Beach House, Daniel Johnston

1) Beach House – Devotion

I came across Beach House, a girl and guy duo from Baltimore, on Bmore Musically Informed‘s Top 10 List.  This type of music (dreamy pop) isn’t usually my thing but I decided to check out their latest album because they cover my favorite Daniel Johnston song Some Things Last a Long Time.  Beach House somehow managed to convey the depressed wallowing feeling of the original song perfectly.  Hands down the best cover I’ve ever heard of a Daniel Johnston song.  The rest of the album is good for a cold winter day when you’re stuck inside.

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Praise for Devotion:

Pitchfork (8.5)

DoucheBagFace (84/100)

ModernMusic (8/10)

Snatch Devotion HERE.

2) Daniel Johnston – Welcome to my World

Johnston’s life is as interesting as his music.  I don’t have the time to do an extensive write up so you’ll have to do some searching but I will leave you with this fun fact. 

“In 1991, Johnston was able to air his music on a radio show while being hospitalized at Weston State Hospital. While hospitalized, Johnston sent requests to his manager to have Yoko Ono produce his music and to contact PepsiCo about the possibility of becoming spokesman for the soft drinkMountain Dew. Johnston had written a song praising Mountain Dew during this hospitalization, in which he claimed to have been locked up because he “loved the Mountain Dew so much”.”  (via Wikipedia)

I recommend that you go rent The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a documentary that covers Daniel’s rise to fame, his mental illness issues, and has a ton of interviews with his parents and close friends.

Snatch Welcome to my World HERE.  (Sorry, it’s password protected.  The password is z415.blogspot.com)