[Jandek] Village Voice review

[Christopher tm]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 13:40:59 +0100, Paul Condon <paulgcondon at gmail.com> wrote:
> A rather addled and confused (in my opinion) review of A Kingdom He
> Likes: http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0510,john,61827,22.html

"But as the man starts coming out of the closet more and more, his
music must now distinguish him from any other sad-sack
singer-songwriter out there. And the stream-of-consciousness DIY
folk-blues in this kingdom cannot retain interest much longer." is
pretty much a non sequitur, no?

I maintain that you either enjoy Jandek's work as it appears on the
surface - for what it is - and not for some pseudo-mystery about the
whos and the whys, or you do not.

Jandek defies deconstruction since, as you take it (him or his body of
work) apart, it dissipates - there is no Man Behind The Curtain with a
wink and a smirk, but only Sterling Smith and his eight-dollar guitar.

Chusid (and many others) love Jandek because they think he's awful.
Which is kind of a one-shot joke; like laughing at the kid with the
club foot - you may be able to get away with it for a minute, but you
should probably feel bad about it later. Me, I find Jandek's work
haunting... Often beautiful, frequently difficult, but always fun -
let's capitalize that: FUN.

If his music now somehow does not distinguish itself from that of
other singer songwriters, you must not be listening; the man clearly
has found His Voice. And, frankly, 20-odd years later, I still can't
wit to see what comes next.

Maybe there's something wrong with _me_. Yeah, that must be it.
-- 
Christopher™

You remember that mouse they grew a human ear on?

I found an ear the other day. I'm gonna try and grow me a mouse.