Mogwai

Nine studio albums, a live album and four compilations, four soundtracks, a record label, and a few blown PAs and dislodged pieces of ceiling over uncountable gigs. Over the 24 years since they formed with rehearsals rattling Stuart Braithwaite's living room, Mogwai might have become one of the most important groups of a fragmented but increasingly potent British musical underground, but they've refused to sit back and rest on their laurels. 

Over 24 years their one constant has been of a mastery of dynamics, an embracing both of power and minimalism, and a willingness to experiment with new instrumentations and technology. Within that though, one of the most recognisable sonic identities in contemporary music unites the songs as disparate of graceful sung moments like Travel Is Dangerous or epic Black Sabbath temper tantrum My Father My King, the shimmering, or the stately atmosphere of I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead... The Mogwai of 2020 is a very different group to the four kids who, in 1996, released their debut single to a musical climate suffering the appalling hangover of late Britpop. Since debut album Young Team the group have always kept their eyes on the future, playing different sets mostly of new material on each night of their never-ending tours. In a commercial climate that hardly favours independent artists operating outside the mainstream, Mogwai have always led by example, doing it themselves, where they can.

Papa M is the most prolific solo moniker of David Pajo, a multi-instrumentalist who has drifted in and out of some of the most creative bands in the Midwest while working on his own innovative solo and side projects. His Papa M material has ranged from the abstract yet earthy post-rock of 1999's Live from a Shark's Cage to the more straightforward folk of 2001's Sings (and several subsequent EPs), with a few diversions into electronic music scattered throughout. After seemingly retiring the project in 2004, Papa M returned with the eclectic, sometimes thunderous Highway Songs in 2016, followed by the more meditative, acoustic A Broke Moon Rises in 2018, and his adventurous 2024 outing Ballads of Harry Houdini.

Born in Texas in 1968 to Fernando "Nanding" Pajo and Darlene Feldbusch, he was raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a founding member of , the Louisville-based slowcore band that wowed critics from 1987 to 1991. After they broke up, he played with a variety of bands, including , , , , and . He was also a full-time member of until 1998, cutting back his involvement with them to work on the M projects.

The common thread between all of the M projects is Pajo's expressive, nearly eerie guitar playing. Backed at times by gentle, wave-like rhythms and the hum of synths and keyboards, the music has a mesmerizing quality while conveying images of great expanses of space. Notable projects include a split single with  ( of ) under the name M Is the Thirteenth Letter (on  in 1995), and three full-length albums on the label: the self-titled Aerial M, released in 1997, Post Global Music, released in 1999 as , and Live from a Shark's Cage, the first album released under the Papa M name, in 1999. The country-folk EP Sings followed two years later. 

Papa M released a string of singles in the 2000s as well as the full-lengths Whatever, Mortal (2001) and Hole of Burning Alms (2004), a collection of non-album material spanning several monikers. He switched to the Pajo moniker for 2005's self-titled album and the following year's 1968. Around this time, he played in , a hard rock/metal band featuring members of , , and . He also participated in 's occasional reunion tours and festival appearances. In 2009, he released Scream with Me, an album of acoustic covers of  songs, as Pajo. He also played with  on their It's Blitz tour. He performed as Papa M at the ATP New York 2010 festival. He also briefly joined  as a touring member.

Pajo continued to participate in 's sporadic reunions, but sometime in 2014, he lost interest in playing music. In February of 2015, Pajo survived an attempt to take his own life after posting a suicide note on his blog. The outpouring of support from his family, friends, and fans urged him to persevere and eventually resume making music. His first album as Papa M in over a decade, Highway Songs was released by  in November 2016. While that album delved into grunge and hard rock, he explored a much quieter direction with 2018's A Broke Moon Rises, which concluded with a rendition of 's "Spiegel Im Spiegel." Pajo was a part of the extremely short-lived recording project Household Gods, which also included 's Vern Rumsey, 's Lauren K. Newman, and bay area musician Conan Neutron. Household Gods completed one album before the deaths of both Newman and Rumsey. Shortly into the 2020's, Pajo began playing guitar for . In 2024, the eighth Papa M album, Ballads of Harry Houdini, materialized. Released once again on , the album was a fully self-produced and self-recorded effort that wove together various guitar tones and styles, as well as the occasional implementation of electronics. ~ Stacia Proefrock & Paul Simpson, Rovi