A break from Jandek: NIN SACD ARP bits

Just wanted to post a couple of things:

Nine Inch Nails' DOWNWARD SPIRAL album has been released in surround sound. The Super Audio 2-disc "Deluxe Edition" has the album in regular CD stereo, and in high resolution stereo as well as the 5.1 surround mix, then 70+ minutes of demos, non-album tracks, remixes, etc. In CD and hi-res stereo. A nice package. There's also a DVD-Audio version of the album for about half the price that uses the weird new "Dualdisc". CD on one side, flip it over and it's a DVD with videos for three songs, an image gallery of graphics for the album and a NIN discography with audio and video clips (can't wait until CLOSURE comes out on DVD next year!) The video stuff is exclusive to the DVD-A, the second disc of extra music is exclusive to the Deluxe Edition SACD. The surround mix is by Trent and doesn't spoil the spirit of the original album. It stretches the album sonically, but all the stuff you remember hearing is not hidden. Here's hoping all future NIN albums are mixed in surround. One last thought about this: This album was recorded digitally 10 years ago, and now it's available in a format sonically superior (theoretically) to the digital recording technology available at the time. What kind of resolution was this album recorded in, and what, if anything, was done to improve it sonically? Sorry, my head hurts thinking about it.

For those who know anything about making music with computers, you've probably heard about virtual instruments. Lately a lot of programs like Reason, Gigasampler and "plug-ins" for recording programs like ProTools and Performer create synthesizers right on your desktop that can be played from MIDI keyboards connected to your computer. Most recently, the virtual instruments that have been catching my eye and making the respective brows go up and down are ridiculously authentic recreations of the original Moog Modular synth, the Minimoog, and the Yamaha CS-80. Now the piece de resistance has been announced:
The ARP 2600 synthesizer was always my favorite analog synthesizer from the seventies. A self contained gargantuan with lots of sliders and switches, it resembed a modular synth in such a way that every control had a jack underneath it that allowed you to plug a cable into it and interrupt the pre-patched signal flow to change the sound any way your imagination drove it. This was extremely useful when altering external audio signals. Now Arturia, the company that makes the other virtual instruments mentioned earlier, has announced that they will be shipping the 2600 in virtual form soon. The Pavlovian bell has rung. I've been wanting a 2600 for decades, and now it's within reach. We'll see what happens. Pardon me while I get the lobster bib.

The Rocks Crumble

Jandek album #8, The Rocks Crumble. Released in 1983.

Well. Where was I for a week or so? Thought I was gonna blog a Jandek album a day, every day, until I had 'em all done? Nope. I will eventually get to all of them, but man does not live by Jandek alone. I got busy, and Thanksgiving and work and all sorts of other things happened. So, in order to keep you from too much information, I'll let you know this: D.Verada's first album is in the manufacturing stage. While I was away, I didn't forge ahead and listen to any Jandek albums in advance of the reviewing. So here is the review.

There's a drum set on the cover. The drums are prominent on this record. But first, two songs of acoustic guitar and vocal, including "Birthday", another version of the song that Nancy sang on "Nancy Sings" a few albums back, and the one that Jandek sang when John played drums on "John Plays Drums". Then the electricity kicks in. Three versions of "European Jewel" are back to back here, making it five versions altogether for this song in Jandek's catalog. Where's the remix? First, the song is played with electric guitar. Strange. When Jandek plays electric, he uses the fretboard a lot and plays full chords as well as individual notes. When he's acoustic, he's almost exclusively playing open strings. Then for the second version, "European Jewel II", the drums are banging away randomly. Then the song is played AGAIN for "European Jewel 501", with the drums getting a little bit closer to playing in sync with the guitar.
The rest of the songs continue with interesting wordplay on "Message to The Clerk", parts one and two, "Breathtaker", "Lonesome Company", and "Same Road". Looks like Jandek may be on the way to a cohesive album here, in his own unique way.

Your Turn To Fall

Jandek album #7, Your Turn To Fall. Released in 1983.

Another album of all acoustic guitar and vocals, another disc of short songs. This one's a bit of a downer (as if the others aren't?). There's a color cover of a painted wooden desk with a guitar case next to it. There are two instrumentals, one being "New String". Jandek's string-stretching technique? Doesn't sound that much different from any of his other single-note melodies, except that one string is tuned to a very low pitch.
Recording quality of some of these is exceptionally low-fi, especially the last cut, "They Knew My Game". I wonder if there is ever a second take for a Jandek song, or if he just saves every take and releases it on another record?
Oh, yeah: the one really different track is "John Plays Drums". The same lyrics as "Nancy Sings", but with Jandek singing and playing, and someone on drums randomly pounding away madly with no synchronization whatsoever to the rest of the music on the track. What the hell?? Maybe "John" begged him to let him play drums on his record. What a guy.

