Jandek On Corwood

The story of Jandek is too long, too complicated and too strange to be told here.

Let's just say that he (whose real name is most likely Sterling Smith) has released close to 60 albums (all extremely lo-fi and rudimentary) since 1978 on his own label, Corwood Industries. Until a few years ago he had never performed on stage. No one even knew what he looked like. His album covers often portraid a redheaded man, but no one knew for sure if this was the person performing the music.

He was a total mystery to everyone, a peculiar feller with a strangely tuned guitar who had only given two interviews and who you could only contact through a P.O. box in Houston, Texas.

Genius or village idiot? Brilliant or completely talentless? An anti-social borderline mental case pouring his soul out in songs or a clever strategist who knows how to create mystery around himself in order to sell records and enjoying every moment of it? You be the judge.

Personally, I adore most of Jandek's music (I could do without the a capella albums though), but I sometimes get the feeling he's taking the piss. Putting us on, seeing how far he can push things. Sneering at us for taking his crap seriously. But there's just something about the dark, haunted, claustrophobic quality of his "music" that appeals to me.

Whether it's for real or not doesn't matter. It's of no significance what intentions Jandek/Smith has with his music, it's how we interpret it, what we're reading into it. And because he offers no insight whatsoever into his life, his person or his work it provokes our imagination to go wild.

As I've said many times on various message boards whenever Jandek came up for discussion, it's so incredibly refreshing to have someone like this in the today's music business where mystery no longer exists. These days bands put their whole bio together before they even have a record out. They put up videos of themselves on YouTube, they do their best to get their music pimped on music sites and blogs, they get a MySpace page and so on.

Sometimes it's better not to know so much. I have many favorite bands and artists that I purposely know very little or nothing about. I suppose the information is out there, since these days all you have to do is a Google search and you'll find any info on anyone and anything. But I don't always want to know everything. I like taking in a person's artistic output and interpreting it in my own way, without that person's own agenda getting in the way.

The first example that comes to mind is film director David Lynch. I've been a fan of his work since 1993 or so when reruns on Twin Peaks aired on Swedish television. I quickly tracked down all of his work, and followed his output steadily but it was only two or three years ago I even found out what he looked like. I avoided interview and such the best could. Because I didn't want to know anything about him. I had a feeling it would ruin the illusion. And sure enough:

Someone told me Lynch was the half-deaf, shouting FBI agent Gordon on Twin Peaks. And just like that, everything was ruined. Because now I had a face to put on the strange films and stories and characters, and while I still enjoy his work, most of the charm has gone away.

But I digress. Or do I?

My imagination, as well as my intuition, tells me that Jandek's music is for real. He may not be a total recluse after all, but I do believe what we hear in his songs is his innermost being - he really is pouring out his most raw and naked feelings. But I also get the feeling that there's more to Jandek that he lets on.

His music gives you the impression he's the loneliest person in the world, living by himself in a house (probably the house seen on several album covers) far away from anyone. He has no friends, no family, nothing. He has no social skills, doesn't know how to reach out to other people, and his music is his way of communicating with the world.

But we have no idea. Who's to say he's not happily married? Maybe he has a dozen brothers and sisters who love him, perhaps he has a bunch of kids on his own. Living a happy, quiet live in Texas, working a steady job he's comfortable with, making records every now and then. Perhaps he casually writes a song or two if he has a few hours to kill - maybe he just improvises something into a tape recorder. And when he has enough material to fill a whole album, he puts out a new record and starts all over.

I believe what we hear on the records is Jandek, that's who he is. But only one side of him. There has to many other dimensions to him, but we only get to see one. And that one dimension has been so consistent over the last 30 years that it's virtually impossible to see past it.

His music is who he is. He is Jandek 100%. But Jandek isn't 100% of him, and that's an important distinction.

For further investigation, go here and here.

(mp3) Jandek - I knew you would leave
Available on Six And Six (1981)

(mp3) Jandek - Time and space
Available on You Walk Alone (1988)

Buy all things Jandek @ Amazon.com.

Before Jandek made his stage debut in 2004, while he was still a complete enigma (in my opinion, some of his mojo has gone now that he's revealed himself to the world, but I'm still a fan), Chad Freidrichs made the documentary Jandek On Corwood, named after the ads Jandek would put in various publications (as seen at the top of this post).

It's an excellent, excellent documentary both for the initiated and the newcomers. It explains most Jandek's career, the ebbs and flows of his music over the years, the different eras etc. It features audio excerpts from the only known recorded interview with Jandek, insightful comments by his long time fans and the few who have met the man in person.

Someone was kind enough to YouTube it.

So go get a snack and something to drink, sit back and enter the worrying world of Jandek.

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