R.I.P. Jay Reatard (1980-2010)

January 13th, 2010 by Oswald Hobbes / Comment on this post

Sad news for fans of good music: Jay Reatard was apparently found today at his home in Memphis. Reatard (born Jimmy Jay Lindsey, Jr.) was a joyfully obnoxious practictioner of borderline-symphonic pop-punk; his most recent album, Watch Me Fall, was one of 2009′s best, and that was coming after a roll of incendiary singles compilations from Matador that found him becoming an unlikely blogosphere favorite. Aside from being a truly gifted craftsman of lo-fi symphonies to boredom and destruction, Reatard was also an electric stage presence and lightning rod for trouble and controversy. Needless to say we’re gonna miss this dude, and we never even met him. AssaultBLOG’s thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family. Here’s the man in action:

Update: According to Pitchfork, Reatard’s death is now being investigated as a homocide and police are looking for a suspect. Not sure what this could mean, or why anyone would want to murder Jay Reatard -- but there you go. This could get weird. Buy yourself a copy of Blood Visions anyway.