Cover photography: Joséphine Michel

Art Direction: Jon Wozencroft

Mastered by Denis Blackham

MIKA VAINIO, 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 minimal avant techno, Vainio is always creating unique, physical sounds. He has released on other labels such as Editions Mego, Wavetrap and Sähkö and he has produced work with, amongst others, Alan Vega of Suicide, Keiji Haino, and Bruce Gilbert. Since 2009 Mika Vainio has contributed to the music for Cindy van Acker's dance pieces...

This is his 5th album for Touch, after Onko [Touch # TO:34, 1998], Kajo TO:43, 2000], Sokeiden Maassa Yksisilmäinen on Kuningas (In the Land of the Blind One-Eyed Is King) [TO:54, 2004] and Black Telephone of Matter [Touch # TO:72, 2009].

FE3O4 - MAGNETITE was recorded in Berlin between 2011 and 2012. In contrast to the dark vistas of his most recent releases, FE3O4 - MAGNETITE oscillates between the two poles of silence and noise. Using his signature sources which range from radio signals to sine wave generators, Mika Vainio creates a unique emotional journey that moves from the serene to the unsettling, always challenging the listener's comfort zone.

Reviews:

Other Music (USA):

Unlike some of Mika Vainio's recent solo releases, which tended to truck in darker and more foreboding soundscapes, FE304 - Magnetite is a blissful exercise in exploring the opposing forces of sound, from crisp, quiet minutia to rough-edged washes, the poles of silence and noise. Using mostly radio signals and sine wave generators as his source material, Vainio takes the listener on a strangely emotional journey that stretches both the ears and the .......
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