John Maus already had us intrigued with his beautiful and dark OMD-like brand of synth-pop. Then we caught his intense and frenzied one-man show at South by Southwest this year and were officially obsessed. Known previously as a collaborator with Ariel Pink and Panda Bear, Maus is clearly staking a claim on his own with his new album Love Is Real. In his other life, he's a philosophy instructor at University of Hawaii with endearingly bombastic opinions and is kinda crazy. Sigh!