Glasgow Sunday is a major Jandek release for a host of reasons. Specifically, it's a recording of the first ever Jandek live performance that took place unannounced on the second night of the Instal festival in Glasgow, Scotland on October 17th, 2004, when the man also known as Houston resident Sterling R. Smith made the first public appearance of his 26 year recording career, simultaneously quashing three decades worth of speculation while inspiring a whole bunch more. But the main thing that makes Glasgow Sunday such an important document has less to do with how it relates to Smith's personal mythos and more to do with how it inaugurates a group that already looks to be one of the most formally inventive units of the modern age. Between them, the trio of Smith on guitar and vocals, bassist Richard Youngs and drummer Alex Neilson have birthed a free music with an internal dynamic and shared musical language as singular and historically unparalleled as late-20th Century behemoths like Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity trio, Keiji Haino's Fushitsusha, Harry Pussy and Musica Transonic. Crucially, Glasgow Sunday is a group record. Although the actual circumstances of how the group came together are necessarily vague, it looks like Youngs and Neilson were recommended to Smith rather than requested by him. The first time they ever played together was actually earlier on the same day of the concert. But you'd never know it from the recordings. What this official recording reinforces - even more so than on the widely circulated bootleg and on the actual night itself - is that the terms of their musical relationship were sealed the instant they began to play. Smith's current guitar form is most immediately related to the series of recordings he made between 1982 and 1987, a run of wild, electric sides initiated by Chair Beside A Window and terminated by Blue Corpse that occasionally featured still-unidentified collaborators like vocalist “Nancy” and drummer “John” and were characterised by bouts of ferocious atonal guitar. But here he digs deeper and harder into the magic confluence of overtones encouraged by the more esoteric open tunings. His chords sound like they're augmented with barbed wire and his soloing - of which there's plenty - is somewhere between Keiji Haino's dense, clean guitar work on Fushitsusha's John Zorn-produced album Allegorical Misunderstanding, and Harry Pussy guitarist Bill Orcutt circa “Nazi USA”. Youngs plays electric bass with a tremolo pulse that sounds a bit like Holger Czukay and the way he pilots odd, beautiful notes straight to the heart of the individual tracks is particularly fearless. Drummer Alex Neilson is the real wildcard. In recent years he has become the most in-demand improvising drummer in Scotland and his playing here is particularly key in terms of defining the basic heft of the sound. Beyond even the bizarre physical resemblance - several people on the night asked if it was Jandek's son that was playing the drums - there's obviously a deep level of rapport between the two and during the instrumental breaks Smith seems to be soloing more in relation to Neilson's tonal and rhythmic suggestions than Youngs' harmonic ones. A less confident musician would have simply hung back and supported Smith as innocuously as possible but Neilson takes it upon himself to push the music somewhere else, alternating explosive poly-rhythms with moments of pure textural abandon and accelerated breaks. At one point he even stands up and starts to sing. As with every Jandek project, Glasgow Sunday feels like an extended investigation into a single colour or state, both emotionally, lyrically and sonically. Each track draws its deepest architecture from archetypal blues forms, with vocal lulls alternating with extended chord solos and emphatic rhythms. Like the late Albert Ayler, Jandek has a way of hi-jacking the basest/purest of folk-forms and extrapolating them into the heavens - or in this case, personal hells. Lyrically there are several references to water, seas and drowning, lots of reds and blues, and some of the tracks are unrelentingly bleak, reading like long, airless litanies of hurt. But there's also plenty of black humour and at points you can't help but feel that Jandek is poking fun at his own image and playing to the crowd. The moment when he erupts with the line “I made the decision to get real wild” sees the whole audience explode into cheers. Anyone expecting an obscure shot of a Glasgow landmark for the traditionally-enigmatic cover photograph will be disappointed in that it seems to feature an unremarkable street somewhere in the USA judging by the style of the streetlights, the type of cars and the side of the road on which they're parked. Even more disappointing is the fact that although the name of the venue that hosted the concert is included in the text, no credit is given to either Youngs or Neilson. Since this recording the trio have reconvened for three further performances, one of which, in Newcastle, took the mode of Glasgow Sunday further into realms of compositional and improvisatory flux. The second Glasgow show, performed the night after the Newcastle one, saw Youngs switch to acoustic bass and Smith to piano and vocals and while it wasn't as sonically interesting as the dates that preceded it, it arguably raised the emotional ante even further. Who would've thought it? Jandek, it turns out, is a group.

