12. Pan SonicKulma
You can draw a lot of parallels between Pan Sonic and Kraftwerk, I think, except obviously Pan Sonic are a lot less melodic. I think I chose them because what I really admire in Pan Sonic – I’ve worked with them and learned a lot about how they work – is their minimalism and the sparseness of their sound. In a similar way to the Shostakovich string quartet, they’ve used very simple themes or elements to create something which has a very strong effect on the listener.
And live, obviously, they’re quite something – they’re much more visceral and much more of a physical experience live. I could include Swans in a similar category: a band that uses simple ideas in an extremely powerful way. I don’t know if you ever saw Pan Sonic in their heyday but it was quite something. I think I’m still processing the influences of the electronic music of that time, and I go back to Pan Sonic again and again: absolute masterpieces of electronic music that were just not equaled.
Small gestures with maximum impact.
Exactly.
