Maus time is now! Intoning lovely, naive, doom-laden musings over analog synths and obsolete drum machine patterns, this sometime Ariel Pink cohort makes like a cyberpop Ian Curtis drunk on moonlight. Whether frantic or soporific, Mr. Maus gives up some of the best music of the year. – Daniel Tures, Hollywood

“Hey Moon” and “Cop Killer” are the shining tracks here. If you are familiar with Ariel Pink’s camp, then you’ve probably heard of Maus. Don’t miss out on this warped pop perfection. – Shayde, San Francisco

John Maus received plenty of confused shrugs for his cartoonish baritone and movie-music weirdness in the past, but that should all be laid to rest with his latest album, which takes his avant-garde composer’s approach to creating electronic pop and ups the pop quotient. Perhaps inspired by cohort Ariel Pink’s recent crossover into (relatively) more mainstream fare, songs like “Quantum Leap” jump out of the speakers on a post-punk backbeat (complete with handclaps), while “Believer” buries its swooning melody under a tower of sythesizers and reverb. It’s like someone left their Tangerine Dream and New Order cassettes in the wash and out came a perfectly fused, gauzy amalgam of new age floweriness and new romantic pop.

Also available on LP.