Archie Patenaude Photo

It's very hard to determine whether Fall River's Daniel Ouellette (formerly a Florence resident) is the Orson Welles or the Ed Wood of electronic music. In one Youtube video, a dancing, eyelinered Ouellette croons (and he really does croon, with a swampy voice down near that of Paul Robeson), "Yes, I love your car and all your fancy features" in front of an off-white sheet while a tiny mirror ball sways in the foreground.

This is instantly amusing, and the shabby set lends an air of the amateur. Yet there's something really compelling about Ouellette's music. It squirks and skronks along with staticky hits and chirped-out rhythms piling on to craft a glorious electronica concoction.

Ouellette seems to pay a lot of attention to the visual in his performances, and claims influences like multimedia artist Laurie Anderson (along with Mothra, the Dalai Lama, Siouxsie Sioux and Elvira). To witness his campy, playful style while his music derails expectations is to arrive at an interesting conclusion: he may be the Orson Welles and the Ed Wood of electronic music. Should you laugh? Cry? Worry? Who knows? It's a remarkable accomplishment.

As Northeast Performer said, "It would be easy to dismiss this record as simply a heathen with a drum machine and free recording software, but Daniel Ouellette is an especially bizarre case of one man's vision turning into sound with almost no filter in between."

Ouellette rides a wave of uncomfortable suspense, and his lyrics heighten that sense. On his album The Revenge of Daniel, he offers the cryptic "Helicopter you're ruining my life." On his recent release, an EP called Kaiju Carnival, you'll find titles like "She Went to a Moustache Party" and "Stigmata and Cookies."

Ouellette seems quite clear about his music. He told Boston Music Spotlight.com, "You can sing along to songs about ghosts, disappointment and superheroes... all the things you will need to make you happy."

He's definitely onto something. If aliens walk among us, I'm betting they're named Ouellette. And I, for one, intend to buy all their albums.

To check out Ouellette's oeuvre, visit danielouellette.net.