I know somewhere Dr. Clayton Forrester is watching me during this experiment, and he's not happy with the results. I'm nowhere near as funny as those guys Joel and Mike with the two robots. If you don't get that joke, I sentence you to watch a DVD of Mystery Science Theater 3000, STAT!

Staring At The Cellophane

Jandek album #6, Staring At The Cellophane. Released in 1982.

Three albums released in one year. This is the third. This one and the previous one have covers that are nearly identical. A picture of the same guitar, possibly taken on the same roll, from different views. All short tracks, kind of like a pop album - NOT. This album is ALL guitar and vocals, but I like this one just as much as the last one but for different reasons. Just like the last one, the first song is named after a person. Just like the last one, the second track is an instrumental. Then there's track eleven, "Sand I". Very few words, but Jandek discovers the fretboard on the guitar!!! When the song starts he mutes the strings for a percussion-like effect and then starts PRESSING DOWN ON THEM. YESSSSSS!!!!!! In combination with the unique tuning he's using, he's making some neat chords! Another tune has him singing an interesting made-up melody to the singular chord on the guitar. Damn. I just might even put one or two of these tunes on my iPod.

Allright kids, I'm going to bed. This will be a big week for DVDs, with both Elf and the next sets of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Space Ghost coming out.

Judy and I will be shooting pictures for the cover of the D.Verada CD this week. Get excited.

Living In A Moon So Blue

Jandek album #5, Living In A Moon So Blue. Released in 1982.

The second of three albums released in one year, all vocals and acoustic guitar, with a little bit of harmonica. Sixteen short songs, with relatively short lyrics, except for "One Step Ahead", the first Jandek instrumental. Sounds like he started a song with full intention to start singing some lyrics he wrote, and then go so into banging on the strings near the bridge that he just fixated on that and kept going for two minutes. A lot of the lyrics are silly, nonsensical, and then he does something serious like "All In An Apple Orchard". Yet you can't deny the humor of a song with the lyrics "Please do not push any buttons/On this machine/On what machine/Wet paint /Keep Out". All done in a complete deadpan.
The more he gets into doing these, it sounds like he's got a feel for actually creating a cohesive album where the songs are actually distinguishable from each other, unlike the first couple albums. How this continues for 33 more albums is unbelievable, but I'm committed to listening to them all. This is music that defies description (yet I'm doing it right here, DUH - what does that say about me?). But once you get past the fact that the musical tones are nowhere near music as we are used to listening to it, these records are glimpses into Jandek's imagination, and how he perceives music. Putting on any other music allows you to accept the commonly familiar universe of the 12 tones in all of it's mathematical permutations and rhythmic predict-abilities, this music tears completely away from that in a universe so simple and distant, that upon first hearing it you can only perceive it as wrong and poorly done. Then once you get past that, you see something so completely different. No wonder there are so many records by this one guy. Who else is going to do this?

Monkey Call practice was Friday night. We're playing at the Creekside Tavern at 37040 Detroit Road in Avon Lake Saturday, November 20th. This is our last show of 2004, the year of the Monkey, so show up, dammit! Yes, we will be recording. For more info or directions call the Creekside at 440-934-4476.

Chair Beside A Window

Chair Beside A Window, Jandek album #4. Released in 1982.

This album is an improvement over the others, but in odd ways. First track, "Down In A Mirror", is the familiar downer blues with voice and guitar, but there's this noise in the background. Could it be the motors in the tape recorder Jandek is using?
I was listening to it in my car and I had to stop the CD because I thought something was rattling underneath my vehicle.
Next we have "European Jewel", which was also a song on the first album, but this version has little resemblance to the original. Distorted electric guitar, drums, bass and voice. Is this a whole band, or did Jandek play all the instruments himself by overdubbing? The bass player sometimes sounds like he's unaware he's playing with other musicians, and decides to start playing sea shanties. The drums are a cacophonous racket that has a tempo not unlike a traffic jam with mortar fire. Just before the end of the song, it sounds like a fight breaks out to see who can play the fastest. Gee, I hope nobody get hurt during the recording.
While he's singing "Unconditional Authority", it sounds like someone's feeding him taffy, and he's trying to chew it and sing at the same time.
Then there's "Nancy Sings". A woman with a beautiful voice singing Jandek's lyrics while the usual Jandek guitar plays in the background. Haunting. Next up is another "band" track, "No Break". Nancy is talking random bits of speech, while the guitar cranks away and the drums struggle to keep a beat. Then back to the usual voice and guitar songs for the rest of the album, but overall this is the most varied Jandek album yet, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, not necessarily in that order, and some really pleasant things in there as well. Dare I say it? I enjoyed it.

