Posts Tagged ‘jay reatard’
2/3/10 News briefs: Jay Reatard, Deerhoof + Xiu Xiu, Pet Shop Boys, The Strokes and Girls + Dum Dum Girls
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
A medical examiner has cited that garage punk rocker Jay Reatard died from “cocaine toxicity, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in his death.” Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr. was found dead at his Memphis home on January 13th. He was 29.
Idiosyncratic indie rock crews Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu will team up to cover the classic Joy Division album Unknown Pleasures live at the Donaufestival in Krems, Austria on April 29th.
Talk about intimate! One lucky contest winner received a private performance in her own home by legendary synth pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe re-created part of their spectacular Pandemonium tour in the home of super fan Lorraine Sands.
There has been a lot of speculation about this fourth Strokes album, but according to the band’s website they have officially begun recording it at Avatar Studios in NYC with engineer Gus Oberg and producer Joe Chiccarelli.
Girls and Dum Dum Girls are teaming up for a North American tour this spring. The indie faves will play 11 dates together before they stop to play Coachella. There is one Canadian date: April 9th at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto.
Tags: Deerhoof, Dum Dum Girls, Girls, jay reatard, Joy Division, Pet Shop Boys, the strokes, Xiu Xiu
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1/15/10 News briefs: Suede, High Places, A Sunny Day In Glasgow, Jay Reatard and Blur
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Suede are set to reform. The ’90s glam act will get back together for a one-off gig at the prestiguous Royal Albert Hall in London, England. The show will be part of a series to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity. Founding member and co-songwriter/guitarist Bernard Butler will not be in the band. Instead the line-up will be the same one that recorded 1996’s Coming Up and 1999’s Head Music: Brett Anderson, Richard Oakes, Neil Codling, Simon Gilbert and Matt Osman.
Tropical sound sculptors High Places will release their second album on April 6th. Thrill Jockey will release High Places vs. Mankind , which is said to tackle “the complex, gigantic subject of being human and what it’s like to interact with other human beings.” Oh boy!
Avant-shoegazers A Sunny Day In Glasgow will embark on a North American tour beginning on February 26th in New York City. The band will play three shows in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto in the spring. A week into the tour, ASDIG will also drop a brand new EP called Nitetime Rainbows.
Anyone looking to pay respects to the late Jay Reatard can do so tomorrow. A public memorial for the garage punk legend will take place tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Memorial Park Funeral Home, located at 5668 Poplar Avenue in Memphis.
Canadians will get a chance to get a sneak theatrical peek of the new Blur documentary, No Distance Left To Run. For one day - January 21st - cinemas across the country will screen the film, which documents the band’s successful reunion of last year. The DVD will be out in stores in mid-February.
Tags: A Sunny Day In Glasgow, blur, High Places, jay reatard, No Distance Left To Run, Suede
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R.I.P. Jay Reatard
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Garage rocker Jay Reatard was found dead at his home in Memphis, Tennessee today. The cause of death is unknown. He was 29.
According to the Memphis-based website, The Commercial Appeal, police have opened an official investigation into his death. Jay Lindsey’s body was found at 3:30 am this morning.
His former label Goner Records first broke the news by posting the following message: “It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our good friend Jay Reatard. Jay died in his sleep last night. We will pass along information about funeral arrangements when they are made public.”
(more…)
Tags: jay reatard
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12/11/09 News briefs: Flight of the Conchords, Ohbijou, Lightspeed Champion, Jay Reatard and The A.V. Club
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Flight of the Conchords have announced they won’t be making a third season of their hit HBO series. On their website, Jemaine and Bret wrote “we’ve noticed the less we say about the future of the show, the more people want to talk about it, so in an effort to reverse this trend we are today announcing that we won’t be returning for a 3rd season.” Damn!
In case you’re scrambling for some decent Christmas music this season, Toronto’s Ohbijou are giving away a cover of Wham!’s brilliant “Last Christmas.” You can download it here.
Speaking of free music, English indie troubadour Lightspeed Champion has made the first of 50 bootleg albums he’s recorded free on his website. House-Sitting Songs is about what you think it is: an album he made while house-sitting for a friend in NYC.
In an interview with Spinner, Jay Reatard says he gets why his band members split, saying, “It was never supposed to go on so long. It’s a solo band. One tour turned into another for two-and-a-half years, pretty much nonstop. You get caught up in what’s comfortable. Things that are comfortable aren’t always healthy.”
And The A.V. Club has released its list of The Year in Band Names. Some choice names include Phat Phunktion, Nipples Erectis, Crotch Rock It and Said The Shotgun To The Head. Uh huh…
Tags: Add new tag, Flight of the Conchords, House-Sitting Songs, jay reatard, Last Christmas, Lightspeed Champion, Ohbijou, The A.V. Club, The Year in Band Names, Wham!
