Jandek – "Manhattan Thursday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0855) 2022

Another recording from 2009? Sterling and downtown scratch band sound like no-one knows how to play any instrument, and they're playing four different tunes at the same time but in different time signatures......That's Jandek in Manhattan,a place where nobody is allowed to say that Jandek is Shit. It's a challenge for the Downtown NYC muso's to improvise with someone who has not the slightest clue or interest in conventional tunings,musical notes, or technique.The downtown elite would give their eye-teeth to be this close to the year zero of music without their muse,the Corwood representative.

There are some awful moments when the Saxophonist begins to sound like a Blue Note session player from 1959,but thankfully this is brief. If you wanna listen to some self-identifying sophisticate's standard Jazz boredom, then go and worship the Bird in your own privacy.

We do get treated to more of Jandek's improv sixth form poetry,which makes up for the crowd pleasing moody be-bop somewhat.....I can almost see audience members nodding their heads,eyes closed digging the poetry like a beatnik coming out of a vegetative state. Coooool.

It also appears that Jandek don't do encores, even to persistent trendies applauding post-ironically to tempt the ghostly face of the representative back into the limelight.Even the sarcastic screams of a very misguided lower Manhattan hipsterette could not,and correctly Not, move the Rep to cede to the audience's fake demands.....coooooler.

 

Tracklist:

1-1 Taken Out The Numbers 11:01

1-2 Where I Find You 14:47

1-3 Crossroads Of Life 15:11

1-4 Your Little Sister 12:11

2-1 What Really Matters 9:36

2-2 Outside The Way 12:08

2-3 Mystic In The Nothingness 24:10

DOWNLOAD downtown patronising sophisticates and Texan chum HERE!

Jandek – "Tilburg Saturday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0860) 2022

Oh Shit! Jandek on piano warning!!!!!

As recorded in a Dutch recording Studio,with audience of eager applaudees, in Holland, the Netherlands,in somewhere called Tilburg,which, obviously ,is in the Netherlands.

He may not pass for an Irishman(he does),but if someone told me he was Dutch I'd say absolutely Dutch,... deeply Dutch.

Thankfully, its not just solo Piano tinkling, the man does his lo-fi improv poetry atop the bloody awful piano shit. Not kidding, but i reckon he should stick to the poetry a lot more.That stuff can empty any room of any normals, and leave only the kind of people we can get along with, pretentious art posers excepted....bastards!

This is also recorded in 2009,the most prolific year in Jandeks entire recorded life. So,did he die in 2009? It looks like it!?....are there any pictures of The Representative walking barefoot anywhere? Is he actually Paul McCartney? Probably not...its the voice, and probably the total lack of melody in his entire canon.

Yeah, he's dead alright, but don't think that's the end of jandek. There's a massive vault of jandek improv's that will take us clear into the next century. This guy is immortal.

Tracklist:

1 The Evening Starts 10:32
2 Like A Dot 6:05
3 Altar Of Chance 7:12
4 Flying Past Mountains 6:43
5 Outside Of Me 6:10
6 Dance The Trance 7:07
7 Reluctant Aversion 7:03
8 Shadows Of The Stars 11:29

DOWNLOAD the ghost of jandek HERE!

Jandek – "Diverseworks" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0856) 2022

After a lengthy series of stuff about recently deceased musicians,I will risk my life by returning,briefly, to the possibly Dead Jandek,with another pseudo-classical improvisation from the seemingly infinite vaults of old recordings.Rarely do we hear anything from contemporary Jandek. I suspect there's enough in storage for Richard Representative to achieve musical imortality.We will all be long dead by the time the Rep and his helpers exhaust the well.....that is, unless he has expired and they are doing this already.

Here we have Outsider music turned inside out.This is as far as one can get from that creepy guy in his mum's cellar banging out deranged versions of the human condition on an old piano.

Jandek,once a ginger mist with an out of tune guitar that drifted around various suburban parts of Houston,howling like a slow wind across freshly laid barbed wire;alas he is now a trilby wearing version of Nosferatu,hanging around the toilets in the music department en campus somewhere in the Texas system for further education.

His purpose?...Recruiting insider studentia to help him make this very seriously experimental music.Rather like how Madonna and Bowie used to 'look for ideas'by stealing them off starstruck upwardly mobile producers and musicians.

I doubt any student of modern composition would be Starstruck by the appearance of Jandek in their campus toilets,more likely they would run away,unless they knew better.

The ones who did know better,saw this as an opportunity to get on an avant garde record with a guy would would pay for everything.

Jandek does virtually nothing on this record,except for twanging his detuned bass somewhat furtively .Leaving the recruits to make it sound like one of those spontaneous improvisation records he spotted in the 'Other' section of his local record store,thinking, 'Hey, I can do that'!...or rather, 'i can get someone else to do that and i'll credit myself' on the traditionally credit-less Corwood jewel case artwork.

It has now got to the point where Sterling the Corwood representative is no-longer listed as an Outsider Musician on Discogs, but has joined the much despised ranks of the "Free Improvisers".

