Intuitive Music

Pan Sonic

Pan Sonic, which was originally called Pansonic until the famous Japanese company obliged them to change the name, were formed in Turku by Mika Vainio (formerly known as a DJ under the moniker Corporate 09), Ilpo Vainassen (organizer of rave festivals), and Sami Salo. They are considered one of the most important names in European experimental electronic music.

Pansonic was originally part of the Finnish Ultra 3/ Sin O collective which was influenced by early electronic music artists, such as musique concrete composer Pierre Henry, Morton Subotnick, the industrial sound of bands such as Einstuerzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle, as well as dub and hip hop.

In 1995, Panasonic performed in a car park in London’s East End with an Audio Weapons Armoured Car System featuring a 5K turbo sound PA which was built by Jimmy Cauty from KLF. The result was very similar to the ones of the UK police’s riot forces. Pan Sonic’s sound represents today one of the most agressive electronic and minimal bands from the 90’s. Their debut album “Vakio” (1995) released in Blast First label is one of the most brilliant electronic works of the decade, featuring abstract electronica with samples of domestic noises and big doses of minimalism and ambient. The duo is known for producing all their works live using home-made and modified synthesizers and effect units with the collaboration of Jari Lehtinen. Amongst the devices that the band has developed are a 12 oscillator synthesizer, a synthesizer built to an old typewriter, several drum modules, and a self-built six metre-long infrasonic tube called “John Holmes”.

In 1996, right before the release of their second album “Kulma”, Sami Salo quit the band for his obligatory service in the Finnish Army and to concentrate on his career as a photographer, and the band remained as a duo, orienting their sound more to cold and dark minimal techno. In November that same year, Pan Sonic performed along with David Crawford and Hayley Newman at a Rude Mechanic event at South London art space Beaconsfield. The musicians locked themselves in a concrete bunker of Beaconsfield, spending every hour of every day between 10am and 6pm listening the sonic experiments of Pan Sonic. Later in 1998, Pan Sonic collaborated with Newman and Crawford in the “Piano” double album released in the Rude Mechanic label. A similar experiment was held in 1989 when Vainio and Vainassen locked into a room for 10 hours where they were exposed to the constant low-frequency hum of 125 decibels.

In 1998, following in the footsteps of his friends Tommi Granlund and Jimi Tenor, Pan Sonic moved to live in Barcelona, Spain. In the same period, they released the album “Endless” which was a collaboration project with their personal hero, the artist Alan Vega from Suicide, which was released under the name of Vainio Vaisanen Vega. Pan sonic also supported Suicide for two nights at Knitting Factory, New York in January 2000.

Apart from the albums “Aaltopiiri” (2001) and “Kesto” (2004), Pan Sonic has released numerous EPs and appereances in labels such as Raster/Noton and Mego, including “Motorlab #3″ (2001) in collaboration with Barry Adamson of the Bad Seeds.

In 2002, Ilpo Vainassen collaborated with Dirk Dresselhaus -aka Schneider TM- in a live project called Angel where they improvised mixing together industrial, minimal and noise. In 2005, they released a collaborative work “Flying Swimming” with Henri Chopin and Achim Wollscheid featuring 20 minutes of music from each artist.

Pan sonic has also created music for avant-garde fashion shows and participated in numerous installation projects in Europe, Japan, and North America.