x
after quite disappointing initial exposure to famous finnish duo, I kept coming back to pan sonic and listening to it more and more over the course of several months. strangely enough, there was some appeal in ultra-mininimalism and originality that has escaped me at first. after I approached the band not expecting something supernatural, being able to set all the hype aside and look beyond marketing clichés, I was able to discover something that I have missed before.
this album was made exclusively for "wire" magazine and presents sort of "best of", compiled by pan sonic itself. it is limited to 1000 copies which makes it not that readily available at your local stores.
overall I can explain my fascination with band's sound by pointing out the originality and uniqueness of elements used, very controlled and carefully built monotony, unusual track structures. knowledge of some of the band's history and ideas behind the music has helped as well.
the disc starts out with "alku" - a modulated frequency that is intimidating at first and gives you a good introduction of what's next. "murtoneste" presents minimal monotonous humming of overloaded electronics with sonic bubbles injected into the mix. "pala" is next with bizarre frequency modulations leading to abrasive "kuusi halko" advancing with noisy monotony. techno motives are a lot more prominent here, and I can see where comparisons with detroit school are coming from. "-25" is icy cold and almost clean; the atmosphere is calm with slightly modulated frequency and soft gentle touches of beats. you hear the electronic clock from the inside, but the time has lost its continuity - seconds can seem like hours at times; you are trapped and mesmerized. "endless" is a needed contrast after minimal "o", and it is the first track where I hear vocals; it is merely an abstract lines spoken over minimal pulses and touches of what seems to be short, untreated string, but it adds an organic touch to the track.
"parturi" is back to more abrasive and energetic rhythms with several percussion lines overlapping with each other nicely backed by swirling corroded noises. this track appears to be quite busy with some rattling, sweeping, cut-up pulses and percussion that actually joins in the middle of the track, as opposed to usual lines where almost no variation happens throughout the song; minimal analog bliss is contrasted with drilling, moving sounds.
"telakoe" is a good closing track with hi-bpm percussion that tears apart the ambience introduced earlier and puts the listener into a different kind of trance with monotonous sound textures backed by minimal straight corroded lines. a usual humming is taken to the extreme still keeping with subtle nature of the music. technoid rhythms finally meet analog idealism.
pan sonic is keeping with the subtle minimalism and self-content atmospheres humming and evolving within strict boundaries never advancing to be too rich or too aggressive or too "flowery". the atmosphere created by the music is most interesting - strictly inorganic, it casts a strange spell on the listener, possibly resonating with body frequencies. pan sonic definitely requires some time to get used to, and any comparisons have to be dropped prior to listening to it.