The enigmatic artist Jandek, who has for many years been cloaked in mystery, shrouded in secrecy, and wrapped tightly in a perplexing fog, has recently taken to all manner of social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and oddly enough, even the new Myspace, which he personally lauds as having an “innovative side-scrolling design” and “just generally really pleasing to the eye.” The artist, who has for nearly 40 years been notable for his inscrutability, mystification, subtlety, and for generally being a tough nut to crack is now tweeting regularly at the handle @ifuckwithcorwood, and has been listening to the latest Arcade Fire album on the new Myspace pretty much on repeat since last Friday. To quote country superstar Brad Paisley, “Welcome to the future.”

This social media blitz is a bit uncharacteristic for an artist long known for his secretive nature and his ability to play the blues guitar in a way that makes it sound like it’s always out of tune no matter how accurate the tuner app he just downloaded claims to be. In fact, over the course of almost 70 albums, from 1978’s Ready for the House to more recent offerings like 2007’s The Ruins of Adventure , 2005’s Khartoum , and 2004’s Shadow of Leaves , Jandek and his label Corwood Industries have developed a mythos that is, to quote myself from earlier, “cloaked in mystery, shrouded in secrecy, and wrapped tightly in a perplexing fog.”

Anyhow, uncharacteristic though it may be, the social media extravaganza is not without purpose. In addition to announcing the founding of a TMZ-like sister site for the Corwood Industries homepage, Corwood Industries has also made a giant leap in to the future by deigning to accept online orders through a newly-opened web store. Scope the store here and find yourself wondering why the Corwood catalog numbers begin with “0739.” Where previously one either had to send Corwood Industries a letter with their order, or visit their local cool record store, put on a blindfold, and run his or her finger along the Jandek shelf until stopping on the one that “feels ripe,” now, with the magic of the internet you don’t even have to get up from that there couch of yours. To quote former US Senator Ted Stevens, “The internet is a series of tubes.”

• Corwood Industries: http://corwoodindustries.com