Daniel Johnston.

[FortBoyard]

Anybody ever given this guy a listen?

Interesting tale, suffers from bi-polar disorder and has placed in mental health institutions throughout his life. Prolifically produced lots of D.I.Y tracks, despite the fact that his voice sounds like nails on a board at times, it can be quite beautiful stuff.

Was subject to a documentary which won some awards at Cannes called 'The Devil and Daniel Johnston' which I haven't seen yet.

But I've been listening to a few tracks recently and they are really growing on me.

 

[datura]

I quite like his early stuff, there's a childish naivety to the songs that is quite compelling:





Defintely a very acquired taste though!

 

[FortBoyard]

Definitely very acquired.

But once acquired there is certainly an imperfect genius to it.

 

[SecondFig]

Great stuff, for those who have not yet acquired the Daniel Johnston taste I'd highly recommend The Late Great Daniel Johnston - it's 1/2 best of and 1/2 covers (other bands covering his songs). Not only is it a very good starter, but it also shows how good his songwriting is. Because so much of his stuff was recorded on a tape-machine in his bedroom it's incredibly lo-fi and affected. Listening to other artists play his songs you can really see the beauty in the song, and weirdly I find I then enjoy the original more.

Two examples of this;

Living Life (Daniel & Eels versions)

Spoiler

Walking The Cow (Daniel, TV on the Radio & A Camp versions)

Spoiler

Walking the Cow has also been covered by Eddie Vedder, fIREHOSE, PJ Harvey and a lot more. Great song.

 

[decorativeed]

I first heard Daniel Johnston's songs as cover versions - Yo La Tengo's version of Speeding Motorcycle and Sonic Boom's True Love Will Find You In The End. I still haven't listened to much of Johnston's stuff, but the documentary is good and this song at the end (written with Jad Fair) is good:

 

[Adzzz]

His song-writing has a Neil Young like quality I suppose.