Pop philosopher and stage melodramatist John Maus, whose acclaimed (and rightly so) album from last year was entitled We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves, has apparently opted not to heed his own advice. On July 16th, he’s set to release a sixteen-song collection of rarities and previously unreleased material through Ribbon Music, entitled, erm, A Collection of Rarities & Previously Unreleased Material. Hey, at least he’s not trying to dress it up too much. In advance of the album’s release the label are giving away ‘Mental Breakdown’ – listen and download below (see photo above).
Five of the album’s tracks have previously been released on previous compilations or limited releases. The remainder have never been released before – a pair, ‘Angel Of The Night’ and ‘Lost’ never on any format before, and the rest were originally released quietly onto the internet by Maus himself in a package entitled Demos 2011. They’ve all been remixed and remastered and packaged in artwork by Turner Prize-winner Wolfgang Tillmans.
Tracklist runs as follows…
‘North Star’ (2008)

‘The Law’ (2003)

‘Castles in the Grave’ (2010)

‘Angel of the Night’ (2010)
‘Mental Breakdown’ (2004)


‘Bennington’ (2007)

‘Big Dumb Man’ (2003)
‘No Title (Molly)’ (2008)
‘Lost’ (2003)

‘All Aboard’ (2007)


‘This is The Beat’ (2005)

‘My Hatred is Magnificent’ (2008)
‘The Fear’ (2003)

‘Fish With Broken Dreams’ (1999)


‘Rock the Bone’ (2008)

‘I Don’t Eat Human Beings’ (2008)
