Jandek

On Tour

11,303 listeners (220,307 plays)

experimental, folk, outsider, singer-songwriter, freak folk… see all

Houston, United States

Jandek is a musician, presumably from Houston, Texas. Since 1978, he has self-released 55 albums of unusual, often emotionally dissolute folk and blues songs without ever granting a real interview or providing any biographical information.

Jandek plays a very strange and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, often using an open and unconventional chord structure. Jandek’s music is unique, but his lyrics closely mirror the country blues and folk traditions of Eastern Texas.

Barely a handful of people claim to have contacted Jandek, whose steadfastness in anonymity is legendary. Without any conventional attempts at promotion, he releases albums through his own record label Corwood Industries, which is addressed at a Houston post office box. Fans can write to Corwood for a typewritten catalogue and order Jandek’s albums, usually at inexpensive prices. Jandek’s work has been available on vinyl and on compact discs. Many of his albums feature pictures of the same young man (seen above) at various ages; in light of Jandek’s live performances it is almost entirely certain that the person featured on the album covers is Jandek himself.

Jandek’s first album, Ready for the House (1978), was first accredited to a band called “The Units” but it was obviously a solo work. Jandek presumably plays acoustic guitar and has recorded much of his work apparently unaccompanied (assuming that the person singing is also the person playing guitar). However many other songs feature female vocals and/or different male vocalists.

1	They Told Me I Was a Fool	45
2	European Jewel	31
3	Nancy Sings	27
4	Naked in the Afternoon	26
5	Show Me the Way, O Lord	23
5	I Passed by the Building	23
7	They Told Me About You	22
8	What Can I Say, What Can I Sing	21
8	Know Thy Self	21
10	Cave in on You	18
11	I Ain't Got None	16
11	Mostly All From You	16
11	Down in a Mirror	16
11	Poor Boy	16
15	No Break	15

Top Albums

Ready for the House
Jandek
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Chair Beside a Window
Jandek
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Glad to Get Away
Jandek
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Graven Image
Jandek
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Indyalanjones1 wrote:
Wednesday morning

Nancykitten-Try some of Smogs earlier stuff, you can hear the resemblancea better. But I think i like the mystery of Jandek more than i like the music.

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Grindfucked wrote:
11 days ago

unique and honest music... like this alottttt

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Shichman wrote:
13 days ago

I really like this guy... I was so mad when i was in aspen for his last NYC show, my friends went... Some really good albums. By the way, if you all have a chance check out my music, i'm influenced by Folk, Jazz and Electronic music, its something a big different.. http://www.last.fm/music/Dave+Shichman :)

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nancykitten wrote:
14 days ago

I love Smog, but funny to see him as a similar artist (I know it's calculated byt listeners, but either way).

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[deleted-user] wrote:
17 days ago

this is too mainstream for me
Yonder wrote:
20 days ago

Similar artists on this site are calculated by how many people listen to one thing as well as another. It doesn't really have anything to do with actual "similarities" between the artists themselves.

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TheDeek wrote:
23 days ago

LOL@iamnotThou. So true...

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iamnotThou wrote:
25 days ago

I think last.fm needs to give up on the 'similiar artists' with this one.

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corwood wrote:
25 days ago

my ready for the house vinyl arrived this weekend. whahey.

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rapeniggger wrote:
last month

If my calculations are correct, the Jandek discography now costs US $262 if ordered all at once. I think I may buy it next month, even if I'll have dupes in my collection.

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esperikglare wrote:
last month

jandek kicked some major ass in denver last nigh!

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utopiantheorist wrote:
last month

Thank you nancykitten. That made me chuckle.

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nancykitten wrote:
last month

They asked Jandek if they could upload clips but he lives in a wooden hut and has never heard of the internet. Alas!

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[deleted-user] wrote:
last month

Take it eeeeeaaasyyy
adamcooleyisdea wrote:
last month

"The other ones were giving me eye-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees,,, it seemed I liked all of theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem..."

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[deleted-user] wrote:
last month

No one dares to listen to them
batreleaser wrote:
last month

why the fuck is there no full tracks on this page?

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corwood wrote:
last month

i went outside.

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[deleted-user] wrote:
last month

Graven Image is amazingly good!!!
PMSingGremlin wrote:
last month

I love how someone is asking for an accessible album when You Walk Alone has already been mentioned a billion times in this shoutbox.

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