Pan Sonic
Finnish electronic duo
Pan Sonic, previously known as Panasonic, was a Finnish electronic music duo which was founded in Turku in 1993 and which dissolved in 2009. They consisted throughout the duo's run of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen, with Sami Salo as an initial member and Jari Lehtinen as a later member.
History
In 1988, as part of a sound art performance, the initial duo of Vainio and Väisänen spent 10 hours in a garage, exposed to low-frequency (13 Hz) noise at 125 decibels. They also performed a gig in London's East End from an armoured car, using a 5000 watt sound system allegedly of the type used by the police to disorient rioters. Panasonic subsequently formed in 1993 as a techno group with Salo (previously known under the alias Hertsi), who would later depart in 1998. They moved to operate from a base in Barcelona to escape the long Finnish winters. Vainio moved to Berlin, while Väisänen returned to Kuopio. Their first 12" was released on Finland's Sähkö Recordings, and they eventually went on to sign to Blast First, which they released music on until they dissolved. The corporation of the same name, Panasonic, threatened legal action unless it was changed. The conflict was resolved, and the duo removed the "a" from their name to become "Pan Sonic".
The public source identifies “Pan Sonic” as finnish electronic duo. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sonic, Finnish and electronic.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1889385. VIAF identifies the subject as 147973847. The Library of Congress control number is no2003103202. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1993, 2009, 1988 and 1998.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pan Sonic” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.