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Jandek

American musician

Jandek
Jandek performing in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Sterling Smith
Born	(1945-10-26) October 26, 1945 (age 78)
Origin	Houston, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Lo-fi,[1] folk, blues,[2]outsider music
Years active	1978–present
Labels	Corwood Industries
Website	corwoodindustries.com

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]

History[edit]

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]

Discography[edit]

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

Bibliography[edit]

• 0127: The Rays Of Light That Did Not Illumine (2021)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jandek.

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