Clearly, Jay Reatard never had any “hits,” but he had numerous memorable songs and fan favorites alike. The concept of a “Best Of” or “Greatest Hits” for Jay seems a bit odd to me, but in light of the fact that Shattered Records will be releasing one soon, I decided to make my own playlist, entitled “Best of Jay.” At first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go the route of his most popular songs, which is hard to measure, or simply my favorites. Ultimately I went with the latter. Enjoy! I highly recommend looking them up.
1) See/Saw (Matador Singles ’08)
2) No Time (MS08)
3) Haunting You aka “Fading All Away”- falsely listed as “Searching For You” (Singles ’06-’07)
4) I Know A Place (S0607)
5) An Ugly Death (MS08)
6) Nightmares (Blood Visions)
7) Screaming Hand (MS08)
8) I’m Watching You (MS08)
9) Oh It’s Such a Shame (BV)
10) Feeling Blank Again (S0607)
11) My Shadow (BV)
12) Hammer I Miss You (S0607)
13) Rotten Mind (Watch Me Fall)
14) It’s So Easy (BV)
I think I’ll take Glen’s tip and limit it to fourteen tracks. What do Reatard fans think? What would be your best of?
Today marks the year anniversery of the legendary Jay Reatard’s death. Looking back, I remember when Glen informed me of this tragedy, I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was just another one of his bullshit shenanigans, only to discover it was the truth. Sadly, I just started getting into Jay’s music in the six months before his passing. Luckily however, I had the privilege of seeing him live three times and particularly had the pleasure of attending a memorable show during the Shattered Records Tour. Now, a year later Jay still remains my favorite singer and my second overall favorite artist (second to the Black Lips!) and I don’t think that will change anytime soon.
Later today, Glen and I will make more Jay related posts. Stay tuned.
Neil Young– Like a Hurricane (1977)- not one of my favorites from NY, but still a great tune.
The Beatles– All You Need Is Love (1967)- The title says it all, pretty much sums up their message.
The Pogues– Everyman Is a King (1989)- I play this every Fourth of July.
The Shaggs– My Pal Foot Foot (1969)- Classic outisder art.
The King Khan & BBQ Show (2004)- Get Down- A fine track from this KLYAM favorite’s debut record.
Johnny Cash– Flushed From the Bathroom of Your Heart (live at Folsom) (1968)- Badass Cash! Folsom is the perefect setting for this song/album.
Alice in Chains– Would? (1992)- I’m glad we still hear kickass bands like Alice on the mainstream radio, since most of the time they (the radio stations) play absolute rubbish! Layne’s vocals are powerful here.
Frank Zappa– Are You Hung Up? (1968)- A bizarre opener to a bizarre album from a bizarre man.
Anti-Flag– Turncoat (2003)- Admittedly, a little bit too punk poppish for my taste at times, but still a decent tune.
Rage Against the Machine– War Withing a Breath (1999)- “Every official that comes in, cripples us, leaves us maimed, silent and tamed, and with our flesh and bones he builds his homes.” I often think of these words when a new official is elected to office, like Obama.
The Replacements– Careless (1981)- Old School, wild rowdy, Mats!
On March 29, KLYAM Fave Hunx and His Punx will be releasing their studio deubt Too Young to Be in Love on Hardly Art records. With the exception of the upcoming Black Lips LP, this record is the next big thing for me, I really can’t wait to hear it when it’s all ready to go. I’ve been a big fan of about half of the tracks based on their demos, so it should be a goodie. Speaking of which, here is the tracklist:
1) Lovers Lane
2) He’s Coming Back
3) Keep Away From Johnny
4) The Curse of Being Young
5) Too Young to Be in Love
6) If You’re Not Here (I Don’t Know Where You Are)
7) Bad Boy
8) Tonite Tonite
9) Can We Get Together?
10) Blow Me Away
Pixies– U-Mass (1991)- One of my favorites from one of my favorite bands.
Gheorghe Zamfir– The Lonely Shepherd (don’t know actual year of release, but it appears on the Kill Bill Volume 1 sountrack, released in 2003)- Epic as fuck!
Mark Sultan– Cursed World (2007)- A decent tune from one of my top singers.
Dinosaur Jr– Pieces (2009)- Solid opener from last year’s Farm.
Arctic Monkeys– Cornerstone (2009)- I love this song! My favorite from also last year’s Humbug.
Tool– Parabola (2001)- Tool (and I feel like this song specifically) always seems to come up on these shuffles :)
Big Black– Bazooka Joe (1986)- Another fucked up, but sonically sound number from one of the best bands to come out of the 80s by far.
Lou Reed– Perfect Day (1972)- Lou’s finest solo work.
