Modern Dances

by

Jandek

Edit

So, you've reached the dusty corner of the Amazon universe where Jandek lives. This album is a good one to start with if you are new to his music. For most of these songs he is playing with a drummer, a second guitarist (?) and the singer known as Nancy. Sounds spontaneous and fun (and sometimes fun can be on short supply on Jandek albums). Nancy has a pretty good voice, kind of a cross between Grace Slick and Patsy Cline. The last 3 tunes are in the classic Jandek style--a weirdly tuned acoustic guitar openly strummed or picked without chords or notes played on the neck, and his unique vocals. The song "Carnival Queen" is typical "creepy" Jandek. So you get a good sampling of what he's like on this album.

People often pick Blue Corpse as their favorite Jandek album (it was released right after this one), but this is my choice for best (mind you I haven't heard all 38 of them).

If you do like this, you also might enjoy the late 60s garbage drug noise band The Godz (not to be confused with a heavy metal band with a similar name). Also check out the Jandek website, it's got LOTS of Jandek info, including lyrics to all the songs (which helps in some cases) and lots of reviews of all his albums.

Jandek isn't for everyone. See what you think. After 28 years of being a hermit and releasing these odd albums to a very small cult audience, Jandek is now playing live concert dates in Europe... and has a new live album...

I rate this 5 stars, but the star rating system is a bit useless for Jandek--his music isn't really something you can rate like that.

By the way, you can order Jandek albums directly from his company (Corwood) a bit cheaper than you can get them here... and no shipping fees.

This album was released by the prolific Jandek in 1987. The instrumentation for most of the album features Jandek on electric guitar backed by a drummer, but the last three songs features Jandek alone on acoustic guitar. The female vocalist know only as "Nancy" sings on several of the songs. This would be the last Jandek album she would appear on, marking the end of what some of Jandek's fans consider to be the "first period" of his recording career (although calling it a "career" implies that he made money at it, which is doubtful). As for what the album sounds like, it sounds like Jandek's typical brand of "Uneasy Listening". Most people will probably find the album to be unlistenable, but it's one of the most popular albums among his fans.