Pan sonic News from Blast First Petite

All the latest Pan sonic news will be now updated to:

http://phinnweb.tumblr.com/tagged/Pan_sonic

Pan sonic news from their label, Blast First Petite:



Artist: Pan sonic & Keiji Haino
Title: Shall I Download A Black Hole and Offer It To You
Format: CD
Cat.no.: PTYT 014
Label: Blast First Petite (UK)
Date: 6 July 2009 (Mail Order from 15th June)

"The complete live recording from the 15th November 2007 concert at Berlin's Volksbühne. Music. Mystery. Magic Finlandian straight-men dual a last waltz with stand-up shamen, Mr Haino. All bow. Deluxe Packaging Designed by Stephen O'Malley."

Info @ Blast First Petite

Blast First Petite also announced a Sunn 0)))) and Pan sonic joint release 7" (which seems to have been sold out already!):

Sunn 0))) / Pansonic
‘CHE’
PTYT 021 - Release Date 1st June

Limited editon of 1500 White Vinyl & 1500 Clear Vinyl

This is serious......serious as a heart attack!
The hooded ones touch branch wands with the unsmiling Finlanders for six epic minutes.
Joe Preston intones the incantation as inscribed by the seer, Vega.
Sky's crack, lightning bolts rend the sky, Valkyries ride the storm.

Flip the disc,
13 Crosses, 16 Blazin' Skulls.
Sci-Fi electronic metal machine music.
A live in hell 2008 version of a song first heard on Vega's cruelly ignored 2007 album "Station"
All hail.
+
Lost soulman of the Black Country, Stephen Burroughs, sometimes head Head of "Head of David".
Gira-esque acoustic version and Stephen's first visit to a recording studio in near a decade.
Time's a circle

Twisted tunes in an inside out package.
Beautifully rendered "hidden" drawings by Coulter Jacobsen: drawn and re-drawn from memory.
The best batch yet.....?

A Sunn 0))) / Pansonic - Che (6:00)
B1 Alan Vega - Thirteen Crosses (Live 2008)
B2 Stephen Burroughs - Goodbye Darling (4:05)

Stephen Burroughs ex-Head Of David singer made a Brando-like return to the studio in the summer of 2008, for the first time in over a decade.

Inside Cover Image: Coulter Jacobsen "Flash Falls After Donal" (2006)
Special Thanks to Coulter & Corvi Mora Gallery, London.

A Limited Edition of 3000

More info @ Blast First Petite

And a new Pan sonic album (PTYT 039) announced for October 2009 on Blast First Petite!

Mika Vainio's Music for Kenneth Kvarnström's Hohto/Shine

Mika Vainio live @ Kvitnu Fest, Ukraine, October 2008

Mika Vainio (Pan sonic) provides the music for choreographer/dancer Kenneth Kvarnström's latest work, Hohto/Shine, now running at Finnish
National Ballet in Helsinki. Based on the compositions of the 17th century composer William Lawes, Vainio creates manipulations of the composer's music, both slowed down and running backwards, as Helsingin Sanomat writes on 2 March 2009.

Info @ Finnish National Opera

Helsingin Sanomat article (in Finnish)

Finnish National Opera/Finnish National Ballet

Lucio Capece & Mika Vainio: Trahnie (CD)

Artist: Lucio Capece & Mika Vainio
Title: Trahnie
Format: CD
Cat.no.: eMEGO 098
Label: Editions Mego (Austria)
Date: 2 March 2009

Tracklist:

1. Ujellus
2. Juurake
3. Escapes
4. Hondonada
5. Valontuo
6. Hobojungle
7. Ahuyenta Temores
8. Sahalaitainen
9. Tolmavuo
10. Sigilo
11. Mañana

Length: 59:15

Credits:

Lucio Capece: Soprano Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Preparations, Mixer-Sax Feedback, Sruti Box
Mika Vainio: Electronics and Treatments, Electric Guitar, Cymbal

Recorded in Berlin 2006-2008
Artwork: Tina Frank

Press release notes from Editions Mego:

On first glance Lucio Capece and Mika Vainio seem unlikely partners. Two standard bearers at opposing poles of extremity, both sonically and geographically. Lucio from Argentina and rooted in a traditions of jazz and Improv, while Mika hailing from Finland sourced in early 90s electronic and Industrial scenes.

