A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material.

[possiblegrenade]

Wish I knew where I could get a copy of this.

[dean]

"Meanwhile, "Angel of the Night" touches on his own personal dissatisfaction with his last LP and an ensuing breakdown."
...What? Does Pitchfork just pull stuff out of the air, or is this in the liner notes or an intervew?

hi-- i did an interview w/ john last month. it's coming!

thanks,
-jenn

Looking forward to that Jenn. When John mailed the tracks, he also wrote a fairly long message which pretty much covered what is suggested in the upcoming interview. I won't quote it as that would be unfair, but let's say that he was beating himself up pretty bad about putting this album out. I would love to know how he feels about the album now, after such glowing reviews. When I spoke to him in Tilburg he said that his next album would be a return to 'Songs', so then he still sounded as though he was still unsure about his new material. I wonder if time has changed his thoughts. I mean, when you put out an album that receives those sorts of reviews, and then you put out a release of demo tracks and material from the cutting room floor, it also gets glowing reviews.

[johnmaus]

Wish I knew where I could get a copy of this.

And I wish I knew more than I handful of German words... I mean, I really would like to read that article, just to make sure I didn't make too much a fool of myself or anyone I was talking about. Let me tell you guys, whatever alien thing has attached itself this last year is exemplified perfectly in that photograph. I haven't slept, I have a show, the photographer comes in my hotel room, and he's a real nice guy, he tells me to do something with my hands, you know?, I didn't really /want/ to do anything with my hands, I mean, I've never really /wanted/ to do anything with a magazine photograph but /look uncomfortable/ in it, you know?, not indifferent, not cynically or ironically, but /as if I didn't belong there/ or something, as if /nobody/ belongs there, not as if the whole thing were ridiculous and anyone could somehow be above it all, but more like confused by it up until the point that it does indeed confuse me. A really good friend took that photo on the banner up top, another really good friend took the black and white photo used to make me president, I'm not so confused by any of that, like Jennifer making those videos, or Rohan from UH, but /what's with all these other photos?/, something like that, anyways, it was just me and this nice guy, I didn't want to be difficult, you know?, that's how it goes, and I guess it only gets worse, Ariel was telling me SPIN magazine busted out assless chaps and hair stylists when he was photographed by them the other day... Even still, I always tell myself, "I'll never let it come to that." Some of these shows coming up, I just can't imagine they'll be very meaningful to any of you who bother turning up. You see, I think allot of them are on these big stages, with like a mote in between reserved strictly for photographers. So there you'd be, with photographers standing in between you and the inappropriately giant stage. There has been a couple of shows like that now, and if there are a few more coming it is only because I'd already committed and still haven't found the exact threshold where it changes from a challenge into that kind of guaranteed failure. Photographers! I've tried to set some of them straight on this, but they seem to suppose the shows belong to them and that the rest of us are merely supplementary fanatics or something. And so, for my own reasons I guess, I actually do hope some of you bother turning up anyways. I mean, if you don't, it will just be me and some photographers, and how completely meaningless would that be? I don't know... I just want to apologize for dropping the ball there... It has been a little difficult to navigate. Suddenly, the people picking you up at the airport haven't even heard the music, chance becomes obligation, and all the other boring stuff you've all heard a million times. Take this rarities thing for example, earlier this year, Ribbon calls me up and says they want to press and handful of LPs for the record stores, a few months later, the thing has a metacritic score! I didn't choose the album art, I didn't choose the final track listing--in other words, I'm humbled and flattered they put it out, but it isn't a new "John Maus" album! It isn't album No.4! Anyways... That's why I'm quickly stopping in, I came across a folder today with some of the other remixes I'd prepared for the "small, limited edition, LP for Record Store Day," and I thought some of you guys might want to check them out. I understand the gripes about remixing, like I'm George Lucas or something, but it was an interesting and productive experiment dumping 8-Track tapes onto a computer and playing with them, going into old files originally recorded on the computer and removing the bandwidth filters I'd once felt obligated to add out of fidelity to low-fidelity... Stuff like that... It will be good to have in the tool bag when I sit down to record the next album... I promise there won't be any remastered versions of Songs or Love is Real and I understand the misgivings... I wish I could polish this post up, but I've got to go to Seattle in an hour and I still haven't packed. I just wanted to get this off to you quickly before I left. Please don't hold me to account for anything I've said here...

http://www.mediafire.com/?1j37rl6a32bwk

[dean]

oh boy. Thanks for these John, there are a couple of track titles I don't recognise.

