Cult Hero Daniel Johnston's Old Cassettes Get A Digital Makeover

[Gammon Records]

Cult Hero Daniel Johnston's Old Cassettes Get A Digital Makeover
Known by those in the "know" as the Godfather of Lo-Fi, 42-year-old indie rock icon Daniel Johnston saw a number of his rare early recordings go digital this week. Indie distributor The Orchard has made a dozen of Johnston's early albums available on iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and Napster this week, with a full roll out involving over 100 online music services to be underway next week. Until this week, these albums, recorded between 1981 and 1992, were only available on cassette, through mail order. Over the years fans like Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Beck, Tom Waits, Sonic Youth and even Simpsons creator Matt Groening have declared Johnston as one of rock's best known secrets. With a new album on the way, these early re-releases will give indie rock kids an easy way to get acclimated to a true DIY rock legend.

The last year has been quite an exciting one for Johnston. In late 2004 Gammon records released the tribute compilation, The Late Great Daniel Johnston, which featured contributions from the likes of Beck, Tom Waits, Death Cab, and Bright Eyes. Director Jeff Feuerzeig's documentary on Johnston's life, The Devil And Daniel Johnston won the Documentary Best Director award at Sundance this year. It also won the Audience Award and was named Best Documentary at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival. The film will be distributed theatrically in North America in 2006. Johnston has also recently finished a brand new album, aptly titled Lost And Found.

Album's now available in digital form:

Continued Story/Hi How Are You (1985)
Don't Be Scared (1982)
Frankenstein Love (1992)
Live at SXSW (1990)
The Lost Recordings (1983)
The Lost Recordings II (1983)
More Songs of Pain (1982)
Respect (1985)
Retired Boxer (1984)
Songs of Pain (1981)
The What of Whom (1982)
Yip/Jump Music (1983)


-Reported by Matt DuFour on 06/02/200

[lonelyloner]

Rhapsody has a few up, but the tracklists are all fudged up. I was listening to that " Lost Recordings" album. There's some great stuff on it.

[wickedwill]

The cassettes have the vibe tho............

[Gammon Records]

I think you're right on the vibe tip. It's a nice thing to have as a collector (even I have all the tapes). Yet, I know that in the digital world Daniels music will be able to reach and touch more peeps. It's a great way to get Daniel's music out to the public. Already the top 5 DMS's (download stores) have done front page promos on Daniel. You got to love it to see a Daniel album on the front page next to a coldplay or U2!

Also, Dick has these really cool Daniel Johnston eMusic promo Daniel cards that are VERY cool. They have the image of the frog on them and they are good for 50 free downloads!  Maybe Dick could give a few away on the site???

[Gammon Records]

This was just on Pitchfork....

Daniel Johnston's Early Catalog Gets Digital Release

Rob Mackey reports:
It's only fitting that when quintessential outsider artist Daniel Jonston-- by nearly all counts, the most influential early figure in lo-fi music-- first started recording songs on a $59 boom box over twenty years ago, he handed out homemade cassettes to complete strangers on the streets of Austin. In 2005, however, things are a bit different. Today, we get down digitally, and with the aid of leading digital music distributor The Orchard, the ghetto-blaster dubbed tapes Johnston handed out in the 80s will be made available for download by an entirely new throng of complete strangers at over 100 popular digital depots. Only difference is, this way we don't get to meet Daniel.

As of May 31, iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and Napster have each made different exclusive Johnston albums available to the public, and following suit on June 7, dozens of other digital stores will upload rare Johnston material to their services. But here's the sweet part: if your MIDI ringtone of "Hollaback Girl" just don't cut it anymore, a handful of Johnston tracks will soon be made available through several major cell-phone ringtone providers. And trust us when we say "Don't Play Cards With Satan" is a much better ringtone than "Drop It Like It's Hot".

Johnston's simple tunes were first widely popularized when he appeared on a 1986 episode of MTV's "Cutting Edge." Not too long thereafter, the kids in Nirvana started wearing his t-shirts to photo-shoots and Thurston Moore sang his praises better than he sang his own songs. Last year, Discovered, Covered: The Late Great Daniel Johnston, a hefty tribute album including covers by Beck, Tom Waits, Bright Eyes and Death Cab for Cutie, came out on Gammon Records. And now, thanks to The Orchard, the following records are only a click away:

Songs of Pain (1981)
More Songs of Pain (1982)
The What of Whom (1982)
Don't Be Scared (1982)
Yip/Jump Music (1983)
The Lost Recordings (1983)
The Lost Recordings II (1983)
Retired Boxer (1984)
Respect (1985)
Continued Story/Hi How Are You (1985)
Live at SXSW (1990)
Frankenstein Love (1992)

In other DJ news, coming on the heels of his back-catalog's digital release is both an album, Lost and Found, and a documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Lost and Found, slated for early 2006, is the follow-up to 2003's Fear Yourself, a cleanly produced and strangely optimistic collaboration with Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous. The Devil and Daniel Johnston, directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, has already won the "Documentary Best Director" award at Sundance 2005, and the "Audience Award, Best Documentary" at this year's San Francisco Independent Film Festival; it will be distributed theatrically in North America by Sony Pictures Classics in early 2006.

