Aerial M

For those of you who’ve mislaid your history goggles, this archival release recalls an ancient time in the world of recorded music.

Yes, back in the dinosaur days of the 1990s, a creature known as Aerial MAerial M walked the earth, before evolving into Papa MPapa M and PAJOPAJO and beyond and back. Even then, the music of MM had a next-wave vibe, walking upright among the knuckle-draggers (and having drinks in the evening with others of its genetic detatchmenthaving detatchment). It was too much to last very . long, of course — but some things end up lasting forever, don’t they? Fuck! This is the only Aerial M session ever recorded for John Peel Peel’s BBC Radio One ’s show, as it was originally recorded on 3rd March 1998 and broadcast on 2nd April of the same year.

The studio versions of these songs, which appear on Aerial MAerial M’s self-titled album ’s ((DC114DC114)) and Papa MPapa M’s ’s Hole of Burning AlmsHole Alms comp ((DC231DC231)), were played by “, “MM” himself ” ((now revealed to be David PajoDavid Pajo!!)), which makes this album a rare alternative view of the canonical , MM, played by an , actual Aerial MAerial M band who, all too briefly, embodied the sound for a year or so before PapaPapa brought a brand new bag.

This Session found them fortuitously roadburned from several weeks in the European Theatre. So much the better for our archival ears, as OG-MM’s signature minimalist long-fuse sizzle is thrillingly ’s intact here; in fact, even more so, as the tunes are jammed out past the studio versions’ originally delineated borders, reaching rudely across the table in moments of liveness that the studio-bound project might have decided against when conferring only with the walls.

For fans of their epic version of “Turn Turn Turn,” this is more sweetmeats from that raucous old skull — but if you’ve not been down this road before, be prepared: the taste will set you slowly aflame. And then, before you know it, the band is dined and dashed — just like the band that Aerial MM was, all too briefly amok on the earth that was too. Salute!