The Electric Ghosts - Daniel Johnston & Jack Medicine - CD

2006 is sure to be a big year for Daniel Johnston. A Sony Pictures documentary of his life is being released internationally on March 31st and it is currently in the final stages of being chosen for an Academy Award nomination. His fanbase has, once again, swollen substantially and gallery showings of his artwork in the US and in Europe are establishing him as a highly collectible physical artist. The Electric Ghosts is a side project that Daniel and his tour manager/Hyperjinx Tricycle bandmate created while on the road touring America, playing shows and searching for salvation.

Daniel Johnston is widely recognized as the father of lo-fi, and over the years he has been championed by celebrity musicians like Tom Waits, Kurt Cobain, David Bowie and Sonic Youth. A tribute to Daniel was recently released including tracks from Deathcab For Cutie, Mercury Rev, Tom Waits, Beck and Jad Fair. The record features cover art by famed billboard subverter and Hyperjinx Tricycle band member Ron English.

The Electric Ghosts was mastered by Shimmy Disc guru and Johnston producer Kramer.

From Producer Don Goede (Jack Medicine):

This album is basically the result of three years of Daniel and I living on the road together. I became his tour manager/caretaker in 1999 and spent many long hours with him traveling from city to city. I'm not sure of the exact number of performances Dan did but I think we did at least 100 shows all over the U.S. and Europe. We often found ourselves hanging out before and after concerts in hotel rooms, so we decided to bring some recording equipment with us and start a recording band. A few times we played together on stage and he sometimes would ask me to warm up for him. We decided to call ourselves The Electric Ghosts. The name came from the many nights we stayed up talking about the spirit world. I would often tell Dan that I thought ghosts were electrical. He would say they were spiritual. Either way we felt like we were ghosts haunting a different city every night. Floating through, trying our best to get the gist of each town (or at the very least visit its best record or comic book store) but in order to stay on schedule we always had to push on. I hope you enjoy these recordings we have put together for you. Daniel likes them very much and I do too, as they were a fun way for us to kill time on the road, not only playing them for each other but getting them onto tape together. Daniel also oversaw most of the post production by me playing him tracks over the phone. He always had helpful suggestions on where to put things like leads and such. He heard the final recordings when I saw him last at Sundance for the premiere of the documentary about his life called The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Those years with Dan on the road were some of the best times I have ever had. Not only is he one of my favorite songwriters of all time but also now a very good friend. Before I forget I want to thank Bill & Mabel Johnston, Ron English for painting the cover, John at Important Records, Mad Francis for helping me bring everything together and Danny, most of all, for being my biggest fan and letting me ride his coat tails.