Jandek
Friday, December 14, 2007
Lo-fi is an aesthetic in music production which uses lo-fi recording practices. Its use is usually due to the artist's financial limitations. Many lo-fi artists use inexpensive cassette tape recorders for their music. The term was coined by WFMU DJ William Berger who dedicated a half hour segment of his program to home recorded music throughout the late 80's under the name Lo-fi.
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While on my way home the other day I caught a story on NPR regarding Jandek. I had never heard of the guy but found his history amazing and wanted to share it with you. Back in '78 the first Jandek record was released and to date there are 51. Jandek has his own record label Corwood Industries that is a PO Box in Houston, TX where fans can order music from. You send in your money and nowdays get his recordings on CD. Pricewise its very cheap $8 to $12 and you get discounts for ordering multiple copies. Jandek never did interviews or live shows until '99 when he performed at a Scottish music festival unannounced.
Musicwise he is the king of Lo-Fi, just a few instruments, simple recordings with no extra production. Its folk rock, noise, avant guard with a very mellow and somber tone. At times its just him mumbling lyrics over a few guitar pics. Othertimes he has guest musicians who join in to fill out his intimate soundscape.
I am blown away how a musician has bucked the system for so many years and built a cult following doing it. Never to give interviews, to only play a handful of live shows and constantly deny that you are actually Jandek is impressive. It wasn't until the live performance that people actually knew what he looked like. There was usually a fuzzy photo of a man on the records but no one knew if it was him or not. If there wasn't a photo of him, Jandek would use pictures of instruments, the outside of his house, random pieces of furniture etc. Check out the link below for more information on this amazing man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jandek
Posted by mardenhill 12/14/2007 06:50:00 PM
Labels: Music
