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LP
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DC 845LP
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"Papa M is back, and he's talking 'bout Harry Houdini. This time, with a fresh, fine and fat-assed set of songs. Sometimes you never know when it comes to Papa M and his ol' left-shoulder angel, David Christian Pajo. After Slint's disbandment, he whiled away the '90s playing with literally everybody who asked, pausing long enough here and there to start his own band, called M. Two epic/classic albums and a forbiddingly large outstretched palm of singles (eventually collected into another epic full-length) later, David was looking a bit green around the gills. It'd been five years of Papa-ing off; time to do something/anything else for a while. Twelve long years go by before he sends in Highway Songs. Now comes Ballads of Harry Houdini. Following the path of M records from Aerial to Papa, (the just-released The Peel Sessions excepted!) David recorded Ballads of Harry Houdini on his own, receding deep inside himself and taking the time for ideas new and old, from soup to nuts, et al. Having his fun before spitting it all out onto the world -- setting down some tracks, getting lit, grabbing a guitar, getting a sound going, and soloing over 'em! With a bit of singing here and there too. Everything that's meant to be in the picture is in there. The shit that isn't, isn't. Frankly, the amount of hip-shaking sleaze oozing out of these pieces blows the idea that these are simple ad-hoc assemblies right the FUNK out of the water. Sure, when David does blues scaling, he sounds a little like Billy Gibbons. But then there's the insistent torn-n-fucked delirium that's accompanied every Papa M expression into the marketplace (with pride) since 1999. As ever, it's mixed extra-crispy, with earworms and easter eggs and lots of other surprising shit that's bound to change your whole personality. And so it is and so it does. Ballads of Harry Houdini: it can make you dance, sing or anything."
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CD
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DC 259CD
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"Having knocked out a bit of everything from One, to Five, raging all over acoustic folk, faux-classical, blues, duets, randy guitar-rock and something we like to call 'more', Papa M splits the coconut open this time to reveal -- fully calculated post-product, streamlining everything that's gone before into a new hybrid. The twist this time that adds to the thrill of it all: the surging 'Foreign Hotel Garden', featuring a hallucinogenic journal-entry lyric with spoken-word delivery. It's new and unusual. Whether breaking your heart or busting your jaw, Papa M is forever taking off into a previously unoccupied realm. It's his realm now -- and it's good. Make it yours soon."
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CD
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DC 231CD
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"Perhaps this is the cheese that will tempt you from your lousy hole. Way back before Papa M had broken out his brand, there was this music. It didn't have words for the most part, but it was bright-electric, humming low then launching with a secret fury, painting a picture, then slashing the picture with a gleaming blade. It rocked, it rolled...and it faced the wall, with a blush and a cry inside. Hole of Burning Alms collects Aerial M and Papa M singles from 1996 through the year 2000."
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CD
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DC 258CD
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"Five is designed to give you something classic and something new from the Papa M oeuvre. Recorded entirely in NYC, Five finds Papa M in gentle climes, duetting most dreamily with Christina Rosenvinge, evoking sound-clouds from his amplifier and slapping his cock against the cool ivory keys of a piano over the course of two intimate numbers. Whispers slide through the smoky late night air, cutting a path...straight to you. You lucky kid."
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CD
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DC 247CD
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"After three CD singles filled to their five-gallon brims with the multihued waters of pure M-ness, after a break in the action at the end of the summer, the Papa M singles series is ready to resume. The number you need to remember? Four. As his eye slides forward in time, so too does single Four, ring with new tones. Sounds that were previously hinted at come springing forth from his belly -- waltz-timed fifties balladry, soaked in sentimental reverb; synth squiggles erasing the taste of a banjo dirge; spiffy-tempoed acousti-pop and bitchy lyrical accusations, topped with undulating guitar leads, climaxing in jam."
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CD
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DC 243CD
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"On One and Two, Papa played us some brand new songs, as well as personalized remodels of old blues and traditional pieces. Three finds him in classic-rock territory, scoping trad-folk number 'Wild Mountain Thyme,' (famously done by The Byrds at the dawn of the psychedelic era) and Little Feat's 'Truck Stop Girl.' Topping these two with an original called 'Who Knows,' Papa M writes his own pop-rock gem, a melodic tune with folky strumming, ska-inflected drums, and lots of twangy leads for good measure."
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CD
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DC 242CD
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"In the year to come, while Papa M traverses the world in the mirror-windowed rocket called Zwan, you the fans of Papa M will not be left in the silver dust on the side of the cosmic road. No, instead you'll be offered a series of sonic treats. And in this fashion, 2003 will pass into the books -- and you will receive a wealth of new Papa M music -- without ever ascending the mountain of full-length-itude that a new Papa M album necessitates. This second single features two more tunes from the pen of Papa M, as well as an arrangement of a song 'discovered' by John Jacob Niles."
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2LP
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DC 194LP
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2023 repress. Double LP version. "Whatever, Mortal finds our Mr. M singing his heart out as often as he can, plus backing himself -- with all manner of guitars and keyboards and bass and drums, as well as more exotic instruments like a freaking sitar, car keys and -- incredibly! -- a lousy goddamn wooden floor!"
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CD
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DC 194CD
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"Whatever, Mortal finds our Mr. M singing his heart out as often as he can, plus backing himself -- with all manner of guitars and keyboards and bass and drums, as well as more exotic instruments like a freaking sitar, car keys and -- incredibly! -- a lousy goddamn wooden floor!"
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CD
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SN 008CD
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6 track CD EP on Papa M's new label, Sea Note. "This is a weird release. We really don't want to push this record on you as 'the next new Papa M record' because it doesn't really represent the way things will sound on the next new Papa M record. That's part of the reason this Papa M release has been 'officially bootlegged' on Sea Note, to'emphasize its different-ness. As well as its defiant hilarious-ness! As well as its straight-forward deviance, of course."
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2LP
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DC 170LP
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Double LP, gatefold sleeve, 180 gram vinyl. 2025 repress. "Writing a consideration of any portion of Pajo's voluminous catalog is quite the challenge. With the glaring exception of one rainbow colored cutout circa '03, it's been one love affair after the next for me and just about every record he's graced. Yet I find myself returning to make late night headphone excursions into the depths of Live From A Shark Cage on a regular basis, reliving my favorite moments like a ripe, juicy eructation of chili cheese fries in the middle of the night, or reveling as I have in the deja vu-like discovery of some clever plot twist unearthed for the Criterion edition of Brazil. The temptation is here to call it his Zoso, or even Who's Next, but that's unfair to all parties involved, and I'll leave such profane comparisons to the recently graduated music directors of college radio stations polluting the various interweb channels that pass for music journalism in this digital age we inhabit. Rather, Shark Cage deserves to be exalted in the same breath as Maggot Brain, The Payback, Stormcock or Miles' Pangea: modern masterpieces of minima built on subliminally insinuating rondos and vamps that echo not just Dave's own biorhythms, but a microcosmic take on the ur-pulse of the universe. In an era where the referential Lexicon shifts so rapidly that notions of classics and beau ideals scarcely linger as long as the sulfurous flatulence of your cubicle-mate, Shark Cage resounds as the beacon of fortitude in a sea of aural effluvia. If you are uninitiated, avail yourself. If you've been to the fountain, quench yourself again."
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