jandek - skirting the edge===best album of all time
 

I uploaded this for people:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hgmptj

This is the weirdest Jandek album in forever. It's just acoustic and voice but... I dunno. There's something different about it. For starters, there's a 24 minute song on it with Jandek just rambling about all this insane shit. The last 10 seconds of the song have an actual repeated riff. Really took me offguard. Then there's a song with these lyrics:

DEFLECT THE BARBARIANS
YOU CAN'T LET NOBODY TAKE YOUR SOUL
YOU GOT YOUR HEAD STONED AT 9 YEARS OLD AND YOU'RE BLEEDING FROM YOUR HEAD AND ALBERT TAKES HIS BLUE SHIRT FROM OFF HIS BACK AND WRAPS HIS STONE.. BLOOD... HEAD.. IN HIS SHIRT AND SAYS COME ON LET'S GO AND WE GO TO HIS HOUSE TO HIS STREET AND HIS MOTHER STOPPED THE PROCESS OF MY DEMISE

This album's insane! I think it's his 60th. I'm getting to the point where Jandek is the only musician whose music I'm really excited to listen to whenever he drops a new album. I'm sure you all agree. Enjoy! I wrote some lyrics out while listening.

I got to be like ice
Frozen up in time
I can't ever change
It sure is hard to work with less
I want it almost dry
I want you to try
try
While I go through the motions
And I move about from various places
I'm at my home
It's my home there, can't be no heavy guy out there
You've got to vanquish your memories and remember me
I'm the only thing that exists and you're all around me I'm the center of the universe you are everything else
I'm so glad I know you
If it's between 5:30 and 6:00 PM
You know I'll be drinking your water as I swim in your sea
It's such good exercise
I'm a powerful me
And I know that you like it, this power I got
Don't feel too good
Or you'll be feeling bad
Just take it easy
Don't get glad
Or don't get sad
I'm so enthralled
It ain't good
No... bad
I'll be above it all
If that's where you live
I live with you
There's no difference there about the eagle, yes, into you
I can't find myself and I don't want to
I'm inside of you
And I'll .......
I need you
Perfect
That's what you are
Perfect
Perfect
Yeaaaaaaah-wheeeeeee-whoaaaaaaa
Kill all the bad things
And boom your back again
You're saying that you worked
I supposed to do this, that
But you don't understand
I don't have to change
And if I break my body
It's broken and you hate who I am
It's a little place I can go
For some kind of thrill *punches guitar*
Exotic and dangerous
Pestulent, maybe? I dunno
But I know I can surpass threats
If I'm ... got to know ... how you pass time in that place
So, intrigue?
But I don't have to move
I'm stuck in you
But I'll take you with me
You won't show yourself
And we got GOD
And we don't pose a threat
And we are opposite
We've come through the earth and you can see easy we're something different today we can go easy but when we survive the pestulence and the river to cross, to get to that desert on the last part of the river
If you go north
It's sand and sun
but on the other side
it's a river going up and you go with it!
YOU'RE WHERE THE WATER STARTS AGAIN
I got to tell you
How my head swings low
And I got to love my life
It's my life
You see?
I leave myself before you
Trample me down
I'm gone for you
I disappear
I divided and conquered
I lead waste to your territory
You loved me for that
I got certain recollections of the rocks and things
I say, "Bye bye bye."
I say, "Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeee byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeee."

*actual riff that sounds like a bit of "musical talent" was involved in making it*


Wow!

Best album of 2009 so far. Even better than Merriweather Post Pavillion!

listening to it right now, he sounds pretty far out, it's fascinating.

holy shit, thanks for this!

Yeah Jandek rules. He just gets more.. out there.. on every release.

just because something is weird doesn't make it awesome.

AC has matured from their early 20 year-old selves and realized that weird music doesn't necessarily mean good music.

I'm not saying anything about jandek, as I will happily give this a listen, but there is no way it can be 1 million times better than MPP because its "weird".

and i love weird. and I can be hella weird sometimes. and I worship Beefheart.

mpp is pretty meh so far, but i won't put it down, since i put down strawberry jam and now it's one of my favorites by them, so perhaps it will grow on me.

at least it's not as bad as feels.

