How Did You First Discover John Maus?

[shayne]

I don't know if there is an existing thread like this (let me know), but how did you guys first discover JM?

I'll go first: Ian Connor posted a video on Instagram (@ianconnorsrevenge) of him in his car and in the background The Peace That Earth Cannot Give was playing. I thought it sounded really cool and in the comments someone said it was by John Maus and they said the title so I looked it up and immediately gained interest in JM.

[Harry]

from listening to and finding out more about ariel pink, who i discovered from listening to r. stevie moore etc..

[meewillis]

Me too, Ariel related-artists on lastfm in 2009, first song I heard was rights for gays

[RareGoat]

I first learned about John Maus the day I joined this forum, believe it or not. I was searching for an Ariel Pink fan group and came across this place.

[AppTrans]

First track I heard of John's was This Is The Beat and I was hooked forever...and ever and ever
John is definitely one of my all time favorites, no doubt

[AppTrans]

I tell you, when I first heard This Is The Beat, I immediately thought about the part in The Thin Blue Line when that crazy lady was talking about her amateur sleuthing endeavors, anyway, the music in TITB is kind of reminiscent of the Phillip Glass music in that section

[PaulPettinger]

I discovered John when a friend sent me a link to 'Cop Killer' in September 2012. I got an enormous ear worm and worked my way through much of his catalogue on YouTube. Withing weeks I bought all of his commercially available albums, and learned that I had missed him playing in London by just a matter of weeks. Fours dam years later and I am still waiting for John to come back to London!

[oldtown]

i first listened to 'hey moon,' after learning about his relationship with pink. it's his most popular song, so that was the one i listened to first just to get a feel of his music it didn't stick, but, later i revisited maus and listened to 'songs.' it is now my favorite album. lesson: don't judge an artist after listening to just one song.

[meewillis]

i first listened to 'hey moon,' after learning about his relationship with pink. it's his most popular song, so that was the one i listened to first just to get a feel of his music it didn't stick, but, later i revisited maus and listened to 'songs.' it is now my favorite album. lesson: don't judge an artist after listening to just one song.

ya that's the problem with hey moon, I get why it's popular but it is very unlike ANY other song of his except maybe silent chorus THATS IT.

[LadyLazarus]

My twin sister went to a Pulp gig at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. Jarvis Cocker is apparently a huge fan. She heard 'Do Your Best' over the PAs in-between bands and struggled with erroneously misheard lyrics in Google and nearly gave up until she found him. Passed it on to me and it became one of my most life-changing discoveries. Best friends, chance meetings, relationships, and red eye flights to the other side of the world followed. That's how you know you're on to something good.

[jessepidaflop]

i first heard Cop Killer in the credits of Callum Paul's pro part for Passport skateboards. Within two weeks of obsession went on to begin reading his dissertation but never got around to finishing it. Shoutout to Australia for leading me to my true lover Baumaus.

[dean]

I ran the Secret Unicorns Forum for years (still active but rarely visited), a forum for the newly defunct band, The Unicorns. The posters got on really well, and grew together in weird and wonderful ways. Part of the forum was for talking about new music we had found, and I had come across John Maus via Myspace(!), he was friends with Ariel Pink and a guy who recorded under the name Testicular Manslaughter (who I released something of on my old netlabel Rack & Ruin Records, which also stemmed from the Unicorns forum).... the reviews John posted on his Facebook wall were dreadful, all saying how terrible the music was.... naturally I was curious to hear just how bad, so I snagged a dodgy copy (since replaced naturally with a beautiful pink vinyl), and gave it a whirl.... I was blown away, this wasn't dreadful, I listened again, and again.... then posted on The Unicorns forum, and a bunch of other people listened to it, and said it was stunning... we started to get obsessed, and talked about John Maus more and more there, so myself, Adri and Jessi set up this place. So yes, Mausspace started because of The Unicorns and Myspace.

[LadyLazarus]

That Testicular Manslaughter guy found me on FB a while back and told me what it was like to room with Ariel and John.

[WhatTheFugue]

I found out about John Maus via Molly Nilsson. I was exposed to her song Whiskey Sour on Pandora and started seeking out more songs. I really began to love her music and Hey Moon just blew me away. I noticed in a YouTube comment, someone mentioned a cover of Hey Moon by a John Maus. I looked it up and was immediately enchanted. I began to seek out more John Maus and before I knew it I was full blown obsessed and have been for months. I've never heard anything else like it and I find myself lacking the words to describe it. I haven't talked to anyone else about it - I'm not ready to share it with anyone yet who might not appreciate it as I do. But I've since found this forum and it appears there are others who feel the same as I do.