Pan Sonic
The undisputed godfathers of modern minimal techno with a strong industrial presence. Straight from the land of lakes and factories, Pan Sonic's complex soundscapes might sound cold and desolate at first, but there's an underlying feeling of hope and prosperity behind the wall of sounds. Their music is extremely minimal and at times very noisy (which would explain their collaboration with noise-monger Merzbow), but the four-four beat regularly pops up to remind you that there's a hint of funk behind it all. Pole was another artist to achieve a similar kind of quality, but Pan Sonic got rid of the dub and jazz and stripped their music to the bones and left them bleaching in the scorching yellow sun.
My fascination with the duo came early on in my exploration of minimal and glitch electronica when it started to boom in the late nineties and the first few years of the new millennium. Their name often surfaced as major players of the scene and the finnish scene was quite new to me, even before the whole psych-folk underground, there was Pan Sonic (among others, but they alone put Finland on the map as a force to be reckoned with). Interesting to note the true story of the artists being forced to remove the "A" between "Pan" and "Sonic" after a huge corporation (who shall remain nameless) threatened them with a law suit. Perhaps that's why they later released an album known only as A... or maybe the single letter was a perfect reminder of the group's minimalist approach to sound and art.
VakioLabel: Blast First/Mute Records Release: 1995 Format: CD Cat. no: BFFP118CD |
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AaltopiiriLabel: Blast First/Mute Records Release: 2000 Format: CD Cat. no: BFFP166CD |
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