Pitchfork

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Who is Jens Hannemann, and what is he doing in a Drag City DVD about drumming? And just what exactly does he have to do with "SNL"'s Fred Armisen? There's no earthly way of knowing for sure, but here's what we've managed to come up with:

Yuk-maker Armisen is a longtime drum aficiando, having sat on the stool for Chicago punks Trenchmouth in the early 90s. He somehow happened upon Jens Hanneman's "Complicated Drumming Technique" and decided the man's technique was just complicated enough for inclusion in the first installment of his Fred Armisen Presents DVD series on Drag City. The DVD features Hanneman demonstrating his technique, presumably while Armisen adopts an accent and eggs him on.

Hmm...come to think of it, that gentleman claiming to be Jens Hanneman at the recent Will Oldham video store gig looks an awful lot like Armisen. Could they in fact be... one and the same?!?!

An e-mail from a Drag City publicist denies all, claiming that "as far as Jens being Fred, he doesn't look at all like him. He's got really long hair." You know, this guy has really short hair... and so does Steve Jobs.

The publicist continues, "It's instructional, not comedy. I suppose people who don't understand music might find it funny, but that's not the intent. Jens is an intense guy with his own style of drumming-- I think that Fred, as a percussionist himself, thinks that Jens has something to say."

Drag City also suggests that the DVD -- out in October -- will only be available at music colleges and instrument stores, but we're not sure what to believe anymore.

We do, however, believe that Fred’s on the new Les Savy Fav record, and has a show July 30 at Chicago’s Hideout, celebrating the first anniversary of Drag City's comedy series the People Under the Stares.

The Hideout? You mean that little club that's getting Bloc Party and Art Brut to play their summer festival? Now that I find hard to fathom.