Thursday, February 4, 2010

Jay Reatard

I've always* been really proud of the local music that's come out of Memphis. Besides the obvious (Lucero), I could easily put albums by the Glass, Reigning Sound, Pawtuckets, Corey B, Snowglobe and even Augustine (one LP wonder!) among my favorite records.**

A few weeks ago, the Memphis (errr, global) hipster community was rocked when Jay Reatard passed away at the age of 29. I'm gonna be honest. I had never listened to any of his music. I remember seeing the Final Solultions and Lost Sounds mentioned in the Memphis Flyer from time to time, but I can't claim that I'm some Reatard super-fan (I did watch p4k's A>D>D interview with him last fall though). I always thought the coolest thing about him, was the bass player in his band went to my high school ("boring rich kids") and escorted my sister for Spirit Court six (?) years ago.

Well, today I've been streaming (FOR FREE) a good bit of his stuff on his website (and myspace) and I'll say it's pretty good. Nothing helps you tie down a Statement of Cash Flows like crazy, lo-fi, jangly noise pop (with a touch of faux British accent!). But seriously, he put some good stuff out there, and you should at least check out his (major, errr Matador) indie label debut, Watch Me Fall.

* Accidental Mersh notwithstanding

** I know it'd really impress you if I said I liked the Oblivians, too.

6 comments:

Z said...

aww, where's the eleventh hour shout-out? you wouldn't be familiar with our immediate influences...

jccvi said...

In the last line, is "you" sarcastic for everyone, except for me, because I am.

Z said...

that part is me ripping off a quote from High Fidelity, something I do far too much.

Barry: "you wouldn't be familiar with our immediate influences..."
Rob: "try me"
Barry: "they're mostly german"
Rob: "Falco? Kraftwerk? Hasselhoff?"

A said...

first of all, i would love to find my old Eleventh Hour cd. The Dayspring/Eleventh Hour show at 704B freshman year (of high school!) is one of my favorites . . .

and i would only expect you two (with the addition of Will and N!ck, if they're still reading) to appreciate the Oblivians reference.

Unknown said...

still here!
sadly, the Oblivians ref was lost on me, since i did not discover non-mainstream music until about our junior year of high school. ember does not count.

"A" for effort, though.

jccvi said...

704(b)is now a Hispanic church funded by bellevue.

The nostalgic side of me hopes that a local "say say eme" scene develops en el sotano.

On a side note, Skillet has started a college that teaches how to be Skillet and offers 4 year degrees.