However, they both share an alarming attention to detail when it comes to their audio compositions, and neither are afraid of pushing boundaries of abstraction to the limit. With this in mind its with great pleasure that Editions Mego issues their first album as a duo. Recorded over a 2 year period in Berlin (their common chosen home), its as startling as it is visceral. Delicate as it is extreme. Huge blasting slabs of concrete sax geometrically oppose sonic taps of electronic sound, which bring about a fascinating sound palette.

The opening ‘Ujellus’ is both piercing and soothing; ‘Juurake’ combines pure sweat with cold emotion; tense environmental scrapes flesh out on ‘Ahuyenta Temores’. From the pounding machinist overdrive on ‘ Tolmavuo’ to the poignant melancholy of ‘Mañana’.

Its all here.

Album info & soundfiles @ Editions Mego

Pan sonic vs. Keiji Haino: Shall I Download A Black Hole And Offer It To You (live album, Blast First Petite)

Pan Sonic vs Keiji Haino @ Volksbuhne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin, 15 November 20007


Keiji Haino, Mika Vainio, Ilpo Väisänen & Keiichiro Shibuya: an impromptu gig at Super Deluxe club, Tokyo


ATAK 011 LIVE DVD ATAK NIGHT 3: Pan sonic, Keiichiro Shibuya, Goem, evala, Keiji Haino

See also: Another clip of Pan Sonic & Keiji Haino @ Volksbühne Berlin 15.11.2007

Info from Blast First Petite:

COMING IN EARLY 2009

PANSONIC VS KEIJI HAINO
2008 Live Album "Shall I download a black hole and offer it to you"
PTYT 014 Date TBC

Pan sonic vs. Keiji Haino in Berlin (15 November 2007)

Pan Sonic Vs. Erkki Kurenniemi

Pan Sonic + Carl Michael von Hausswolff + Erkki Kurenniemi -- live @ Kiasma theatre, Helsinki, Finland, Part 1 (21 November 2002)

[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Pan sonic performing Erkki Kurenniemi-designed DIMI instruments from the 1970s with Kurenniemi and Carl Michael von Hausswolff.

Info @ Avanto Festival 2002 | Image gallery

FinnScene: Early Years of Finnish Electronic Music @ pHinnWeb

Ø (Mika Vainio): Oleva

Helsinki's Sähkö Recordings announces a new Ø (pronounced "Ohm") album, called Oleva ("The Existing"), from Mika Vainio (Pan sonic); somewhat surprisingly including a cover version of 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' (note: the track is credited on the sleeve as "Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun"), a track from Pink Floyd's second album Saucerful of Secrets (1968)!

Cat.no.: SÄHKÖ-023
Artist: Ø
Title: Oleva
Format: 2x12"/CD
Release date: July 2008
Produced by: Mika Vainio

Tracklist:

1. Unien holvit
2. S-bahn
3. Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun
4. Frekvenssi
5. Loihdittu
6. Vastus
7. U-bahn
8. Koituva
9. Mojave
10. Tasanko
11. Kausaaliton
12. Muistetun palaava taajuus

Credits:

All tracks by Mika Vainio except 3 by Roger Waters
Recorded in Berlin 2007-2008
Photographs by Mika Vainio
Graphics by Tommi Grönlund
Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering
Cut by Rashad Becker at D&M

Info @ Sähkö Recordings

Reviews:

The Silent Ballet

Mika Vainio: 'Behind the Radiators' 7"

A new solo single from Pan sonic's Mika Vainio on the 7" series of UK's Touch...

Artist: Mika Vainio
Title: Behind the Radiators
Format: 7"
Cat.no: TS06
Record label: Touch (UK)
Date: May/June 2008
Tracklist:
A. Behind the Radiators 1 [2:52]
B. Behind the Radiators 2 [2:58]

Note: Recorded in Berlin, February 2008

More info: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/touchsevens/

Pan sonic: Kuvaputki DVD

Pan sonic: Kuvaputki trailer (2008)

Edward Quist's DVD Kuvaputki ("Cathode Ray Tube"), filmed on Pan sonic's 1999 tour, is out now.

Press release notes:

Kuvaputki is a hyper-real multi-angle DVD environment. Pan sonic, Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen, are immersed in the imagery of the cathode which seems to live and infect their physicality over the course of three parallel films as they merge with their own extreme sound and into Quist's sinister vision.

