Week 4: Daniel Johnston - Rejected Unknown (1,766 views)

[IhateMana]

yeah we're doing the only one that got 2 votes.

I'm already familiar with this artist, but I'm sure most people won't be, so it should still be fun

[Baronessa]

I really enjoy the giddy, chaotic energy bits, but when nothing happens Jesus Christ nothing happens for a long time. Gives off the kind of energy that RYM types love to fetishise as UNCOMFORTABLE! PROFOUND! HARROWING! Not that that detracts from the music necessarily, but it's hard to not have that nagging in my skull the entire time as I'm listening to the album if you get me.

Favourites are "Davinare" and the second half of "Funeral Girl".

[Gilad]

This was kinda hard to listen to. I felt the more upbeat tracks complimented Johnston the best. Impossible Love, Funeral Girl and Davinare were my favorites. The ballads were tough. The novelty of Dan's charmingly shitty vocals really wears off after like 2 minutes. Big props to whoever produced the record for matching the arrangements to Johnston's vibe, but I can't say I'd wanna revisit this one again. Maybe he's got some better records/songs under his belt.

[Baronessa]

Well, I just listened to Hi, How Are You for some context and, while it still has a chronic case of nothing happening, I have to say the lo-fi cassette tape aesthetic is much more complementary to Daniel's style.

The fact that it's a half an hour shorter than Rejected Unknown also helps, I can't lie.

[IhateMana]

this is my first time hearing Daniel with a band (for those of you who are listening to this as your intro to him, he doesn't usually sound like this) and it's a bit of a weird experience. In some ways it's interesting hearing what he'd add to what is usually a tape recording of him and the instrument he wrote the song on, but on the other hand it's not like it improves his music at all. If anything, for the most part it makes him sound far more creatively empty, as he's clearly just trying to be his favourites. Following this train of thought, it becomes necessary to consider who this man was and how he engaged with the world. Daniel suffered from a myriad of mental health issues which greatly affected his interpersonal relationships, and the hokey-ness of these lyrics feel like the limited expressive ability of someone who's been effectively locked out of the world, both by society itself and to a further extent by his own brain. It can be kind of heartbreaking to try and come to terms with how painful it must've felt constantly being unable to engage with life in the way you're told to perceive as normal. It's worth noting how juvenile his outlook on love in particular is (iirc the woman he pines after on this was already married, not that she owed him anything even if she weren't), though we need to consider this through the lens of Johnston's mental state, and whether or not he'd have been better able to come to terms with these kind of inter-personal relationships with firmer emotional support, or indeed whether this kind of childish entitlement is actually a far larger issue with societal masculinity in general (hint: yeah, it is), the kind of music he's trying to imitate on this which clearly inspires him would seem to suggest as much

anyway, I really liked "Dream Scream"

[Baronessa]

I've been going through some select albums in Daniel's discography, namely 1990, Artistic Vice and Fun, and I have to say all of those albums are better than this one. Particularly Artistic Vice struck me as genuinely hecking good.

I think the fundamental hurdle you have to face when Daniel is performing with a band is Daniel losing all sorts of executive foresight. It sort of comes down to the band to cut their playing down lest the whole thing become very rambling. Furthermore, the fundamental hurdle for me when listening to Dan's music is trying to enjoy it for what it is, as opposed to feeling bad for the guy, and I think I'm getting there.

[BassSquared]

I didn't know the guy was dealing with all those mental health issues when I first listened to this, and knowing that there's a reason he sounds all shaky and lispy (and it's not just an act he puts on) certainly changes how I feel about his voice. Doesn't mean that I find it pleasant, however- I mean, it's fine if someone isn't the most technically adept singer so long as the songs and lyricism hold up, but he really is pretty weak in that arena as well. Really, all that's left for the album's ballads to bank on songwriting-wise is the pathos that comes from Johnston's circumstances and the simple, "raw" honesty of the lyrics and if anything that makes it worse. I go from being annoyed by a song to feeling bad for being annoyed because it's just a poor guy dealing with a bunch of inner demons and trying his best, and then back again- all told it's not a particularly pleasant experience.

Honestly I'm with Gilad in that I far prefer the more energetic, orchestrated stuff here, as I find some of the arrangements (especially the back half of "Funeral Girl" and the fun jazz chords on "Girl of My Dreams") to be genuinely enjoyable, plus the aforementioned weaknesses are a lot easier to ignore when I'm tapping my toe along to a beat. Sometimes an arrangement does a lot to elevate Johnston's vocals, such as "Billions I Rock" which might be my favorite song on here once it gets properly going. I like the way he just lets loose and howls like crazy, it really fits the track's energy and is a whole lot more interesting than the weak mewling he does on a lot of the rest of the album. Yeah, it might not be crazy original, but honestly the more "original" he tries to be, the more uncomfortable I get, so I'll take it. I can't imagine sitting through a full album of just subdued, minimalistic arrangements of just him and a single instrument, so I'll probably give the rest of his discography a miss.

[thegondolaman]

Is Hi, How Are You the best place to start with Daniel's music? His albums have been on my list for a while now, I just never got around to sitting down with one.

Also, I still confuse Johnston with David Berman sometimes, which is probably embarrassing on my part because I would guess their music sounds nothing alike. They did pass away in the same years though, so maybe it's that.

[IhateMana]

yeah I'd start with that or Yip / Jump Songs

[Brenda]

I feel like a lot of these songs could benefit from being shorter, I'd listen to something like Funeral Girl, Dream Scream or Party and I would like it, but then the song goes for 5 to 7 minutes and it's like... why it has to drag for so long? I'd love these songs if they were 2-3 minutes, I don't know.

Well, anyway, I did really like Girl of My Dreams.

[Baronessa]

My personal favourite DJ album at this point is Continued Story. I think it's the perfect golden mean between Daniel's tape recordings and full band efforts. The songs are much tighter, much more original on it, and the presence of other musicians allows Dan to have some fun.