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All Music Guide:
There are plenty of performers who rock critics compliment by using the label "primitive," but few if any can hold a candle to the greatest American rock primitive, Jad Fair. With his fantastic and increasingly influential band, Half Japanese, or as a solo performer, Fair has constructed a prolific and extremely interesting career. He writes and records songs that display an uncomplicated emotional directness, unselfconscious (almost hokey) charm and warmth, and a genial simplicity that is simply beyond words. Although Fair's later recordings are certainly more accessible -- in some ways resembling those of another great American primitive, Jonathan Richman -- his stock-in-trade is still the ability to compose and play music without any discernible (i.e., traditional) musical talent. Although he has "played" guitar since the mid-'70s, Fair, according to past and present members of Half Japanese, still can't name a chord, plays riffs almost by accident, and wouldn't have it any other way.
Fair's career as a solo artist began in 1980. It wasn't that he was particularly upset or unhappy with the direction in which he and brother David were leading Half Japanese, but rather that he needed another outlet to satiate his obsessive desire to make music. The first efforts were tentative and, in terms of the noise-versus-music factor, more noise than music, akin to early Half Japanese records. But by the mid- to late '80s, Fair's solo records were becoming more accessible due to the contributions of celebrities and huge Half Japanese fans such as Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, NRBQ's Terry Adams, and Gumball mastermind Don Fleming; with the members of Yo La Tengo, he even cut an album, Strange But True, which was released on Matador in 1998. And while the records got a little more polished, they certainly never lost a bit of Fair's childlike view of the world, nor his explosive, giddy belief in rock's liberating potential and endless possibilities.
In Fair's world, love is the key to solving the world's problems, but his naiveté-as-philosophy, while not deep, is never rank or manipulative (you always believe that he believes). And although he can sound cloying at times, the honesty and joy of this music will let you forgive his occasional excesses. By not being your typical singer/songwriter, Jad Fair has made the world a safe place for those who care passionately about rock & roll, but who don't feel the need to achieve any degree of virtuosity. It's Spooky, issued in summer 2001, continued his quirky reign. That same year, Fair reunited with Daniel Johnston for Lucky Sperms: Somewhat Humorous, followed by collaborations with R. Stevie Moore (FairMoore) and Jason Willett (Superfine) in 2002 and 2003. Six Dozen Cookies, a Jad and David Fair production, arrived in 2006, followed by Halloween Songs (2008) and Ill Be Moe (2009). Beautiful Songs: The Best of Jad Fair, a triple-disc retrospective spanning Fair's solo career, as well as his work with Half Japanese, arrived in 2011. That same year saw the release of a new solo album, His Name Itself Is Music.
Wikipedia:
Jad Fair is an American singer, guitarist and graphic artist, most famous for being a founding member of lo-fi alternative rock group Half Japanese.
Biography
In 1974, with his brother David, Jad Fair founded the lo-fi group Half Japanese. Since then, Half Japanese released nearly 30 records.
Besides Half Japanese Fair performs and records as a solo artist, as well as collaborating with such artists as Terry Adams, Norman Blake, Kevin Blechdom, Isobel Campbell, Eugene Chadbourne, DQE, Steve Fisk, Fred Frith, God Is My Co-Pilot, Richard Hell, Daniel Johnston, J. Mascis, Jason Willett, Monster Party, Weird Paul Petroskey, R. Stevie Moore, Thurston Moore, The Pastels, Phono-Comb, Steve Shelley, Strobe Talbot, Teenage Fanclub, The Tinklers, Moe Tucker, Bill Wells, Jason Willett, Adult Rodeo, Lumberob, Yo La Tengo, and John Zorn. Because of his constant output and his large series of collaborations, his discography is very large, and mostly consists of releases on small independent labels. In 1982 Fair released his first solo work, the single The Zombies of Mora-Tau followed by the full length album Everyone Knew ... But Me one year later.
Besides his musical career he's also active as a visual artist, drawings as well as papercuttings. He took up papercutting to alleviate boredom while touring on the road. Many of the album covers are made by Fair. Four books of Fair's art have been published. Exhibitions of Fair's paper cuts and drawings have taken place in New York, Tokyo, Glasgow, Austin, Paris, London, Houston, The Hague at the State-X New Forms festival and in Nantes at Le Lieu Unique together with Daniel Johnston.
It's Spooky is a 1989 collaboration album by Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair. Strange but True is a collaborative album between the band Yo La Tengo and Jad Fair. It was released by Matador Records in 1998. Song titles on the album were taken from outrageous newspaper headlines. In 2002 Fair recorded an album with R. Steve Moore, titled FairMoore, described as "a lovely, heartfelt effort that shows both in top form" by Dave Mandl, who stated that it "brings together two fiercely original figures in the American music underground", the album consisting of Fair reciting his poetry over Moore's instrumental backing. Words Of Wisdom And Hope is a collaboration between Glasgow, Scotland's Teenage Fanclub and Fair, released in 2002.
In 2008 Vincent Moon made a short documentary called Paris lost in Texas, which is part of his The Take-Away Shows-series. In this short movie he visits Fair in house in Texas. In the same year experimental instrument builder Yuri Landman constructed for Fair a special 2 string instrument called the Bachelor QS. In 2011 Half Japanese reunits as a live band and tours through Europe. In 2012 Fair contributes to the Landman album That's Right Go Cats with a 22 minute vocal contribution on side A of the record. The Nantes based venue Le Lieu Unique has organised a large exhibition of graphical work made by Fair and Daniel Johnston in April 2012. In the same month Fair released a lost album called Songs from a Haunted House with Gilles Reider on Interbang Records.