Earplug magazine writes, "Directed by Edward Quist and co-produced by Scissor Sisters' Derek Gruen (aka Del Marquis), Kuvaputki began as a documentary about Pan Sonic's famously immersive live shows.

As a result, "a number of motion graphics were developed that would sync with the live documented sound and performance," says Quist. "From there, the idea evolved much further to include a kind of purely audio-visual narrative that included characters and suggests [the] inner life [that] goes on in a TV, as living energy. The various stages of t.he cathode process visually unfold." That process plays out across three tracks shot between New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Finland, each accessible in real-time as a discrete viewing angle. The structure of the three simultaneous angles — which spin live footage into ghostly projections — is such that images are layered "so that one might be adding, reducing, or revealing elements of the layers."

Boomkat writes, "American digital artist Edward Quist hooked up with the mighty Pan Sonic for this, their first ever DVD release, developing accompanying imagery for the duo's monumental experiments in synthesis.

The main feature is the forty-minute audiovisual album dating back to 1999, combining Quist's cathode ray visions with Pan sonic's uncompromising electronic sound world.

The first thing you'll notice is just how well the two elements fit together: the black and white abstraction of the film ties into the extremes of the music - it's at once grounded in principals of self-restriction and minimalism but always encroaches on overwhelming the viewer/listener.

In fact, sufferers of photo sensitive epilepsy will need to steer clear: in its more frantic moments the strobing can be fairly terrorising, even hypnotic. Amongst the flashes of raw electricity and grainy waveforms you might find yourself surprised by the emergence of actual live performance footage from Vainio and Väisänen, whose furtive knob turning looks positively surgical, in a setting that's somewhere between CCTV and a phantom broadcast from some distant, Hebridean outpost with a faulty transmitter.

The music is predictably wonderful, revisiting the advanced sound designs of a time around Pansonic's album, A. The combined effect of the viewing and listening experience might be compared to an analogue approximation of Ryoji Ikeda's Formula DVD, albeit with wraith-like human shapes occasionally rising from the tangled circuitry, reminding you that this is in fact a tour documentary at heart. Highly recommended."

Sonar Electronic Festival described the film as "A beautiful and unique film capturing the very essence of a Pansonic live performance... which really is quite an achievement." SxSW Music Festival calls it "An embodiment. Probably the most perfect electronic music film yet." ICA Film London: "Surprisingly watchable. Forty minutes of unswervingly modern, super-intense sound & visuals."

Duration 38.05 mins.

Kuvaputki.com - the official site

Kuvaputki @ MySpace

Info @ Blast First Petite

Review @ Brainwashed

Angel: Kalmukia CD

Artist: Angel (a.k.a. Ilpo Väisänen of Pan sonic & Dirk Dresselhaus of Schneider TM)
Title: Kalmukia (CD with special booklet)
Cat.no: eMEGO 087
Label: Editions Mego (Vienna, Austria)
Release Date: 21 January 2008

Tracklist:

1. Bones In The Sand
2. Kalmukia - The Discovery, Wiring, Invasion
3. Effect Of Discovery, Test, Alarm, Catastrophy
4. Aftermath: The Mutation

[Total Time: 58:29]

Recorded 2006, Berlin
Mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln, October 2007
Story and drawings by Ilpo Väisänen
Layout by SOMA

Press release info:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

in co-operation with Editions Mego (who will release the CD version within a notebook designed by Stephen O'Malley), we proudly present Angel's first studio album: Kalmukia. The 320kbit download version comes with original notations and drawings by Ilpo Väisänen.

To preview or to buy the album, please go here.

Ilpo Väisänen (of Pan sonic) and Dirk Dresselhaus (of Schneider TM) have been playing freeform noise with a tendency to drone things out since 1999. The whole thing is quite a no man's landish affair: somewhere between and in the middle of industrial, dub, new music, indierock, blues and science fiction soundtracks. From 2004 on they were joined by Icelandic cellist/multi-instrumentalist Hildur Guðnadóttir (Lost in Hildurness, múm etc.) on a regular basis.

Kalmukia is vast epic sprawling through guitar riffs spanning deep electronic canyon overlooked by a melancholic grey sky. A journey leading to discovery and a final mutation. All players involved delicately playing off each other creating a mesmerising work that sounds like nothing they have done before yet still retaining the audio signatures they have become known for. Recorded 2006 in Berlin. Mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln, October 2007. Story and drawings by Ilpo Väisänen. CD packaged in a notebook style sleeve. Due to the nature of this recording, we offer Kalmukia as full album only.

