The Days of Lore

Jay Reatard is so snuggly

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | 1 Comment

When I first heard the name Jay Reatard I: a) didn’t catch the first “a” in his last name, and b) thought he was some semi-obscure punk artist from the ’70s known only within circles of dweeby vinyl collectors who don’t listen to anything released after 1983. When I discovered he was a young kid from Memphis, I was actually a little disappointed. Then I listened …

Jay Reatard (born Jay Lindsey in 1980) might as well have been part of the blank generation. He’s an old soul for sure. Reatard’s music is sort of that sloppy and poppy, lo-fi rock that could fit snuggly somewhere between The Ramones and The Voidoids. Ahh … so snuggly.

Reatard’s music has evolved, but it hasn’t lost its soul. His early days with his bands The Reatards and The Lost Sounds were more punk, less pop, ripping straight from Memphis legends The Oblivians. After years of side-projects Reatard dropped the band names and was dropping new songs, which turned into his first “solo” outing Blood Visions (In The Red) in 2006. Not a clunker in the bunch. Still, he continued churning out snarling, three-minute pop songs at a dizzying clip—Singles 06-07 and Matador Singles ‘08 soon followed and Reatard was touring the world.

Some of Reatard’s influences are obvious—Wire, Devo, The Clean—you know, the good stuff. But so are a lot of songwriters’ influences. There’s an interview with Turn It Down where Reatard perfectly sums up his songs: “I think it’s just noisy pop music.” He just happens to do it better than most.

Which brings us to 2009. Jay Reatard will release his new album Watch Me Fall on Aug. 18 on Matador Records. In the meantime, Reatard has been touring Europe and the States and will stop by Dante’s in Portland Wed., June 17 with Thee Oh Sees and locals The Nice Noys (now that is a great show). I’m sure you’ll hear plenty of new songs, including “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” … which is just noisy pop music. And better than most.

“It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” - Jay Reatard

Tags: Blood Visions, In The Red Records, Jay Reatard, Matador Records, Portland, The Reatards, Watch Me Fall

Q: What’s my pleasure? A: Deerhunter

Monday, October 27th, 2008 | musiX | 1 Comment

A friend of mine called Deerhunter’s 2007 record Cryptograms “the greatest album of the year—and perhaps of our almost-retired decade.” Yeah, he gets pretty excited about music. It is a good album all right—pushing all the right pleasure buttons—but I must say I am more excited about Microcastle (Kranky), which officially drops this week.

Microcastle is a more focused collection of songs—poppier and less chaotic—that hits more of my pleasure buttons. What exactly is a “pleasure button,” you ask? I have no idea. The Atlanta five-piece recorded it in one week and will the release it with a bonus album Weird Era Cont., recorded a few weeks after the completion of Microcastle … and with that, Deerhunter has pushed another one of my pleasure buttons.

This song does the same—reverbed guitar, a killer intro, an extended fuzzed-out solo. Yes, yes and YES! Deerhunter kicks off their tour Halloween night with a CD-release show in their hometown with Pylon, Jay Reatard and Times New Viking, and will stop here in Portland Nov. 22 right down the street from me at the Hawthorne Theatre … again, another pleasure button pushed.

“Nothing Ever Happened” - Deerhunter

Tags: Cryptograms, Deerhunter, Jay Reatard, Kranky, Microcastle, Pylon, Times New Viking, Weird Era Cont.