music.wikisort.org - Musician

Jandek is the musical alias of Houston, Texas based lo-fi folk singer Sterling Smith.[3] Since 1978, Jandek has independently released over 45 albums without granting interviews or providing any biographical information, releasing on a self-made label "Corwood Industries".[3] Jandek often plays a highly idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, frequently using an open and unconventional chord structure.[3] Allmusic has described him as "the most enigmatic figure in American music".[3]

Jandek
Jandek performing in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Sterling Smith
Born	(1945-10-26) October 26, 1945 (age 77)
Origin	Houston, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Lo-fi,[1] folk, blues[2]
Years active	1978–present
Labels	Corwood Industries
Website	corwoodindustries.com

History

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 interview with John Trubee for Spin, Smith mentioned that he was working at that time as a machinist.[6] Only a year later, Smith became reclusive and no longer gave interviews.[7]

Jandek's first album, Ready for the House, though a solo work, was originally credited to a band called The Units. Smith 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 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, it contained no interviews but was put together with "a representative of Corwood Industries".[3]

On October 17, 2004, at Glasgow, Scotland's Instal Festival, 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]

Discography

This is the discography of Corwood Industries; the record company releases only albums by Jandek.

Bibliography

• 0127: The Rays Of Light That Did Not Illumine

References

External links

• Corwood Industries Website
• Jandek discography at MusicBrainz
• Jandek on NPR, December 10, 2007

На других языках

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- [en] Jandek

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[es] Jandek

Jandek es el proyecto musical de un músico anónimo estadounidense con base en Houston, Texas. Desde 1978, Jandek ha publicado por su cuenta más de 70 álbumes de estudio. Su música tiene sus raíces en el blues y el folk, con una atmósfera que tiende a ser oscura y melancólica, un sonido atonal y estructuras poco convencionales.

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[ru] Jandek

Jandek (Джендек) — музыкальный проект Стерлинга Р. Смита, музыканта-самоучки из США, выпустившего более 60 альбомов на собственном лейбле Corwood Industries. Джендек прославился не только своей крайне нестандартной примитивистской манерой игры, но и отшельническим образом жизни: на протяжении более чем 20 лет он не появлялся на публике и не давал интервью, а вплоть до 2014 года сохранял анонимность.

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