Release info @ Mego Editions

Angel @ Discogs

Listen:

Angel @ MySpace

Pan Sonic Vs. Keiji Haino Tonight In Berlin

Keiji Haino @ No Fun Fest 07, Part 1 of 3

A real treat is offered for Berliners tonight when Pan sonic meets the legendary Japanese guitarist and experimental musician Keiji Haino at Berlin's Volksbühne. Also Mr. Schmuck's Farm (a.k.a. Dirk "Schneider TM" Dresselhaus and Hildur "múm" Gudnadóttir, both Ilpo Väisänen and Pan sonic collaborators, respectively) will appear. And if my mostly-forgotten school German serves me right, also an album collaboration between Pan sonic and Keiji Haino is to be expected...

In Tonstudios an unterschiedlichen Orten Europas braut sich Unheilvolles zusammen: Nach Informationen aus gewöhnlich gut unterrichteten Kreisen arbeiten gegenwärtig zwei Giganten der Noise-Musik erstmals an einem gemeinsamen Album: Pan sonic, berühmt-berüchtigtes Elektronik-Duo aus Finnland mit Wohnsitz in Berlin und Barcelona, treffen auf Keiji Haino, Ausnahmegitarrist aus Osaka, der bereits vor zwei Jahren mit einem fulminanten Konzert als Solist bei Zeitkratzer in der Volksbühne und zuletzt durch seine Auftritte bei einem Projekt mit dem Künstler Raymond Pettibon und dem Theatermacher Schorsch Kamerun in den Sophiensaelen für Furore sorgte. Bevor er nach getaner Arbeit zurück nach Japan fliegt, stellen Haino und Pan sonic das mit Sicherheit hochgradig explosive Ergebnis ihrer Kollaboration exklusiv in der Volksbühne vor.

Auch im Vorprogramm wird ein erlesenes Kooperations-Projekt präsentiert: Dirk Dresselhaus (Schneider TM) und Hildur Gudnadóttir (Múm), die unter dem Namen Mr. Schmuck's Farm bereits ihr gemeinsames Album Good Sound veröffentlicht
haben.

Pan sonic vs. Keiji Haino
Date: Thursday 15 November 2007
Venue: Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
Time: 2100 hours -> (Grosses Haus)

Address:
Linienstrasse 227
Mitte
10178 Berlin
Germany

Etoiles Polares Finland @ Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

Festival of Finnish popular music in Ghent, Belgium

'Etoiles Polares Finland', a festival dedicated exclusively to Finnish music, will take place at Vooruit Arts Centre, Ghent, Belgium, on December 12 - 15.

The festival focuses on the alternative domains of popular music, especially electronic and progressive styles. The hand-picked performers include Kimmo Pohjonen, Cleaning Women, Circle, Kuusumun Profeetta, Magyar Posse, Aavikko, Shogun Kunitoki, Kusti Vuorinen and Pekko Käppi. On two special occasions, Jimi Tenor and Pan Sonic will collaborate with Belgian artists Flat Earth Society and Arne Deforce, respectively.

Some of the concerts feature visuals and video art by Marita Liulia, Maippi Ketola and Samuli Alapuranen.

'Etoiles Polares Finland' is produced by Vooruit Arts Centre with additional programme consultation by Fimic, and with the support of several Finnish institutions and foundations.

Vooruit Arts Center is a prominent cultural house hosting two venues with standing capacities of 1200 and 300. Music aside, it programmes regularly contemporary dance, plays, performance art, and installations.

