Yip/Jump Music

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Yip/Jump Music album cover
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Total Tracks: 20   Total Length: 62:08

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Jeff Feuerzeig

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
Daniel Johnston, Yip/Jump Music
2000 | Label: Eternal Yip Eye Music

An organ masterpiece! Recorded in the hot Houston, Texas, summer of 1983 under the dark cloud of his brother Dick's disapproving gaze, Yip! Jump Music is a musical and personal triumph of will. By night, Daniel was working at the River of No Return ride at Six Flags 'Astroworld, flaunting his truly hilarious/manic boat-guide "spiel"; by day he was surreptitiously laying down these heavy tracks in the garage on a Rube Goldberg-esque recording studio fashioned out of a rusty weight bench, two Radio Shack cassette recorders, wire hangers, and a Magnus Chord Organ from Newark, New Jersey. The results are Daniel's only "hit" songs to date: "Speeding Motorcycle," "Casper the Friendly Ghost," "The Beatles," "Museum of Love," and my personal fave, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances" which conjures up the swirling carousels and vintage Tilt-a-Whirls that Daniel would surround himself with as a carnie.

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The Genuine Article

zatopova

This is some of American history's best songwriting. Daniel Johnston at his creative peak is a flash of the sublime in the dingy basement of humanity. Hear, o fans of Animal Collective et al, and be embarrassed.

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Pain, Joy , and Hope

nakedmonkeyonebrokenson

This is Daniel Johnston before MTV, before the cassettes in the Mc Donalds bags. Daniel's plaintive sometimes pleading voice hints at the pain and joy of being human.

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They Say All Music Guide

As for his early music, Yip/Jump Music may be the best place to begin immersing yourself in the world of Daniel Johnston. Extremely primitively recorded with little instrumentation other than keyboards, Johnston’s upbeat mood makes this a funny, sometimes moving exercise in obsessive behavior. Two things he thinks about a lot, the Beatles and Casper the Friendly Ghost, are the subject of songs, along with his usual examinations of unattainable love. Not the easiest record in the Johnston canon, but a rewarding one nonetheless. – John Dougan