Totally ass-blasting wild Jandek side from 1987 crossing insane avant-blues rip-ups with Jandek getting into some howling, gutbucket vocal moves and some great post-Shaggs caveman drums. Killer series of almost-hysterical Nancy/Jandek trade-offs and some lonesome power-crying too. The greatest manifestation of Jandek’s high-rolling late 80s style. From laugh-out-loud great – “Painted My Teeth”, “I Want To Know Why” – through beautifully confused reverie. Highly recommended.

2003 recording of electric bass/vocal dunt.

2004 bass/vocal album from Jandek, with three long tracks including the 30 minute title track: “Jandek plays bass again, claims to 'no longer exist,' sings about drinking ‘mechanically produced beverages,’ and announces plans to 'think about breathing.' Recently he took a walk. The music seems improvised but is satisfyingly varied and tracks the varying moods of the vocals closely. During the long piece, moments of abjection or desperation occur, but they pass; mostly the voice we hear is lucid. He's levelling with us. When he sings 'I won't drive my car for the rest of the day,' it's a fact. The most harrowing moment comes during the last track, a love song that turns threatening: 'please take my bait... I want to eat you up... you'll never get away, you won't want to... you don't have a life, you live in me.' The music plunges down to the bottom of the bass' range, but by the last line, the point of view has pulled back again to encompass 'the grand scheme of things.'” - Seth Tisue.

Excellent, professionally filmed DVD documenting the live Jandek set from Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan, New York, September 6th, 2005 with Sterling Smith on keyboard and vocals joined by Loren Mazzacane Connors on guitar, Chris Corsano on drums and Matt Heyner on bass. There's a beautiful psych/dirge feel to the sound, with keyboards that have a glissy-devotional Canterbury air and Loren Mazzacane's guitar providing punctuating heavy, psych chords and serpentine licks that sound a little like his fuzz work circa Haunted House. In fact the combination of the two often leaves the album sounding like some kind of bizarre, personally extended re-think of the Arzachel album recorded by Steve Hillage and Egg in 1969, making it one of the most unlikely sounding Jandek albums to date. The rhythm section of Heyner and Corsano work slow, lumbering pockets of time that are beautifully hypnotic and Sterling's vocals are hazy and narcotic, a little softer than recent live recordings but occasionally shifting gears into that slightly contorted, mocking phrase style that defined Newcastle Sunday. The whole set is one single piece in seven movements entitled "Afternoon Of Insensitivity". Highly recommended and yet another fucking twist in a saga that keeps on turning.

Audio document of the first solo acoustic/vocals London show from Jandek, as close as you’re gonna get to a live version of a ‘classic’ stripped down Jandek performance. Recorded at St. Giles In The Fields, London, October 18th 2005. I have a personal theory that Smith and Bob Dylan have some kind of secret historical umbilical and some of the phrasing here, especially on tracks like “Part Seven”, are pure Zimmerman. And to my mind he’s easily as important. The guitar playing here has an obsessive logic that is quite hypnotic and the whole thing really sucks you in. Wish I’d been there. Recommended.

Stunning looking DVD of the first solo acoustic/vocals London show from Jandek, as close as you’re gonna get to a live version of a ‘classic’ stripped down Jandek performance. Recorded at St. Giles In The Fields, London, October 18th 2005. There’s an undeniable thrill in being able to see Sterling Smith perform alone, it’s like having alla those early records laid a little more bare. Excellent.

DVD edition featuring both sets from this trio show with Sterling Smith on guitar and vocals, Chris Corsano on drums and Matt Heyner on bass, live at Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, New York, September 7th, 2005. The sound is closer to the 'classic' Neilson/Youngs live blats but with a more straightahead garage/punk feel, with Sterling playing some of his oddest electric guitar downs while Heyner moves from groaning electric bass monoliths across the first set to quiet, semi-audible acoustic bass on the second. The second set is consequently the weirdest, with the extra space generated by Heyner fully inhabited by very minimal guitar work from Sterling and some oddly dramatised lyrical set-ups. Corsano plays it pretty straight for the bulk, riding behind Sterling's guitar like a steamroller, and at points the vocal delivery combines with the overall bounce of the rhythm section to birth something that seems to owe more to The Minutemen than any sort of avant blues tradition. The songs are great, moving from devastating emotionally wrought confessionals through to funny situational set pieces and Sterling really stretches out on vocals and is obviously enjoying the performance.

