unlistenable and pretentious (part 1): Jandek

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I've listened to heaps of the records, read the articles, scratched my head, had a lie down, and I'm still confused.

Somebody please explain to me why people listen to (and apparently enjoy) Jandek?

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Because Palace is way too easy? ;-) I don't know - I just like his mu-sick.

― helen fordsdale, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ooh Jandek! The one true thread! Not that I like the music but because it seemed like ... the kind of thing you ought to talk about. I mean, what does this - phenomenon - say about record collectors? And who's saying it? And are they really saying it?

― maryann, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think his lyrics are fantastic and scary. I've grown accustomed to his voice. I've gotten interested in the _arc_ of what he does--how it's changed over the last 23 years and 30 or so albums.

Note that his stuff took many years to grow on me, maybe partly because it's so unlike anybody else's.

― Douglas, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wihout Jandek, no Belle and Sebastian.

― Corwood Industries, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The aesthetic is the appeal, along with the lyrics. The guy records albums into his jukebox and releases them, how great is that?

― Jeff, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Jandek is something else. If you love the sound of the train's brakes screeching, you'll love him.

I dig the heck out of him. Completely his own person. Charles Ives would have hired him to run his insurance business.

― Gage-o, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i think it's mostly the mystery aspect. is he demented or is he a genius artist pulling a fast one on us all? Or revulsion, kind of like looking at a car wreck.

― g, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Totally.

A friend of mine made a film about Jandek called "You Never Walk Alone" where he speculated about Jandek's (imagined) mother, fey uncle, childhood, and a totally Kafkaesque corporation called "Corwood Industries" that menaced him into making records.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

In New Zealand, his stuff is like most other people's. Jandek is probably more popular here than anywhere else in the world (ie sells 10 records per year.) It's a shame he doesn't do personal appearances, because otherwise I'm sure he would come here. For example, Anastasia (you may not have heard of her - a sort of less popular Christina Aguilera) had a number one hit and immediately rushed here, twice, and played shopping malls and primary schools. Jandek, if you read this, where are you most popular, by location?

― maryann, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What is funny is that Jandek could conceptually be the greatest avant-garde musical anamoly on the planet. No tour no nothing, just some random pics from 20 years ago, mail order music, and some people whose interaction with him (via personal correspondence) gives me the distinct feeling the ole Jandek is more than a little kooky. Plus, if you ever listen to the song "Naked in the Afternoon" WHILE you are sitting around naked in the afternoon, it's quite an experience.

― Gage-o, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

god forbid i should sound like a puffed-up, self-righteous slipknot fan, but it just ain't for you, i guess.

why do i listen to jandek and enjoy him? i just do. why do people listen to and enjoy sappy, contrived crap like belle and sebastian?

― your null fame, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Admittedly I think Blue Corpse has some lovely moments.. and I'd rather listen to that than Belle & Sebastian, too.

― electric sound of jim, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm with the Jandek rules bunch (click here for proof). He's got a very easy image to appreciate, but the music really is something weird and wonderful too. A classic KLA undergrad college radio discover of mine (and I do like the crack about Palace, because the more time goes on the more I realize it's true...).

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Also, without Jandek --> no techno.

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

I've only recently heard some Jandek stuff and am currently feverishly attempting to get my hands on all I can. I think it's the kind of stuff you either love or hate immediately, not something that you have to "get" - it's primal and emotional/atmospheric rather than intellectual. I see it as a kind of "personal blues" type thing like Keiji Haino for example. I find it totally gripping & exciting, I think the lyrics and the odd tunings are great, and basically - don't get scared or anything - but I actually kind of relate to it.

― Paul, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Somebody please explain to me why people listen to (and apparently enjoy) Jandek?

