Pan Sonic

In 1988, as part of a sound art performance, the initial duo of Vainio and Väisänen spent 10 hours in a garage, exposed to low-frequency (13 Hz) noise at 125 decibels. They also performed a gig in London's East End from an armoured car, using a 5000 watt sound system allegedly of the type used by the police to disorient rioters. Panasonic subsequently formed in 1993 as a techno group with Salo (previously known under the alias Hertsi), who would later depart in 1998. They moved to operate from a base in Barcelona to escape the long Finnish winters. Vainio moved to Berlin, while Väisänen returned to Kuopio. Their first 12" was released on Finland's Sähkö Recordings, and they eventually went on to sign to Blast First, which they released music on until they dissolved. The corporation of the same name, Panasonic, threatened legal action unless it was changed. The conflict was resolved, and the duo removed the "a" from their name to become "Pan Sonic". This change was alluded to in the title of their 1999 album A. They also collaborated with Alan Vega and Bruce Gilbert on separate projects.

In the 2000s the music of the duo became far more aggressive and atmospheric, with the help of the mutual producer and audio engineer Jari Lehtinen; following a tumultuous makeshift world tour initiated by Vainio, this culminated in the 2004 release of their quadruple album Kesto (234.48:4), which was radically eclectic and featured several tributes to their influences. In addition, they released several collaborations.

In December 2009, news of the duo splitting was announced on PhinnWeb, with Vainio and Väisänen continuing with their own solo projects.^[1] Their final album, Gravitoni, was released by Blast First Petite in May 2010.^[2] In October 2013, a new Pan Sonic recording titled Oksastus was announced,^[3] a live album which was recorded at a concert in Kyiv, Ukraine on June 6, 2009. It was released on February 20, 2014.^[4] Pan Sonic also created a soundtrack for the 2015 documentary called Return of the Atom directed by Mika Taanila and Jussi Eerola. The film examines the construction of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant in Finland. The documentary premiered in Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.

Mika Vainio died on April 13, 2017, at the age of 53.^[5]

Pan Sonic's music focused, in a manner similar to mutual musicians like Alva Noto, on pure synthesizer tones with distortion and reverb, emphasizing minimal frequency ranges. They cited their main influences as industrial acts like Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Suicide to reggae, hip-hop and dub. Vainio often remarked that their music is a merger of these two schools of music, taking the harsh and pure sounds typical of industrial techno and spacing them out into longer, subdued soundscapes derived from instrumental reggae and dub, which he had been familiar with in Berlin.

Some of their equipment was made by Lehtinen. These and other custom made instruments were responsible for creating the sounds typical to Pan Sonic's music. They also used samplers and an MPC2000 sequencer, although unconventionally. Pan Sonic contributed music on several occasions to Rei Kawakubo's fashion shows.