Mika Vainio

On Kantamoinen, Mika Vainio under his Ø alias tilts his brutal minimalism toward memory: sparse, physical electronics wrapped in a more romantic, concrete atmosphere haunted by childhood summers at his grandmother’s house in Artjärvi.

2012 release ** Featuring: Crazy Bitch In A Cave, Cherry Sunkist, Mika Vainio, Mathias Schaffhäuser, Station Rose, Kumbia Queers, Yodas Dolphins, Chra, theAPP, Philippe Petit, MuttTricx, Anna Steiden & Chra, Gabriele Kepplinger

2005 CD-only release on Duncan's own Allquestions label of the seminal industrial/performance artist's collaboration with Pan Sonic.

2003 release ** On the eve of the festival Avanto releases its traditional monumental compilation CD, with contributions from all the live performers at the festival, as well as excerpts from the soundtracks of the film programme: FM Einheit/Jon Caffery/Alexander v. Borsig, Mika Vainio, Curd Duca, Pekka Airaksinen, Radian, Dubbing Mixers, Helsingin tietokoneorkesteri, Mira Calix, Ultra-red + Kanak Attak, Kari Peitsamo, Ibrahim Terzic, Terre Thaemlitz, Simon Wickham-Smith, Leif Elggren, Staalplaa…

2018 release (RARE) ** "Live 2002 captures an inspired performance at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle by three revered, influential and likeminded pioneers; Ryoji Ikeda, Alva Noto and the late, great Mika Vainio. Minimal but highly effective, the performance builds throughout with deep sub bass, sleek, spacious sound design and high voltage, inorganic ambience. The innate noise floor in music technology is pushed up to take centre stage. This is sound of electricity, the hum of t…

*2024 stock* Special catalogue release for the Nordic Pavillion exhibition "The North Is Protected" at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001 including a 10" record and a 110-page photography book. Track 3 is an unknown Norwegian recording taken from a found cassette tape. Track 4 is compiled from various sources.

This edition was produced and finalized in a particular context, Mika Vainio having left us on 12.04.2017. This material is the last concert he gave. It took place at Cave12 on 02.02.2017. We needed time to listen to this archive again, which we did in situ in June 2020 with Cindy Van Acker. After this listening, we felt invested in having to make this archive public. In order to work on this material, we asked Carl Michael von Hausswolff to do the editing. He extended the invitation to Stephen …

* Repress* This edition was produced and finalized in a particular context, Mika Vainio having left us on 12.04.2017. This material is the last concert he has given. It took place at Cave12 on 02.02.2017. We needed time to listen to this archive again, which we did in situ in June 2020 with Cindy Van Acker. After this listening, we felt invested in having to make this archive public. In order to edit and work on this material, we asked Carl Michael von Hausswolff to do the mixing. At our request…

* Includes photography by Mika Vainio on sleeve and printed innersleeves. All profits from the sale of this record will be donated to the Alpha Boys School in Kingston, Jamaica * Berlin Atonal is pleased to announce the release of Mika Vainio’s live performance at the 2016 edition of the festival. Accompanied by the artwork from Vainio's personal archives, its soft lack of focus is reminiscent of the natural looseness in his sound programming, lending itself to jazz as much as any form of electr…

**Edition of 500 copies on clear vinyl.** This release documents a meeting of titans that, tragically, can never be repeated. Mika Vainio, one half of the legendary Finnish duo Pan Sonic and a towering figure in electronic music, passed away in 2017, leaving behind a body of work that continues to influence and inspire. His presence here alongside Charlemagne Palestine and Eric Thielemans makes P V T a document of considerable historical importance, a record of three extraordinary musicians find…

**750 copies** The Heat Equation is a 100pp book and CD set showcasing a new photographic work by Joséphine Michel alongside a live recording of Mika Vainio's final performance in the UK, featuring all new material intended for his proposed 2017 solo CD for Touch.Following their previous collaboration on Halfway to White, Michel and Vainio had been planning a second production, and in March 2017, Michel visited Vainio in Oslo to show him the first examples of the photographs she had been taking …

