Jay Reatard displays power-pop talents on Matador Singles '08

This album collects the singles that Reatard has put out this year.

By Jordan Sargent
Oct. 13, 2008

Courtesy of Matador Records

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Since the late '90s, starting when he was 15, Jay Reatard has put out an innumerable amount of music either under his own name or as a part of an innumerable number of bands (Reatard, his Ramones-style stage name, is a holdover from his first band, The Reatards). Wikipedia puts the count at 15-plus albums and something like 48 EPs or singles, and that's probably being conservative.

Over the past year though, Reatard has gained increasing notoriety from both the Internet and print. He recently gave an interview where he said that he was courted by major labels who wanted to market him as "the death to emo." Instead he signed with the major indie label Matador, who has already released two of Reatard's singles collections this year.

The first, Singles 06-07, compiles singles from that time and serves as a primer to Reatard's surprisingly diverse and nimble repertoire, which ranges from throaty garage-rock to heartstring-tugging power-pop.

Matador Singles '08 collects the singles that Reatard has put out intermittently for the label this year, and though the songs don't expand on his well-honed sound, the collection serves as even more evidence that the 28-year-old lifer has one of the best and most singular pop minds in indie rock.

The album, to its immense benefit, leans heavily on Reatard's power-pop talents. The best songs, like "Screaming Hand" and "Always Wanting More," are simple and modest garage-pop songs constructed out of basic acoustic and electric guitar chords, carnival keyboards, rattling tambourines and peppy handclaps. The songs should be nothing out of the ordinary, so maybe we should chalk the excellence up to Reatard's considerable experience.

Or maybe it's the fact that his songs are really damn charming. Much like their creator, all of the songs seem ready to run off their tracks at any moment, but they never do. "Screaming Hand," which starts off as a snotty punk song, blossoms into a danceable keyboard outro. "An Ugly Death" moves from near-ballad tempo (for Jay, at least) into a heroic guitar solo and the folksy "You Were Sleeping" and "No Time" show that Reatard can do mellow and contemplative as well as brash and bratty.

Other songs, like the torrential "Hiding Hole" and "D.O.A.," are fun in the way riding an amusement park ride and thinking you're going to die but actually living and then realizing you had a blast is fun.

Lyrically, Reatard sings straightforward lyrics about girls and boys, repeating phrases like "You are my hero" and "You're always wanting more/They're such a useless bore" as hooks. But where they might come off as juvenile and underdeveloped, Reatard's minimal lyrics match the punchy and wry nature of his music that makes his songs so sneakily uplifting.

And even though Reatard's lyrics are usually muddled beneath his instrumentals, his delivery and bravado help further that each song is powered by a caring and bursting heart, something that is still increasingly rare in hype-fueled indie rock.

Reatard is set to release a proper full-length on Matador sometime next year, and if this collection is any indication of what that album will sound like, it's possible he won't need a real major label to break into the mainstream.

And even if he doesn't totally pop off, it's guaranteed that he'll still be releasing great singles like the ones collected here, which, as evidenced, is already more than enough.

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Jay Reatard displays power-pop talents on Matador Singles '08

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