Matador Singles '08

All you need to make a song is three chords and the truth as the old saying goes, but Hot Press would like to add a third element to creating the perfect pop tune – a large fuck-off distortion pedal. Memphis garage wunderkind Jay Reatard seems to know what we’re talking about, and his compilation album Matador Singles ’08 (which collects his hard to find 7” releases on one shiny compact disc) is full of two minute short sharp shocks that boast riffs fuzzier than a fifteen-year-old boy’s chin. Each tune rattles along at breakneck pace without once sacrificing speed for melody and marks young Reatard out as being a rightful heir to Johnny Ramone’s throne.