Updates on Mausman?

[teenwitch1997]

I'm a new fan, I was just wondering if anyone knew what he's been doing recently. Is he still interested in/creating music and planning to make more albums? Does he still live in Minnesota? Thanks. :-)

[AppTrans]

I wonder the same thing just about every day! He's been so quiet, I don't even know if he contacts anyone. I'm sure he looks at Mausspace on occasion when he's not burning himself out with academic pursuits!
Anyway, the day he releases his next album (if it's ever the case) will be a day of bliss!

[LadyLazarus]

As I said elsewhere I am perhaps optimistically hoping the radio silence is due to fierce composing afoot and maybe this is only his caesura before the next great work. Certainly nothing since has captivated me in quite the same way as Pitiless Censors has for the last two years. I am still inexplicably magnetised to that record. Now that I have finally begun attempting my own music (or at least learning how to use a MIDI controller), it has changed the way I listen to it entirely. My appreciation for just how much rigorous effort, attentiveness, and creative hara-kiri went into it has tripled. I can hear each note and how thoughtfully every song is arranged, like some cathartic journey from existential meltdown to spiritual breakthrough.
Selfishly I pine away for some new sounds, but generally I just hope he is well, whatever he is doing.

[teenwitch1997]

I read in a New York Times article that he plans to make 9 albums. That was from 2011, but I hope he still has the same aspirations.

[MysteryGuest]

I read in a New York Times article that he plans to make 9 albums. That was from 2011, but I hope he still has the same aspirations.

I'd be well up for buying a 9 LP box set of new Maus material, each LP on a different coloured vinyl of course. The first LP could be in the style of 'Songs', the second in the style of 'Love is Real', the third 'Censors'. But then what about the 4th, and 5th and so on? Perhaps he could do one LP of Stockhausenesque electroacoustics, one of guitar/bass/drums 90s-style rock (or perhaps not), one LP of stuff entirely in the style of 'We Can Breakthrough' (I really could cope with that), one of really hi-fi stuff like the new version of Bennington (which I actually prefer to the original, so sue me)... For now, though, all we can do is dream...

[MysteryGuest]

Certainly nothing since has captivated me in quite the same way as Pitiless Censors has for the last two years.

Amen to that. If I had to pick one record to take to a desert island, it would be 'Censors', which I also have been absolutely besotted with since its release. In Autumn 2011 it got to the point where I rationed playing it to once every 3 weeks because I couldn't cope with having multiple earworms (up to 6 chunes at once) for days afterwards each time I listened to it.

To put that in context, I'm 48, I've been listening to way-out music since I was 13, began writing music (as in writing it on music MS paper) when I was 8, spent 4 years at the University of Surrey doing their Tonmeister music & sound recording course, have a gigantic music collection etc etc... The last time any music affected me so cataclysmically and at such depth I was a teenager. And the person who created that album thought it was so terrible after he made it he had a breakdown. God bless him. I hope he's keeping well and having a good life, and even if he never releases another note he has changed my life for the better forever.

I do kind of hope he does release some more notes, though, tbh. Or quite a lot more notes actually.

[MysteryGuest]

Hang on, I typed 'chunes' with a t at the beginning and it changed it to 'chunes'. How curious... Seems like I have more to learn about the mysteries of mausspace...

[RareGoat]

The last time any music affected me so cataclysmically and at such depth I was a teenager. And the person who created that album thought it was so terrible after he made it he had a breakdown. God bless him. I hope he's keeping well and having a good life, and even if he never releases another note he has changed my life for the better forever.

I have to wonder... who was this mystery man?

And your post struck a chord with me as well. I'm 44 and have a similar lifelong dedication to "out" music, except that I'm not a serious composer myself (with the accent on "serious"). Your feelings about "Censors" mirror my feelings about Ariel Pink - I started in 2011 and my life has not been the same since. I actually sought out this forum in the first place because I needed to talk to people who liked Ariel P as much as I did -- no one else seemed to understand what I saw in his stuff. I admit I had never even heard of John Maus before coming here, but now I'm a big fan of him too.

[MysteryGuest]

And your post struck a chord with me as well. I'm 44 and have a similar lifelong dedication to "out" music, except that I'm not a serious composer myself (with the accent on "serious"). Your feelings about "Censors" mirror my feelings about Ariel Pink - I started in 2011 and my life has not been the same since. I actually sought out this forum in the first place because I needed to talk to people who liked Ariel P as much as I did -- no one else seemed to understand what I saw in his stuff. I admit I had never even heard of John Maus before coming here, but now I'm a big fan of him too.

It's so great when you find a musical genius that is of the most profound importance to you. For me it was like I'd finally discovered that there is somebody out there who is actually on the same wavelength as me in certain key ways, for the first time in my life. I kind of metaphorically sank to my knees in relief when it happened, as if I'd been on a long lonely trek across a desert and thought I was never going to find the oasis, and then I'd found it.

I haven't composed a note in years - too much life been going on. I miss it. Though when you come across the likes of AP and JM, the thought of writing music can be a bit daunting! Or of course it can be inspiring.

[MysteryGuest]

I find the comparison between JM and AP very interesting. There's this idea that if a writer is heavily blown away and inspired by their main 'muse', then they either go two ways: copy or react against to break away from the influence. But with JM we seem to have this unusual thing where JM's clearly been heavily inspired by AP, yet hasn't really gone down either of those two routes. I mean there's the lo-fi thing, sure, but it's all taken in quite different directions imo.

[fieldmaus]

Yea, I agree, it's so unusual! (and really hard to do!!! IMO)

Even with JM & Gary War, there are similarities, but no copies/departures. Maybe that's because they both listen to similar artists in addition to each other.

Also, to the best of my understanding, I think they(Pink & Friends) all put a lot of emphasis, and effort into not sounding exactly like someone else, which certainly shows in their work. -- I know that I've read Gary War saying something like that, and with John, I guess it's not so plain as that, but he always talks about "creating, and appearing as, something 'other' than what there currently is" (I'm paraphrasing)

[LadyLazarus]

I miss the Maus howl. Want him to come back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E35OMfL4A4

[MausterofDisguise]

I miss the Maus howl. Want him to come back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E35OMfL4A4

That scared the shit outta me. Why do mice do that?!
Is anyone here in contact with John? It seems like he isolates himself to dedicate every ounce of his life to the music. God bless musicians like that. I wish more musicians would put their souls into their work. But not to the point where it leads to a mental breakdown!

[Anthony]

I miss the Maus howl. Want him to come back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E35OMfL4A4

i like

[PaulPettinger]

The last time any music affected me so cataclysmically and at such depth I was a teenager. And the person who created that album thought it was so terrible after he made it he had a breakdown. God bless him. I hope he's keeping well and having a good life, and even if he never releases another note he has changed my life for the better forever

John Maus had a breakdown after he released his last album!?

I love music, but merely as a lay person and consumer. While I spend a lot of time listening to music, perhaps in contrast to quite a few others here, I don't spend time getting into new bands. I happened upon one of John's tracks a year and a half ago (Copkiller), which a friend sent to me, and have had incredible enjoyment from John's work since then and he is one of my favourite musicians (of all time). I find his mix of emotional distress, minor keys and melancholy utterly compelling and addictive. I would love to see him perform here in London - unfortunately my friend sent me Copkiller just weeks after John's last performance in the area in Aug 2012.

I think John has underachieved commercially and in part because of his integrity, and I hope us fans don't loose him to other interests in his life. If we do he can retire now with a fine body of work under his belt, though I would be surprised if he was able to match the same highs from other interests. I would love to think John is slaving away over new work, but am worried by the lack of news.