Jandek is the musical project of Sterling Smith , a Houston, Texas -based American lo-fi folk singer. Since 1978, Jandek has independently released over 120 albums while granting an interview extremely rarely and providing no biographical information, releasing on a self-made label, "Corwood Industries". Jandek often plays an idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, frequently using an open and unconventional chord structure. AllMusic has described Jandek as "the most enigmatic figure in American music."
15-529: A review of the debut album Ready for the House (1978) in OP magazine, the first ever national press given to Jandek, referred to the artist as Sterling Smith. Smith has kept his personal history secret, revealing only one story about his pre-Corwood years: he wrote seven novels but burned them upon rejection from New York publishers. In a 1985 private phone conversation with John Trubee for Spin , Smith mentioned that he
30-559: A conversation Smith had with a man named Decker in the month of January. The combination of January and Decker forms Jan-deck. Smith said the reasoning behind this was to come up with a name that nobody would pick, to avoid future legal problems. It is not publicly known if Corwood is also a combination of names. In early letters, Smith refers to the Jandek records as 'units', so one could take the band name 'The Units' to basically mean 'The Albums', this would even fit in with Jandek's aesthetic, which
45-616: A documentary, Jandek on Corwood , which contained no interviews with Jandek but was put together with "a representative of Corwood Industries". On October 17, 2004, at the Instal Festival in Glasgow, Scotland, an unannounced and unidentified act (playing alongside bassist Richard Youngs and drummer Alex Neilson ) performed at the festival. This was later confirmed to be Jandek in his first live performance. Jandek has since made numerous live performances, usually unannounced in advance. This
60-532: A label that has held the same PO box since this release, and which releases nothing but Jandek records. Through this attention, the artist was encouraged to return to music, releasing Six and Six three years later, which has been the longest period without a studio Jandek release until the period after Ghost Passing. Chair Beside a Window Chair Beside a Window is the fourth album by avant- folk/ blues singer-songwriter Jandek , and Corwood Industries' first release of 1982 ( No. 742). It
75-435: A live band version with electric guitar, bass, and drums. It revisited three more times on the album The Rocks Crumble , and it is assumed that Smith is overdubbing himself that time around, having told Chusid that there were instances of this in his letter. There are many notable instances where Jandek albums abruptly end so one could assume this is a motif. It is unknown when this album was originally recorded. According to
90-493: Is the discography of Corwood Industries; the record company releases only albums by Jandek. Ready for the House Ready for the House is the debut studio album by Jandek , and was released in 1978 by his own Corwood Industries label , with the catalog number #0739. The artist has said in letters that the number was meaningless. Corwood Industries reissued the album three times on CD, first in 1999, then sometime in
105-408: Is very bare bones and stripped down to nothing. Ready for the House was released with the catalog number #0739. There is no meaning behind the number, and all subsequent releases continue in order. The music on the album consists of Jandek's wavering voice and a guitar pick gently plucking very oddly tuned guitar strings. The guitar playing, which many refer to as "untuned" is in fact tuned to what
120-676: The House . The only information that he was able to provide was that he pressed 1,000 copies of Ready for the House , where as all subsequent recordings were pressed in quantities of 300 (although it is not known if any were repressed). This is probably due to the fact that by 1980 when Smith spoke to Chusid, he had only sold 2 copies of the album despite it being released 2 years previous. It received its first review, when Phil X. Milstein wrote about it in Op magazine issue L. Shortly after, outsider DJ Irwin Chusid of WFMU began corresponding with Corwood Industries,
135-529: The Irwin Chusid article 'The Great Disconnect', around November 1980, Smith told Chusid that he had recorded enough material for 10 albums and hoped to release them all. This would back up the theory that the albums were recorded before 1978. On Ready for the House and its follow up Six and Six , Smith's voice sounds the youngest out of all of his output. Smith has provided very little in the way of background information on any of his albums, let alone Ready for
150-462: The Units on all future releases after a San Francisco new wave group of the same name gave Corwood Industries a cease and desist order; all subsequent reissues of Ready for the House now bear the Jandek name. Both "The Units" and "Jandek" are widely assumed to be the work of a Houston resident named Sterling Richard Smith. The name Jandek, according to Smith in a 1985 interview with John Trubee, comes from
165-414: The artist has referred to as a "black key sound." Eight of the nine tracks largely repeat the same slow, slightly bluesy tempo with similar vocal delivery. On the ending track, "European Jewel (Incomplete)," Jandek switches from the acoustic to a strummed electric guitar that approaches standard tuning and instead of picking the strings, Jandek barres the frets. In the middle of the line "just a shaking sha-"
SECTION 10
#1732854952019180-453: The early 2000s, and again in 2005. Jackpot Records , with exclusive permission from Corwood, reissued the album on LP in 2008. The album cover features a photograph of a garishly colored room with a chair beside a window. The artwork of the original 1978 issue lacks text, while the back cover credits the album to "The Units". The album was not originally attributed to Jandek at all, but rather to "the Units." The name Jandek replaced that of
195-483: The name Jandek while on the telephone with a person named Decker during the month of January. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain discussed Jandek in a 1993 interview, stating "He's not pretentious, but only pretentious people like his music." In 1999, Texas Monthly reporter Katy Vine interviewed a man she believed to be Jandek, though he refused to identify himself, and although familiar with Jandek's music, refused to discuss it. In 2003, filmmaker Chad Freidrichs released
210-406: The song abruptly cuts off, leading one to think that the tape has run out or that an error has occurred with the reel to reel tape recorder, and the album unexpectedly ends. The song would be resumed on Chair Beside a Window , beginning with the last three lines of the "incomplete" version and then continuing with the missing lyrics. The Chair Beside a Window version features what appears to be
225-469: Was working at that time as a machinist. Jandek's first album, Ready for the House , though a solo work, was originally credited to a band called The Units. Corwood was forced to change the name The Units by an identically named Californian group already in possession of a trademark on the name. All reissues of this first album and all subsequent Corwood releases have been credited to "Jandek". In Trubee's unauthorized interview, Smith claims he came up with
#18981