ALBUM REVIEWS

John Maus SONGS UPSET! THE RHYTHM RECORDS 17.04.06 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk Properly off-kilter. Church organ voiced synth leads into a ditty about it being ‘Time To Die’. Then a song about ‘sex with car, sex on car,…sex with Ringo Starr’ – but arranged like some eighties synth pop ditty – think John Foxx, Ultravox, Visage. Real Bad Job announces, with cheesy synthesised sound washes, ‘in exchange for money you will trade your very soul’. ‘Oh my, Grandma’s pee’d her pants again’ brings a wave of stream of consciousness to an electrobeat rhythm and sequenced patterns. And it doesn’t get any more normal than that. Everyday ponderings and flashes of non-insight are intoned through deliberately off-centre or thinly mainstream keyboards, making this sound like a composed-in-my-bedroom masterpiece. John Maus has a PhD in Continental Philosophy, making this series of probably deliberately unfiltered thoughts more a faux-naïve exercise than a piece of outsider art. The playing, too, is lo-fi and the recording is allowed to break up and distort occasionally. A labour of personal creation and a mystery to most people who aren’t John Maus, this remains an idiosyncratic example of doing something because you know it needs doing. Ross McGibbon www.southern.net Check the latest gig reviews. Email Links & Comments to the editor. We are always on the look out for music journalists who want to cover gigs, albums, singles and interviews. If you are interested, send your details along with a piece of your writing to Ross@Vanguard Online.