So now any collective gathering of Avant Garde improvisers can be heard to scream:

"Lookout! It's Jandek...and he's looking for musicians!"

Whatever the collective noun for a gathering of Free Improvisers is....maybe a 'Scrape' of Improvisers perhaps?

Tracklist:

 Rehearsal:

1-1 Part One 16:01

1-2 Part Two 28:28 

Concert:

2-1 Part One1 9:05

2-2 Part Two2 6:22

2-3 Part Three 16:03

DOWNLOAD this diverse insider crossover moment HERE!

Home Secretary - "That Wolf" (Bandcamp/Self-Released) 2022

Yet more Nu-DIY with collage artwork,by a pair of weirdo's from dat London innit?

This is the boys'......they have to be male of course...latest album....yes there's more if you sachet over to their Bandcamp page.......you can even buy one!?

The biggest influence on your blog trustee's young impressionable mind was pre-disco Cabaret Voltaire,and their obvious influence on legions of young lonely men in the newly born DIY scene back in 1979 and beyond. We discovered, thanks to the mum's attic loitering Cabs that to make music that was taken seriously,all that was needed was a couple of cassette recorders,one microphone, an echo box,and the cheapest synth you could find.

This all ended when Tascam and Fostex brought out those cassette multi-track machines,and everyone started to sound like Joy Divison or Swell Maps instead of Throbbing Gristle on a bad day.

Home Secretary, do a near perfect facsimile of those ker-azy antediluvian  days between 1979 and 1984, before the flood of competent home recording started to mirror the Sounds Alternative chart.

Cabaret Voltaire themselves succumbed to this over exposure to mid-range budget recording equipment,and started to make their ill-advised  version of Belgian Nu-Beat.....I even had problems with "Red Mecca"!. Home secretary are certainly pre Red Mecca,take that as a further recommendation then graft on some Shadow Ring.

Tracklist: 

1.were that what it was 04:06
2.the woe betide 02:26
3.you're doing that now 10:12
4.in Beefs 01:45
5.disappointed 00:52
6.something in his mouth 08:55
7.and how much 04:12
8.why the British army works 04:48
9.Mr Martian 04:08

Get yer free download or yer not free CD-r HERE!

Nick and the Nod - " Den Besten ep" (CHICKEN SHACK RECORDS CSRT010) 2022

Yes it's a modern era vinyl revival Nu DIY release on Bandcamp wot i'm doing here innit?

It certainly looks old skool DIY,with swathes of vintage DIY post Jamie Reid artwork...never bettered in my opinion.I wouldn't complain if every record had a cover like this Mo Fo, 'cus I'm a stick in the mud nostalgia peddler.......nowt wrong with that, 'cus i happen to think that a Francis Bacon painting should always remain a Francis Bacon Painting,and its imitators are just enlightened souls who know it cannot be bettered.

Can anything from the first five or six Fall albums ever be bettered?.....I severely doubt it fucking big time Boss. So, sadly, as we cannot count on any new Fall material being produced anytime soon this side of the great supernatural divide, then we must rely on the living to fill the void, and Nick and the Nod make a very listenable living version of a Fall demo tape,witha cheapo drum box replacing the irreplaceable Karl Burns.

"Solo Griswold", apart from reminding me of my now kaput Mutt, also called Griswold,reminds me very much so of the Track "Two Librans" from latter,early naughties period Fall "Unutterable" LP.....which suggest this guy or Guys have been listening to records while they wrote this very attractive package....always a fatal blow for self identity.

I think i did a review for that Posh southern version of the Fall who reckon they are DIY itself,The Cool Greenhouse.I did encourage them i suppose,and i'm gonna encourage this bunch too.

I mean, the word 'Kulak' is crying out for the M E. Smith treatment.I'm not sure that the man himself ever got there first or not?

Anyway, you scrounging illegal downloading bastards should get over to their bandcamp site and buy the remaining vinyl forthwith ,before its gone,...they were too kind to send me a clear vinyl copy for review purposes.....call it bribery,but i accepted it....and it had no bearing on my impartiality whatsoever .....even in a jury at a Trump trial I would remain impartial....er...well maybe not......he could be proven as innocent as the virgin mary and i'd still find the cunt guilty of anything...you name it...he did it!

Anyway, you can download it for 'F' all by clicking the link below,or better still get one of the strictly limited vinyl edition of 30,by clicking the very same bastarding link!?

Oh Yeah...this is a deal clincher...i got a free Chicken Shack Beer mat included in my bribe package...these are the kinda folk I like.

Tracklist:
1.R. Santos 01:33
2.Kulak Point Bliss 02:00
3.Face 01:39
4.Solo Griswold 03:27
5.KPBF 00:55

DOWNLOAD this and many others with this handy link thing HERE!

I Am The Fly – "Pattern / Function" (Self-released12", Single Sided ) 2022

Any Synth punk duo from 2022 must be encouraged don't you think?

