April 1999

The Rob Lo fidelity experience...

bored with music? try Pan Sonic

Suddenly, I'm bored with music...(not true, actually, because the feeling takes time to evolve...boredom is never 'sudden'...is it?)...But I still want something to replace silence, so I play Pan Sonic's album, 'A'. I look for Side D...that's Side A...oh, and so's that, right, nice joke boys...fool us stupid ones by calling your album 'A' so that, unless you actually take note of these things, and fall into the category of people known as Pan Sonic Fans (of whom there must be a few), like an idiot, you think the big 'A' signifies, as is usually the case with records, I've found, the A Side...

I find Side D of 'A' and go to the bathroom where I proceed to stand in front of the mirror and prune my moustache. It's 9am and suddenly it occurs to me that a; the volume's a little loud, and a: the guy who lives upstairs, and who is about 50-something yrs old, and probably not a Pan Sonic Fan, might be able to hear the ...noise (I nearly called it 'music'), and I'd hate to think I'm torturing him. But then I reassure myself that he's out because it's a Monday morning and he works...

Whilst carefully snipping at the hair beneath my nose I consider the noise to be OK, actually, which is something of a revelation because, despite having had the album for, oh, a month, I hadn't really considered much about it at all (other than desperate attempts to formulate cohesive responses to what is...no, to what it is...this noise). Came up with no definite response. But as I snipped, thought, 'yeah, this is good' - the track, 'Johto 2', has a sweeping momentum to it...a wave of noise which slowly fades before returning in another form. Then....then, as a rapid pulse begins, and I snip, the task of maintaining my facial hair takes precedence over listening to the music. I concentrate on that. And before I know it, the four tracks have been and gone and I had not listened at all...

I wonder how much listening is required to appreciate Pan Sonic. I sit here playing Side D again. I think of Will, my friend who, several weeks ago, recommended Pan Sonic. Then his interview with them, for The Wire magazine, appeared. And I wonder, if I re-read that interview, whether I'd appreciate their noise more (understanding? is there anything to 'understand'). I don't know. Dunno. Will, I dunno. It's...interesting...but I don't know..I like the arrangement of bangs, whooshes and buzzing on 'Voima', though. And, thinking about it, about them, about this noise, I conclude that, since I'm bored, this morning, with all my music, Pan Sonic serve a useful purpose as an alternative to music.

© Rob Lo March '99

super (collider) stupid fake funk sensation & serious talent