Footnote to "Nancy Sings": Back when we were playing Jandek records at WBWC, we called her "Jandek's bitch".

Enjoy the weekend. I'll try to do some more of these reviews, but I may just want to take a break. Saw THE INCREDIBLES last weekend with digital projection. Awesome. When the digital projection started, I was looking for imperfections in the colors, but the only defects I saw were in my imagination. I'd really like to see it again with traditional film projection, to see if there's a measurable difference. I've heard that films shot digitally are better shown that way, and movies shot on film are best projected that way. If the Star Wars III trailer that showed is any indication, I wholeheartedly agree. But I also feel that the industry is going to try and push digital projection to all the theaters eventually, which I know will be a bad thing as a lot of purists are concerned. Remember when there was only one movie at each given theater? If so, you're probably over 30.

Later On

Jandek album #3, Later On. Released in 1981.

Before today's jandek review, I have two references to make:

1. Negativland and today's date: E-leven. E-leven. It's not even funny.

2. Zappa reference to today's Jandek album title from "Jazz Discharge Party Hats": Later ON - they discovered, this would make a great way of LIFE for them...

Thank you. Now, back to our regularly scheduled Jandek review.

With this album, Jandek gets up and does something with more power than the C battery dim melancholy that the first two albums were cloaked in. Right away, on "Your Condition", he's moaning and rocking out, meditating on the the title, going "yorcun-dishun, yorcun-dishun..." and has discovered the harmonica, which he actually seems to know how to play. The guitar's still out of tune and will probably continue to be until the end of time, so let it be that way. He's also grabbing the guitar neck and muting strings for percussion, so Jandek's music, as well as his lyrics, move in a new direction. Songs actually change moods so it sounds like other songs rather than one long song divided by short silences. On the last track, "The Second End", lots of strumming up and down the strings close to the bridge. Introspective minimalism, and lots of it.

Once again I have a vinyl copy of this album to compare, and this one hasn't been messed around with too much, just a reduction of tape hiss and lots of reverb.

And speaking of Jandek,
The DVD of the movie JANDEK ON CORWOOD arrived in the mail. I watched moist of it last night, and will continue to watch bits of it as I continue into this odyssey of musical murkiness. I'll have more to say about this movie after November 24th, when it should be for sale in the regular marketplace.

Six And Six

Jandek album #2, Six And Six. Released in 1981.

For an album that was released three years after it's predecessor, this is not very different. Could it have possibly been recorded at nearly the same time as the first, and just held back until he could afford to manufacture this LP? Strange, to say the least.
Once again it's all songs sounding like the same guitar at the same sitting, with the same out-of-tune open strings. The variations between them are interesting, though. There's a slower tune like "Can I See Your Clock" that has all singular picked string notes as it's accompaniment, then the next song "Wild Strawberries" has Jandek wildly strumming away at the entire set of strings (maybe less than six) with bare fingers, so hard the pitches bend.

Every song is Jandek singing and acoustic guitar. Lyrically very down, mellow and depressing. There are conceptual continuity clues to forthcoming song titles and album titles as well. But then I noticed something different.

This experiment is not the first time I have heard Jandek, as I've told you earlier. I also have some of Jandek's vinyl releases that I have converted to CD here at home for my own personal enjoyment(?). When I was listening to this CD and the first one as well, I noticed the sound was really different. It sounded like the music was being reproduced from a poorly encoded MP3 file, because of all these strange audio artifacts in the music that would not have existed back in the early eighties. So I pulled out my CD of the vinyl rip, and it's easily apparent that this album was drastically remastered to remove tape hiss. The LP sounds like it was recorded with a cassette microphone sitting on top of a cardboard box. The CD sounds like it was taken from a better quality recording, and gobs of reverb were added to mask any other audio defects that may exist.
The recording has also been edited. In the song "Point Judith" on the original album, there is a point where the microphone gets bumped, or knocked to the floor, and it is as jarring as it is hilarious. On this CD, it is entirely edited out. Same with a bump of the mic on the last cut, "Delinquent Words", and where Jandek's breath hits the mic and produces a "pffh" noise. The fade is also slower. I'd absolutely be floored if this was a re-recording.
But then again, there's a great line at the end of the album: "Dust enters into all being, and man who came from dust, to dust shall he return." Sing on, Jandek. You are the God of the Avant Garde.