Are they actually real flys...or are they wearing masks ? We may never know,but what we do know is that they come from Germany....Mulheim apparently,formerly from Essen...so no more jokes about eating or My illegally carpet bombing the place(Essen)father during the European war before this one (he never liked us kids calling him a war criminal)...now it seems that we were on the wrong side.It might have been our last chance to stop Putin,and his gangs of thieving murdering rapist thugs.

The six songs on this very attractive single sided Lp do all actually sound like the same tune on repeat,in 4/4 marching time,with the Boy fly bassist playing at least one note per minim; but, why change something that works just for the sake of melody?

The Lady Fly treats us to a buzzing organ reminiscent of the buzzing organs of The Screamers,backed up by a vintage drum box  which sounds like a Robot-Billy Cobham compared to the classic Suicide drum ,machine, if that's what it was? A respectful nod in the direction of the Synth Punk founding fathers is required,keeping the legacy alive and hopefully encouraging the Yoof to pickup a crap organ,fuzz box,shite drum machine and sing about something other than breaking up with their Girlfriend. 

Dunno if the two fly's involved are indeed Mrs and Mrs Fly, hope so,as doing stuff like that is genuinely subversive behaviour.....as for maggots, there is a chronic insect shortage going down,something like 80% down on the Insect population since the first Synth-Punk group released an album.

And remember, No Insects= no trees,no Flowers, and...slightly more important....No food!

It also sounds like these Flys are 'Woke'.As these right-on flys,depending on which of their six knees to take, display the following claims rather proudly on the sleeve..

"Against racism
Against Fascism
Against Sexism
Against homophobia"

(No Transphobia then?)

Strangely all things I have been accused of ,among many others, In the hallowed pages of this blog over the years.

As these grown up maggots are trying to sell some product to you DIY enthusiasts,i will not be making anything available for fuck all as one usually does....an action that some irate punter labelled me as....wait for it..."Pure Scum" recently.

Instead you can check out buying one on their Bandcamp page,click here or see below.....:

It's good, and you don't even have to turn it over to play side 2,mainly because it hasn't got one!

Video HERE!

Tracklist:

1 Anhedonia
2 Biomass
3 Detritus
4 Defined By
5 The Ugliest Part Of Your Body Is Your Brain
6 A Dysfunctional Pattern Of Wants

BUY ONE like flys on shit or fly with hits HERE!

Jandek – "Chapel Hill Sunday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0853) 2022

Yes, I tried living too,believe it or not,but then I started to listen to Jandek records again. This is time I'll never get back,and will probably rue this irrational decision to listen to all of Jandek's albums, on my death bed surrounded by any loved ones who will still have anything to do with me.

So,here's another hour and a half where i could have been making love to a beautiful woman...or their alternatives (I'm Hip ain't I?)...meaning one of the self-identified represented by the extra letters tagged onto the popular and ever lengthening acronym that begins with LGBTQ...etc......so maybe i wasn't wasting my ever decreasing allotted time in this reality after all?

Would I sooner be making sweet luuurve to a beautiful lady, rather than listen to endless Jandek?....well....er....yes please. I think Jandek would too,although, his lady,slash, victim, would undoubtedly be of the Prince Andrew variety.

This one was recorded in 2009,so Jandek may still indeed be dead? Which is a pity, because we could have tried threatening Putin with endless Jandek pumped into the Kremlin. Vlad has promised us "Something We Have Never Seen Before",but we westerners have got something He has never heard Before, and far more lethal than the nukes he was alluding to.By the time this double CD has finished its first few tracks Putin would be grovelling to be sent to the Hague,and plead guilty of waging an illegal war of aggression. 

I suppose i should turn my attentions away from imminent nuclear annihilation,and turn to something far more important....the music....if indeed ,music this may be?

"You wanted my Body" whine's the Corwood rep in the opening improvisation, cosily entitled "I tried Living". I can also now go on record and say in all honesty, that I have NEVER wanted Jandek's body.

A trio of new buddies make stuff up around Jandek's guitar abuse,and I have to say I have heard better.The drummer in particular seems to be struggling to come up with anything we haven't heard a thousand times before,treading water in an 'i've got a Free Jazz collection' kind of way.Incredibly, the guitar player seems to be the one with the most clue here.....wait a minute, Thats Jandek innit?....blimey he's found musicians who are almost as bad as himself.Now that's something to be applauded.....we came here to hear the ginger mist in person,not the pale one and a bunch of trendy jazzers who would be better off on ECM records than Corwood,which is what we usually get for these live performances since 2004-ish.They're not quite there but,at least this selection approaches somewhere near the nebulous standard required to make a cohesively uncohesive Jandekian outing into the outside.

Tracklisting:

1.I Tried Living 29:52

2. Broken Sky 12:49

3.I Think I'm Unstable 9:03

4.The Slide 15:14

5.All My Time 13:15

6.Just As Well Off 11:46

DOWNLOAD sunday chapel for jandekian agnostics HERE!