[Jandek] What else is out there?

[Glenn Becker]

Frank -

> Jandek is the only remotely avant-garde or experimental or obscure 
> recording artist I listen to. I absolutely hate most of that umbrella of 
> music because it seems to be done primarily for the sake of "being 
> challenging", and I don't respect the idea of "art for art's sake" 
> outside of it being a mere curiosity, something to listen to once and 
> say, "well, that was different."

I'm further toward the 'weird' pole than you, I guess, so it's interesting 
to read this. Interesting too how people with different tastes and 
experiences can meet under the "Jandek umbrella." Heh.

For myself I find the actual "work" of accessing difficult stuff to be 
enjoyable and more often than not rewarding. Of course there /are/ "weird 
for weird's sake/ acts/people/whatever out there, but I'd argue that their 
shallowness shows itself pretty quickly.

I remember reading about Captain Beefheart's _Trout Mask Replica_ record 
back in my 20s and thinking "hmm - sounds challenging! must hear it!" When 
I first put it on the turntable all I could hear was unstructured noise 
and some yelling. But I returned to it a few times and, ultimately, got 
comfortable (well, less /un/comfortable) with something that had a 
profound effect on my, uh, ability to hear. My roommate at the time 
/still/ begged me to take it off whenever I put it on! :^)

That's just one example. I've experienced many others, and had a good 
time.

Note, I'm not trying to change your mind, just relating something from my 
own experience.

As I've written before Jandek made perfect sense to me the first time I 
heard him.

Glenn

+-----------------------------------------------------+
Dr. Glenn Becker - burningc at sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org
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