my favorite john maus song is the one where he sings about his grandma peeing her pants in front of the slot machine, and it getting all over his hands.

I've given this dude a couple of chances, but I can't help but feel like it's just ariel pink without any class, where pink's class is his lynchpin.

Agreed - he's certainly taking this sound down the low road. Some of his tunes are brainwashingly catchy though.