In Celebration of David Pajo:

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Tortoise - "Tin Cans And Twine"

The first time I saw Tortoise play live they were touring in support of Standards. Tortoise being one of my favourite bands from when I was in high school, I looked forward to the show with prodigious eagerness, and with some old friends, gin and tonics, and a few cigars (yes, that is the type of lifestyle I lead) we rolled down to the Cabaret. They played most of the canonical repertoire; ?DJed?, ?Along The Banks Of Rivers?, ?Seneca?. But it wasn?t until their fourth encore, when they finally came to understand that people would not stop clapping, would not leave satisfied unless it happened, that they played ?Tin Cans And Twine? (a song they had sold to be used in a Calvin Klein add). They seemed peeved and played a strange and stilted version that never quite developed into anything more than noodling.

The emotive, riff-based low end with occasional aching high end is Tortoise?s signature, and never was it writ more elegantly than on ?Tin Cans And Twine.?

A simple bass riff complimented by a high-hat, bass drum and snare is transformed and melodically explicated (there was more there than we understood) by the baritone guitar. The guitar exits and we are left with the same bass part, but now listened to entirely differently. It continues (like all things) until it stops, at which point we are left with quiet; then a simple and evocative baritone guitar. Everything comes back in. A high pitched signal in the background increases its rate, and so its pitch, like it?s fighting to breathe normally while running.

Come to think of it, the song is perfect for running... slowly.

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Papa M - "Over Jordan"

This is another song from an album I don?t like much. I am a very big fan of Pajo?s guitar playing, but I don?t find him to be a particularly good folk/pop songwriter. For the most part, the vocal parts seemed tacked on, and too unvarying in pitch.

This, however, is an exception.

Mmm, that?s nice. Sounds so soft.

Acoustic guitar, banjo like glass. His voice in the chorus is just like Leonard Cohen, and Will Oldham?s backing vocals sound just like Leonard Cohen (an octave and more up).

This song has my name in its title (?tis why I like it). Can you deal with that?