In the late 90's, 15 year-old Jay Lindsey, living right outside Memphis, played all of the instruments on a demo tape by his newly-minted performance moniker of “The Reatards”. This cassette was sent to Eric Friendl of the The Oblivians, who had used the “Goner Records” imprint on a couple of releases. His next would be a 7" by The Reatards, followed shortly by a full length LP, Teenage Hate (Goner, 1998).

After quickly building a reputation for an anything-goes live set, and releasinf another excellent full length Grown Up, Fucked Up (Empty, 1999), Jay Reatard shoved what was previously a side project to the forefront and started raising eyebrows with something other than live mayhem: Songwriting and an ear for breaking ground.

Jay's first title under the solo “Jay Reatard” moniker, Blood Visions was released in early 2006 on In The Red, and it politely sat on the shelves for over six months until the live act brought up the rear and things started to happen. More singles for more labels, a handful of mind-bending SXSW performances, nonstop touring, a bidding war…that's right, a bidding war…and the first quarter of 2008 found Jay Reatard on Matador Records

Review:
On his first solo album, Jay Reatard…well, judging by the album cover, “grows up” clearly isn't right. Nor is “makes a more mature musical statement” quite on the nose. How about “sucks less”? The Reatards were always a good idea improperly executed: their lo-fi take on the goofball teenage humor of the Queers or the Mr. T Experience had its moments, but they were often in need of an editor and some slightly better-quality recording equipment. Blood Visions is considerably more listenable in terms of fidelity: R. Stevie Moore's '70s and '80s albums would be a reasonable home-recording touchstone. Musically, it's also a big step up, as well as a step into the past. Blood Visions has the antic, jumpy quality of many now-obscure new wave records of the early '80s, from the era when artists like Wazmo Nariz and Skafish thought a funny name and a yelpy, David Byrne-derived singing voice, along with a cheap synth and some narrow sunglasses, were the path to success. By keeping the oddball affectations down to a minimum while keeping up the neurotic post-punk momentum, Reatard burns through 15 aggressively quirky but mostly entertaining songs in just under half an hour. More energy, better sounding, tighter focus, better songs…maybe this IS a more mature musical statement!
All Music Guide – Stewart Mason