* Pitchfork Review: Daniel Johnston: Fear Yourself
* Pitchfork Review: Various Artists: Discovered, Covered: The Late Great Daniel Johnston
* Daniel Johnston: http://www.hihowareyou.com
* The Orchard: http://www.theorchard.com

[dbeefy]

I hope these are going to be released on European music download services too !

[Gammon Records]

This just in...

The Orchard announced today that it would digitally distribute the early work of Daniel Johnston, known to many as the godfather of the lo-fi music movement and one of America's most revered outsider artists.

A dozen of Johnston's albums will be made available on over 100 popular online music services on May 31, 2005. Digital retailers iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, and Napster will each launch with different exclusive Daniel Johnston albums today, and then dozens of other digital stores will follow with more classic albums on June 7. Additionally, select tracks will be made available through several major cell-phone ringtone providers.

In true indie spirit, long before "indie" was a commonly used term, Johnston recorded his music onto a cheap ghetto blaster and dubbed countless tapes one by one, giving them away like business cards to strangers on the streets of his hometown, Austin, Texas. These modern-day field recordings, recorded straight to a $59 boom box, comprise the bulk of Johnston's massive period of artistic creativity in the early-to-mid-1980s, plus live recordings from the early 1990s. These tapes established Johnston as the musician's cult musician, whose art is appreciated for its utter lack of artifice and the undeniable simple brilliance of its melodic structure.

Over the years, famous fans like Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Beck, Tom Waits, Sonic Youth and Simpsons creator Matt Groening have proclaimed 42-year-old Daniel Johnston one of rock's best-known secrets. He is the subject of the award-winning documentary film The Devil and Daniel Johnston, soon to be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. A tribute album, The Late Great Daniel Johnston, featuring Tom Waits, Beck, Bright Eyes, Death Cab For Cutie and more, is now available from Gammon Records.

"This project demonstrates what is great about the future of music: the entire early repertoire of a profoundly influential artist and cult hero can be distributed globally, through download and mobile services worldwide, by an independent company without any major label affiliation," said Greg Scholl, chief executive of The Orchard.

These rare full-length albums, all of them previously only available on cassette, through mailorder, include:
Continued Story/Hi How Are You (1985)
Don't Be Scared (1982)
Frankenstein Love (1992)
Live at SXSW (1990)
The Lost Recordings (1983)
The Lost Recordings II (1983)
More Songs of Pain (1982)
Respect (1985)
Retired Boxer (1984)
Songs of Pain (1981)
The What of Whom (1982)
Yip/Jump Music (1983)

The Orchard will also develop cell-phone ringtones for a handful of Johnston tunes and make them available to Sprint, Zingy, Dwango, HiFi and more. These songs include "Casper The Friendly Ghost," "Walking the Cow," "Funeral Home," "True Love Will Find You In The End," "My Yoke Is Heavy" and "Like A Monkey In A Zoo."

[Doug Sulpy]

I just checked iTunes and they're not there (there is, however, some album I've never heard of by a "Daniel Johnston" who's not THE Daniel Johnston... how weird).

What's this about "only been released on cassette"? ... Dan's Stress tapes were available in MP3 form for years on-line - I know, because that's how I got "Frankenstein Love" when it came out.

[favorhouseatlantic]

schweet!!!
i wanna get a daniel johnston ringtone.

[Gammon Records]

I just checked iTunes and they're not there (there is, however, some album I've never heard of by a "Daniel Johnston" who's not THE Daniel Johnston... how weird).

I just check itunes US as well as itunes UK.  It's all up and ready for download.  It has been for some time too. Please look again.

I've heard the Daniel ring tones and they are so so great. Even I can't wait to have them on my phone. How great will it be when Daniel calls my cell phone I'll hear one of his songs. LOL, toooooo trippy.

 

[Doug Sulpy]

My fault. I didn't read closely enough - the entire catalog is not available on iTunes, just selected albums.

[Gammon Records]

What do you see missing? Thanks!