AMG Review of I Killed the Monster: 21 Artists Performing the Songs of Daniel Johnston

James Christopher Monger
All Music Guide

I Killed the Monster: 21 Artists Performing the Songs of Daniel Johnston, Bongwater mastermind and producer extraordinaire Kramer's revamped Shimmy-Disc label's debut release, filters the Texas manchild's snow-globe pop confections through the mercurial sieve of indie rock. Pretentious and grandiose sentences aside, Johnston's simpleton lyrics and nursery rhyme melodies lend themselves to the interpretations of others, whether it's the Axl Rose-inspired whistling of Danielson Famile mastermind Daniel Smith and Sufjan Stevens ("Worried Shoes"), the monologue ramblings of Jad Fair ("True Love Will Find You in the End"), or the psychedelic pop of Kramer himself ("Bloody Rainbow").