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12/10/09 News briefs: The White Stripes, Jay Reatard, Fan Death, Karen O and the Besnard Lakes
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
The White Stripes will be releasing the DVD of their Canadian documentary, Under Great White Northern Lights, on March 16th. But check out all of the extras coming in the lavish box set edition: “a DVD of the film itself, a DVD of White Stripes 10th anniversary show (dubbed The White Stripes Under Nova Scotian Lights), a 16-track White Stripes live album recorded during the Canadian trek on both 180 gram vinyl and CD, a live 7″ (featuring “Icky Thump” and “The Wheels on the Bus”), a 208-page book with photos from the tour by Autumn de Wilde (and a foreword by Jim Jarmusch), and a silk screen print.”
Call it what you will (karma!), but it appears Jay Reatard is getting payback for that incident on stage in Toronto last year, where he clobbered an unknowing stage invader. Last night in Austin, Jay was attacked by two rowdy fans during the final song of his set. Not cool.
Vancouver’s hippest and hyped synth pop duo Fan Death have signed with Last Gang Records (Crystal Castles, Metric). Dandi Wind and Marta Jacuibek will release an EP on February 23rd called A Coin For The Well, followed by an LP, Womb of Dreams, in May 2010.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ singer Karen O has been nominated for a Grammy! Best of all, it comes at the expense of Miley Cyrus’s nomination, which was revoked for some reason or another (quality, perhaps?). Where The Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze posted an email on his blog from a rep at Karen’s label explaining what happened. You can read it here.
And the Besnard Lakes will return with a follow-up to their 2007 Polaris-nominated album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse. The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night will be out through Outside in Canada and Jagjaguwar in the U.S. on March 9th.
Tags: Besnard Lakes, Dandi Wind, Fan Death, jay reatard, Karen O, Last Gang Records, Marta Jacuibek, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night, The White Stripes, Under Great White Northern Lights, yeah yeah yeahs
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11/19/09 News briefs: Interpol, MTV Woodies, Steve Mason (Beta Band), Jay Reatard/Wavves and Death Cab vs New Moon
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Interpol have a new album coming out in 2010. I know, I know, but drummer Sam Fogarino says it’ll sound like the first one. Remember how great Turn On The Bright Lights was?
MTV held its annual Woodie Awards last night. Aside from Matt & Kim taking home the Best Video Woodie, the judges got it all wrong, rewarding mainstream acts like Kings Of Leon and Green Day when they could have chosen less obvious artists like MGMT or Animal Collective.
Remember the late, great Beta Band? Well, frontman Steve Mason is working on a new solo album with the brilliant Richard X (Annie, Saint Etienne). Boys Outside is said to have “beautiful melodies and simple songs” - well that doesn’t really say much.
Jay Reatard’s band upped and quit last month, which he was none too pleased about. Well, it appears Stephen Pope and Billy Hayes are now with another one-man, lo-fi, self-wrecking crew: Wavves. Makes total sense, really.
Finally, while everyone flocks to see New Moon this weekend, just know that Ben Gibbard, whose Death Cab For Cutie provide the lead single for the soundtrack, will not be rushing to see the Twilight sequel. “I’m sure there’s enough people seeing it this weekend that they’re not going to need my 10 bucks,” he says.
Tags: Ben Gibbard, Beta Band, Death Cab For Cutie, Interpol, jay reatard, MTV Woodie Awards, New Moon, Sam Fogarino, Steve Mason, Twilight, Wavves
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10/20/09 News briefs: F**ked Up, Animal Collective, Jay Reatard, MGMT and Xenomania
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
Matador has announced the track listing for the forthcoming singles comp by Polaris Music Prize champs F**ked Up. Out January 26th, Couple Tracks will be a double album made up of “many, many hard-to-find uncollected 7-inch and 12-inch tracks.”
Along with Brody Jenner, Perez Hilton and Kelly Osbourne, Animal Collective have posed for the latest PETA campaign - Save the Seals. The indie faves are protesting the cruelty behind Canada’s annual seal slaughter.
Jay Reatard has found a new rhythm section after his bassist and drummer split on him earlier this month. He’s gone and grabbed members of the Cola Freaks to help him with his upcoming European and U.S. tours and those Pixies shows.
MGMT have revealed that their second album will be called Congratulations. The album is produced by Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3 and will feature Royal Trux’s Jennifer Herrema on backing vocals. Apparently it has “an overall air of electronic exuberance, quirky instrumental introspection and their trademark soul-searching crescendos of psychedelia.”
Xenomania, the production team behind Kylie Minogue, Annie, Sugababes, Pet Shop Boys, New Order and today’s Earworm, Mini Viva, among others, are holding open auditions. The “British hit factory” are looking for male and female singers & rappers as well as girl/boy groups between the ages of 15 and 25.
Tags: animal collective, f**ked up, jay reatard, MGMT, PETA, Xenomania
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10/19/09 News briefs: Bloc Party, Mika Miko, Portishead, Pixies and Chad VanGaalen
Monday, October 19th, 2009
Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong has raised a question mark about his band’s future. Speaking to the BBC, he said the band “definitely need to have a break and gain a bit of perspective on life outside of the band.” And that he “wouldn’t mind trying something else for a while.”
