DAY 17 - COLLEGE
"We can't deny there are spirits in this house."
Jandek -
Chair Beside a Window.
Okay, I'm sorta cheating a little.
In college, I lived at home and commuted. I would hardly call that the college experience. During this time, I was a jazz major and my tastes evolved more heavily into Blue Note, Impulse, and ECM... but I was also increasingly into "emo," "post-hardcore," and then later hardcore and crust musics.
Grad school was different. I uprooted for the first time and moved from Connecticut to Texas to attend UNT for jazz studies and ethnomusicology.
You know what ends up happening when you decipher, decode, translate, meditate on one thing too long? You begin looking for something the complete opposite to squeegee your brain. Which is exactly how I got into experimental music and noise.
I went overboard with Arab On Radar.
I went overboard with Lightning Bolt.
I ate up The Shaggs and The Boredoms.
I became a Half Japanese aficionado.
I listened to
Metal Machine Music and the
Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music compilations for enjoyment.
JANDEK, though, this shit was a game-changer.
It's real easy to identify this music has having a lot of influence from blues and folk but................ well, that's very simplistic. It's also easy to write it off as having no redeeming value, BUT I submit this fact: Jandek wrote several novels that were rejected or otherwise unpublished and it SHOWS in his lyrics.
This is music for people who need to not think about music.
This is music for people who need sound.
This is music for people who believe the first time is the best time.
I currently own about 40 Jandek releases, though only 3 on vinyl, those three being the reissues from about 10 years ago. I dream of owning some more.
