Jandek covers...

The good folk of Summer Step Records have been doing the painstaking work of translating the untranslatable. They recently released the their second album of Jandek covers. For those of you that don't know about Jandek I direct you Jandek. The word recluse doesn't even begin to describe the mystery Jandek. Words are barely worth a toss in trying to describe the music that he makes. It's bizarre often unlistenable, strangley capitivating, always confusing. As a good friend of mine said to me, I don't necessarily like the music that Jandek makes, I like the moods and the atmosphere he creates. Add a healthy dose of legend, a near reverence in snotty indie/underground music circles, and fans from just about every note worthy "alt" band you can think of in the last 20 years and you've got the stuff that a good compilation is made of.

Summer Step Records 2nd tribute to Jandek, entitled Down In A Mirror has everyone from Jeff Tweedy to Six Organs of Admittance to The Mountain Goats to Rivulets to Pothole Skinny covering the myths songs. You don't necessarily need a love or even deep knowledge of Jandek to appreciate these songs, but they can serve as a great jumping off point. Also if you're so inclined check out the Jandek documentary Jandek On Corwood which is in and of itself a pretty darn cool movie.

Here's Okkervil River covering the Jandek song "Your Other Man" from the album Blue Corpse:

Your Other Man by Okkervil River