Because he has great songs. No really he does.
i'm on the Jandek mailing list and peple on it mainly talk about trying to stalk him and tryingf to figure him out like hes some mysterious puzzle. i dont understand why people have such trouble making understanding him; it makes perfect sense to make music without letting anyone know who it is because then people won't judge you by your music so you can be truer to yourself (unless you think making music is a form of social climbing). The fact that Jandek doesn't feel the need to explain himself to zine interviewers or parade himself on stage would make him the an incredibly unpretentious artist, which makes me wonder what the title of this thread means.

i'm not sure what Maryann is talking wrt his popularity in NZ. i've never seen any of his music in a shop here and all the ones i've got i've had to order from America. In America he gets written about in mainstream magazines and all the radio stations have his complete works. i guess all of Maryann's friends must be record collector nerds.

― hamish, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

of course NZ has the dubious honour of being the only country to have produced a full length feature film with soundtrack music provided by Jandek (with permission). Has anyone here seen Shifter?

― hamish, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

How strange that people would obsess over the mystery so much. I mean, sure I'd be interested to find out more and all, but I like the fact that he's there just doing what he does. Reminds me that I need to place another Corwood order...

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

eleven months pass...

I like Jandek to be cool.

"Jandek isn't pretentious, but anyone who listens to him is." - Kurt CoBANG.

― Callum (Callum), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yes I am.

― Jandek, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

No you're not. Like all the best people who're accused of being 'pretentious', you're just the opposite. Sigur Ros are the same.

― Callum (Callum), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:24 (twenty-two years ago)

"Oh, I'm all smart, I can tell Jandek what he is and isn't." Well Jandek ain't havin' none of that! Jandek is going to pick up mail from his P.O. Box and then come up to wherever you are and smack you around some and take pictures.

― Jandek (amateurist), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

David R. likes the notion of Jandek talking like Rickey Henderson. That makes David R. smile.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:38 (twenty-two years ago)

What is this, Seinfeld?

― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

The picture of me poking thumbtacks into your knees will go on my next album cover. Remind me to set the light meter so it'll be really underexposed.

― Jandek (amateurist), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Jandek has a light meter? Next thing you know, he'll be claiming to have a tuner!

― hstencil, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Did I say light meter? Er, I meant a rusty flashlight.

― Jandek (amateurist), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Jandek was great...before he SOLD OUT

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I know, I know, I moved to a larger P.O. Box. I did those a capella records as penance.

― Jandek (amateurist), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 20:02 (twenty-two years ago)

YO BITCHES ALL YALL FAGGOT ASS BITCH ASS MOTHERFUCKING FAGGOTS WHO BE SAYING JANDEK AINT PRETENDUS HE BE THE MOST MOTHERFUCKING PRETENDUS ASS MOFO IN THE WHOLE FUCKING MOTHERFUCKING WORLD OF YALL FUCKNG BITCH ASS FUCKING FAGOT ASS HATAS YALL BE HATIN ONM THIS MUFFAFUCKA YO HE BE LIKE WORD IS BOND FAGGOT ASS HATAS

PEACE
ONE LOVE

― JANDEK LOVAH, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I like "Only Lover" but I haven't heard much else.

― Curtis Stephens, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 20:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Jandek because of, as most other people have said, the lyrics and the mystique. Some of his really noisy/silly stuff is fucking hilarious. I mean... songs about painting teeth? guitar noise? totally arhythmic drumming?

Blue Corpse is perhaps the most sorrowful album ever recorded. The fact that he (or another guitarist) actually bothered to play standard, hummable melodies really helped it out. Though I think if all of Jandek's albums were that straightforward he would have no fans; he'd lose the hook. Sure, his lyrics would be great and his songs may be above-average, but without the anonymity there's nothing to lure people into his web of deception.

I wrote him a letter once, but I got no reply. That, I gather, is fairly typical.

Really like his voice, too. (but not enough to listen to three a capella albums.)

― Ian Johnson, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 23:45 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

I love Jandek.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 5 August 2005 23:50 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

http://www.dickdestiny.com/nomorepeassmall.JPG

Daddy, please don't take away my Jandek!

― Gorge, Saturday, 9 February 2008 00:38 (seventeen years ago)

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