Jandek

Jandek is the musical alias of Houston, Texas based lo-fi folk singer Sterling Smith. Since 1978, Jandek has independently released over 45 albums without granting interviews or providing any biographical information, releasing on a self-made label "Corwood Industries". Jandek often plays a highly idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, frequently using an open and unconventional chord structure. Allmusic has described him as "the most enigmatic figure in American music".

History
A review of the debut album Ready for the House (1978) in OP magazine, the first ever national press given to Jandek, referred to the artist as Sterling Smith. Smith has kept his personal history secret, revealing only one story about his pre-Corwood years: he wrote seven novels but burned them upon rejection from New York publishers.

In a 1985 interview with John Trubee for Spin, Smith mentioned that he was working at that time as a machinist. Only a year later, Smith became reclusive and no longer gave interviews.

Jandek's first album, Ready for the House, though a solo work, was originally credited to a band called The Units. Smith was forced to change the name The Units by an identically named Californian group already in possession of a trademark on the name. All reissues of this first album and all subsequent Corwood releases have been credited to "Jandek". In Trubee's interview, Smith claims he came up with the name Jandek while on the telephone with a person named Decker during the month of January. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain discussed Jandek in a 1993 interview, stating "He's not pretentious, but only pretentious people like his music.

In 1999, Texas Monthly reporter Katy Vine interviewed a man she believed to be Jandek, though he refused to identify himself, and although familiar with Jandek's music, refused to discuss it. In 2003, filmmaker Chad Freidrichs released a documentary "Jandek on Corwood", it contained no interviews but was put together with "a representative of Corwood Industries".

On October 17, 2004, at Glasgow, Scotland's Instal Festival, an unannounced and unidentified act (playing alongside bassist Richard Youngs and drummer Alex Neilson) performed at the festival. This was later confirmed to be Jandek in his first live performance. Jandek has since made numerous live performances, usually unannounced in advance.

Discography
This is the discography of Corwood Industries; the record company releases only albums by Jandek.