Hope to see you in Belgium in August (I'm guessing you're not coming to the Netherlands this trip?)

[ricky]

Can't wait to see you again! And thanks for the tracks.

[LadyLazarus]

I'm coming to the London show with at least 40 others on songkick.com, so it will not just be for the photographers! Thank you for the tracks, John. Just what I wanted today.

[dean]

Never Forget <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_eZ-h7k ... ontext-cha

Loved this gig. Loved the people in the background too!

[ricky]

Hmm. That photo didn't show up in my last post. Let's try again.

[AppTrans]

i did nt get the record but the cheedee!
jump marshmallow jump

[pluckypurcell]

john maus is a real gentleman, i tell you what. hey, john, if you ever get back here to boston, i'll pick you up at the airport...we had a good albeit brief ride last time!

[luke]

to john, Thank you for the songs - it's so spoiling to be able to get the straight answer from you given (all) the situation (s) but I guess joke's on me and everyone else who would expect less from you - a fine gentleman, indeed!

also, I find the benefits and disadvantages of new large shows to be a mixed bag. I like to hear about it from John's point of view, as these are things I wonder about every time someone gets a larger audience and spectacle. Someone wrote something here about John requesting the echo instead of fyf fest for Los Angeles.. and even if it doesn't happen, the fact that it was attempted means just as much to me.

in short I love this place and also want to just point out that a writer of pitchfork things joined and wrote here so god only knows what else she's read about pitchfork from all of us hehe

[pelleasetmelisande]

!!!! Wow! Thank you so very much for your graciousness and generosity, John. What a nice fellow!

Can someone who speaks pretty good German hook us up and somehow get their hands on that article and translate it? Or John, perhaps you could write a note to the magazine and ask them for a copy, translated? Or ask your label to do so?

Also, to Pfork Jenn, can't wait for the interview, thanks for writing here, was wondering about the same possible conjecture.

to Pluckypurcell -- hey, I live in/around Boston, too! What are the chances we maybe know each other already??

Re: larger shows, festival dates, whathaveyou -- I was BUMMED to not have gotten the days off of work to have made it to the NYC show. When I saw some of the video footage of that show, I remarked on that very same moat separating artist/crowd, and thought to myself, "Wow, weird, that suuuuuux...." and thought it was weird to see John Maus in that context, but I had to smile when he jumped down off the stage for a brief bit. Festivals are festivals and it's a great way to get tons of people out to see a show. The energy of that show looked great, and I sooo would have liked to have been a part of it, but I've often wondered at festivals where the connection is or where the energy is located, exactly, or who/what/where its coming from. It's just a different experience, I guess for artist and audience member. Then I look at a video like that Blackpool show (which I'd NEVER seen before, good heavens that looked a blast), with far less people, but generating another kind of great energy. Who knows. If I had it my way, I'd host shows in my mildewed basement with my closest pals and their closest pals, and then maybe we'd all become the closest of pals, but then isn't that selfish of me? Dammit. I still would be so so psyched to see John Maus live. And now I've missed TWO opportunities, wtf is wrong with me. In any case, I love hearing how the shows were, all of them.

P.S. got my copy of A Collection of Rarities.... my cat FREAKS the fuck OUT when the pseudo-bagpipe bleating part comes in during "Castles In The Grave," other than that, it's just so great to have it. I just love "Bennington," "Molly," "North Star," "All Aboard," "Big Dumb Man," and the rest -- also, was that crazy, prog-ish freakout jam part at the end of "Fish with the Broken Dreams" always there, or was that recently added? It's brilliant.

Thanks to everyone here for being such awesome people.

[meewillis]

also, was that crazy, prog-ish freakout jam part at the end of "Fish with the Broken Dreams" always there, or was that recently added? It's brilliant.

wow, how did I miss this?
sort of reminds me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQJhL9E6qH8

[pluckypurcell]

pelleasetmelisande - i'm currently in dirty ass Allston, don't tell me that's where you are too? and i'd say highly unlikely on knowing each other, i know very very few mausheads in boston!

[MausterofDisguise]

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