kinds of chord changes used.. I'm always thinking in terms of arrangements/sonics

when's he dropping a new album?

^^^^^^^^^^

i think he said in an interview a few years so he wanted to have a live band for his next album

huh

https://youtu.be/g_WPWpo2AXU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_WPWpo2AXU

i hope john maus finds what he's looking for

I do too. This is awesome though.

really liked that but I will never not call him "worthless vhs idiot john maus" in my mind

keep the meme alive!

is this guy the pretentious Ariel Pink?

adam what are you using the word pretentious for, is it cuz of philosophy

I'm excited.

I've been popping maus all day, would love to see him live

he is amazing imo.

I'd basically given up on him coming back with new music, so when I say I'm excited, you'd better believe I mean I AM EXCITED.

Count me EXCITED as well

"The Combine" is from the forthcoming album Screen Memories by worthless VHS idiot JOHN MAUS available October 27, 2017. Screen Memories is also a part of a career-spanning limited edition 6 LP box set being released in April 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kF2-Cr6yX4

Dear worthless VHS idiot JOHN MAUS,

It's good to have you back.

Yours,

I like the new one, some very nice synth solos. Compositionally and production wise, could fit in well on that Rarities disc.

Damn. He's coming to town opening for a.pink but don't want any of my money going to AP. 30 bucks for an opening act is steep.

^ especially steep if Maus's live set is still just him singing and shouting over his music played on an iPod.

I saw Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti years ago because Os Mutantes were opening. I thought AP was pretty good! I was impressed by how the band seemed to capture the washed-out VHS sound of his records in a live show. But this was before all the controversy and I was a few drinks in by the time he came onstage.

definitely one of those acts that is great after a few drinks ... or more

AP music is good!! but yeah he is a garbage person

well was good, i just like the old lofi stuff mostly. crut you really should check out "the doldrums" album at least once..

i hate ap but love his music so i got a ticket, fetch :(

yeah I like The Doldrums!