http://www.pjoe.net/pan.html


   Interviewed march 1997 near Paradiso in Amsterdam


The Fins are strange. A recent scientific study showed that the Fins all
descend from a common ancestor, because they all have the same genetical
defect. No wonder the Fins are a special breed among the Europeans, they
excel in architecture and the most important of all: music. Especially 
techno music, by the world renowned Sähkö record label, on which various
artists have released records containing a few sparse beeps and clicks 
and that way express a whole range of emotions. The flagship of the 
label is Mika Vainio, who is also known as "Ø". Together with Ilpo 
Vaisanen he is Panasonic with who he has released the records "Vakio" 
and "Kulma" on Blast First. Two records they try to outtechno the 
electronic multinational who shares their name.


   MULTINATIONAL

Did the gentlemen run into trouble yet because of the name? Ilpo: 'No,
not yet, but it can't take long. We have plans for changing the name, 
but we want to keep the meaning of the word.' Translated literally from 
Latin Panasonic means "variation of sound". Ilpo: 'We chose the name 
because of that meaning. Later we also copied the logo, because we 
thought it would be fun.' Mika: 'But Mute ran into trouble in the US, 
they weren't able to release our first record "Vakio", because if they 
did they would have been sued. To help them we decided not to use the 
logo on our new record.' The music by Panasonic is released by the 
English label Blast First. This is the same label which released early 
Sonic Youth and Big Black. Mika: 'The boss of Blast First saw us play 
and he liked us so much that he wanted to contract us for one record. 
After "Vakio" he wanted to do more, so we stayed.' The idea of an 
electronic band on a renowned guitarlabel seems strange, but if you 
think about it the sound experiments can be compared to what Sonic Youth
did in their heyday. Mika: 'You could be right, but I don't know 
anything by Sonic Youth. I do listen a lot to Big Black and Big Stick 
and in them I recognize a lot in what we do.'


   BLEEP BLEEP

Why do Panasonic make music which sounds so sparse and bare? What are
their thoughts behind tracks consisting of a single tone. Mika: 'It's
really hard to explain. We try to express ourselves in sound and you
can't put that into words. The emotions and ideas we express are very 
abstract, there is no plan when we make these sounds. A track can start
with a sound and we alter that in a certain situation by turning the 
knobs, that way the music is made quite intuitive. It's easier to let 
the music find it's own way, without forcing anything. Sometimes we do 
have a certain idea or structure in mind, but that is usually a lot 
harder to realise.' A song like "alkio" (on Vakio) with a tone that 
become two tones with different frequencies, or beeps going in and out 
of phase like in "twin bleebs" on the first record by Ø, are those not 
written beforehand? Mika: 'With "twin bleebs" I did have an idea, I saw
the traffic lights in Türkü (Mika's former hometown - JV) blinking at 
night, sometimes they blinked at the same time a few moments later they
were out of phase again. That became the basis for that track.'


  EASY

A lot of people find the music by Panasonic and Ø so weird that they 
start to think the Fins are pulling their legs again and that you just 
as well could listen and enjoy a turntable test record. Mika: 'Oh it's
always the same. Some people can be so shortsighted, they always react
that way to strange and new things. Ofcourse you could also listen to a
test record, but try and compare our music to abstract modern art. Many 
people say about that: "I can do that, but better", still there are very
few people who can express an idea for the first time.' Ilpo: 'Just like
Marcel Duchamps or Musique Concrete, the former tested the concept of 
art, the latter of music.' Mika: 'We don't say we are the first or 
extreme. We see ourself somewhere in the middle of things. There are 
much more extreme artists we also listen to, like Alvin Lucier or 
Merzbow or even Ska or Rockabilly.' Another prejudice is that electronic
music can not contain emotion or sounds "cold". Mika: 'On the contrary, 
analog synthesizers can sound very warm. But it all depends how you make
the sounds.' Ilpo: 'You have to work harder to make it sound more 
natural and warmer. And that is also important when listening, our music
contains a lot for people who really try hard to listen.' Mika: 'A lot 
of music is like junkfood, a cold hamburger. Our music is like a 
delicatesse of which you yet have to learn to appreciate the taste.' But
Panasonic leaves the listener enough for his own interpretation. Mika: 
'We don't try to make it too obvious. We certainly have meaning behind 
our music, but everyone has to find that out for themselves. And if 
people react differently to our music, than that's alright, there's 
enough room for everyone.'