Joyful Noise Announces ‘Daniel Johnston In the 20th Century’ Cassette Box

Today, the Daniel Johnston estate and Joyful Noise Recordings unveil Daniel Johnston ‘In the 20th Century.’ This limited edition cassette box combines 16 of Johnston‘s early albums for the first time in one set. The tapes are housed in a hand-crafted, screen-printed wooden box featuring Daniel‘s artwork. Included is an exclusive “mystery toy” produced by New York‘s Clutter Gallery in conjunction with Lunch Lady Studios. Clutter has an established relationship with Johnston‘s estate, having produced limited edition collectible vinyl figures of Daniel‘s iconic character, Jeremiah The Innocent, in the past.

Never has a cassette box made more sense, as lo-fi tape culture is synonymous with the late outsider artist who made his name peddling homemade cassettes of his music around Austin in the early 80s. In 1986, Daniel‘s friend, Jeff Tartakov famously stepped in to begin managing him (1986-93), while manufacturing and distributing the tapes through his label, Stress Records. Through Stress, Tartakov was able to preserve the authenticity that made the hand-made cassettes so special, while expanding their reach, visibility, notoriety, and availability. The albums featured in this new set were all previously Stress releases, and all audio sourced for the project was provided by Tartakov.

As a label founded on cassette releases, it makes sense that Joyful Noise would present this new box set. More importantly is their association with acclaimed producer, friend, and frequent Johnston collaborator, Kramer, who restored these recordings and whose legendary indie label, Shimmy-Disc was revived in partnership with JNR back in 2020.

One thing I enjoy about seeing Daniel‘s work continue to live beyond the physical man who created it is that there’s always a team involved that is manifesting these projects into reality. There are often critiques from outsiders when it comes to this stuff and accusations of exploiting the dead, but Daniel‘s business affairs were consistently managed by people around him who had his best interests at heart. I’ve witnessed this firsthand with his brother Dick Johnston, who managed him. Whether it was his sister making sure that Daniel got paid adequately for his illustrations, rather than trading them for soda and comic book money, or another ex-manager and collaborator, Don Goede, bareley breaking even to release a book on his art, Johnston‘s family and friends worked to protect him and insure that he was able to maintain stable housing and have his bills paid. After devoting so much love and energy toward spreading his work, Jeff Tartakov was famously fired by Daniel, yet continues to promote his legacy over 30 years later. Daniel suffered from mental illness, but his talents were recognized as precious and worth fostering and preserving. Part of that involves the nonprofit organization, Hi, How Are You Project, dedicated to mental health awareness and education, inspired by Daniel’s life and art. 

The Daniel Johnston ‘In the 20th Century’ cassette box will be hand-numbered in a limited edition of 999 copies. It’s available to pre-order now with a release date of Halloween 2025. Through the end of July, the box set is on sale for a discounted $190. On August 1, it’ll go up 10 bucks to $200.