Programme:

Kimmo Pohjonen & Marita Liulia Animator
Vooruit Theaterzaal
December 12, 2007

Kusti Vuorinen / Jimi Tenor meets Flat Earth Society & Maippi Ketola
Vooruit Theaterzaal
December 13, 2007

Cleaning Women
Vooruit Cafe
December 13, 2007

Pekko Käppi / Kimmo Pohjonen & Eric Echampard / Kuusumun Profeetta
Various Vooruit venues
December 14, 2007

Shogun Kunitoki
Vooruit Cafe
December 14, 2007

Magyar Posse / Circle / Pan Sonic meets Arne Deforce / Aavikko & Samuli Alapuranen
Various Vooruit venues
December 15, 2007

More info:
http://www.vooruit.be/ -> http://www.vooruit.be/nl/series/36

[via Fimic / It's A Trap]

Consumer Electronics (UK) Replacing Whitehouse

Philip Best

Consumer Electronics (UK)
Mika Vainio (FIN)

live

@ Tavastia (Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6, Helsinki)
28 October 2007
doors open 20:00 hours
tickets 15 euros

Organised by Charm of Sound

---

A change of schedule to the Whitehouse gig in Helsinki announced earlier on:

Philip Best's (Whitehouse) solo project Consumer Electronics will replace Whitehouse because William Bennett is recovering from an injury, as announced on Bennett's blog.

---

Tavastialla 28.10. tapahtuvan Äänen Lumon konsertin ohjelmassa on tapahtunut muutos. Whitehousen esiintyminen on peruuntunut yhtyeen William Bennettin loukkaantumisen vuoksi. Pan Sonicista tutun Mika Vainion lisäksi tapahtumassa esiintyy Whitehousen toisen osapuolen, Philip Bestin pitkäaikainen sooloprojekti Consumer Electronics.

Philip Bestin 80-luvun alussa teini-ikäisenä perustama Consumer Electronics on toisen sukupolven brittiläisen industrialin keskeisiä ja rujoimpia alullepanijoita. Samoista vuosista lähtien Whitehousessa vaikuttanut Best on musiikkihankkeidensa ohella toiminut myös keskeisenä ideologina legendaaristen ja uraauurtavien Iphar- ja Broken Flag-kasettimerkkien taustalla. Sittemmin kirjallisuuden tohtoriksi
itsensä lukenut Best on viime vuosina vienyt ilmaisuaan hienovaraisempaan suuntaan menettämättä terävää intensiteettiään ja vinoa huumoriaan.

Mika Vainio on tunnetuimpia ja arvostetuimpia suomalaisia elektronisen musiikin tekijöitä maailmalla. Erityisesti Pan Sonic -yhtyeestä tuttu Vainio on vaikuttanut ja esiintynyt käytännössä koko aktiiviuransa pääasiassa Suomen rajojen ulkopuolella. Ensimmäiset julkaisunsa 90-luvun alussa tehneen Vainion soolotuontanto on laaja ja ulottuu tyylillisesti vähäeleisistä, kuulaan sähköisistä tunnelmista karuun houseen ja puhtaaseen noiseen, ja hänen musiikilliset linjauksensa vaikuttivat keskeisesti lengendaarisen Sähkö Recordingsin alkutaipaleen suuntaan. Harvoin Suomessa esiintymässä nähty Vainio on tehnyt yhteistyötä lukuisten alan huippunimien kanssa, muun muassa remiksannut Björkin tuotantoa.

Tavastia 28.10. klo 20:00, liput 15 e

Consumer Electronics (UK)
Mika Vainio

---------------

Tavastian konsertin kanssa samana viikonloppuna Äänen Lumo järjestää Helsingin Vanhalla ylioppilastalolla 27.10. islantilaisen Adapter-yhtyeen konsertin, missä kuullaan Morton Feldmanin musiikkia. Konsertti alkaa kello 15:00 ja liput maksavat 15 euroa.

Äänen Lumon syksyyn kuuluu myös pohjoismaiden suurimman kokeellisen elokuvan ja musiikin festivaalin Avannon perjatai-illan klubin tuottaminen. Kuudennassa linjassa 16.11. pidettävässä tilaisuudessa todistetaan Organin, suomalaisen futupopin legendan, comeback-keikka, japanilaisen noisen huippunimen Pain Jerkin värikästä sähkömyrskyä, Tapen syksyisen orgaanista instrumentaalimusiikkia ja Petri Kuljuntaustan avaruusäänisinfoniaa.

Äänen Lumo
http://www.charmofsound.org

Whitehouse (UK) & Mika Vainio @ Tavastia, Helsinki - CANCELLED

Whitehouse


Mika Vainio talks to Brainwashed, part 1 (of 3)
Part 2 (of 3)
Part 3 (of 3)

NOTE: Whitehouse has cancelled, the solo project Consumer Electronics of the other Whitehouse member, Philip Best, replacing Whitehouse. Mika Vainio will perform as announced earlier on. More info here.

