Jandek at Issue Project Room
Brooklyn, New York
September 7, 2005
I saw Jandek. He is real. He wore all black with his shirt tucked into weird slacks with a hat, sort of like an odd Houston nightclub look from the ’80s, maybe even ’70s. He looked very old and way skinny, but into playing music. He kinda sounded like Jandek, luckily, and Bat Chain Puller-era Captain Beefheart with Harry Partch on vocals reading a suicide letter, and hints of Sonic Youth-isms. Jandek’s voice was kinda wavering and strange. He never spoke, except when he sang. He would just start playing and it would sound like someone starting up their car–kinda sketchy at first, then he would warm up and usually it would build and sound cool. There were a few duds, but mostly it was good. I liked the performance, but it was monotonous and fairly one-dimensional dirge. Still, it was mysterious and cool somehow.
The bass player, Matt Heyner, is in No Neck, and Chris Corsano was killing it on drums. He is good. Speaking of SY, I saw Lee Ranaldo in the crowd; and the venue, a silo, was rad. There were maybe 100 people or less in the audience at the 7:30 p.m. show, which was the first of two. Jandek supposedly didn’t play guitar at the Anthology show, he played keyboards. I was glad to see him play the guitar, although it was kind of a lame one. He strummed it really differently and kinda rubbed back and forth on it. His tone was super outsider and self-taught. I took some photos, even though they said not to. They even threatened to throw you out if they saw you, but I did anyway. The shots are blurry, but I kinda like them. They are mysterious, like him.–Rich Jacobs
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