the of mirror eye

* Jandek: The Cell: Part One (12.5 mb) | The Cell: Part Two (9.0 mb)
From Glasgow Monday : Corwood Industries : Corwood 0785

After the horrible cancellation of last years Jandek performance in Chicago (look here), I never thought that I’d finally get a chance to see him. I almost convinced myself that all the documentation on the web and on recordings was all one big hoax. But soon, very soon, I shall hear him in all his glory. Almost a year to the date of the first cancellation, Jandek is coming back, or rather finally coming, to Chicago. And according to the website, he’s playing a special two hour opening set! Wahoo!!

If his other live documents are any indication, I seriously cannot wait for this. This will be a special event indeed. I mean, in his handful of performances to date, he’s played everything from noisefests to meditative piano compositions, from solo to group, from guitar to synthesizers. Jandek switches it up more than Weird Al.

Before I get totally ahead of myself, for those who don’t know, Jandek is an enigma who, for 26 years released albums of beautifully dissonant blues at a furious pace. He granted interviews maybe once or twice and never appeared in public. Until now. Well, he’s not giving interviews, but he is appearing in public, having played a handful of shows since 2004. No one knows why he’s playing the shows, but I think everyone’s glad that he’s doing them.

These tracks come from the third ever Jandek performance and have him playing an extended meditation entitled The Cell. Playing along with him are Richard Youngs (bowed upright bass) and Alexander Nielson (percussion). If you want, you can follow along with the lyrics right here.

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