Whitehouse (UK)
Mika Vainio (FIN)

live

@ Tavastia (Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6, Helsinki)
28 October 2007
doors open 20:00 hours
tickets 15 euros

Organised by Charm of Sound

---

Press info from Charm of Sound:

Whitehouse ja Mika Vainio Helsingissä

Yksi kokeellisen elektronimusiikin keskeisimmistä pioneeriyhtyeistä, englantilainen Whitehouse saapuu ensimmäistä kertaa Suomeen. Tavastialla 28.10. pidettävässä konsertissa esiintyy myös Pan Sonic-yhtyeestä tuttu, harvakseltaan Suomessa esiintymässä nähty Mika Vainio.

Vuonna 1980 perustettu brittiläinen Whitehouse on kokeellisen elektronisen musiikin keskeisiä pioneereja. Alunperin ensimmäisen aallon industrialista (kuten Throbbing Gristle) ja punk-nihilismistä vaikutteensa ammentanut Whitehouse halusi viedä musiikkinsa lisäksi myös kappaleidensa teemat edeltäjiään pidemmälle. Yhtyeen varhaisvuosien alkukantainen ja -voimainen halpissyntetisaattorien ruudittama musiikki on kehittynyt hienovaraisemmaksi ja monipuolisemmaksi menettämättä piiruakaan intensiteetistään. Kesällä 2007 julkaistu tuorein albumi Racket on kerännyt laajalti innostunutta huomiota erityisesti primitiivisten lyömäsoitinten käytön ansiosta. Osoituksena kulttisuosiota laajemmasta huomiosta on yhtyeelle vuonna 2003 myönnetty elektronisen musiikin yksi tärkeimmistä palkinnoista, Ars Electronica -kunniamaininta albumille Bird Seed. Vuosien mittaan yleisöään (ja muitakin) provosoinutta ja hämmentänyttä yhtyettä on syytetty mm. sarjamurhaajien, kidutuksen, fasismin, misogynian ja seksuaalisen väkivallan kritiikittömästä ihannoinnista, mutta yhtye itse on sanoutunut jyrkästi irti poliittisuudesta ja käsitellyt aiheitaan huomattavasti pintaraapaisua hienovaraisemmin.

Mika Vainio on tunnetuimpia ja arvostetuimpia suomalaisia elektronisen musiikin tekijöitä maailmalla. Erityisesti Pan Sonic -yhtyeestä tuttu Vainio on vaikuttanut ja esiintynyt käytännössä koko aktiiviuransa pääasiassa Suomen rajojen ulkopuolella. Ensimmäiset julkaisunsa 90-luvun alussa tehneen Vainion soolotuontanto on laaja ja ulottuu tyylillisesti vähäeleisistä, kuulaan sähköisistä tunnelmista karuun houseen ja puhtaaseen noiseen, ja hänen musiikilliset linjauksensa vaikuttivat keskeisesti lengendaarisen Sähkö Recordingsin alkutaipaleen suuntaan. Harvoin Suomessa esiintymässä nähty Vainio on tehnyt yhteistyötä lukuisten alan huippunimien kanssa, muun muassa remiksannut Björkin tuotantoa.

Pan sonic's Katodivaihe finally out

Pan sonic's new album Katodivaihe ("Cathode Phase") which was originally scheduled to December 2006 is finally out now.

Pan sonic
Katodivaihe / Cathodephase (CD/ltd. 2-LP)
PTYT 06
Blast First Petite
11 May 2007

1. Virta 1. / Current 1.
2. Lähetys / Transmission
3. Koneistaja / Machinist
4. Hyönteisistä / About Insects
5. Laptevinmeri / Laptev Sea
6. Kuumuudessa muodostuva / Forming in Heat
7. Kertsilogia / Herzlogy
8. Suhteellinen / Comparative
9. Kytkennät / Connections
10. Haiti
11. Hinaaja / Tugboat
12. Tykitys / Cannoning
13. Leikkuri / Cutter
14. Virta 2. / Current 2.

