[Jandek] how to 'do a jandek'?

[andy regan]

I think you misunderstood my post a little. The reason I mention Lady Gaga
is precisely to make the contrast between the way artists like her are
marketed and how jandek was marketed. Because Jandek clearly was marketed.
He sent his records to radio stations and people who he felt would spread
the word. he clearly never wanted to be famous or rich from doing it, but he
obviously wanted people to listen to his records and enjoy them. That he
succeeded in doing so (eventually) is testament to his faith in his art, and
his hard work.

The point I'm really making is that it's a different world now. When Jandek
sends his records to a radio station that record stays there in the archives
for someone to find. Sooner or later someone picks it up and thinks 'What on
earth is this?' - because lets face it the records look intriguing even if
you'd no idea what they were. There's no modern equivalent. There is just so
much music that any attempt at humility in how you promote yourself is, I
fear, pretty much doomed.

You couldn't just make a myspace page and hope people stumbled across it,
for example, because there are far too many other people with myspace pages
and how would anyone ever just happen upon it? Same if you decided to just
do what Jandek did and press up a record and send it out. I used to edit the
reviews section of my university magazine, we were a tiny magazine serving a
fairly small university and we were swamped with promotional cds. The next
jandek could've been in there and we would never have known.

I'd like to think there's a way for someone wishing to just get their
records out there but still remain humble and anonymous to do so these days.
I just don't know what it is.



On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 6:08 PM, jesus kenievel <knievelperu at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  Can there be another Jandek?
> Of course. In fact, I wish there were more.
> I have always seen Jandek not so much as a musician, but as a genre.
>
> In your blog post you talk about things like record companies and Lady
> Gaga.
> These things are so far from what Jandek is all about (as far as I'm
> concerned) that your post becomes incomprehensible.
>
> What is it that you want?  To make music or to become famous?  These are
> two very different things.
> I think that the aims of something like Lady Gaga and Jandek are much
> different.  Lady Gaga isn't an artist, she does not produce art, she creates
> a disposable product.
> I believe that in 100 years people will still be listening to Jandek, maybe
> even less than the number of people who do today, but someone will be.
> I doubt that Lady Gaga will be anything in 100 years, except maybe an
> example of our culture's obsession with instant gratification.
>
> The Rep just made his records and put them out there.  I have no evidence
> that he had any inclination to become a celebrity.
> There's no reason that someone else can't do the same thing.
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:33:33 +0100
> From: restlessboy at gmail.com
> To: jandek at mylist.net
> Subject: [Jandek] how to 'do a jandek'?
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> first post to the list - recent convert etc...
>
> Just wanted to share a blog I wrote just as I was first becoming interested
> in Jandek. It's less about his music, more about his approach to releasing
> it - and whether such a technique would be possible in this web 2.0
> information-overload age. I'd just post it right here but it's a bit long.
>
> Interested to hear any of your thoughts anyway....
>
> http://paganwandererlu.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/how-to-do-a-jandek/
>
> thanks,
>
> rb.x
>
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