Various Artists
Naked in the Afternoon: A Tribute to Jandek
[Summersteps]
Rating: 5.5
In the suburban neighborhood of independent music, Jandek is the subject of
Tom Waits' "What's He Building?"-- the guy in the shuttered, run-down house
at the far end of the street that no one ever sees, let alone talks to.
But every now and then, you can catch a fleeting half-glimpse of him passing
by a window, or hear strange, sad noises emanating from the house late at
night. It's not that he's scary or creepy or anything, he just keeps to
himself a lot. All the time, actually.
Composer of some 28 (!) albums since 1978-- all released on what one assumes
is his own Corwood Industries label-- nobody really knows anything about Jandek
beyond his records. He's obscurity personified, and as such, quite a cult has
sprung up around his artistic vision. But while his influence on other musicians
is negligible at best, the music community holds him in an odd sort of esteem;
hence, Naked in the Afternoon, a wide-ranging assortment of Jandek covers
that certainly captures his particular charms and even sometimes manages to be
listenable.
As with most small-label "tribute albums" or compilations, Naked in the
Afternoon functions as a vehicle for exposure of artists on the hitherto
unknown Summersteps label. In fact, there are only a few recognizable names on
the track listing, so chances are that you're not going to be too interested
in this album for the people that play on it. And since the selections cover
such a wide range of Jandek's catalog, it's doubtful that any listener has
heard even half the originals, so you're probably not going to listen to this
album to see how the artists interpret individual songs. But Naked in the
Afternoon still does a pretty good job of acting as a fractured prism
through which one may get a glimpse of Jandek from the point of view of his
musical peers.
Most of the musicians on Naked in the Afternoon begin with Jandek's
sparse aesthetic-- poorly tuned, clumsily played acoustic guitar, low moaning
vocals, a general eerie-basement-netherworld atmosphere-- and combine it with
their own sound. Retsin's folky but still mildly dissonant "New Town" and Low's
spooky floating-tone "Carnival Queen" complement Jandek's stark uneasiness
quite well. Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't (featuring Will Cullen Hart of
Olivia Tremor Control) are less successful, sticking a Jandek stand-in in front
of OTC-like weird noisy overdubs. Some people focus on bringing out the songs'
melodic sides; Kid Icarus turns "She Fell Down" into a sorrowful slice of lo-fi
bedroom pop, and Ivory Elephant's quiet, mournful acoustic picking turns "Nancy
Sings" into a genuinely pretty moment.
Some of the other tracks on Naked in the Afternoon take an experimental
tack, with wildly varying results. Dapper (featuring Thurston Moore) leans
toward the less enjoyable dissonant-noise side of Jandek, with four minutes
of annoying clanging and banging that barely masks their ironic snickering.
Bright Eyes, evidently taking the "tribute to Jandek" angle a bit too
seriously, contributes not a Jandek cover but a pretty lousy sound-collage
piece wherein disembodied voices attempt to explain the Jandek phenomenon.
More successful are the predominantly ambient tracks, particularly Amy Denio's
"Your Condition," her ethereal vocals hovering over a bed of
industrial-sounding noise loops.
Finally, there are the tracks which sound nothing like Jandek whatsoever. Peter
Weiss and Brian Charles do a rockabilly version of "Quinn Boys II," the Early
Morning Initials turn "Remain the Same" into subdued two-tone ska, and the
Goblins turn in a primitive garage-rock version of "War Dance."
So, no one's doubting that this compilation boasts diversity. Still, as a whole,
Naked in the Afternoon doesn't rise above the level of "vaguely appealing
curiosity," even if those unfamiliar with Jandek may find it to be an unusual
but nonetheless effective introduction to his music.
-Nick Mirov