Wednesday 11 January 2023

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!

6 comments:

RabidRabbit said...

Yay, Jandek! Seems like he will be playing a show in Fayetteville in March so alive so far :) did I say I once saw him play at the Gaelic Club in Sydney? Amazing experience:) hopefully will be released at some point, hehe:)

jonder said...

You turn your back for only a moment on the Dying Musicians, and another one topples over! RIP Jefbek.

"howling like a slow wind across freshly laid barbed wire" -- a nicely evocative phrase.

Jonny Zchivago said...

Yeah I know it!....RIP Jeff,the inspiration behind Nigel Tufnel...and one of the cornerstones of modern Rock guitar,technically better than Hendrix,and the first to incorporate Feedback in his playing.
My sister (RIP also) saw him playing down the local Enderby Boys Club in about 1969....a laughably small village hall gig, with the Jeff Beck Group,Vinegar Joe (Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer) and Elton John!.....they had to work for their money in them days.
No Obiturary here though...he's far too famous.

JColtrane said...

Thank you very much

Christian said...

I'm not even sure I need the 'music' sometimes. Thank you for the writing! It brings many a chuckle, sometimes a cringe, but always brutally honest entertainment. Kudos, and thank you for your always personal point of view, in a sea of otherwise regurgi-capital clap-trap and over-processed pitch-fuckery.

Jonny Zchivago said...

@christian.....same here.Its just an excuse to write amusing bollocks these days.I don't often listen to most of this shit...its mostly The Fall,first wave Punk,Post-Punk and Doom metal that i hear for pleasure. Jandek only comes out when i want people to leave.