John Maus

Although I disagree with some people who see "Rights For Gays" and "Tenebrae" as missteps, or others who say "Cop Killer" or "Matter Of Fact" are missteps... there's something about John's ironic approach to lyric writing-- real, literate irony, the duality of meaning etc., not 'moustache on a trucker hat' irony-- that kind of makes these differences of opinion a non-issue? I mean, I feel like the unimpeachable pop hit "Believer" is in fact unsophisticated in comparison, but I am cool with the fact that somebody would prefer John Maus when he's singing about Jackie Chan instead of riskier stuff

0 stars in Slant

http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/john-maus-we-must-become-the-pitiless-censors-of-ourselves/2552

When I find nothing redeeming in 90% of an album's content I will usually, out of something like sportsmanship, at least entertain the hypothesis that I just didn't get it. In this case, I can't bring myself to care. There's obviously some kind of art-school mindfuckery afoot here, and I suspect that Maus aspires to some meta-theoretical point on the level of "But really, what is music anyway?" And maybe reality is just the hallucination of a five-dimensional computerized intelligence! Generous guy that I am, I'll concede that We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves does, on some level, constitute music. Really shitty music.

I just...

There's obviously some kind of art-school mindfuckery afoot here I mean seriously, dude, what? How cynical must one have become to even think this is "obviously" what is going on? Critic in completely-not-getting-it and not-being-able-to-detect-earnestness-and-sincere-music-so-it-must-be-mindfuckery shocker...

What a piece of shit that review, gah. Can't get over it.

The "writer" weighs in in the comments there, saying: "Consider this a satire on an unlikely and undeserving cult hero."

Right.

Stopped reading at this piece of shit opinion: "The Walker Brothers produced little memorable music as a unit"

I know, so so wrong.

What a waste of bytes and time that review is, christ. It is unhealthily winding me up.

loved this dude last time I saw him

chillwave klaus kinski

i'm all about this album

http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/1/1730-john-maus/2784-live-at-glasslands/

I love this guy so much. Can't wait to see him live.

I like him, but i really don't get the huge critical adoration. Maybe dude is just so successful with justifying his retro shtick with intellectual/performance theory word-games it gives writers a boner.

Though i love this

There's just something about a metal skeleton coming out of fire that's really poetic and just extraordinary

Uh oh, I think I'm going to eat my own words with that 1st post.

Mmm... It seems people who don't particularly get the critical acclaim always call it things like a "schtick", like you do as well. I don't think his music is a "schtick" at all. He's got a distinctive style, but why do people with John Maus call it a "schtick" so often? Most bands have a particular style but their sounds doesn't get called "schtick". Is it the retro sound that makes people think his music is a gimmick, tongue-in-cheek? I think he's completely sincere about his music.

b/c lofi 80s appropriations are a schtick now? i think its pretty fair 2 say that what is distinctive about maus is his approach to publicity and interviews

i dont know anything about his interviews or publicity but his new album sounds like someone drowning in the deep end of chillwave, like dredging up the queasier elements.

that is, i like it

i can agree on characterizing dude as "queasy chillwave dredge"

chillwave klaus kinski

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Monday, 18 July 2011 00:55 (3 days ago)

not an upbeat churl then

someone link me to one of these interviews

This album is SO good. I've had little wisps of almost every single song in my head almost constantly over the past week.

It's pretty interesting to find myself muttering things like "cop killer, let's kill all the cops tonight, kill them" on the subway with my headphones on...

ya that song is the best

the deal with John Maus is that his hooks are better & catchier than the hooks of people working a similar angle. love this guy

It's pretty interesting to find myself muttering things like "cop killer, let's kill all the cops tonight, kill them" on the subway with my headphones on...
i find myself cringing at the lyrics -- especially this track. the sounds/melodies/hooks are so nice though.. the lyrics actually feel like total fluff. odd to see him rambling about conceptual stuff on youtube, considering this. i suppose the simplicity of it is interesting.

are all of the female vocals on 'hey moon' samples? i was surprised by this fact.

Fluff can be hard to do and nice to hear.

Female vocals on Hey Moon are by Molly Nilsson, the woman who wrote the song. Look a little upthread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ594IL_wyw

yah, thanks. i was curious if she actually sang (later) on the maus album track, or if her vocals were solely samples.

Couldn't tell you

Reviews are calling it a duet

I haven't even read much on this album but lol @ the critical reception of this vs. his earlier shit

plz listen to my new album on spotify

"Mr. Le Bateau Ivre, will you take 'We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves', to be your man, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; and promise to be faithful until death parts you?"

"Hey Moon! Believer! I do!"

Keeps on opening up, this beaut. Way more than his previous album even, which I did not think was possible. Album of the year. I'm calling it.

I listened to this once very recently, and found it unlistenable for the most part. is it a grower?

*caveat: since discovering that King Creosote/Jon Hopkins collab nearly all new music sounds relatively unlistenable to me, so i might just be biased.

I think it's rather unlikely for an album to be a 'grower' for you if your first verdict was unlistenable.

i will give it another go, but it just sounded like Ariel Pink with more synths. Maybe I'm missing the point.

I must admit I’m not really feeling Pitiless Censors.

I understand what he’s trying to do – the notion of some scavenger from the future, stumbling upon this ancient, decaying mass called “eighties synthpop” and trying to wind it up back into life (at least I think that’s what he’s going for) – but alas the songs have no tunes, the overabundant echo (presumably there to mask vocal technical deficiencies) renders all of them lyrically incomprehensible, and the overall feeling is one of a Peter Murphy solo demo circa 1988.

People like DAM Funk and Oneohtrix Point Seven hover around the same territory but pull it off with much more style, humour and genuine boué.

Marcello, my first take was much like yours, but then the melodies started to emerge from the reverbed morass after a few listens, and I began to be able to understand snippets of the vocals. Then a bit more, and then more. I actually find it to be highly tuneful, almost irritatingly so given how frequently I've had songs from the record in my head recently. For me, it's the definition of a grower (but it didn't take long to grow). I feel Oneohtrix is mining totally different territory, FWIW.

Yes, I am aware that I could just as well be talking about the Jesus and Mary Chain in 1985 as far as reverbed morass is concerned! Well, I'll give it a few months and see if it grows on me.

the overall feeling is one of a Peter Murphy solo demo circa 1988.

Ah, no wonder I love it!

Marcello summed it up perfectly for me. I'm getting to the end of my tether with things that have been so deliberately FX'd till all you hear is a smudge of a song. It worked for a while, and don't get me wrong, I love a bit of AC and Ariel Pink and it's good when people get creative with unorthodox production, but this is turning into a default aesthetic for so many underground artists. Just punching the "chillwave" button is a lazy excuse for poor execution. It's like that Baths album, which again I find unlistenable because it's been smothered with extreme compression and reverb.

I feel you on that, but it doesn't destroy the record for me. I firmly believe, however, that this would be an unimpeachably great record even if it were recorded with the starkest clarity.

Reviews are calling it a duet
― Trip Maker, Saturday, 23 July 2011 22:35 (6 days ago) Bookmark

Re: the Molly Nilsson - the liner notes on the CD say that the song "contains samples" of the song.

I'm not getting jm either but that molly nilsson cover/remix/whatev is gorg mostly due to molly nilsson I'm guessing

sounds to me like he just sang over the original track and sweetened it up a bit