Daniel Johnston's Early Catalog Gets Digital Release

As of May 31, iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and Napster have each made different exclusive Johnston albums available to the public, and following suit on June 7, dozens of other digital stores will upload rare Johnston material to their services. But here's the sweet part: if your MIDI ringtone of "Hollaback Girl" just don't cut it anymore, a handful of Johnston tracks will soon be made available through several major cell-phone ringtone providers. And trust us when we say "Don't Play Cards With Satan" is a much better ringtone than "Drop It Like It's Hot".

Johnston's simple tunes were first widely popularized when he appeared on a 1986 episode of MTV's "Cutting Edge." Not too long thereafter, the kids in Nirvana started wearing his t-shirts to photo-shoots and Thurston Moore sang his praises better than he sang his own songs. Last year, Discovered, Covered: The Late Great Daniel Johnston, a hefty tribute album including covers by Beck, Tom Waits, Bright Eyes and Death Cab for Cutie, came out on Gammon Records. And now, thanks to The Orchard, the following records are only a click away:

Songs of Pain (1981)
More Songs of Pain (1982)
The What of Whom (1982)
Don't Be Scared (1982)
Yip/Jump Music (1983)
The Lost Recordings (1983)
The Lost Recordings II (1983)
Retired Boxer (1984)
Respect (1985)
Continued Story/Hi How Are You (1985)
Live at SXSW (1990)
Frankenstein Love (1992)

In other DJ news, coming on the heels of his back-catalog's digital release is both an album, Lost and Found, and a documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Lost and Found, slated for early 2006, is the follow-up to 2003's Fear Yourself, a cleanly produced and strangely optimistic collaboration with Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous. The Devil and Daniel Johnston, directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, has already won the "Documentary Best Director" award at Sundance 2005, and the "Audience Award, Best Documentary" at this year's San Francisco Independent Film Festival; it will be distributed theatrically in North America by Sony Pictures Classics in early 2006.

href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/j/johnston_daniel/fear-yourself.shtml">Daniel Johnston: Fear Yourself
href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/j/johnston_daniel/discovered-covered.shtml">Various Artists: Discovered, Covered: The Late Great Daniel Johnston
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