I had my blog post all lined up for today, but I was having a gander over at Pitchfork and some messageboards and found the very sad news that Jay Reatard is dead at 29.
I only came to Jay Reatard last year, so I can't eulogise or wax lyrical about how much I knew him, or tell you anything about his personal life. Beyond the fact that he was known as a hell raiser I have no idea what he was like. It doesn't matter, what does matter is how great his music is or was, however you want to put it.
Just before we were due to travel down to the End Of The Road festival last year I put together a mix-tape. One of the songs on it was 'Screaming Hand'. The instant it came on I was tapping my foot and singing, me and Kerry just exchanging glances and clearly both thinking "wow this is amazing". Since then I've discovered that most of his music is like that; fast, frenetic, giddy and gloriously bright. He reminded me sometimes of Guided By Voices, they have that same way with a catchy melody and a short simple tune. Both were also massively prolific.
Actually that's the saddest thing for me, apart from how young Jay was; it's that he was so prolific. 'Blood Visions' in 2006, two singles collections spanning the years '06 - 08 and then 'Watch Me Fall' from last year. That he was so prolific whilst retaining musical quality only leads me to believe that there was a lot more to come.
It's always sad when a clearly great talent is cut short before reaching full potential, but he left some amazing music, (and mentioned above great memories with it) which I'll always be grateful for.
R.I.P Jay Reatard, you will be sadly missed.
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