Jandek | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Sterling Smith |
Born | October 26, 1945 |
Origin | Houston, Texas, U.S. |
Genres | Lo-fi, [1] folk, blues, [2] outsider music |
Years active | 1978–present |
Labels | Corwood Industries |
Website | corwoodindustries |
Jandek is the musical project of Sterling Smith, a Houston, Texas-based American lo-fi folk singer. [3] 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". [3] Jandek often plays an idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, frequently using an open and unconventional chord structure. [3] AllMusic has described Jandek as "the most enigmatic figure in American music." [3]
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. [4] 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. [5]
In a 1985 private phone conversation with John Trubee for Spin , Smith mentioned that he was working at that time as a machinist. [6] [7]
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. [3] 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 the name Jandek while on the telephone with a person named Decker during the month of January. [6] Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain discussed Jandek in a 1993 interview, stating "He's not pretentious, but only pretentious people like his music." [8]
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. [9] In 2003, filmmaker Chad Freidrichs released a documentary, Jandek on Corwood , which contained no interviews with Jandek but was put together with "a representative of Corwood Industries". [3]
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. [3] [10] Jandek has since made numerous live performances, usually unannounced in advance. [3]
This is the discography of Corwood Industries; the record company releases only albums by Jandek.
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 the early 2000s, and again in 2005. Jackpot Records, with exclusive permission from Corwood, reissued the album on LP in 2008.
The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.
Leæther Strip is a Danish musical project founded on 13 January 1988 by Claus Larsen. Its influence has been most felt in the electronic body music and electro-industrial genres. Leæther Strip was one of the earliest and most prominent acts on Germany's now defunct Zoth Ommog record label. For distribution outside of Europe, the music has been licensed to the U.S. labels Cleopatra Records and Metropolis Records. After the demise of Zoth Ommog in 1999, Larsen signed to Bloodline Records, which only released a single before also going out of business. In 2005, Leæther Strip signed with the Belgian-based label Alfa Matrix. On 3 June 2011 Larsen announced his split from Alfa Matrix in order to self-release future material.
Hiromi Uehara, known professionally as Hiromi, is a Japanese jazz composer and pianist. She is known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances and blending of musical genres such as stride, post-bop, progressive rock, classical, nu jazz and fusion in her compositions.
Sturm Café is an electronic body music band from Gävle, Sweden.
Iain Matthews is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was an original member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1969 before leaving to form his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, which had a UK number one in 1970 with their cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock". In 1979, his recording of Terence Boylan's "Shake It" reached No. 13 on the US charts.
Glasgow Sunday is the second of four albums released in 2005 by musician Jandek on Corwood Industries, as (0779). His 41st overall, it was recorded live on October 17, 2004 at The Arches, Glasgow, as part of the Instal festival. This was the first known live appearance of Jandek, who played unannounced with backing from Richard Youngs on bass and Alex Neilson on drums.
Richard Youngs is an English musician based in Glasgow since the early 1990s. His catalogue of solo and collaborative work formally begins with Advent, first issued in 1990. He plays many instruments, most commonly choosing the guitar, but he has been known to use other instruments including the shakuhachi, accordion, theremin, dulcimer, a home-made synthesizer and even a motorway bridge. He also released an album which was entirely a cappella.
Video Hits was an Australian music video program that first aired on 15 February 1987. From 7 May 2011 it broadcast on Network Ten for two hours each Saturday and Sunday morning: 10am – 12pm on Saturdays and 8am – 10am on Sundays. At the time of its cancellation, Video Hits was the world's second longest running music show after the Eurovision Song Contest. The show was cancelled in July 2011 and its last episode aired on 6 August 2011.
Ben Liebrand is a Dutch dance music DJ and remixer. He has produced for artists such as Forrest and MC Miker G & DJ Sven and remixed tracks by artists such as Alexander O'Neal, Salt-N-Pepa, Sting, TLC, Fun Fun, Tavares, The Limit, Bill Withers, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Hot Chocolate, Pia Zadora, The Doobie Brothers, The Art Of Noise, Dimples D and Phil Collins. He has also seen success under his own name, a prime example being his remix of Jeff Wayne's "The Eve of the War", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in 1989.
The North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest for short, was a multi-day event celebrating the resurgence of progressive and eclectic music in the United States and around the world. The event was held annually in early summer in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, approximately one hour north of Philadelphia and less than two hours west of New York City. The festival was founded in the spring of 1998 by Robert LaDuca and Chad Hutchinson, with the first event occurring in 1999. NEARfest quickly grew to become "the most prestigious progressive music festival in the world."
Alex Neilson is an English drummer, percussionist and singer who is based in Glasgow but grew up in Leeds. He is a founding member and main songwriter of folk-rock group Trembling Bells (2008-2018). He is also known for his continuing collaborations with Alasdair Roberts, Will Oldham and Richard Youngs, and for his work with elusive American singer/songwriter Jandek.
Rudy Rotta was a Swiss-Italian blues guitarist and vocalist.
Newcastle Sunday is the 45th release by avant- folk/blues singer-songwriter Jandek, released by Corwood Industries. It is a recording of his second ever live performance, recorded at The Sage Gateshead, England.
John Kiran Fernandes is an American multi-instrumentalist musician.
The Texas derby is a soccer rivalry (derby) between the Houston Dynamo FC and FC Dallas, recognizing the best club in the state for the season until 2021 when Austin FC joined MLS. The two squads play a series of games with the series winner taking home El Capitán, a replica 18th century mountain howitzer cannon. Through the 2024 season, FC Dallas leads the series, 11–8.
Glasgow Monday is the 47th release, third live album, and second-ever double album release, from avant-folk/blues singer/songwriter Jandek. It is his fifth release of the year and features "The Corwood Representative" on piano and vocals, along with the same rhythm section he performed with at the shows documented on Glasgow Sunday and Newcastle Sunday, bassist Richard Youngs and drummer/percussionist Alex Neilson who accents the music with chimes and echoing percussion.
FrightFest, also known as Arrow Video FrightFest is an annual film festival held in London and Glasgow. The festival holds three major events each year: a festival running five days over the UK late August Bank Holiday weekend, a Halloween event held in London in late October, and a festival in Glasgow held around February as part of the Glasgow Film Festival.
Richard Holgarth is a British guitar player with Eddie and the Hot Rods and John Otway, as well as being the former co-owner of The Square; a music venue in Harlow, Essex.
Nicolas Horvath is a French pianist and electroacoustic composer.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)