Funky Jandek

[Dan Warburton]

He was more interesting when nobody knew what he looked like. Short of dying, disappearing is about the best thing artists can do. Worked wonders for Thomas Pynchon.

[mudd]

he's been appearing on album covers since the early 80s. i don't think knowing what he looked like was really any sort of big change.

this much scrutiny isn't good for any artist, though. it's the interest which is killing the art.

m

[Dan Warburton]

We now know what Thomas Pynchon looks like, too

[nhennies]

it's the interest which is killing the art.

Either the interest... or the hott phunk jamz.

[NotReallyDamo]

Maybe he just wants to get laid.

The only person dancing like the girls in that video when I saw him in Glasgow was David Keenan...

[SethTisue]

for y'all who are not aboard the party train (personally I'd rather walk), for recent live stuff, I suggest discs 1 & 2 of Brooklyn Wednesday (with Heyner and Corsano), or London Tuesday (acoustic, solo). and if you haven't heard them yet, the sublime Six and Six and Later On (released 1981, recorded ???).

[anal staircase]

Hell, just get his whole discography! They're all great!

[grisha]

it's not even funky.

[mudd]

so jandek performed in houston again last night. if that show was his most accessible, this might have been among his least.

first of all, jandek himself was on lap electric bass. with him there was one guy on guitar & synth, a bass clarinetist, and then two percussionist. one had a set of gongs, cymbals, and other gear. the other had a rack with several sets of chimes. no voice microphone, entirely freely improvised. noting from the getgo that gongs and chimes are really not very promising instruments from an improv perspective, i have to say i was pretty pleased with the final results.

which began with 30 minutes or so that will rank comfortably within the list of worst improv i have ever seen. meandering, disjointed, with the percussion dominating the sound space completely most of the time. i cringed on a number of occasions. none of the players are bad, not by any means. but it's a big stage and they don't have any level of communication going on, just every man (and woman) for their self.

and then the gong player takes mallets to a cymbal lying on the ground and starts beating out a rhythm. the chime guy brings his sticks to the frame to find a complimentary pattern, and soon everyone is locking in and they are marching forward in an intense, tight pattern with a measure of focus i hadn't thought them capable of. the guitar is looping and tight, the bass clarinet is accenting just on time, and jandeks bass is loose and bubbly but manages to surround the rhythm just right. and then it starts to slow, starts to get quiet, and wraps into what might be a perfect ending...

but the chime player just forgets to stop, i guess. maybe he was promised a solo. anyway, he carries on alone for a couple of minutes and then eventually the others rejoin, somewhat hesitantly. maybe with embarrassment? soon enough we've return to the terrible improv, with bash and ping and meh. at this point i'm wishing death and daggers upon the chime player. this time the guitarist and jandek himself save the day, locking into another rhythmic line that eventually draws all the players together into another somewhat lesser but still quite powerful groove. this time jandek takes charge of the ending himself, slowly drawing the piece to an end with moans of bass.

so i was struggling to describe what sort of improvisation this could fit in with, and it occurred to me that i'd seen just this sort of pattern before. the same meandering sonic junk that slowly coalesces into something intense and thrilling. last time i saw it, it came from the no neck blues band.

m

[Dan Warburton]

Doesn't sound very funky to me..

[mudd]

no, i would describe the second performance as 100% funk-free.

not to be mistaken for free funk. and it wasn't worth another thread, either way.

m

[jcg]

the same meandering sonic junk that slowly coalesces into something intense and thrilling. last time i saw it, it came from the no neck blues band.

m

Funny as I'm just coming back from a No Neck Blues Band show myself - they're currently touring Western Europe. I hadn't seen them before but, now, I could totally use your own sentence to describe their performance that "will rank comfortably within the list of worst improv i have ever seen". Truly unbearable bunch of self-conscious hipsters that sound just fake when they roll over wasted synths, use some fucking giant styrofoam flamingo to smash drums, pretend to be the AEoC and Sun Ra's Arkestra combined with some ethnic percussions they found in a Williamsburg's thrift store and this guy with hat, round sunglasses and a yard-long beard who thinks he looks like Steven Stapleton, especially when he puts a fishing net on his face. Past the first 5 minutes of "what the fuck are they doing", the rest was just pure embarrassment that NEVER reached the "intense" or thrilling" peak you're referring to. The exact opposite of a band like Volcano The Bear who manage to be totally inscrutable, yet musically inviting and powerful and a lot of fun on top of that. The difference? Dunno, sincerity maybe. Sorry for derailing a bit more this motherfucking Jandek thread but now I feel better…

[mudd]

yeah, i've seen nnck maybe four times now, and only once or twice did it come together into anything awesome. the rest of the time it can go pretty nowhere.

i personally wouldn't talk shit about keith's beard, though. easily the best thing about that band.

m

[Dan Warburton]

Now there's a good subject for your next PT article, Jean-Claude
Still toying with the idea of going to see NNCK this Wednesday (well, more to see Weasel and pals, actually), but the Instants Chavirés will be full to bursting and it's a pretty miserable place when you can't see the musicians from the bar..
Sorry to derail thread heh heh

[jcg]

keith's beard (...) easily the best thing about that band.

Agreed!

[jcg]

Still toying with the idea of going to see NNCK this Wednesday (well, more to see Weasel and pals, actually), but the Instants Chavirés will be full to bursting and it's a pretty miserable place when you can't see the musicians from the bar..
Sorry to derail thread heh heh

Well yes, Weasel Walter is playing with Peter Evans (love him) who can certainly do no wrong. I'm going to see WW tonight, he's playing in a trio with Mario Rechtern anf Frank Garcia (don't know any of them). This thread should now officially be renamed "recommendation to avoid going to a bad gig".

[jon abbey]

I used to see NNCK a lot back in the day, and they did almost always have one stretch of unique transcendence per show (surrounded by a lot of forgettable stuff). more than once I thought 'this is the closest I'll ever come to seeing Tago Mago-era Can live", and there's not many higher compliments in my book.

that was more than ten years ago, though, and it wouldn't surprise me if 1) they were much worse now and 2) their live set worked much better in their home city than it does touring elsewhere.

[jcg]

I used to see NNCK a lot back in the day, and they did almost always have one stretch of unique transcendence per show (surrounded by a lot of forgettable stuff). more than once I thought 'this is the closest I'll ever come to seeing Tago Mago-era Can live", and there's not many higher compliments in my book.

Sure I'm judging them on one single show so they might have done something in the past... Still when you say "back in the day", it's probably early to mid-90's. Now is getting close to the sound and/or attitude of Can (circa 1971) two decades later really an accomplishment? And for the record I'm a great fan of Tago Mago.

[RFKorp]

Well yes, Weasel Walter is playing with Peter Evans (love him) who can certainly do no wrong.

yeah. they're an excellent duo. only better in trio with Mary Halvorson. Very worth seeing.

[jon abbey]

Sure I'm judging them on one single show so they might have done something in the past... Still when you say "back in the day", it's probably early to mid-90's.

yes, I said more than ten years ago, that's the right time period (mid-nineties, I think). they had a couple of years before I became aware of them where they were supposedly pretty dreadful.

Now is getting close to the sound and/or attitude of Can (circa 1971) two decades later really an accomplishment? And for the record I'm a great fan of Tago Mago.

I mean, it was pretty damn exciting at the time, for me anyway. the fact that there was a band like that in NYC that I could actually see, that sounded like Limbus or Amon Duul or occasionally peak-era Can, and that was thoroughly unpredictable, that was quite exciting to me at the time. would I care now? I haven't gone to see them for probably 10 years, so that pretty much answers that.