'Ready for the House' and 'Intersteller Discussion' by Jandek.
Is Jandek any good? Frankly, no, he's not. Does Jandek have any meaning? Nope, possibly none of that either. And should you spend money on him? I couldn't honestly recommend it.
And yet....I was so intrigued by what I'd read and heard of him, I went and bought the above two albums. For those of you that don't know, 'Jandek' (presumably not his real name) is a recluse from Houston, Texas who has steadily accumulated one of the largest bodies of work this side of James Last. Since 1978, there have been some thirty-two albums dripping out under the aegis of Corwood Industries, a record label who - hardly a surprise- only release Jandek albums. Almost one a year for that period. There have been no tours, virtually no promotion, no interviews beyond a few rather spooked encounters.
How to describe the Jandek experience? Well, first of all, it doesn't exactly fill you with 'joi de vivre'. In fact, Kurt Cobain was a fan, and I would not be surprised if Jandek was the thing that pushed him over the edge. But that's fine, really, sometimes you really do need to hear something depressing. And I like to play 'Ready for the house' just as the light is fading on the day: as it creepily gets darker, Jandek is the perfect accompaniment for making you feel that, yep, life really isn't worth living. It's not necessarily what he says, it's the way he says it.
When I was a kid, I had a Beatles guitar. Four nylon coloured strings over a plastic case with the pictures of the boys on it. The sound that made is exactly the sound of the opening chord of Jandek's recording career. Approximately 'BUUULLLAAAAAAAANNG'. Near as maybe. With a huge amount of tape hiss behind it - recorded on a cassette player, maybe? Followed by another as the completely out of tune strings are plucked, rolled and whacked. And then: he starts softly saying things (you hesitate to call it singing). Strange, bizarre things.
'Ah got a vision / Uh teeeenage dawter / Who's growin' up naked in the af-ter-noon'
In the current climate, you can only conclude at this point - deranged loner, possibly with somebody's head in his fridge freezer. He can't quite say his 'r's, and the 's's are lisped, adding to the genuinely frightening ambience. After about four minutes of this, you realise that you haven't breathed out yet. The tension is palpable, like there's a vampire in the room and you just know that you're on the menu. The next 'song' starts up with the same chord, the same semi-whispered vocals, the same lack of timing, melody or anything recognisable as popular music. And the next. Occasionally there's a bit of two note, two string interplay. There's also a vaguely religious theme to some of the lyrics, perhaps Jandek is a lost and tortured soul. And now it's the listener's turn to be tortured. Finally: 'European Jewel', a song that he's obviously fond of, because he's recorded it several times. For once, it does have a recognisable guitar 'riff', this time played on an electric. It sounds vaguely like Pink Floyd's 'Interstellar Overdrive' had Syd attempted to play it left-handed. The trouble is, Jandek attempts this riff several times during the song, and he never plays it the same way twice. There's also a guitar 'solo', which is a bit difficult considering there's only one guitar. But it's gripping; his voice slides up and down the octaves, as he can't reach notes, so drops to a range lower, and then particularly gruesome when it ends with an echo-laden scream....
'There's bugs in mah brayan / Ah cayn't feel annnny pain / Just uh shakin' SHAKIN'...'
At which point the tape cuts off. Genuinely. Again, you just have to exhale. And try and relax, the ordeal is over. But, there's something strangely life affirming about the whole thing. That someone like this, with the ability to track down those dark corners of the brain can somehow get his art (or artifice) out there. Pretentious, moi? Probably, maybe, definitely.
I also bought 'Interstellar Discussion' (although he's clearly not influenced overtly by anyone, here's a bit more evidence of a Pink Floyd fixation?). Billed as 'Jandek's best electric album', it could also be billed as 'Jandek sounds like he's locked in a cellar with some musical instruments and he's pissed off about it'. It's a racket. There's 'drums' of a sort, though a bit like Mo Tucker, they don't so much keep the beat as corral it into a corner and whack it over the head with a lead pipe; it's a bored three year old with a wooden spoon and a tumble dryer. There's very noisy electric guitar, and his playing - even over all these years - stubbornly refuses to improve. Does that indicate that all his body of work was made during one mad creative dash? - after all, the eleven Atomic Loonybin albums - who I now realise, closely resemble Jandek - were made in a six month period. And there's Jandek screaming and wailing over the top. One of the earlier albums contained the track 'John Plays Drums', but is there really any evidence that it's not Jandek (Jan = John?; that would make something spooky out of the line 'I hate John' that he uses elsewhere) double tracking himself? Let's take the track 'Hey' as an example. Starts off with the tom-toms being idly thumped; then Jandek groaning and moaning (there really isn't a better description) 'hhheeeEeeeeEEEEEeeeEEey' every so often. That's it. It is of course, brilliant.
OK, let's face it; I'm pretty much in a very small minority on this one. People who I've pressed the albums on have reacted either with silence, or something akin to laughter, or worse, pity. But there's something strangely life affirming about the whole deal. Probably something like 32 x 45 minute chunks is a tad too much to swallow. Particularly in one sitting, I certainly do not recommend that. But every so often, you need to be reminded of the depths of the human psyche, and listening to this racket affirms that. OK, I imagine you're (and possibly Jandek himself, if he's discovered the internet) probably sat there laughing your heads off at me being taken in by this no talent, no brain charlatan.
But I don't think so. My cheap cod-psychology aside, everyone should listen to Jandek at least once, and preferably more. He's suffered for his art, and now it's your turn....
For more on Jandek, please have a look at the excellent Seth Tisue's site.
October 11, 2004 18:26:41