When I heard Jay Reatard for the first time, I brushed his act off as another thoroughly average indie lo-fi rock thing that wouldn't last past an album or two, which there seems to be a dauntingly increasing amount of in modern music, however he slowly and progressively made me think a little bit more positively. First, there's his first single that really took off on college radio stations and various blogs, "Always Wanting More". I liked this single, but when I checked out his other music, it honestly all sounded the same. "Always Wanting More" is a good song in its own respect, but the artist still seemed average to me. Last Thursday, Reatard (?) released his long-awaited sophomore record, "Watch Me Fall".
The whole tedious "everything here sounds the same" feeling is still present, but this occured to me in times that were much fewer and farther apart for this particular record than with his last album and few EPs. Reatard seems to get a tad more adventurous with the instrumentals on a few of the tracks, without totally losing his style that drew in so many fans of bands like Wavves and No Age and other lo-fi punk bands such as the previously reviewed rock duo, Japandroids. That being said, some of the songs actually don't sound very lo-fi at all, especially compared to some of his earlier work. Reatard's sharp, treble-heavy vocals are, in ways, charming, and at other times can be a little overpowering. About 3/4 of your way through the LP, you start to get that feeling I talked about earlier, the "everything here sounds the same" one, but that's honestly my only qualm with this sophomore effort. I personally believe Jay Reatard has improved since the last LP, and "Watch Me Fall" is a much more listenable record than "Blood Visions", the fuzzy debut. Jay Reatard has taken the style he's used to and bended it to fit a wider audience, which is highly respectable.
Also, I apologize if Jay Reatard is a band rather than a solo artist, I don't really know what's up with that and I honestly don't feel like Wikipedia'ing it. Is there an apostrophe in the word "Wikipedia'ing"? Wikipedia'ing. Wikipediaing. Yeah, I think there is. Or is it just Wiki'ing? That looks weird. Nevermind.
Key Tracks: "It Ain't Gonna Save Me", "Faking It", "Wounded"
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