Pan Sonic

Pan Sonic -- originally Panasonic until an inevitable confrontation with the Japanese manufacturing giant of the same name -- was among the most active and well-known exports of Finland's experimental techno underground, and the first to reach acclaim at an international level. Pursuing the jagged edges of minimal and hardcore techno, Pan Sonic earned an enduring association with industrial and noise music through their incorporation of antiseptic production techniques and power-tool electronics. As they junked together studio equipment from spare parts and ancient analog debris, Pan Sonic's search for the untried in techno was their compositional M.O., placing them closer to the genre's Detroit roots than is often understood. They represented a collision between the Motor City's <a href="spotify:artist:2eIDAcLKnWc4D350YyzvgS">Jeff Mills</a> and Cologne's <a href="spotify:artist:1GlO6fbTFkwP6CyQgsjSoe">Mike Ink</a>: dance-based electronic music with maximum impact made with minimal extraneous detail. After earning praise for early releases like 1997's Kulma, the duo released collaborations with artists such as <a href="spotify:artist:2jlt5Z6VojDVMzSj1JHkcd">Alan Vega</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5UezsklPScipW64XJm7qql">Merzbow</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6BsNCY0qB2WLl5LlXqA79y">Keiji Haino</a>, and others. Their most ambitious album, the four-CD box set Kesto (234.48:4), appeared in 2004. The duo broke up at the end of 2009, but continued issuing archival releases, including the soundtrack Atomin Paluu (2016) and Microwaves (2021), a live collaboration with Italian ensemble <a href="spotify:artist:4EtP52HohTbk4JglKymTbI">Alter Ego</a>.

Formed in Turku in the early '90s, Pan Sonic began as the duo of <a href="spotify:artist:3eD1hrRRxWBwPsG92vTnht">Mika Vainio</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4UJLCrifQfI4rByJfIXoAe">Ilpo Väisänen</a>. As with most Finnish techno groups, Pan Sonic's earliest beginnings lay with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22S%C3%A4hk%C3%B6+Recordings%22">Sähkö Recordings</a>, the focus of the Northern European techno scene and home to such artists as <a href="spotify:artist:1dfSAiUAKnk4H8AjPMM4FR">Kirlian</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:69H6uUTI29XBzQXV1d3A7D">Jimi Tenor</a>, and solo monikers of both <a href="spotify:artist:3eD1hrRRxWBwPsG92vTnht">Vainio</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4UJLCrifQfI4rByJfIXoAe">Väisänen</a>. In 1994, the duo released its self-titled debut single just prior to adding third member Sami Salo and landing a contract with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mute%22">Mute</a> subsidiary <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Blast+First%22">Blast First</a>. The group's first <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22BF%22">BF</a> release, 1995's Vakio, featured the same brand of furtive, passively aggressive techno, but with a fuller, more thought-out sound. Salo left the group (apparently to join the Army), and Pan Sonic's subsequent releases -- the Osasto EP and the long-player Kulma -- noted his absence with a comparatively harder tone.

Pan Sonic added live performance to their repertoire in 1996, playing a number of gigs throughout Europe and Japan, as well as touring with goth rock group <a href="spotify:artist:79S80ZWgVhIPMCHuvl6SkA">Swans</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:3eD1hrRRxWBwPsG92vTnht">Vainio</a> moved to London in 1997, where, in addition to his commitment to Pan Sonic, he continued to record as <a href="spotify:artist:3eD1hrRRxWBwPsG92vTnht">Ø</a>. He also released work on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22S%C3%A4hk%C3%B6%22">Sähkö</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Puu%22">Puu</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cheap%22">Cheap</a> as Tekonivel, Orchestra Guacamole (with Jaakko Salovaara), and <a href="spotify:artist:6hFvK18zwUd4X636EX9V0M">Kosmos</a> (with <a href="spotify:artist:69H6uUTI29XBzQXV1d3A7D">Jimi Tenor</a>), and remixed tracks for <a href="spotify:artist:7w29UYBi0qsHi5RTcv3lmA">Björk</a> and Tactile. He and <a href="spotify:artist:4UJLCrifQfI4rByJfIXoAe">Väisänen</a> joined with <a href="spotify:artist:6uVeWolwyRDrT84lLsaZyW">Suicide</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:2jlt5Z6VojDVMzSj1JHkcd">Alan Vega</a> to release Endless as <a href="spotify:artist:2pupDQ1c9nHLnqHQWfwesX">VVV</a> in 1998. The final Pan Sonic album of the '90s was A, their least intense full-length to that point. Pan Sonic resumed activity in 2001, when the duo released Aaltopiiri and toured the world. The remainder of the decade was highlighted by the four-disc Kesto (234.48:4) (2004), Katodivaihe/Cathodephase (2007), and collaborations with <a href="spotify:artist:5UezsklPScipW64XJm7qql">Merzbow</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2jlt5Z6VojDVMzSj1JHkcd">Vega</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2e7hYqRjL82c1nIoREHc4J">Sunn 0)))</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6BsNCY0qB2WLl5LlXqA79y">Keiji Haino</a>, and Stephen Burroughs.

In December of 2009, Pan Sonic announced that they would be parting ways in order to focus on their solo projects. The duo's final recordings surfaced over the course of the following decade. Studio album Gravitoni appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Blast+First+Petite%22">Blast First Petite</a> in 2010, as did In the Studio, a double LP of sessions with <a href="spotify:artist:6BsNCY0qB2WLl5LlXqA79y">Haino</a> dating from 2007. Oksastus, a recording of one of Pan Sonic's final live dates, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Kvitnu%22">Kvitnu</a> in 2014. In 2015, previously unissued latter-day Pan Sonic recordings made up the soundtrack to Atomin Paluu, a documentary about the first nuclear power plant built since the 1986 meltdown in Chernobyl. After winning the prize for Best Soundtrack at the Jussi Awards Festival, the soundtrack was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Blast+First+Petite%22">Blast First Petite</a> in 2016.

<a href="spotify:artist:3eD1hrRRxWBwPsG92vTnht">Vainio</a> died in France on April 13, 2017 at the age of 53. In memoriam, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22S%C3%A4hk%C3%B6%22">Sähkö</a> released Sähkö: The Movie Soundtrack EP, featuring <a href="spotify:artist:3eD1hrRRxWBwPsG92vTnht">Ø</a> and Panasonic tracks recorded for <a href="spotify:artist:69H6uUTI29XBzQXV1d3A7D">Tenor</a>'s film about the label, in 2018. M.T.V. 15.05.63 ~ 12.04.2017, a 260-page hardcover book about <a href="spotify:artist:3eD1hrRRxWBwPsG92vTnht">Vainio</a> containing an exclusive CD of previously unreleased performance recordings by Pan Sonic, was published in 2019. Remixes, an EP of previously unissued 1996 mixes of Panasonic tracks by <a href="spotify:artist:0tBx19i6OAx0Z3gGiDtsTO">Zoviet France</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7bO9rUH5Yd2Td8S1TMoBUP">Muslimgauze</a>, appeared in 2020. Microwaves, a 2006 live recording with Italian contemporary ensemble <a href="spotify:artist:4EtP52HohTbk4JglKymTbI">Alter Ego</a>, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Die+Schachtel%22">Die Schachtel</a> in 2021. ~ Sean Cooper & Andy Kellman, Rovi