Modest Maus

John Maus is playing a gig at Strange Brew in Bristol tonight (9th), the second date of a week-long tour of England and Scotland, which started at the Electric Ballroom on Tuesday and taking in Manchester, Brighton, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

 

John has played with Animal Collective (and Panda Bear) and Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, but has also released seven albums between 2000 and 2018.

 

An eighth album, a 2CD set called Rarities For The Road, was being sold on the merch stand during his live dates last months and hopefully will be available for the UK dates to come. 

 

In John's own words, the album comprises "two versions of “Rarities for the Road”, each with a overlapping / slightly different track listing of some unreleased music that *isn’t* going to be on the next album (out in 2025??)."

 

I'll be honest, I'd never heard of John Maus or his music before seeing a flyer for his London gig on Sunday. Having listened to the session (and interview) he did for KEXP in 2018, a smattering of album tracks and the closing video of ...And The Rain, performed live at EartH in Hackney last year, I'm wishing that I could be there at Strange Brew tonight.

 

John clearly commits 100% to his music and performance - and apparently so do his fans - and the shows promise to be an intense, sweat-drenched experience. Off stage, John is described as a modest, generous guy, so it would fascinating to see this juxtaposition in an intimate setting. Unfortunately, not tonight.