Grown Up - Fucked Up

“He’s a pretty amazing kid.”

The man who first sung Jay Reatard’s praises must be feeling pretty good about himself now. When he was 15 Jay Lindsey sent in a homemade demo tape of himself to Goner Records. Owner Eric Friedl liked it so much he went on to start a band with him. Now a garage punk hero who inspires the likes of our own avant-power poppers The Mint Chicks, Jay (now last name: Reatard) is exceeding all expectations.

I contacted In The Red Records in curiousity of Reatard after reading The Mint Chicks’ praise of him on Cheese On Toast a few weeks ago. Their write up was so glowing it was practically fluorescent. In The Red were kind enough to send me Jay’s 2005 album, Blood Visions, which turned out to be amazing. I’ve selected three standout songs for download below, one of them (Oh It’s Such A Shame) is recognisable from its recent thrashing on bFM and its undeniable similarity to The Mint Chicks. You can see that Reatard’s reach is far and wide. Let’s hope he’s not put off by recent experiences with over-sold shows which have seen him left in a state probably not too dissimilar in pain to Blood Visions‘ cover, that is sour-faced and bloodied. But believe me, any pain you go through to get this album would be worth it.

Reatard has this scratchy, lived-quality to it that makes you feel like he is telling you tales of his blood soaked adventures on the weekend, the carnage and the chaos of his shows and his life. And he’s sure lived. Originally starting out on his own in grungy band The Reatards he moved on to the synthesizer-heavy and male/female vocal attack of The Lost Sounds and then eventually to his own again under the name Jay Reatard. He’s been in a bunch of other notable bands; The Bad Times, The Final Solutions, The Angry Angles, but it was on his own that he coveted a deal with Indie giant Matador Records this year, which is now seeing him conquer the rather mind-boggling releasing of six 7″ singles over the course of this year, as well as putting out his Night of Broken Glass EP and his follow-up album in 2009.

Jay Reatard – Blood Visions: MP3

Jay Reatard – Oh It’s Such A Shame: MP3

Jay Reatard – Waiting for Something: MP3

Jay Reatard – Myspace

 

Posted by Sarah Gooding under U.S.A