(Jay Reatard with crowd-surfer, 2008 CMJ Music Marathon)
Musicians dying prematurely is something you'd think I'd be used to by now, but it's still a bad shock every time it happens. Various sources have confirmed that indie-punk rocker Jay Reatard died in his sleep last night; he was only 29. As of this afternoon, no cause of death has been cited.
Over the past few years, Reatard built a huge following among the indie set, whipping crowds into a frenzy with his melodic hooks and garage-band energy. I had the chance to see him on a couple of occasions, and while I won't claim he completely won me over, his brand of feral, no-nonsense music-making is something we could stand to see a whole lot more of these days. (See below for a sample.)