Who are you directing this at? It's certainly not at me. Did someone send you a PM saying "man, check out the jandek thread; that album's better than MPP because it's WEIRD." .... Because I never said anything like that nor suggested that this album is better "cuz duh heyyy man its fuckin weeerder than animul colleective dawg". My enjoyment of music has nothing to do with its "weirdness", I was simply noting, man Jandek keeps getting stranger on every release! Sorry to be an asshole here, but come on. To even suggest that's how I feel about music is kind of retarded.

Also, gotta disagree, Beefheart isn't "weird", aside from some of his lyrics. Forward-thinking and inventive, yes.

it was kind of directed at you, but not really since i know you don't just like stuff if its weird. But from the posts thus far, I felt that statement needed to be made.

as for Beefheart, I was referring to his lyrics, since the jandek lyrics you posted kind of have that vibe

Shrug.

hey you edited something. something is off

I originally said "this album's a thousand times better than merriweather post pavillion" instead of "even better than merriweather post pavillion". I dunno, just seemed like a better thing to say. Cuz most people might hear this and go "you know, it's not a thousand times better, it's approximately 963.53552 times better" and then I'd argue with them for an hour and... man, my work is never finished.

i know what you mean.

i'll stop fighting for AC and give this jandek a listen

Hahaha.

Good luck.

Nice! I've been looking for this. I don't remember repping you recently, but I am unable.

I didn't know about it. I'm getting it right now. Thanks

me neither. rep some more people and then come back to me.

thats not gonna be diffucult now....

i hope this is the one which makes me believe jandek is actually a real talent......

thanks agin adam!

Downloading. Jandek is king of music.

What is the name of the Jandek documentary?

I will have to buy this album, since I can't download it at work, and my computer at home has crashed. Still, Jandek is one of the guys I would like to support.

Curious, is this an '08 or '09 release? RYM has it listed as '08.

It's 2008 apparently.

Jandek on Corwood. Not the best documentary ever, but probably worth a squizz. Downloading this new 'un now, because I'm the sort of shit that downloads in print records sometimes.

I have no moral dilemma with that, but I simply do not have the option now. I was just mentioning that about supporting him because even in my heyday of downloading music, when I downloaded almost everything I owned, in print or not, I would still buy an album here and there so I could tell myself I wasn't a horrible person and hope to get some sleep at night.

The downloading comment wasn't directed towards anything other than my own faint sense of e-misanthropy.*

Jandek appears to have bought some new microphones, bought some new strings and become a tiny bit more verbose. It's funny how these tiny, tiny changes seem massive in the context of Jandek.

*The other chice was 'cybersanthropy'; I'm including both for posterity.

Since you like this so much you should post links to Jandek's ordering address so he can make a little money you know...

http://tisue.net/jandek/ordering.html

from Corwood

As the catalog (see below) says:
cd disc $8.00
20 or more any mix 50% discount
prepaid only shipping paid by corwood
international orders add 10%* 2 disc cd $12.00 ** dvd disc $16.00 *** box set $20.00
Single CD’s cost $8. Corwoods 0779, 0783, 0785, 0786, and 0788 are available in both CD and DVD editions; a DVD costs $16. (0788 is a double DVD but is priced like a single.) Corwoods 0783, 0785, 0786, and 0788 are double CD’s; they cost $12. Corwood 0789 is a four-CD set; it costs $20.
All of these prices are cut in half if you order a box of 20 or more items. This can include any combination of titles and quantities that you want. A multi-disc set counts as one item.
Send orders (and make checks payable) to

Corwood Industries, P.O. Box 15375, Houston TX 77220.

Corwood does not have a website or E-mail address, but they are in the phone book. Corwood hasn’t said what acceptable payment methods for international customers are. Some customers have paid by international bank draft in U.S. dollars. Well-concealed U.S. cash is also accepted. Sending payment in non-U.S. currency is ill-advised.

Thanks Mum.

yeah thanks!

What is Jandek?

