After so much waiting, and a hefty amount of singles, Memphis garage punk troublemaker Jay Reatard has finally issued the details for his hugely anticipated sophomore record. Titled Watch Me Fall, the record is due on August 18 from Matador.
Opening up about his process, Reatard issued the following statement to Matador:
This new album has been challenging. It's the first time I've written and recorded an album specifically because a label wants to release it. I've never made a record for a record label. I've always finished my recordings and then a label is decided on. When I made Blood Visions, I had no idea that it was going to see the light of day. And I've never made a record in which the label heard the songs, or anyone heard the songs, before the album was finished, so that's kind of intense. That's what singles are for; I always considered my singles as a glimpse between the albums.
Labels always had the previous single as an example of where I was going at the time, or of what the next album might sound like. In this situation, people at the label are hearing the songs before the album has been finished, but I try not to let it distract me, I'm trying to go about this process in a way that's the closest to how I would have done an album in the past. A lot of bands these days, they approach the making of an album like it's collecting songs; they don't think about how all of the songs are going to work together. They sequence their albums on iTunes, wondering what songs sound best next to each other rather than putting them together as they were written. That's not an album.
While the tracklisting is still to come, the song "It Ain't Gonna Save Me" can be heard here.
As we previously announced, Reatard is about to embark on a hefty North American tour. The dates are below:
6/11 San Diego, CA - Casbah *
6/13 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
6/15 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe *
6/16 Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret
6/17 Portland, OR - Dante's *
6/26 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
6/27 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
6/29 Toronto, ON - The Mod Club
6/30 Montreal QC - La Sala Rossa
7/1 New York, NY - Stuytown Oval Concert **
7/2 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall Of Williamsburg **
7/3 Allston, MA - Harpers Ferry
7/8 Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light **
7/9 Nashville, TN - The End
7/10 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Cafe **
* with the Oh Sees
** with TV Smith
Opening up about his process, Reatard issued the following statement to Matador:
This new album has been challenging. It's the first time I've written and recorded an album specifically because a label wants to release it. I've never made a record for a record label. I've always finished my recordings and then a label is decided on. When I made Blood Visions, I had no idea that it was going to see the light of day. And I've never made a record in which the label heard the songs, or anyone heard the songs, before the album was finished, so that's kind of intense. That's what singles are for; I always considered my singles as a glimpse between the albums.
Labels always had the previous single as an example of where I was going at the time, or of what the next album might sound like. In this situation, people at the label are hearing the songs before the album has been finished, but I try not to let it distract me, I'm trying to go about this process in a way that's the closest to how I would have done an album in the past. A lot of bands these days, they approach the making of an album like it's collecting songs; they don't think about how all of the songs are going to work together. They sequence their albums on iTunes, wondering what songs sound best next to each other rather than putting them together as they were written. That's not an album.
While the tracklisting is still to come, the song "It Ain't Gonna Save Me" can be heard here.
As we previously announced, Reatard is about to embark on a hefty North American tour. The dates are below:
6/11 San Diego, CA - Casbah *
6/13 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
6/15 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe *
6/16 Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret
6/17 Portland, OR - Dante's *
6/26 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
6/27 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
6/29 Toronto, ON - The Mod Club
6/30 Montreal QC - La Sala Rossa
7/1 New York, NY - Stuytown Oval Concert **
7/2 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall Of Williamsburg **
7/3 Allston, MA - Harpers Ferry
7/8 Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light **
7/9 Nashville, TN - The End
7/10 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Cafe **
* with the Oh Sees
** with TV Smith