**1000 copies** Blast First Petite's PsychoPomp for M.T.V., a 260-page, full-color, hardback book - a PsychoPomp is a "guide of souls", whose purpose is to escort deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Includes a broad range of artistic contributions (text, photographic and visual remembrances) from Mika Vainio's artist friends and collaborators, an updated and exhaustive Mika discography, Jennifer Lucy Allen's unedited transcript for her "Invisible Jukebox" with Vainio in The Wire (2013) -…

LP version. Mika Vainio visited the Moog Sound-Lab in April 2015. He made one his last known solo studio recordings in the form of two vinyl-sized, side-long pieces entitled Lydspor, Danish for "soundtrack". Mika worked almost exclusively with the lab's Moog Modular System 55. This UK sound-lab instrument is the sole prototype model (containing several golden filters) of Moog's sold-out reverse-engineered edition (only 55 units) recreating the 1970s classic. On completion of his sessions Mika an…

Monstrance documents Mika Vainio & Joachim Nordwall reshaping guitars, drums and incendiary electronics at Einstürzende Neubauten’s Berlin studio back in 2010. The results were originally issued by Touch in 2013, with this new 2LP edition now arriving on Nordwall’s iDEAL label five years later as a posthumous tribute and reminder of his erstwhile collaborator. In our opinion, it’s one of Vainio’s most crucial and absorbing collaborations; moving away from ice-cold electronic precision and into a…

Edition of 500 copies. A stunning set of previously unheard posthumous recordings from Mika Vainio aided and abetted by Franck Vigroux. Haunting, cinematic, extreme electronic panoramas of the highest order… Mika Vainio and Franck Vigroux’s brutal yet filigree electronics come to light in ‘Ignis’, which finally discloses the further, etheric results of recording sessions that made up their ‘Peau Froide, Léger Soleil’ album in 2014, their celebrated previous collaboration for Cosmo Rhythmatic.Pos…

**Ltd. numbered edition of 800 copies, white vinyl** Carsten Nicolai’s Noton present a masterclass in minimalist electronic discipline with Mika Vainio, Ryoji Ikeda + Alva Noto’s powerfully future-proofed Live 2002 performance, recorded at Newcastle’s Baltic arts centre This recording marks the only ever concert by the trio and its release serves as a tribute to the much-loved Vainio. “Mika was not only a friend and collaborator, but also an inspiration for my work as an artist. This is a cel…

Restocked. The first release in 8 years  brings Mika Vainio in full action. Tracks with beats, groovy, experimental and/or hardcore all on one album, initiating the continuation of the label's activities with a series of releases. The logo on the cover can be read "reat" and means both a bad behaving child and something really evil. It is also a logo of a big company, whose name will not be mentioned, since Emd is not an advertising agency, to be highlighted here for the newcomers. Mika V…

Mannerlaatta (Tectonic Plate) is Mika Vainio’s soundtrack for a “74 minute lettrist film made entirely without a camera” by Finnish film maker Mika Taanila; his 3rd following their previous collaborations, A Physical Ring (2002) and Return of the Atom (2015). The music was written very early on in the film’s two and a half year development, and subsequently held a strong sway over the rhythm of the film’s editing and visual narration - which takes place as a series of black and white images made…

Peau froide, léger soleil is the result of a three-year recording process initiated by Mika Vainio and Franck Vigroux after a series of shared live experiences, beginning with a show in Paris in 2012. Their collaboration is an exercise in sensitive intensity, drifting through the whole space between minimalist meditations and maximalist kinetics. Vainio's signature brutalist production resonates throughout the album, constructing a psychic scenario for Vigroux's researches in spatial abstraction…

With Folio, Touch introduces a new series of bespoke hardback book and CD publications, produced to the highest specifications. This first release, Halfway to White, is a collaboration between singular photographer Joséphine Michel and acclaimed musician and sound artist Mika Vainio. Joséphine Michel's images reframe our perception of the visual by exploring the notion of "sonic photography," as she exposes her subjects according to the resonance of the noise-fields felt at her chosen loca…

