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03 Feb 2010 21:43

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Music: It was drugs: Jay Reatard’s cause of death finally revealed

  • He died from “cocaine toxicity,” and alcohol was in his system. The plot to this film has been written way too many times. Live fast, die young, take in lots of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll in-between. And a medical examiner confirmed that this, too, was how Jay Reatard died last month. On the plus side, his legacy will be put on wax once again for more to hear: Albums by his bands The Reatards and The Lost Sounds will be re-released by two of his former labels. Sob. He was one of the greats. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jan 2010 12:40

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Music: ShortFormBlog Saturday Mixtape: Remembering Jay Reatard

  • Jay Reatard was a musical genius of brevity. His great gift was an uncanny ability to write a pop song tighter, more stylistically diverse and with with more hooks than anyone else. Which is why his death earlier this week came as a total shock. His best days weren’t behind him. He was just getting started. So with that said, here are five songs from his fruitful recent period which nail down why he’s essential.

  • 1. “My Shadow” was something of a calling card to the rest of the world about what his hometown of Memphis already knew from his many early bands – Reatard’s ability to reimagine punk as fun, poppy, and dark was unparalleled.
  • 2. “All Over Again” was one of Reatard’s best singles, and he recorded a lot of them. In fact, he released TWO singles compilations in 2008, and both of them were stylistically different enough to warrant purchase of both. Despite its two-minute length, the song doesn’t feel anything remotely close to short. It’s loaded with ideas.
  • 3. In Jay Reatard’s heaven, “Haunting You” should be playing on repeat. It’s quite literally his modus operandi, and it feels like, considering the circumstances of this week, that it was written ahead of time, to his many fans – past, present and future.
  • 4. What Reatard did better than most was the driving chorus, insistent and forceful. “Always Wanting More,” was a great example of what he does best. In a live setting, he played his short songs as quickly as he could, often not stopping for stage banter and plowing through songs as if he was a Ramone.
  • 5. Perhaps the most interesting part of Reatard’s most recent release, “Watch Me Fall” (what an ominous album title), was an evolution of his sound. He started adding elements from 1980s Kiwi-rock on the album, and largely drove the songs with acoustic guitars rather than thrashing electric sound of most of his earlier material. Single “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” (also ominous) showed a sound that was getting more diverse without losing its best elements. What a terrible, awful loss of someone so amazing.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2010 17:01

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Music: RIP Jay Reatard. You were one of the good ones. Peace man.

Dear Gods of indie rock, why did you have to take Jay Reatard? That guy had more good songs than most of those other punk guys have come up with combined. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Apr 2009 09:19

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Music: ShortFormBlog’s Saturday mixtape: Five songs we recommend

  • one The L.A. band noise-rock HEALTH has managed to slowly expand its experimental roots into something palatable, as on stellar new single “Die Slow.”
  • two Jay Reatard stinks live – he doesn’t really have stage presence – but he has solid individual songs, such as “See Saw” from last year’s “Matador Singles ’08.”
  • three We really dig the noisy lo-fi electronica of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, especially when he covers Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia.”
  • four Rough-’round-the-edges Psych-folkie Rodriguez, a Detroit native, became big without knowing it in South Africa thanks to “Sugar Man” and his 1970 album “Cold Fact.”
  • five We’re big Dan Deacon fans here, and “Bromst” has yet to go off our musical radar. With songs like “Padding Ghost,” with its euphoric melodies, why would it?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jan 2009 14:36

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Music: Instant gratification or big reward? Jay Reatard weighs in

  • A single is really quick, man. You can get it out, and in two months have it on your merch table. And albums can take a really long time. But when you get done with an album, it’s a lot more fulfilling.
  • Jay Reatard • in an interview with The Onion A.V. Club about the value of doing albums over singles; the punk rocker is known for doing both really well. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
 
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