Lovable L.A. lo-fi punks Mika Miko have announced that they will break up after playing Austin’s Fun Fun Fun fest in the first week of November. Apparently there is “no bad blood at all” so if you’re in the area, you’ll likely still catch them hanging out together at The Smell, where they’re expected to play a final farewell show.
Portishead’s Geoff Barrow has revealed that the trio have begun working on a follow-up to last year’s brilliant Third that could end up as a “a multi-layered synthesizer record.” He also expects the band to begin playing shows in December.
If you’re in either L.A., Oakland, Seattle, Eugene, Denver, Chicago, NYC, Boston or DC in November you’ll be able to check out the Pixies perform Doolittle in its entirety. And depending on where you’ll be when they roll into town, you’ll also be able to see Jay Reatard, Bad Lieutenant (Bernard Sumner of New Order’s new band), No Age, Rain Machine or Mew open for them.
Chad VanGaalen is hoping to “have a feature-length sci-fi animated film finished in the next five years.” The two-time Polaris nominee says he’s also busy making both “a psychedelic folk record and a psychedelic rock record.”
Tags: Bad LieutenantNo Age, Bloc Party, Chad VanGaalen, jay reatard, Mew, Mika Miko, Pixies, Portishead, Rain Machine
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10/7/09 News briefs: Pavement, Animal Collective, Jawbox, Jay Reatard and Montreal’s best new bands
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
More proof that the Pavement reunion is totally on: they’re confirmed as curators for All Tomorrow’s Parties in May 2010. Tickets go on sale this Friday, but unless you’re going to be in England over the weekend of May 14th-16th, well, this is all just a tease, isn’t it?
Pitchfork has tipped everyone off about a possible new record from Animal Collective. According to Amazon.com, something called Fall Be Kind will be released on December 8th and is now available to pre-order. WTF?
Legendary post-harDCore band Jawbox are reuniting and will make their first public appearance with a performance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. It’s an obvious choice, but here’s to hoping they play “Savory.”
Jay Reatard’s band has abandoned him and judging by his pissy rant on Twitter, he ain’t happy. He’s now inviting people to join with this encouraging invite: “So who wants to see just how terrible it is to play in my band.”
SPIN has chosen what it feels are the “Top 5 Up-and-Coming Montreal Bands.” Judging by the results, it looks as though the mag wasn’t able to find the next big thing at Pop Montreal.
Tags: animal collective, Jawbox, jay reatard, pavement, SPIN
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NewMusic First Spin: Jay Reatard
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
After making a great leap forward last year from the depths of the underground garage/punk scene to the overexposing indie rock circles, Jay Reatard keeps his prolific rep in tact with yet another new release. His singles collection for Matador was a nice experiment that rewarded longtime fans, but Jay returns with his first proper LP since the 2006 breakthrough, Blood Visions.
Though he’s not a fan of having to record full-lengths, this doesn’t sound like a disgruntled songwriter at work. In fact, Jay sounds pretty content for the scoundrel he is, leaving most of the ferocity from his earlier solo work behind for something a little more restrained, but also a hell of a lot more melodic.
Having established himself as more of a popsmith with last year’s Matador Singles ‘08, Jay has taken his patented buzzsaw garage and sanded it into some carefully considered power pop. The result is Watch Me Fall, a flat out, unapologetic pop record.
Has he turned his back on his roots? Well, yes and no. Lead single It Ain’t Gonna Save Me could have found its way onto Blood Visions, sure. So, depending on how you view him (A fire-breathing hellion who fronted The Reatards as a teenager? Or a shrewd dude who realizes that rehashing the same stuff every time kills artists dead?) it’s fair to say he sounds both different and similar on this record. The razor sharp riffs have been rounded with flecks of ’60s pop, the blood curdling screams have been tamed into bellows and howls, and well, there are strings and more of those acoustic guitars on the lovely Hang Them All. But there’s no arguing that this is the ‘Tard at his best.
While I’m Watching You sounds 45 years old and English, like it was dug up from the Kinks’ formative years, Rotten Mind finds him working at his trademark breakneck pace, but toning down the aggro and actually, y’know, harmonizing. Nothing Now, on the other hand sounds goth enough to justify that album cover, which suggests Jay relocated to Norway to become a black metaller and burn churches part-time.
All in all, he’s bound to lose some fans here. But I’m guessing he’s gonna double that total in gaining new ones. The perfect summer album for disaffected youth across the country, indeed.
Listen to it here.
Artist: Jay Reatard
Album: Watch Me Fall
Release Date: August 18, 2009
Label: Matador Records
Genre: Lo-Fi Indie Rock
Author: Cam Lindsay
Track Listing:
Tags: first spin, jay reatard
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