CMJ reports Jay Reatard dead of an overdose

"Studios feel like hospitals to me. I can’t really say, ‘Hey, two months from now I’m going to feel like recording.’ I just, y’know, wake up, have lunch, hang out, drink some coffee, and if I decide I want to record a song, then I’ll record a song. There’s no clock ticking."

-- Jay Reatard, as told to Barry Thompson in "No Clock Ticking: Jay Reatard Channels His Inner Problem Child"

But the clock, of course, ticks for us all. The Memphis Commercial-Appeal reports that JAY REATARD was found dead in his Memphis apartment this morning. He was 29. CMJ cites "an undisclosed source close to Reatard" who says the cause of death was "an overdose."

Jay -- born Jimmy Lee Lindsey, Jr. -- was just a teenager when Goner Records' Eric Friedl, then with the great Memphis garage-punk innovators the OBLIVIANS, started raving about the new kid in town -- and subsequently putting out rabid vinyl singles by the Reatards. The fact that Jay Reatard went on to achieve an indie-rock infamy that transcended his idols remains a small miracle. As the Phoenix's Barry Thompson once described seeing Reatard's live shows: "It's like getting kicked in the junk. Except awesome." 

No more details were immediately available. "He was found at his house," Friedl told the Commercial-Appeal. "That’s all I know right now."

The Pixies, via Facebook, offered condolances "to the friends and family of Jay Reatard, on his sudden passing today."