More to come.

Ready For The House

Jandek album #1, Ready For The House. Released in 1978.

The entire album is Jandek singing along with a quite out-of-tune guitar, by most standards. The first eight songs go along like they were all the same song with different variations on them. It's like he sat down and decided to record an entire album at one sitting, and made it up as he went along - the music that is. The lyrics definitely have a little more thought put into them, and the opener, "Naked In The Afternoon", is actually a little catchy.
Then there's track 9, "European Jewel (incomplete)". This one is on electric guitar and a different song altogether than the rest of the album. The playing is still very amateurish, but you have much more of a sense that there's something actually going on here. Is it the same person playing the guitar, or is he singing along while someone else plays? "Jandek" could just be the name of this project.
This album reminds me a lot of when I very first picked up a guitar at the age of ten and tried to make up songs. I strummed the open strings and made up lyrics that wandered around three pitches that sounded right to the strings I was playing.

And yes, this project does remind me of what The Residents did to Penn Jillette way back when he was locked in a hotel room and forced to listen to every Residents record and record an audio diary each day. However, you have to remember one thing about The Residents, and they have admitted this from day one: Somewhere in all the information you hear about them, someone is lying to you.

More tomorrow.

It's Here!

I just found out that a box has arrived at the house from Corwood Industries. Looks like it's a big ol' box of JANDEK. More in my next entry, which might be my reflections on the first album.


Later.

Four More Years

Well, Bush was re-elected. I for one am glad that Kerry did not win. I'm not a big Bush supporter, but Kerry was definitely NOT the right man for the job. End of that discussion.

Matt Martin from Squeaky Wheels called today. He's putting the finishing touches on the new CD and he and I are going to get together to discuss little details. Stevie Fingers left the band and relocated to Florida. I wish him the best, I hope he knows what he's doing.

I have changed the preferences on this blog so that anyone can add comments. Thanks for letting me know I could do that. I'm not the most tech-savvy guy in the world, but I'll figure it out eventually.

Now I'm just trying to find the time to edit the audio I have sitting on my hard drive. Later.

Jandek-mania!

Here's what I can tell you about Jandek.

Back in the late eighties, I was hanging out with my friends Pete and Evan at WBWC-FM, the radio station at Balbwin-Wallace College in Berea, OH. They had all these records by this guy in Houston, TX who put out these records and sent them out to radio stations. They called this music "the most bizarre and horrible music ever made", because it was just this guy playing a very out-of-tune guitar and singing over it, usually just as out of tune. Very unprofessional, very amateur. But not without its own strange charm.

Evan had a show late on Friday nights called The Avant Garde, and he decided to play one song per week from Jandek's catalogue that they had there at the station. He would always preference the event by saying that Laurie Anderson was the Queen. The Residents were the kings. But there is only one that is the GOD of the avant garde, and that is Jandek.

I sent a letter to the post office box that is Corwood industries, the label of Jandek, and I asked if any Jandek was available on compact disc. I received a reply: a photocopied catalog of the phonograph records (LPs) available at the time (at that time there were fifteen albums), and written on the back of the tiny envelope that the paper came in, were scrawled the words. "No cassette or compact".

That was 1988. This is 2004. There are now 38 albums in the Jandek catalog, with three released in this year alone and the most recent being last week. Believe it or not, this guy has quite a following!!!

An independent documentary film, JANDEK ON CORWOOD, is being released on DVD. Now comes the shocker of shockers: On the 17th of October, for the first time ever, it was confirmed that Jandek played in front of people at a music festival in Glasgow, Scotland. It was not announced before, during, or after. Of course, MP3s are floating around the net and usenet. Yep, I got 'em.

I've been threatening for years to order some of Jandek's music. I've now done it. I sent a check to Corwood and I will soon be receiving CDs of every one of Jandek's 38 albums. I will post my reviews here.

I have also made the decision to start releasing my music to the public, but not under my own name. I will post information about the CDs and free MP3s when they are made available. ENJOY.

P.S. Happy five months, Judy. ;-)