Slint/Tortoise/Papa M principal David Pajo is indulging two sides of his musical personality with his upcoming projects. First up is his second album under the moniker Pajo, "1968," due Aug. 22 via Drag City. Like its 2005 self-titled predecessor, the project was recorded in a downtown New York apartment Pajo has since vacated for Columbus, Ohio.
"The first Pajo record was important for me to make, but I felt it was a little too sentimental," the artist tells Billboard.com. "I wanted to make a record that was kind of the opposite of that, like more detached emotionally. I wrote songs mostly about horror movies I've seen and combined words from the poet Hafiz, this old Sufi mystic. It's a really weird record, lyrically at least."
All but one song on "1968" features drums and bass, whereas most of the previous album found Pajo alone with his acoustic guitar. Meanwhile, Pajo is pressing forward with his new hard rock band, Dead Child, which features Louisville scene veterans Todd Cook, Michael McMahon, Tony Bailey and vocalist Dahm.
The group recently finished recording a five-song EP at a particularly no-frills studio in Louisville and is seeking out a label partner. "It was kind of ghetto. There were mice in the studio. The engineers would pick up a lamp and just smash them, as if it was no big deal," he says with a laugh.
"We didn't really set out to make metal," Pajo offers of Dead Child tracks like "Angel of the Odd," "Black Blood Leather" and "I Will Live Again." "We just wanted to write more aggressive songs, sort of like old-school British hard rock. That's what it ended up sounding like. It sounds like old-school metal but with modern tastes." Dead Child's first tour will be an East Coast run in mid-August.
Meanwhile, work continues on the DVD chronicling Slint's brief 2005 reunion tour, but as Pajo notes, the Slint camp has never been known for operating within time constraints.
"In Slint, there's no real leader, so it's hard to get things going," he says. "We were also talking about remastering the records. I don't think 'Spiderland' was mastered properly, at least the CD version. We want to go back to the original tapes and make a remastered CD version that will sound more like what it is supposed to sound like. But we'd have to agree on who does it, where and if we all need to be present. We don't have anybody organized enough to set all this up. But all this stuff will get done. It will come out eventually."
"The first Pajo record was important for me to make, but I felt it was a little too sentimental," the artist tells Billboard.com. "I wanted to make a record that was kind of the opposite of that, like more detached emotionally. I wrote songs mostly about horror movies I've seen and combined words from the poet Hafiz, this old Sufi mystic. It's a really weird record, lyrically at least."
All but one song on "1968" features drums and bass, whereas most of the previous album found Pajo alone with his acoustic guitar. Meanwhile, Pajo is pressing forward with his new hard rock band, Dead Child, which features Louisville scene veterans Todd Cook, Michael McMahon, Tony Bailey and vocalist Dahm.
The group recently finished recording a five-song EP at a particularly no-frills studio in Louisville and is seeking out a label partner. "It was kind of ghetto. There were mice in the studio. The engineers would pick up a lamp and just smash them, as if it was no big deal," he says with a laugh.
"We didn't really set out to make metal," Pajo offers of Dead Child tracks like "Angel of the Odd," "Black Blood Leather" and "I Will Live Again." "We just wanted to write more aggressive songs, sort of like old-school British hard rock. That's what it ended up sounding like. It sounds like old-school metal but with modern tastes." Dead Child's first tour will be an East Coast run in mid-August.
Meanwhile, work continues on the DVD chronicling Slint's brief 2005 reunion tour, but as Pajo notes, the Slint camp has never been known for operating within time constraints.
"In Slint, there's no real leader, so it's hard to get things going," he says. "We were also talking about remastering the records. I don't think 'Spiderland' was mastered properly, at least the CD version. We want to go back to the original tapes and make a remastered CD version that will sound more like what it is supposed to sound like. But we'd have to agree on who does it, where and if we all need to be present. We don't have anybody organized enough to set all this up. But all this stuff will get done. It will come out eventually."
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