 * 0739: Ready for the House (1978)
 * 0740: Six and Six (1981)
 * 0741: Later On (1981)
 * 0742: Chair Beside a Window (1982)
 * 0743: Living in a Moon So Blue (1982)
 * 0744: Staring at the Cellophane (1982)
 * 0745: Your Turn to Fall (1983)
 * 0746: The Rocks Crumble (1983)
 * 0747: Interstellar Discussion (1984)
 * 0748: Nine-Thirty (1985)
 * 0749: Foreign Keys (1985)
 * 0750: Telegraph Melts (1986)
 * 0751: Follow Your Footsteps (1986)
 * 0752: Modern Dances (1987)
 * 0753: Blue Corpse (1987)
 * 0754: You Walk Alone (1988)
 * 0755: On the Way (1988)
 * 0756: The Living End (1989)
 * 0757: Somebody in the Snow (1990)
 * 0758: One Foot in the North (1991)
 * 0759: Lost Cause (1992)
 * 0760: Twelfth Apostle (1993)
 * 0761: Graven Image (1994)
 * 0762: Glad to Get Away (1994)
 * 0763: White Box Requiem (1996)
 * 0764: I Woke Up (1997)
 * 0765: New Town (1998)
 * 0766: The Beginning (1999)
 * 0767: Put My Dream on This Planet (2000)
 * 0768: This Narrow Road (2001)
 * 0769: Worthless Recluse (2001)
 * 0770: I Threw You Away (2002)
 * 0771: The Humility of Pain (2002)
 * 0772: The Place (2003)
 * 0773: The Gone Wait (2003)
 * 0774: Shadow of Leaves (2004)
 * 0775: The End of It All (2004)
 * 0776: The Door Behind (2004)
 * 0777: A Kingdom He Likes (2004)
 * 0778: When I Took That Train (2005)
 * 0779: Glasgow Sunday (2005) (rec. 10/17/04)
 * 0780: Raining Down Diamonds (2005)
 * 0781: Khartoum (2005)
 * 0782: Khartoum Variations (2006)
 * 0783: Newcastle Sunday (2006) 2CD (rec. 05/22/05)
 * 0784: What Else Does The Time Mean? (2006)
 * 0785: Glasgow Monday (2006) 2CD (rec. 05/23/05)
 * 0786: Austin Sunday (2006) 2CD (rec. 08/28/05)
 * 0787: The Ruins of Adventure (2006)
 * 0788: Manhattan Tuesday (2007) 2CD (rec. 09/06/05)
 * 0789: Brooklyn Wednesday (2007) 4CD (rec. 09/07/05)
 * 0790: The Myth of Blue Icicles (2008)
 * 0791: Glasgow Friday (2008) (rec. 10/14/05)
 * 0792: Glasgow Sunday 2005 (2008) (rec. 10/16/05)
 * 0793: London Tuesday (2008) (rec. 10/18/05)
 * 0794: Skirting the Edge (2008)
 * 0795: Hasselt Saturday (2009) (rec. 11/12/05)
 * 0796: Helsinki Saturday (2009) (rec. 11/19/05)
 * 0797: Not Hunting For Meaning (2009)
 * 0798: Portland Thursday (2009) 2CD (rec. 04/20/06)
 * 0799: What Was Out There Disappeared (2009)
 * 0800: Camber Sands Sunday (2009) (rec. 05/14/06)
 * 0801: Bristol Wednesday (2010) 2CD (rec. 05/17/06)
 * 0802: Canticle of Castaway (2010)
 * 0803: Toronto Sunday (2010) 2CD (rec. 09/17/06)
 * 0804: Chicago Wednesday (2010) 2CD (rec. 09/20/06)
 * 0805: Where Do You Go From Here? (2011)
 * 0806: Seattle Friday (2011) 2CD (rec. 10/27/06)
 * 0807: Indianapolis Saturday (2012) 2CD (rec. 12/09/06)
 * 0808: Maze of the Phantom (2012) 2CD
 * 0809: Atlanta Saturday (2012) 2CD (rec. 02/17/07)
 * 0810: Richmond Sunday (2012) 2CD (rec. 03/11/07)
 * 0811: The Song of Morgan (2013) 9CD
 * 0812: Athens Saturday (2013) 2CD (rec. 07/28/12)
 * 0813: Houston Saturday (2014) (rec. 06/01/13)
 * 0814: Ghost Passing (2014) 6CD (rec. 02/14/2009)
 * 0815: Houston Saturday 2011 (2014) (rec. 12/17/11)
 * 0816: St. Louis Friday (2015) DVD / (2015) 2CD (rec. 03/21/14)
 * 0817: Brussels Saturday (2015) DVD / (2015) CD (rec. 04/19/14)
 * 0818: Houston Thursday (2015) DVD / (2016) CD (rec. 07/12/12)
 * 0819: Los Angeles Saturday (2015) DVD / (2021) CD (rec. 05/24/14)
 * 0820: Dublin Friday (2016) CD / (2017) DVD (rec. 06/13/08)
 * 0821: London Residency (2017) DVD / (2017) 6CD (rec. 02/14-16/14)
 * 0822: New Orleans Monday (2016) CD / (2017) DVD (rec. 03/16/09)
 * 0823: Austin Tuesday (2017) DVD / (2017) CD (rec. 02/16/16)
 * 0824: Dallas Thursday (2017) CD / (2017) DVD (rec. 05/19/16)
 * 0825: Houston Friday (2017) 2CD / (2017) DVD (rec. 01/06/17)
 * 0826: San Francisco Friday (2018) 2CD / (2018) DVD (rec. 10/09/15)
 * 0827: Hamman Hall (2018) 2CD / (2018) DVD (rec. 04/21/17)
 * 0828: Houston Tuesday (2018) 2CD / (2018) DVD (rec. 10/20/15)
 * 0829: Los Angeles Friday (2018) DVD / (2018) 2CD (rec. 08/05/16)
 * 0830: London Thursday (2018) 2CD (rec. 04/04/13)
 * 0831: Gainesville Monday (2019) DVD (Rec. 12/01/08)
 * 0832: The Ray (2019) CD
 * 0833: Austin Sunday 2007 (2019) CD / (2019) DVD (rec. 03/17/07)
 * 0834: Berlin Sunday (2020) DVD / (2020) CD (rec. 11/12/17)
 * 0835: Manhattan Saturday (2020) 3CD / (2020) DVD (rec. 04/14/07)
 * 0836: Boston Friday (2020) 2CD / (2022) DVD (rec. 06/08/07)
 * 0837: Montreal Sunday (2020) 2CD / (2020) DVD (rec. 06/24/07)
 * 0838: Fort Worth Saturday (2020) 2CD / (2020) DVD (rec. 07/21/07)
 * 0839: Rudyard's (2020) DVD / (2020) CD (rec. 04/05/09)
 * 0840: Grinnell Saturday (2020) 2CD (rec. 10/06/07)
 * 0841: Amsterdam Saturday (2020) CD (rec. 11/10/07)
 * 0842: Aarhus Sunday (2020) 2CD (rec. 11/11/07)
 * 0843: San Francisco Saturday (2020) 2CD / (2021) DVD (rec. 01/12/08)
 * 0844: Austin Saturday (2021) CD (rec. 03/15/08)
 * 0845: Philadelphia Saturday (2021) 2CD / (2021) DVD (rec. 04/12/08)
 * 0846: Ann Arbor Saturday (2021) 2CD (rec. 05/17/08)
 * 0847: London Sunday (2021) 2CD / (2021) DVD (rec. 06/15/08)
 * 0848: London Monday (2021) CD (rec. 06/16/08)
 * 0849: Denver Friday (2021) DVD / (2021) 2CD (rec. 07/25/08)
 * 0850: Columbus Friday (2021) 2CD (rec. 10/10/08)
 * 0851: The Mountain Step (2021) CD
 * 0852: Porto Saturday (2021) 2CD (rec. 01/10/09)
 * 0853: Chapel Hill Sunday (2022) 2CD (rec. 02/22/09)
 * 0854: Motion Energy (2021) 2CD
 * 0855: Manhattan Thursday (2022) 2CD (rec. 04/23/09)
 * 0856: Diverseworks (2022) 2CD (rec. 05/03/09)
 * 0860: Tilburg Saturday (2022) CD (rec. 09/19/09)