Mika Vainio
Sometimes known as Ø, Mika Vainio was the co-founder of Finnish techno duo Pan Sonic (known as Panasonic until 1998), whose innovative brand of blistering rhythmic noise and uncompromising minimalism transformed them into one of the most popular exports from the Northern European techno underground. Unlike Pan Sonic's harder, comparatively more dancefloor-oriented gear, however, Vainio's Ø work tended more toward the ambient and experimental, wedding sparse machine noises with shifting rhythms, stubbornly unmusical sonic textures, and assorted channel separation weirdness. His work under his given name followed a similar path, although some of his later recordings and collaborations, particularly ones produced after Pan Sonic's 2009 breakup, flared up to the intensity level of the duo's harsher moments.
Vainio's Ø releases stretch back to the early '90s (predating his association with Panasonic by a few years); his earliest work appeared on the Corporate label before landing with Finnish techno institution Sähkö in 1993, where he released most of his material, including three albums and a handful of EPs. The increasing popularity of Panasonic found Vainio giving less and less time to his Ø work, but he did manage to release some of his most accomplished solo material in 1996, on his second Sähkö full-length, Olento, which featured the most effective fusion of Panasonic's austere minimalism with less immediate, more challenging structures. Demand for Vainio as a remixer grew, with revisions of tracks by Björk and Tactile both appearing in mid-1996.
He continued to record as Tekonivel (for Sähkö sublabel Puu) and as Kentolevi for Patrick Pulsinger's Cheap label; titles issued under Vainio's own name include 1997's Onko (Touch), 1999's Ydin (Wavetrap), and the following year's 20 to 2000 (Raster-Noton) and Kajo (Touch). Wohltemperiert, the second collaboration between Ø and Noto, aka Carsten Nicolai, appeared on Raster-Noton in 2001, followed in 2002 by Invisible Architecture 2 (Audiosphere, in collaboration with Fennesz). Vainio's next solo album was 2003's Touch release Sokeiden Maassa Yksisilmäinen on Kuningas (In the Land of the Blind One-Eyed Is King); this was followed by collaborations with Fennesz and Christian Zanési (GRM Experience, Signature) and John Duncan and Ilpo Väisänen (Nine Suggestions, Allquestions). He resumed the Ø alias for 2005's Kantamoinen and 2006's Aste (both on Sähkö), while 2006's Revitty [Torn] appeared on Wavetrap under his given name.
Following 2007's "Ikuinen" single and 2008's Oleva full-length, both released as Ø on Sähkö, Pan Sonic disbanded in 2009, releasing two collaborations with Keiji Haino in 2009-2010 and final studio album Gravitoni (Blast First Petite) in 2010. Vainio devoted much more of his time to solo and collaborative work under his own name, with Aineen Musta Puhelin (Black Telephone of Matter) appearing on Touch in 2009. Raster-Noton released Time Examined, a double CD/book documenting Vainio's installation works, that same year. 3. Telepathics Meh In-Sect Connection, a collaborative album with Kouhei Matsunaga and Autechre's Sean Booth, appeared on Important Records in 2010.
A new Ø album titled Heijastuva appeared on Sähkö in 2011, with Vainio's Life (...It Eats You Up) arriving on Editions Mego soon after. The year 2012 saw the release of Vainio's solo album Fe3O4 - Magnetite on Touch, as well as Venexia, a collaboration with Kevin Drumm, Axel Dörner, and Lucio Capece, on Pan. A heavier, noisier solo album titled Kilo appeared on Blast First Petite in 2013, and Touch released Monstrance (in collaboration with Joachim Nordwall) the same year. Vainio collaborated with Arne Deforce for a drone collaboration titled Hephaestus, released by Editions Mego in 2014. Ø's Konstellaatio surfaced on Sähkö that year. In 2015, Touch issued Halfway to White, a book of photography by Joséphine Michel that included a CD by Vainio. Also that year, Vainio collaborated with guitarist Franck Vigroux for the full-length Peau Froide, Léger Soleil, released by Cosmo Rhythmatic. In 2016, iDEAL Recordings issued Vainio's soundtrack to the film Mannerlaatta. Sadly, Vainio passed away on April 12, 2017, at the age of 53.
© Sean Cooper & Paul Simpson /TiVo
Discografia
28 álbum(ns) • Ordenado por Mais vendidos
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Live 2002 (Live)
Mika Vainio, Ryoji Ikeda, Alva Noto
Ambient - Lançado por NOTON em 19/01/2018
Disponível em24-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Venexia
Mika Vainio, Kevin Drumm, Axel Dorner, Lucio Capece
Experimental - Lançado por PAN em 06/07/2012
Disponível em24-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Last Live (Live)
Experimental - Lançado por cave12 - Editions Mego em 15/01/2021
Disponível em24-Bit/96 kHz Estéreo -
P V T
Charlemagne Palestine, Mika Vainio, Eric Thielemans
Experimental - Lançado por Matière Mémoire em 15/04/2020
Disponível em24-Bit/96 kHz Estéreo -
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Black Telephone of Matter
Classical - Lançado por Touch em 04/08/2009
Disponível em16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
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Fermionit | Kulmamomentti
Electronic - Lançado por Sähkö Recordings em 13/09/2024
Disponível em16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
25082016235210179 (Live at Berlin Atonal 2016)
Techno - Lançado por Berlin Atonal Recordings em 27/10/2020
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Life (...It Eats You Up)
Progressive Rock - Lançado por Editions Mego em 02/08/2011
Disponível em16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Fennesz, Vainio & Zanési: GRM Experience
Christian Zanési, Fennesz, Mika Vainio
Classical - Lançado por Signature - Radio France em 01/06/2004
Disponível em16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Kantamoinen
Dance - Lançado por Sähkö Recordings em 18/05/2005
Disponível em16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
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Hephaestus
Experimental - Lançado por Editions Mego em 26/05/2014
Disponível em16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
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Venexia
Mika Vainio, Kevin Drumm, Axel Dorner, Lucio Capece
Electronic - Lançado por PAN em 06/07/2012
Disponível em16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
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Sokeiden Maassa Yksisilmainen On Kuningas
Dance - Lançado por Touch em 03/03/2003
Disponível em16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Trahnie
Experimental - Lançado por Editions Mego em 02/03/2008
Disponível em16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo