Mika Vainio/Kouhei Matsunaga

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Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Brett on Thu 25 Feb, 2010.

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 form of a pure sine wave before it crashes back in harsher than ever, raining digital Hell down upon our cowering bodies. Dave says this is the worst thing he's ever heard but Ant and I are digging it in a sadomasochistic sort of way. Release buddy Kouhei Matsunaga is one member of NHK (whose cracking Raster Noton release we never received, to my eternal irritation) and kicks off in the style that'll be familiar to those you of you've heard them, with ultra-clinical electro beats and unsettlingly alien synth sounds, before going a more abstract and ending with glitchy touches and some of the most mental sub-bass action I've heard in a while. Sonic adventures on both sides, that's what we want..

This is Important's first release in a 4 record series each featuring the work of the enigmatic Japanese artist Kouhei Matsunaga. Mika Vainio (Pan Sonic) has contributed a side of lengthy work for harsh electronic drones while Kouhei's side consists of experimental breakbeats and modern electronica. Mika Vainio is acclaimed as half of Pan Sonic and afor his solo work as well. Kouhei Matsunaga's first record was released on the Mille Plateaux label in 1998. Since then he has kept busy with numerous collaborations as well as his work with NHK (Raster Noton).

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