Matador Records, as well as a host of other sites, are confirming the death of 29 year old punk musician Jay Reatard.

Something that has been overlooked. Jay had been complaining alot of being sick on his twitter. I realize that "dying in his sleep" seems to take on a new definition recently, but let's wait for the autopsy here before anyone assumes. If he had truly been ill the last week, he could had died from any of a number of causes. A friend of mine mentioned that you heard Jay had chronic asthma as well.


I have written about Jay alot on this blog (click here to see all articles tagged with Jay Reatard). I was fortunate to have booked his first Arizona appearance as a solo artist three years ago this week, months after the Blood Vision album came out. Jay would play Hollywood Alley an additional time about 18 months later.

Many people knew Jay originally from his band The Reatards. However my first taste of his music was when I was listening to a goth station on Shoutcast called Radio Ghoul School and heard a band of whose t-shirt I would always see Ryan Wong wearing around town, Lost Sounds. The song was "Reasons To Kill" from their second full length album Black Wave. After 80 seconds of eerie synthetic noise, the song rocks out in a dark, self-isolated-in-a-cold-damp-cell manner. Even though "Reasons to Kill" fit well on the Radio Ghoul School playlist among less-angst-spewing dark sounds like Sisters of Mercy, the song, much like the entire Lost Sounds catalog, can't really be considered goth (although "Ocelot Rising" from the same album comes very close). Jay Reatard and his co-founder and then-girlfriend Alicja Trout called their style "Black Wave" prior to naming their album the same. Upon their definition,Black Wave was the outcome of combining synthpunk/new wave music with the rage, hate, and apocalyptic subject matter found in black metal.

I was uncertain at first on who sang the lead vocals on "Reasons to Kill" as it was too thick and deep to be Alicja. But after re-visiting early albums from Sparks and remembering on what the male falsetto voice is capable of, I had it later confirmed that yes Jay is performing lead vocals here.

So, in tribute of Jay Reatard and for a limited time, I have posted "Reasons To Kill" here for you to download. R.I.P. Jay, you will be missed.

*UPDATE* 01/19/10:
Ryan Rousseau texted me after the funeral this weekend to tell me that they buried Jay right next to Isaac Hayes. As far as developments, tracking Jay's death left me sour towards this so-called "Web 2.0" and it's viral ability to transfer both fact and fiction. Jay was found dead at 3:30 in the a.m. on Wednesday January 13th. The next day, Fox News Memphis had reported that Memphis police were investigating his death as a possible homicide, which included the typical posted tip lines and "rewards for information". This immediately went viral, with Pitchfork and a few others picking up the story and hundreds of tweets and various other blogs linking to the secondary sources. By Friday January 14th, Fox News Memphis had removed their "possible homicide" page and left the original notice about his death. What wasn't mentioned, nor considered by anyone who initially linked to Fox News Memphis, is that it is police procedure to investigate all D.O.A.s as possible homicides before ruling out any foul play. I do not have a problem with the initial misunderstanding. However, as late as Saturday, the day of Jay's funeral, a Twitter search proved that hundreds of Twitter users were still spreading the news that Jay Reatard may had been murdered. Many linked to, not the Fox News Memphis article that wasn't there anymore, but rather  to second and third generation sources which referenced the Fox News article (some blog noted that the FOx News article in question was removed). Even today (Tuesday, January 19th),  people are still discovering that Reatard passed away nearly a week ago. A Twitter search this very moment shows a few people still passing on that the surprise that he was possibly murdered versus only one who is trying to stop the rumor by tweeting "Jay Reatard was not murdered!". That is my gripe. If rumors can spread fast via the web, Facebook, twitter, etc, then why can't they be diffused just as fast. And if Fox News Memphis realized their over-anticipated reporting and took down the page suggesting Jay Reatard was murdered, then why haven't the blogs who helped carry the rumors corrected their errors yet?

Well, on a happy note, there is a cool download on Jay Reatard's official website. It's a Nirvana cover "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle". It's reportedly the last song Jay ever recorded, sans the irony of him covering another artist who died way before his time.

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