Jandek - Blue Corpse (1982)

I wouldn't say that I 'like' Jandek in the traditional sense of the word. His music can be difficult to listen to. It is depressing and mostly tuneless. It is supposedly played in Jandek's own special “black” key, which pretty much amounts to being completely out of tune. The music is essentially blues, I suppose, but really scary blues. This is the sort of music you expect to be made by a psychopath. Perhaps it is. I just can't help but like Jandek. His solitude appeals greatly to me. I think Jandek's appeal for most (well, let's be fair, there is no appeal 'for most' here) is the mystery that surrounds him. For me Jandek is a man who lives in a sparsely decorated house. He sleeps on a grey mattress. All spare cash is spent on creating these albums. He has little contact with others. He's pretty fed up with the world. Maybe he hates the world. Yet, he feels this music with droning vocals, harsh clanging, detuned guitar and not-exactly-chipper lyrics might have appeal and promotes it. The guy has created roughly 70 albums, and promoted them in the way a recluse might. I wonder if he has moved on and created a myspace page...

I find the best way to listen to Jandek is at roughly 2 am, whilst reading about Jandek and/or serial killers. It gives me a feeling of huge paranoia. I half expect to Jandek approach like Nosferatu, from behind. It is spooky. I keep looking at the window, half expecting to see a face. When I go to get a glass of water my own reflection in the window will startle me. Yet I like Jandek. It's like a musical Stockholm Syndrome.

I went through a phase of listening to Jandek through headphones as I slept. Weird. I'd wake at 3am to the clanging sound of Jandek thumping away at his guitar and drearily moaning about something.

I've selected this album because it is the one with Nancy Sings on. Nancy Sings has a female vocalist (we'll assume her name is Nancy). It helps break up the intense Jandekness of it all. I really like that song. I imagine her as a hippie alcoholic who has somehow managed to befriend Jandek and 'gets' him.

I could probably have chosen one of many of his albums – without being a huge Jandek obsessive, many of the tracks from any one “era of Jandek” sound similar. Not in a Wesley Willis, “this song is exactly the same” sort of way, but in the way one detuned guitar randomly plucked at by someone who 'cannot play' sounds much like any other detuned guitar randomly plucked at by someone who 'cannot play.'