Arne Deforce is renowned for his passionate and unparalleled performances of contemporary and experimental music. As a soloist, his repertoire consists mainly of solo and chamber music with a special interest in works deemed "unplayable" but "performable" from composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Richard Barrett, John Cage and Brian Ferneyhough. Mika Vainio was one-half of the minimal electronic duo Pan Sonic. His solo works, under his own name and under aliases like Ø, are known for their…

Finnish experimental electronic musician Mika Vainio's first solo album for Blast First sees him return to his classic power electronics/heavy beats approach that made Pan Sonic garner a worldwide reputation. The album developed from Vainio's recent live sets to make 10 tersely-titled tracks inspired by the shipping container industry. Four stars in Mojo: "heavy-freight," The Quietus describes it as "fearsome."

This one-time limited edition of 750 copies comes from Austria's Comfortzone label and catches Mika Vainio in swaggering backroom dancefloor mode again for a 2nd, Jukebox-styled 7". A-side is a corrosive, killer slice of Industro-Bashment called 'Rasputin 3000', all skeletal rhythmic swagger and elemental distortion. B-side features an even more stripped down and haunted number called 'Devil Arrives To Finspång'. Nobody does this thing quite like Vainio - miss out at your peril!

Vainio is back with his fifth album for the esteemed Touch label! Currently based in Berlin, was one half of the minimal electronic duo Pan Sonic from Finland, (with Ilpo Väisänen). Before starting Pan Sonic in the beginning of the 90's, Mika Vainio has played electronics and drums as part of the early Finnish industrial and noise scene. His solo works, under his own name and under aliases like Ø, are known for their analogue warmth and electronic harshness. Be it abstract drone works or m…

**Vainio and Drumm on one record? Oh f*ck yes - an Immense album mastered & cut by Rashad at D&M to 140g vinyl. Housed in pro-printed inner sleeve and jacket, itself contained in a silkscreened pvc sleeve with artwork by Kathryn Politis & Bill Kouligas.** PAN continue to take action against unoriginal, conformist sound with the release of an incredible, inspired ensemble piece recorded in Venice on May 12th, 2008 by four like-minded and exceptionally talented musicians. Make no mistake; i…

Whereas previous works by Mika Vainio have utilised guitar Life (… It Eats You Up) is the first to use the instrument as its primary sound source. A fascinating, sometimes disturbing and deeply personal work this new 10 track set bears all the hallmarks (exacting attention to detail of tone, rhythm and texture) of Vainio's previous works with some stunning surprises, such as his cover version of The Stooges' 'Open Up and Bleed'.Tracks such as ‘Mining’ hark bark to the banging beat exces…

Remixes of PLU music by Coil, Negativland, Farmers Manual, Bruce Gilbert, Boyd Rice, Dummy run, Rehberg & Bauer, Stock Hausen & Walkman, Death in June, Christoph Heemann, Sons of Silence, Barbed and Mika Vainio. "Radio shows and kitsch 60's Easy Listening, found sounds, overheard conversations, all subjected to a malicious clown's fiendish tinkering and manipulation of texture and tempo... Wild but wonderful." -- Paul Stump in The Wire.

Indispensible 94-page Hardcover book and 2XCD limited edition focusing on Mika Vainio's intense and truly jawdropping work for installations and site-specific works - making for one of his most priceless collections of material complete with beautiful images and essays - do not miss! Raster Noton is never short of opulent hi-end concepts for sound and design, but they've truly excelled themselves with this book + 2xCD (one disc of unreleased material and a reissue of the amazing Ø + Alva…

NINE SUGGESTIONS gathers collaborations over the past couple of years between sound installation artist John Duncan and the two members of Pan Sonic, Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen. Duncan's previous collaborators have included Elliott Sharp, Bernhard Günter and Carl Michael von Hausswolff, and the album is on his own label. As Pan Sonic's reputation would lead you to expect, there's enormous confidence here in the handling of material, whether we're talking about distorted screeching like the st…