Distribution: Cargo UK

Reviews:

Boomkat

Brainwashed

Other info:

Pan sonic history @ Blast First Petite

Mika Vainio: Revitty (CD)

Pan sonic (a.k.a. Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen) were one the main reasons I started to maintain pHinnWeb back in 1996, and I still consider them the flagship of Finnish electronic music, who have consistently followed their own path and created out of diverse influences -- varying from Suicide, Einstürzende Neubauten and industrial to Jamaican dub reggae to the eclectic "horsemeat rockabilly" of the late Hasil Adkins to their admiration for Johnny Cash -- an idiosyncratic sound, which is at the same time abrasive but also strangely grooving.

There's now a new solo album out from Mika Vainio (also known as Ø). "After opening Wavetrap's catalog with his solo album Ydin back in the year 1999, Pan sonic's Mika Vainio comes back with another offering for the label. Entitled Revitty ('Torn'), the record is as subtle as it is merciless, while remaining deeply musical in Vainio's own unique sense."

Artist: Mika Vainio
Title: Revitty (CD)
Label: Wavetrap
Cat. No.: WAV 006
Date: December 2006

tracklist:

1. Hampaat I (03:53)
2. Hampaat II (04:19)
3. Hampaat III (04:42)
4. Huone (03:45)
5. Tänään (01:12)
6. Yksinäisyys, suru, katkeruus (20:46)
7. Raatelu (14:43)
8. Loppu (01:59)

translations:

Revitty = Torn

1. Teeth I
2. Teeth II
3. Teeth III
4. A Room
5. Today
6. Loneliness, sorrow, bitterness
7. Mauling
8. The End

Info & MP3 soundclips @ Raster-Noton

Info & MP3/WMA audioclips @ Juno

A review at Rare Frequency

Pan sonic receives Finnish State Prize for Arts

From Finnish Music Information Centre:

The Arts Council of Finland has announced the annual State Prizes for Arts on November 9. The recipients are film director Klaus Härö, choreographer Marjo Kuusela, and electronic music duo Pan sonic. Each prize is worth 13.000 euros.

Formed by Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen in 1993, Pan sonic has made a durable reputation within the sphere of experimental electronic music, leading the way of the "Northern sound" of international renown.

Pan sonic are among the outpourings of the lively Turku electronic music scene that combined the best aspects of techno, performance and minimalism in the 1990s. Around the same time, Sähkö Recordings was founded, and Pan sonic soon became its most successful artist being equally home at the music festivals as well as art museums and installations.

Since 1995, the British label Mute/Blast First has issued Pan sonic albums Vakio" (1995), Kulma (1997), A (1999) ja Aaltopiiri (2001). This year the ambitious duo released a 4-CD work Kesto, of which title means, literally, length. Their recent live performances include concerts in Berlin Biennale, Tampere Biennale, and Biennale Musica in Venice.

---

And my comments:

Well, this is great that Pan sonic finally get the recognition they deserve in their own home country, but one could ask if this was really so if they hadn't manage to make it internationally. I don't think so.

Finnish people usually are really wary of anything that breaks new ground; without their international recognition Pan sonic (or Jimi Tenor or Vladislav Delay or...) would be still considered some sort of marginal freaks here, probably even laughed at. The Finnish way: jealousy and bitterness -- people who create something different and out of the ordinary crushed either by indifference, silence or direct hostility. Finnish media and music industry usually want stylish and easily consumed copies of currently-fashionable Anglo-American pop products for an artist to get any major media coverage here. The lowest common denominator thinking prevails.

You either have to get yourself international recognition before anyone takes any note here, or then drink yourself to death or commit suicide and become celebrated only posthumously; maybe even decades after your death. Local examples are various; probably someone like Erkki Kurenniemi being finally "discovered" after 40 years he created his major work is a refreshing exception too. But then, grass always being greener behind the fence, I don't think this is exclusively a Finnish phenomenon...

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And here is an interesting sidenote I found, an excerpt from Avanto Festival's info magazine; concerning their forthcoming gig of Germany's Alec Empire...

"In Finland, Alec Empire remains rather unknown, even after much hype from the British media, which is usually devoutly followed by Finnish scenesters. This may encourage some discouraging generalisations about the state of our cultural climate. Or can we imagine Bomfunk MC's become radicalized, should the skinhead MP Tony Halme's demagoguery lead to action? Now seemingly on the wane, the Finnish
electronic music scene was dominated throughout the 90's by mindless hedonism and cursorily post-modernist pseudo-philosophies, with the approval of the media and even some art museums. These sorts of connotations may even have caused the alternative activists' scene to shun experimental electronic music, as well."