Officially, Jandek is not a person. Albums and live performances are credited to “Jandek”, but the man on the album covers and on stage is “a representative from Corwood Industries”. Corwood is the record label; “Jandek” is the musical project. Both are directed by the same individual. The trinity of Jandek, Corwood, and “the representative” is both three and one.
These distinctions became clear only recently, when Corwood started negotiating Jandek performances with promoters. But an early hint was that the first Jandek album was originally credited to “The Units”, a name implying a faceless collective. Even the recent live releases do not credit individual musicians.
The name of the real person behind all this is known (see below). He normally avoids using his name in connection with Corwood or Jandek, but he has never made any great secret of it, either. Written communications from Corwood are signed “Corwood” or not signed at all, and in a further distancing move, he/they normally refer(s) to himself/themselves in writing as “we” — that is, Corwood — rather than “I”.
This leaves the rest of us in a bit of a quandary how to refer to him/them/it — this Jandek thing. It’s most correct to refer to “Corwood” (and “they”), and to “the representative” or “the Corwood rep”. But it’s also still common to just go ahead and refer to Jandek as a person, using “he”. Until a few years ago, nobody knew it was wrong. I still say “Jandek” and “he” on this site sometimes just in order to avoid verbal contortions.
Some aren’t bothered by informally using his real name — including a few of the musicians he has performed with, in their published interviews. Nonetheless, it’s polite for the rest of us to avoid it in most contexts out of respect for Corwood’s apparent wishes.





*YAWN*

the discography is FASCINATING.
I mean this.
What is Jandek's best work?

A Chair Beside A Window is usually considered his most essential, but it's hard to say what's "best."

Blue Corpse.

Actually I think this album COULD be his best.

I think Ready for the House is my clear-cut favorite. I like almost all of his material, actually, except for The Rocks Crumble, his spoken word stuff and a few other ones he's released this decade.

And yeah, definitely buy his albums. The record store near me has a lot of his titles marked half off, so I bought a fuckload of them a few months ago. I'm in love with the Jandek-y style artwork. It looks so awesome when you stack all of them together.

thanks for the upload.. downloading right now... :)

I always wonder why people gravitate torwards his early stuff when saying what their favorite is. There was a marked change after the 3 spoken word albums (which are amongst my favorite Jandek albums)... his music started getting more violent, raw, meaner, louder, maybe even more produced. No idea how or why. But I like the new stuff way more, even though the older stuff is arguably creepier. The most musical is definitely "Blue Corpse". My favorite is "Ruins of Adventure" or the one with the name I can't pronounce... "Kharatium" or something. It has "I Shot Myself" on it, which is my favorite Jandek song.

I started to type that I am torn about whether to download it or not because I'd rather have the solid record, but that's bullshit. I'm downloading it. I have so much Jandek to buy and I really intend to do so, but it's a slow process for me. Meanwhile I could be listening to this and playing it on the radio.

As for his "best" album, they can't really be isolated like that, I do have favorites for sure. "Ready for the House" stands against everything after it despite being the first. "Six and Six" forces me to be redundant by saying the same thing about his second album! "Living in a Moon So Blue" is perhaps my favorite of the early ones though, because it connects with me really directly, it's very direct in general (though cynical at the same time). "Chair Beside a Window" is awesome for the heavy "Nancy" influence both on "Nancy Sings" and the songs seemingly about her. "Telegraph Melts' has "Painted Your Teeth" which is just fucking brilliant. Of the '90s stuff, I love "I Woke Up" for the pure absolute fuckery (there's another male vocalist on this one, I think...) Then there are those spoken word albums. The world said he couldn't get any more primitive, so he showed them that yes he could. I absolutely fucking love those records, most especially "Worthless Recluse". Madonna only thinks she can make art out of self-parody; Jandek actually does it with the secret weapon of sincerity.

I need to catch up on the newer studio albums (I have a couple of the live ones, which are great but something else in a way). I'll start downloading now and get the ball rolling.

"Chair Beside a Window" is the first I ever heard; my friend bought a copy of it. I heard it a good 8 years ago at this point. It blew my mind. "worthless recluse" is my favorite of the spoken ones too. So good......

In a way, I look at Worthless Recluse as the coda for the original Jandek who even the alternative media characterized as a "worthless recluse" so much of the time. Once he'd broken it down to that most basic level (and it's such fucking gripping listening) he really had to either stop altogether or do something as radical as it was for him to start playing live after two and a half decades without public appearances. I realize I'm completely mythologizing and that it was actually another 3 years and several albums until he started playing live, but that's just the kind of apex that record feels like!

Right, and that goes back to what I was saying; something changed after those spoken word albums... his releases started getting more...... evil or something. It's fun to read into the mythology of Jandek!

I was about to chime in with some pathetic analogy about the shaman emerging from the cave and then suddenly I realized we were talking about Jandek and not Robert Bly and I'd more effectively quell my inner hippie by making some microwave quesadillas...