Jay Reatard - Matador Singles '08

Jay Reatard – Matador Singles '08
Matador, 2008
Acquired: Love Garden, New, 2008
Price: $12

I've been debating selling this, since I own the first four singles that comprise this compilation. Honestly, the only reason I bought this was to have “No Time,” which is an amazing tune and the whole Jay Reatard 7” craze was well underway and as a means of creating hype Matador pressed fewer and fewer 7”s, that people camped out for and then sold for five times the value. Bullshit if you ask me. Kelly at Love Garden told me all about that and then how this was coming out, and then I quit caring about getting the singles. Then I bought this for some reason even though the only good song I don't have on it is “No Time.” I guess there might be a couple that are pretty good, but that one is amazing. Unlike the rest of the songs, which sound the exact same with the exception of having really excellent melodies, it's really sad and surprisingly pretty. It sounds like a perfect B-Side or something. 2009 has been the year of me not giving a shit about Jay Reatard. I like a few of these songs still, but for the most part it all sounds the fucking same, and not in that good Ramones way. Maybe I'm being influenced by his new LP, which is pretty boring. This is way better than that, and tunes like “See/Saw,” “Always Wanting More,” “An Ugly Death,” and of course “No Time” are absolutely fantastic, but really that's all I need. “Screaming Hand,” “Painted Shut,” “You Mean Nothing to Me,” and most of the rest are a snooze. “You Were Sleeping” and “I'm Watching You” are promising, and the cover of Deerhunter's “Flourescent Grey” is pretty good, although Deerhunter has become pretty boring to me lately as well. I can't decide whether or not to put this on the “sell these” pile or not. Because honestly, when am I ever going to listen to this again? It may seem kind of shallow, but another reason I wanna get rid of this is due to the twitter post he put up after his band quit on him, probably for good reason because he came off as a fucking asshole. That and this kind of represents the fetishizing of music. Maybe it was all Matador's idea, but it was a stupid one.