Jandek

Jandek is the musical project of Sterling Smith, a Houston, Texas-based American lo-fi folk singer. 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". Jandek often plays an idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, frequently using an open and unconventional chord structure. AllMusic has described Jandek as "the most enigmatic figure in American music."

History

A review of the debut album Ready for the House in OP magazine, the first ever national press given to Jandek, referred to the artist as Sterling Smith. 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.
In a 1985 private phone conversation with John Trubee for Spin, Smith mentioned that he was working at that time as a machinist.
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 by an identically named Californian group already in possession of a trademark on the name. 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. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain discussed Jandek in a 1993 interview, stating "He's not pretentious, but only pretentious people like his music."
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. 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".
On October 17, 2004, at the Instal Festival in Glasgow, Scotland, an unannounced and unidentified act performed at the festival. This was later confirmed to be Jandek in his first live performance. Jandek has since made numerous live performances, usually unannounced in advance.

Discography

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

0739: Ready for the House
0740: Six and Six
0741: Later On
0742: Chair Beside a Window
0743: Living in a Moon So Blue
0744: Staring at the Cellophane
0745: Your Turn to Fall
0746: The Rocks Crumble
0747: Interstellar Discussion
0748: Nine-Thirty
0749: Foreign Keys
0750: Telegraph Melts
0751: Follow Your Footsteps
0752: Modern Dances
0753: Blue Corpse
0754: You Walk Alone
0755: On the Way
0756: The Living End
0757: Somebody in the Snow
0758: One Foot in the North
0759: Lost Cause
0760: Twelfth Apostle
0761: Graven Image
0762: Glad to Get Away
0763: White Box Requiem
0764: I Woke Up
0765: New Town
0766: The Beginning
0767: Put My Dream on This Planet
0768: This Narrow Road
0769: Worthless Recluse
0770: I Threw You Away
0771: The Humility of Pain
0772: The Place
0773: The Gone Wait
0774: Shadow of Leaves
0775: The End of It All
0776: The Door Behind
0777: A Kingdom He Likes
0778: When I Took That Train
0779: Glasgow Sunday
0780: Raining Down Diamonds
0781: Khartoum
0782: Khartoum Variations
0783: Newcastle Sunday 2CD
0784: What Else Does the Time Mean?
0785: Glasgow Monday 2CD
0786: Austin Sunday 2CD
0787: The Ruins of Adventure
0788: Manhattan Tuesday 2CD
0789: Brooklyn Wednesday 4CD
0790: The Myth of Blue Icicles
0791: Glasgow Friday
0792: Glasgow Sunday 2005
0793: London Tuesday
0794: Skirting the Edge
0795: Hasselt Saturday
0796: Helsinki Saturday
0797: Not Hunting For Meaning
0798: Portland Thursday 2CD
0799: What Was Out There Disappeared
0800: Camber Sands Sunday
0801: Bristol Wednesday 2CD
0802: Canticle of Castaway
0803: Toronto Sunday 2CD
0804: Chicago Wednesday 2CD
0805: Where Do You Go From Here?
0806: Seattle Friday 2CD
0807: Indianapolis Saturday 2CD / DVD
0808: Maze of the Phantom 2CD
0809: Atlanta Saturday 2CD
0810: Richmond Sunday 2CD
0811: The Song of Morgan 9CD
0812: Athens Saturday 2CD
0813: Houston Saturday CD / DVD
0814: Ghost Passing 6CD
0815: Houston Saturday 2011
0816: St. Louis Friday DVD / 2CD
0817: Brussels Saturday DVD / CD
0818: Houston Thursday DVD / CD
0819: Los Angeles Saturday DVD / CD
0820: Dublin Friday CD / DVD
0821: London Residency DVD / 6CD
0822: New Orleans Monday CD / DVD
0823: Austin Tuesday DVD / CD
0824: Dallas Thursday CD / DVD
0825: Houston Friday 2CD / DVD
0826: San Francisco Friday 2CD / DVD
0827: Hamman Hall 2CD / DVD
0828: Houston Tuesday 2CD / DVD
0829: Los Angeles Friday DVD / 2CD
0830: London Thursday 2CD
0831: Gainesville Monday DVD
0832: The Ray CD
0833: Austin Sunday 2007 CD / DVD
0834: Berlin Sunday DVD / CD
0835: Manhattan Saturday 3CD / DVD
0836: Boston Friday 2CD / DVD
0837: Montreal Sunday 2CD / DVD
0838: Fort Worth Saturday 2CD / DVD
0839: Rudyard's DVD / CD
0840: Grinnell Saturday 2CD
0841: Amsterdam Saturday CD
0842: Aarhus Sunday 2CD
0843: San Francisco Saturday 2CD / DVD
0844: Austin Saturday CD
0845: Philadelphia Saturday 2CD / DVD
0846: Ann Arbor Saturday 2CD
0847: London Sunday 2CD / DVD
0848: London Monday CD
0849: Denver Friday DVD / 2CD
0850: Columbus Friday 2CD
0851: The Mountain Step CD
0852: Porto Saturday 2CD
0853: Chapel Hill Sunday 2CD / DVD
0854: Motion Energy 2CD
0855: Manhattan Thursday 2CD
0856: Diverseworks 2CD / DVD
0857: Northern Ireland July 5CD / 1DVD
0858: The Wizards Hour CD
0859: Brooklyn Sunday 2CD
0860: Tilburg Saturday CD
0862: Vienna Wednesday 2CD
0863: Nashville Friday 2CD
0864: Vision of Jewels CD
0865: Baltimore Saturday 2CD
0866: Vancouver Monday 2CD
0867: Victoria Wednesday 2CD
0868: Three Movements CD
0870: Portland Thursday 2CD
0871: Detroit Friday DVD
0873: Mankato Saturday 2CD