REVIEWS:
"On
ELECTRIC GHOSTS, Jack Medicine (aka producer Don Goede) and Daniel Johnston
find new ways to create the sad and joyous effects that have made Johnston
one of the most acclaimed outsider musicians in America. Johnston's
voice still wanders tenderly around the melodies, but its rougher, whinier
edges have been smoothed over. There are synthesizers and pianos and,
on "Sweetheart (Frito Lay)," the smoothest blues guitar this
side of Chess Records, but the layers of instrumentation are subtly
syncopated throughout to complicate even the bounciest songs. The result
is not exactly lo-fi, but certainly off-kilter--a new collection of
loopy pop songs that Johnston's fans will recognize instantly."
"Daniel Johnston, in typical anti-careerist fashion, chose the
eve of the theatrical release of a major documentary on his life and
the midst of a major upswing in his career as a visual artist to release
this odd little record (rather than a definitive career collection,
although several fine reissues of his early works and an excellent tribute
and compilation are now all available). What we get is a nicely recorded
(with Kramer production!) album of collaborations with longtime tour
manager and talented singer/songwriter Jack Medicine. Daniel is listed
as the songwriter or co-songwriter on most all of these tracks, but
only about half of them seem like full-fledged Johnston originals, as
Medicine wrote some lyrics and takes the mic on a few. The Johnston-led
tracks contain a few gems, the band and production nicely compliment
his songs, and Medicine is not half bad either, with a fine '60s rock
aesthetic reminiscent of early Donovan." [JM]
"Now, don't you run away hollerin' "WTF!" if you haven't
a clue what we're talking about. You should know that there's not only
a big ol' documentary film on the man, but also a big ol' exhibit of
his art that's making its way around the U.S and Europe. To boot, there
is new music! Whoo hoo! The Electric Ghosts are indeed Daniel Johnston
and his buddy (and bandmate in Hyperjinx Tricycle) Jack Medicine. This
is a remarkably polished and produced album (and not just by Johnston
standards and expectations). It actually sounds like a long-lost Young
Fresh Fellows record. Nonetheless, listen a little closer and those
Daniel-isms peek through. Y'know, his unmistakable combo of bare-hearted
love-sick sentiments and untethered dream/nightmare storytellin'. So
good! As has become the custom over the years, you just wanna hug each
and every tune including their cover of Bowie's "Scary Monsters"!
Produced by Kramer (of Bongwater and Shimmy Disc fame)."
-http://www.aquariusrecords.org/bin/search.cgi
"With a film about his life expected to ring some critical bells
next year, 2006 sees the rebirth of Daniel Johnston. Widely accepted
as the Œgodfather of lofi¹ Johnston¹s champions include
Sonic Youth, Kurt Cobain, Tom Waits and David Bowie among many others.
The songwriter and artist has been through a number of troubling moments
in his life, but has always somehow managed to get through it and bubble
in and out of popularity. These recordings were made with his producer
and tour manager Don Goede (Jack Medicine) as they toured for three
years in America. Over the course of more than 100 shows the two became
close friends and that friendship is reflected in this stunning collection
of classic rock music. Surprisingly Œhi fi¹ for Johnston,
his quirky vocals are still intact, but the production is up a few notches
and inject the songs with a vigour very rarely heard in his work. Anyone
curious about what the outer realms of American rock music should really
sound like owes it to themselves to check out The Electric Ghosts (so
titled after many late night conversations about whether ghosts were
spiritual or electrical anomalies)." -Boomkat
"di Stefano Solventi
Per quanto si tenti d¹incastonarlo in un "progetto",
Daniel rimane un diamante pazzariello. Anche perché in un modo
o nell'altro finisce sempre per lavorare assieme a personaggi non proprio
regolari (vai a capire il motivo). E' il caso stavolta del produttore
Don Goede, alias Jack Medicine, sicuramente in possesso di tecnica e
visione "professionali" però anche uno sciroccato mica
da poco, con tutte le sue ossessioni folk e psych da Hitchcock in sedicesimi
(vedi l'organo vetroso e la chitarra a galoppo di Goodbye To Thath Girl)
e quei rantoli blues-wave che mandano Bryan Ferry a sferragliare disincanto
tra brume Nick Cave (come in Blue Skies Will Haunt From Now On). Insomma,
la coppia è ben assortita e pare altrettanto ben rodata. L¹energia
scalpita e scorre, anche se lungo una specie di binario del quale restano
ben distinguibili le rotaie, i parti dell'uno da quelli dell'altro.
Per dire, pezzi come Sweetheart e Pain In My Heart sono senza alcun
dubbio johnstoniani quel tipico zuccherino malfermo, intossicto
e struggente - mentre in quella Summer Jazz che sembra trascinare gli
Eels sul sentiero spigoloso e arguto del lo-fi pavementiano, il buon
Daniel sembra entrarci poco o nulla. Poi però c'è una
clamorosa cover della bowiana Scary Monsters che rimette tutto a posto
ovvero manda tutto all'aria: un Johnston versione invasata alle prese
con devoluzioni horror-punk, mutazioni pop infantili, ipnotiche propaggini
esotic-psych ed electro-dark, insomma la caricatura di un delirio fumettistico
proprio come c'era da augurarsi. Se infine consideriamo la ghost track
- nove minuti e passa di melodioso russare, sorta di goliardico corrispettivo
sonoro dello Sleep di Warhol - ecco che anche gli spiriti elettrici
sono serviti. E noi con loro." (6.4/10)
"Daniel Johnston & Jack Medicine offrent leurs fantômes
électriques.
Après près de 26 ans passés dans l¹univers
de la musique, plus d¹une trentaine d¹albums à son
actif, des reconnaissances ouvertement affirmées par, entre autres,
Kurt Cobain, David Bowie, Sonic Youth et Tom Waits, l¹icône
Daniel Johnston, père de la lo-fi, est une figure incontournable
de l¹indie-rock. C¹est, cependant, dans la quasi indifférence
que vient de sortir, ces jours-ci, son nouvel album, The Electric Ghosts.
Fruit d¹une collaboration entre Johnston et son tour manager Don
Goede (fondateur du groupe Hyperjinx Tricycle) prenant pour l¹occasion
le nom de Jack Medicine, The Electric Ghosts tire son nom de plusieurs
nuits passées à parler de l¹esprit du monde. Cette
paire avait commencé l¹enregistrement dès 1999 à
l¹occasion de tournées incessantes, entre les concerts et
les chambres d¹hôtels. Son trackliting comprend 8 titres
dont une reprise du Scary Monsters de David Bowie. Tous les détails
en cliquant ici."
-http://www.indierockmag.com/article788.html
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