The Heroes of Another Kind of Techno From Turku, Finland
by Ilkka Mattila (*)
The reputation of the Down By The Laituri festival (Turku, Finland,
June 15.-17.) as the flagbearer of the alternative pop music stands
firmly unaltered on many fronts. Besides the traditional guitar
rock and vocal pop, Laituri ('Pier', Turku being one of the biggest
sea ports in Finland) had this year to offer some music for the
friends of the ambitious techno and electronic sounds, too.
Something that the people visiting the other Finnish festivals
can't enjoy this summer.
The purist instrumental techno is often considered as a specialist
hobby of the devoted inside circle, but at the Laituri 'strange'
and 'uncommercial' music seemed to interest delightfully
heterogenic and multiple audiences.
The Oljy ('Oil') techno club of Laituri started in Thursday with
some domestic Finnish DJ artists; in Friday the more heavier
industrial sounds were the part of the schedule, and as for the
Saturday club, the audience were tempted by two of the Sahko
Recordings' internationally acclaimed artists, the Turku group
PANASONIC and the organ man JIMI TENOR.
Panasonic, consisting of Mika 'O/' Vainio, Ilpo Vaisanen and
Sami Salo, must be the Sahko's flagship at the moment, and have
during their relatively short career already played in New York,
London and Berlin, and have gained some of the world's most
reputable techno artists as their fans. It is very typical
though, that Down By The Laituri festival was Panasonic's first
appearance in their native Finland.
Panasonic has reached the top of the world techno for the
reasons that are well understandable. Their sound is
easily recognizable and unusual, and as a live act they take
techno's visual non-happening to its very limits. The trio won't
do any kind of gestures towards traditional playing, won't fiddle
with the keyboards of the synthesizers and won't even dance to
their music. Vainio, Salo and Vaisanen just set up their sound
laboratory on the stage, taking care of the control voltage,
envelope-shapers and waveforms. They don't talk to the audience,
barely even recognize its existence.
Together with Panasonic's music the general mood became
peculiarly serene.
The central elements of the group's music are the bulky but
pleasantly round bass and drum sounds, and on the other hand the
aggressive hum of their self-made sound generator. Panasonic uses
their straight dance beat sparingly but also effectively. It just
was that the pub restaurant working as the club room was not the
most suitable place for this experimental techno music. Standing
in the wrong place one could only get one's ears aching.
Panasonic can barely do much to heighten the profile of the
Finnish pop music around the world. Still, standing on their own
ground they are an absolutely stylish group, and as electronic
dance can well be called this decade's most advanced pop music,
one can only be proud of the people like Panasonic coming from
this distant country.
Panasonic's forthcoming album will be published by Mute Records
(UK) on its Blast First label. In addition to the Panasonic noise
escapades, Mika Vainio's solo recordings will also be heard all
over the world soon.
(*) from Helsingin Sanomat, June 19, 1995 - the translation from
pHinnish and all ensuing stylistical errors my own :)
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That's all pHolks, now I'm off for the weekend to the pHinnish
midsummer festivities (the famous midnight sun, bonfires by the
lakes, alcohol, cheesy Eurocrap acts performing for the drunks,
mosquitoes, rapes, knife fights, drownings - I can barely wait ;)!
Peace, eh...
ERkki
Tampere, pHinland
trerra@uta.fi