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Rating: It's cold in Rome. The program states that the concerts will start at 9:30 PM. I tell myself: it will be the last concert of Pan Sonic in Rome, after this tour they will disband, so there will be a lot of people...
I gear up and set off.
By 8:45 PM, I'm already in front of the Branca.
Everything is closed, few people around, at first I think, could it be that Mika has collapsed again and everything is canceled like in October at the Init?
I ask at the entrance, and they reassure me, people are waiting inside, and Mika has been assigned a personal hostess tasked with keeping his alcohol level as low as possible.
The evening begins with a long live performance by NZ. I had never heard them before, and I must say they didn't quite convince me. The sounds are similar to those of Raster Noton productions but without reaching the excellence levels of the said label.
The time comes for the Finnish duo, and there are about sixty of us in the hall; I don't understand why Roman electronic fans have snubbed this event.
They take the stage, and my fixation with t-shirts is immediately piqued. Mika Vainio wears one from the legendary Finnish grinders Rotten Sound. Awesome!
The analog-digital sound attack of the duo starts, and the few lucky ones present go into a trance. Mika handles the rhythms, and his partner Ilpo Vaisanen manipulates the synthesized sounds by misusing his "typewriter" (nickname given to the synth specially created for them by Jari Lehtinen).
They offer us their characteristic mix of ambient-industrial sounds, broken rhythms, bursts of 4/4 techno, distortions, oscillating and disturbing sounds. In terms of stage presence, Ilpo has a greater impact, fiddling with his synth, while Mika, apparently shyer, creates the bases that his loyal colleague manipulates at will.
Behind them, a white screen displays a sine wave moving to the rhythm of their music. It was like this when I saw them for the first time, in 1993(?), at Forte Prenestino, and it continues to be so today. Their unmistakable trademark.
The live show does not last long, I believe barely an hour, but it is of remarkable quality and intensity. The encore is limited to one track, at the end of which Ilpo brandishes his instrument like a modern-day Hendrix (stolen from Mauro Petruzziello :-).
Pioneers, experimenters, masters, the world electronic scene will miss you.
Thank you.
After them, Phooka & Mutech take the stage, advocates of a minimal techno heavily seasoned with IDM, theirs is a good set, and I plan to follow them in the future. For tonight that's enough. One can go home satisfied and a bit sad.
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