Black Lips!– Transcendental Light (2007)- Ian on Vocals! which we will be seeing again soon :)
Weezer– Island in the Sun (2001)- A fairly decent song from post-classic Weezer.
Artist: Wavves Full Title: Wavvves Year: 2009 Label: Fat Possum Tracks:
1) Rainbow Everywhere- 8
2) Beach Demon- 8/9
3) To the Dregs– 10 :)
4) Sun Opens My Eyes- 8
5) Gun In the Sun- 8
6) So Bored– 10
7) Goth Girls- 7/8
8) No Hope Kids– 10
9) Weed Demon- 9
10) California Goths- 9
11) Summer Goth- 9
12) Beach Goth- 6/7
13) Killer Punx, Scary Demons- 7
14) Surf Goth- 9
Comments: This record savagely raped my speakers. It just went in, did its thing, and then came back for some more. Seriously though, this album will fucking knock your teeth out and destroy your ear drums, especially if you blast it from a stero. If you listen to it on low volumes or from your ipod/computer, your ears should stay intact however. I first heard of Wavves about a year and half ago. Before hearing the music, my first impression was “this is just another whiny emo/teeny bopping angst group.” Boy, was I wrong! Looking at the titles: so many friggin suns, beaches, goths, demons, etc. I thought it was a joke. “No Hope Kids” sounded like a phrase a twelve year old would utter because his mom couldn’t take him to Newbury Comics that day. Haha, but as I said previously, I was totally wrong. Naturally, I didn’t just eschew them, I gave them a chance and I was blown away by how amazing the recordings were with such limited tools. They were sooooo damn catchy! I could tell Nathan had a true talent for songwriting. With all this being said, I didn’t “love” Wavves and I failed to listen to the first two LPs in their entireties, but I still tossed on some of my favve wavve tunes fairly frequently. Fast forward to June 2010. I hear King of the Beach and if you read this site you know how much we love that record (best of the year!), in any case, Wavves became one of my favorite bands (top ten). The songwriting was better, the production (though cleaner a shock for some perhaps) was greater/more adventerous, and overall the music was more mature. Since, becoming such a massive fan of the group, I decided to revisit their older material. Enter Wavvves. The album kicks off with the noisy, psychedelic “Rainbow Everywhere,” this smoothly transitions into the extremely loud “Beach Demon,” just a pure wall of noise and sets us up for what is to be expected on the rest of the record, both sonically and lyrically (Nathan yelps “going nowhere, going nowhere, going nowhere” this is teenage angst I can actually dig). Hell, if you can’t tolerate the sound of this song, then you might as well stop trying here, you little puss. The third track, “To the Dregs,” is easily my favorite Wavves number. This one truly showcases Nathan’s abilities as a songwriter. TTD is just a classic pop song, a burst of fun, unbelievably euphoric music, it’s almost anthemic. And to the critics out there, Nathan hollers “you see me, I don’t care!” The next few tracks (“Sun Opens My Eyes” and “Gun in the Sun”) continue the experimentation, but aren’t quite of the same quality as the first few songs. They are not bad though and the lo-fi recording still works quite well. Songs like “So Bored” and “No Hope Kids” are Wavves essentials and follow in the vain of “To the Dregs”: all three songs are undeniably powerful, as if we are being coerced to hear the emotion in them. Definitely my three favorite Wavves songs in general. On “So Bored,” Nathan hits an emotional tone, simply beyond the confides of a typical song, it’s unlike anything I can think of, with perhaps comparisons to similar “emotional” artists as Daniel Johnston, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash (particularly on “Hurt.”). SB exemplifies those great reverb drenched Wavves vocals. The rest of the LP features some kick ass rockers in “Summer Goth” and “California Goths, ” and “Weed Demon” is a fantastic, spacey-psychedlic number that just crawls under your skin and stays with you for a few days. Two tracks I’m not as fond of appear toward the end: “Beach Goth” and “Killer Punx, Scary Demons.” I like them, but not nearly as much as the others. I feel like they don’t bring anything new to the table to suck me in and captivate me. But, maybe with further eartime, I will favor them more. The final track “Surf Goth,” for me anyway, is very “unWavves.” I don’t know why, but it has this really dark underbelly to it, as if it could be featured in some Harmful Korine flick. I feel like I have to take a shower when I listen to it; this is precisely what fascinates me about it. A great closer for a great sophomore effort from Wavves. After hearing King, it has made me realize how invigorating Nathan’s songwriting has always been. For noise pop and lo-fi fans out there, you probably have already heard this, but if not, you have some serious homework to attend to. Not as harsh as the debut, Wavves and not as poppy/accessible as 2010’s King of the Beach, but without a doubt Wavvves stands proudly on top of my shelf of albums.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 