ADVENTURES IN ALBUM ART: "Uncovering" Jandek?
Though the Jandek project has produced 54 albums of various styles (blues, jazz, folk and rock), since 1978, it is still the most mysterious project on the planet. Sometimes the music is unstructured and frantic and sometimes it’s accessible and cohesive. On some of these records, the familiar singer is alone with his guitar, while on others he is accompanied by a full band. Up until 2004 he had never played a live show and had rarely given interviews. There was just the music, distributed solely from The Corwood Industries PO Box. Seth Tisue of the Guide to Jandek website “explains” it as such: “Officially, Jandek is not a person. Albums and live performances are credited to “Jandek”, but the man on the album covers and on stage is “a representative from Corwood Industries”. Corwood is the record label; “Jandek” is the musical project. Both are directed by the same individual. The trinity of Jandek, Corwood, and “the representative” is both three and one.” Confused? Understandably. There really is no true explanation…
Now when it comes to Jandek’s album covers, they are photographic, singular, and often fuzzy featuring images of: “Jandek” himself, the outside of his house, furniture, instruments or distant landscapes. Throughout the years, the covers, those which feature the image of “the representative”, create a candid, skewed timeline of a man’s life. But the question still remains…who’s life is it? Do these cryptic covers hold the secrets to Jandek’s true identity?
>>See all the album covers here.