Alongside Glasgow Sunday 2005, Portland Thursday is easily the best of the Jandek live recordings thus far. The line-up is particularly unlikely, with Sam Coombes (from indie group Quasi) on bass, Emil Amos (of Om, Grails etc) on drums and guest vocals from Liz Harris (Grouper) and Jessica Denison. I heard tell that Coombes wasn’t really into the whole Jandek deal, or was at least pretty cynical about it, and that’s a shame cause this is easily the best record that guy has ever played on. And despite being underwhelmed by the experience, his bass playing is phenomenal and perfectly suited to Sterling’s guitar, powering the whole group into some of the heaviest rock-inflected moves of Jandek’s career. Amos is also great on drums, one minute thundering through the guitars and bass, the next filling the gaps like a painter. And Sterling’s guitar playing is particularly on form. You can tell he’s really enjoying the experience and is so secure in the rhythm section that he really lets go, tearing some blazing solos from his six string while getting into some of his most expressive vocals. The opening “I Like You Too” is a classic, with odd, bashful lyrics delivered in his most quizzical voice and a ferocious, driving sound. “Whose Mister Is This?” features the girls on backing vocal, functioning as a heavenly chorus to Sterling’s puzzled lyrics. And there’s so much more. Recorded live at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon in April of 2006, the sound is perfect. If you only buy one Jandek live album this year, this is it. A classic. Highly recommended.

New studio album from Jandek with a group setting featuring guitar, bass, drums, harmonica and piano. The feel is odd, off-jazz, with a drummer who almost swings and almost plays free, a weird collision of styles that somehow works. Tracks veer from stumbling piano/harmonica/drum instrumentals that sound like Kaoru Abe jams The Shaggs through almost Go Hirano-style instants, guitar/feedback zones, Advent scale repeat-piano minimalism and even some guest vocals from someone who is assuredly not Sterling Smith. This is a great set that both looks back to the earlier classic Jandek ‘studio’ recordings complete with mysterious no-name combos while connecting with the expanded instrumental palette of the post-emergence jams. Sterling’s vocals sound really great too, emerging from swampy rhythms and guitar/drum/piano tumults like a ghost. It all ends with an epic 14 minute jam. Highly recommended.

Great new live set from Jandek, recorded at The Wire festival at The Empty Bottle in Chicago on September 20^th 2006. Here Sterling is joined by John McEntire of Tortoise on drums and Josh Abrams, who recently cut a killer solo album for Eremite, on electric bass. The set veers closer to ‘classic’ Jandek performance than the more expansive big band set-ups of some of the live shows, with a stripped down sound that allows Sterling to really dominate the proceedings. McEntire has a great feel for Sterling’s odd rhythmic sense and he falls in to the stumbling, cutting guitar work with some great stumpy drums and wayward time signatures. Abrams does a great job of following the arc of their trails and the sound quality is excellent, with Sterling’s vocals pushed way up front so you can make out all the lyrics and really get inside his pained vocals.  Some great lyrics too: “He was a common man/except when he talked about God.” “I met my teacher in the dirty stinking cell/It didn’t matter I was in hell.” Recommended.

Fantastic new double CD from Jandek that sees him revisit the group set-up he had on the equally dazzling Portland Thursday set, with Sterling Smith on guitar and vocals, Sam Coombes on bass, Emil Amos on drums and the twin vocals of Liz Harris aka Grouper and Jessica Dennison. Sterling apparently requested two female vocalists who “look similar” and their voices are also perfectly complimentary. They’re featured on four tracks, “Long Time Coming”, “Across From Me”, “No One Around” and “Like You Love Me”. “Long Time Coming” is especially bruised, a forlorn, passionate embrace of hollowed-out Venusian blues worthy of Suzanne Langille. Elsewhere the rhythm section of Coombes and Amos – admittedly not, on paper, a dreamteam pairing – lock into some of the most dynamic and heavy groove-based rock of Sterling’s back catalogue, driving the pace so hard that at points – on tracks like “Cathy Sue” and the 20 minute “Yes Dear” – they approach the collapsing universe style of prime Kousokuya. Sterling’s guitar playing seems more fleet and effortless for it and his vocals wrap themselves all the way around your head with some profound downerisms. Will be living inside this one for a long time to come, another major highlight of Jandek’s live phase. Highly recommended!