Collecting the six limited edition seven-inch singles released by Memphis lo-fi savant Jay Reatard in 2008--with a cover of Deerhunter's "Fluorescent Grey" and a new original thrown in for good measure--MATADOR SINGLES '08 may well be the best rock album released in 2008. Kicking off with the sublime pop-punk of "See/Saw," SINGLES '08 picks up where predecessor SINGLES 06-07 left off--with a series of driving, impossibly hooky songs that build upon the poppier side of '70s British punk. As did the Buzzcocks on their seminal SINGLES GOING STEADY (an obvious point of reference), Reatard slows down and stretches out on the second side, shrewdly exchanging his trademark raw power for something deeper and, on the closing track, "I'm Watching You"--a post-millennial reimagining of the Police's "Every Breath You Take"--something more disturbing.
Professional Reviews
Clash (magazine) (p.123) - "Reatard seems wholly at home in his giddily twisted world....As a primer for what's next it'll do quite nicely."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Every track is a bona fide pop-powered garage gem, strewn with incendiary guitar breaks, cheesy organ runs and stroppy, snotty, sloppy vocal exorcisms."
