Albuquerque's Weekly Alibi has an interesting review of a documentary about a reclusive singer-songwriter. Thought some of you might like to read it. Here's a paragraph, for the whole thing go to the above link. Many have speculated that Jandek may be mentally ill, a sociopath who simply can't deal with people or the world around him. A crazy shut-in who makes records instead of pipe bombs. But in listening to his music, one discovers what may be nothing more than a new species of singer-songwriter, an artist whose guitar is simply an extension of himself, whose raw emotions simply become lyrics, who makes his art as he hears it and for no set of ears but his own. Frankly, art doesn't get any purer than that. Most of his records sound melancholy, and there's a definite sense of isolation in Jandek's work, but the Jandek we hear on record is perhaps just one side of a very complex individual who may very well live just like the rest of us. As K Records founder Calvin Johnson puts it, "Just because someone chooses not to participate in mass media doesn't mean there is something wrong with that person."
|