After months of teasing Denver with a visit, baritone vocalist extraordinaire, John Maus, made his way to town for an unforgettable experience. A wave of teenage witches moshed to the dark synth melody of the Ph.D. of political theory. But not before bandmate’s Lukdlx’s inspiring set that captured the musical essence of “Black Mirror’s” “San Junipero” episode. The Minneapolis based act tied their performance together with a stage commanding take from their EP title track, “Bad Haircut.”
Maus is supporting his latest album with “Screen Memories.” This, of course, is much overdue since the release of the overwhelmingly crowd favorite project “We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves” with a six-year hiatus. It was nice to hear the vocals from the Ariel Pink bestie as decipherable as possible. My biggest gripe is the vocals on some of the recorded tracks play as inaudible. Whereas live, the towering artist feeds off of the crowd and does his best in a screamo type environment.
John Maus appears comfortable with the new material, nailing in stride on “Touchdown” (pun intended) and “Combine.” However, it was the older material that resonated for a large portion of the all-ages show that amplified a boisterous crowd with “Quantum Leap” and “Keep Pushing On.”
Catch the dark lords of synth on tour at tone of the dates below and look for a full length release later this year. It’s rumored that both Pink and Maus are to record an album as soon as their schedules permit.
Related: JOHN MAUS ANNOUNCES TOUR, US DATE
John Maus Tour
Jan 21 || Boise, ID || Neurolux
Jan 23 || Seattle, WA || The Crocodile
Jan 24 || Vancouver, BC || Biltmore Cabaret
Jan 25 || Portland, OR || Mississippi Studios
Jan 27 || San Francisco, CA || Slim’s
Jan 29 || San Diego, CA || Belly Up Tavern
Jan 30 || Los Angeles, CA || Teragram Ballroom
Jan 31 || Phoenix, AZ || Crescent Ballroom
Feb 2 || Dallas, TX || Club Dada
Feb 3 || Austin, TX || Barracuda
Feb 5 || New Orleans, LA || One Eyed Jack’s
Feb 8 || Atlanta, GA || The Earl
Feb 9 || Durham, NC || Motorco Music Hall
Feb 10 || Washington, DC || Rock & Roll Hotel
Feb 11 || Philadelphia, PA || First Unitarian Church
Feb 12 || Boston, MA || The Sinclair
Feb 14 || Brooklyn, NY || Elsewhere
Feb 15 || Kingston, NY || BSP Kingston
Feb 16 || Toronto, ON || Lee’s Palace
Feb 17 || Detroit, MI || El Club
Feb 18 || Chicago, IL || Lincoln Hall
John Maus
Lukdlx
