David Pajo (Slint) and Cassie Berman (Silver Jews) with Tim Furnish (Crain)

Talkhouse Podcast

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a reunion of sorts, in celebration of a new release of old music: It’s David Pajo, Cassie Berman, and Tim Furnish.

These three met in the fertile Louisville scene of the early 1990s. Pajo played guitar in the wildly influential band Slint and went on to play with Tortoise, Royal Trux, Stereolab, and Interpol at various times over the years—he’s currently a member of Gang Of Four. But the subject of this conversation is Pajo’s sorta-solo career, which went through various M-names, from just M to Papa M and Aerial M. As Aerial M, Pajo brought on some friends for a brief time to tour Europe, where they recorded a Peel Session—more on that in a minute.

The friends that Pajo recruited to play in the Aerial M live band were Tim Furnish, whose legendary Louisville band Crain had broken up recently—and who has since recorded experimental rock with the band Parlour—as well as Cassie Berman and Tony Bailey. Berman had been kicking around in Louisville bands, too, and she would go on to join Silver Jews, the band fronted by her husband, David Berman. Drummer Tony Bailey, as you’ll hear, played in about a million bands in the area—he died, sadly, in 2009.

The reason for today’s reunion of the lineup that burned bright but quick is the release of Aerial M’s new Peel Sessions album. In case you’re unfamiliar, BBC DJ John Peel used to invite the coolest bands of his day—from the ‘70s into the 2000s—to record a few songs specifically for his show, many of which were later released with the same striking artwork. In 1998, Aerial M stopped by and recorded three songs that would turn out quite different to the versions Pajo crafted in the studio, and would really be the only evidence that this lineup left of its existence. Pajo was recently reminded of this session, so he set about tracking down the tapes, sprucing them up, and handing them over to Drag City for a proper release—including an amazing replica of those original John Peel Sessions sleeves. Check out the song “Vivea” right here.

I don’t think these three had sat down for a chat in a while, so it’s like sitting in on a reunion with three people who have a lot of fond memories. They talk about their '98 tour, including the recording of this record, plus they get into fond remembrances of Tony Bailey, racing Stereolab to the record store, and even what they’re up to now: Just a few days before this recording, Cassie Berman participated in a tribute to David Berman on the anniversary of his untimely passing, and Furnish has been working on some cool-sounding visual art for other bands. Enjoy.

Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to David Pajo, Cassie Berman, and Tim Furnish for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and be sure to check out all the great stuff at Talkhouse.com and in our wider podcasting network. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

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