Despite the fact I've always had a liking for Pan Sonic I recently found out that Mika Vainio isn't actually the one with the fringe. Oh well, that's faceless leccyblokes for you. The one without the fringe is on spectacularly uncompromising form here, beginning with a nasty bit of high-frequency blasting before crashing into a heavy, ultra distorted 'tone' that could almost pass for Sunn 0))) being processed to within an inch of their lives. A temporary respite eventually arrives in the …

This is Important's second release in a 4 record series, each featuring the work of the enigmatic Japanese artist Kouhei Matsunaga. Telepathic full length collaborative release from Kouhei Matsunaga, Sean Booth of Autechre and Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio. Using space, silence and electronic tones, these three electricians rewire your brain for a new comprehension of sound.

We're struggling to contain our excitement over the latest in Raster Noton's Unun series, following essential excursions from Aoki Takamasa, NHK and Grischa Lichtenberger with four tracks of absolutely immense nasty beats and techno reductions from Mika Vainio! It's fully acknowledged that we have a man-crush on this producer, but it's totally justified when he gives out analog brutalism of this variety. There's a definite theme of northern-European destruction going on with this 12" with titles…

Best known as one-half of acclaimed techno minimalists Pan Sonic, Mika Vainio also has an impressive résumé as a solo artist that stretches back to the early '90s and his association with influential Finnish imprint Sähkö. Recording primarily under the aliases Ø and Philus, and sometimes his birth name (depending on the project), Vainio's aesthetic mission has been consistently and rigorously defined by an investigation into the materiality of sound. Indeed, just about everything in his catalog …

Editions Mego issues the first album by duo Lucio Capece and Mika Vainio. At first glance, the two seem unlikely partners. Two standard-bearers at opposing poles of extremity, both sonically and geographically. Lucio from Argentina and rooted in the traditions of jazz and improv, while Mika, hailing from Finland, sourced in early '90s electronic and industrial scenes. However, they both share an alarming attention to detail when it comes to their audio compositions, and neither are afraid …

...The later years of early Finnish avant-garde. Another incredible volume, following the inspiration and eye-opening 2001 CD Arktinen hysteria -- Suomi-avantgarden Wsipuutarhureita. Perfectly packaged document of more utterly obscure electronic mayhem and theatrical intoxication, presented as near-high-art. Now covered are the 1970s and 1980s. 34 artists. Featuring a lavishly illustrated leaflet of 20 pages. Compiled by Jukka Lindfors. Featuring Jimi Tenor, Läjä Äijälä and early Mika Vainio (Pa…

7' vinyl only. Limited edition. Artwork and photography by Jon Wozencroft. Cut by Jason at Transition. Locked grooves. Mika Vainio continues the series of Touch Sevens, 7' vinyl-only releases, with this stunning record. The crackle... The fire of the analogue... Mika Vainio is the most adept at using crackle as a voice. Sound artists have used crackle ever since the reality of digital audio hit home, however there's a big difference between this and how other practitioners use it... Here are two…

Recorded live at Kaaitheaterstudio Brussels

Generally speaking, contemporary musicians produce too much stuff. It is easy to do. But if you feel like sighing, "Oh, it's another Mika Vainio CD", then Mr Vainio himself has anticipated such sentiments with the opening track, a 2 minute blast which sounds like an angry animal breaking free of its cage. What follows is probably Vainio’s most accomplished work to date, a series of rich soundscapes whose beauty is always on the edge of darkness. "In the Land of the Blind One-Eyed is King" is Mik…

Mika, famous for his Panasonic excursions and solo work as Ø, has finally brought out some stuff under his own name. Listen along as he primes, then fine tunes his pneumatic devices, limbers up with a burst of groundhum before reclining against a sonic wall of hissing grit. Sounds of information reduced to their smallest common denominators. Frosty machine language. The reveries of circuitry. Bit-reduction. Wings of bass. And then, after three tracks which intensely and deftly tweak the spaces b…