One of electronic music’s great agitators.
Mika Vainio, co-founder of Pan Sonic and an icon of experimental music, has died. Sources close to the producer confirmed the news to FACT this morning that Vainio died in France yesterday. He was 53.
After playing in experimental bands such as Gagarin-Kombinaatti, Vainio made his mark on electronic music with the glitch-focused project Pan Sonic alongside Ilpo Väisänen and Sami Salo. The project stretched the ’90s and ’00s releasing classic albums such as Kulma and the nearly four-hour epic Kesto.
After disbanding in 2009, Vainio continued his successful solo career often collaborating with experimental French composer Franck Vigroux, including an excellent 2015 FACT mix.
Artists across genres and generations have already begun paying tribute to Vainio’s life and career. Read them below.
Read next: “My favourite frequency is 50 Hz”: FACT meets sonic agitator Mika Vainio
