Memphis garage punker and Beck fan Jay Reatard stopped by the AOL studios to record some live clips and promote his Matador 7" singles series. Like many previously non-AOL-ready artists before him, he approaches it with a bit of ambivalence. The performances are pure Jay Reatard (minus the audience), but he caps off a great rendition of "Let It All Go" by giving the camera a fuck-you finger and grabbing his beer. Much like when Win Butler smashed his guitar on SNL, it seems like a tired pantomime (and even a bit pathetic), especially when in order to watch these videos, you have to sit through a brief commercial. The obvious parallel to Kurt Cobain's discomfort with Nirvana's growing success is there, too. In fact, in the Spinner interview, Jay notes: "When I was talking to a few major labels, they said they were going to market me as the next Kurt Cobain. I was supposed to be the guy that's going to kill emo. I'm not inspired to do that."
"My Shadow"
"See/Saw"
"Let It All Go"
Additionally, you can watch some interview footage with Jay at Spinner.
