Pan Sonic are Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen, both Finnish nationals now based in Berlin. Katodivaihe is Pansonic's first release for Blast First Petite since "sidestepping" (at their own request) from the newly EMI-owned Blast First/Mute Records for whom they have recorded since 1995. Their last release for them was 2004's 4CD release -- the musically massive Kesto box set. These 2006 recordings that make up this album feature the continued extension and development of their trademarked warm electronic sound, as per album bookends "Virta 1& 2," dub technique pummeling rhythms ("Tugboat") and the heavy metal pound of "Machinist." But this new record also sees them expand their musical horizons further with the inclusion of young Icelandic cello player Hildur Guðnadóttir on several tracks, and the use of some more funk-based rhythms, while stretching the listener in the opposite direction via the abstracted soundscape centerpieces of "Kytkennat / Connection" and "Haiti." Pan Sonic have remained true to their original and pioneering use of their special handmade analog tone generators, more old radio set than synthesizers, with the occasional use of digital samplers for the more rhythmic sounds. They still record live to DAT tape in real time with no overdubbing. With typical clarity, they re-cycle their earlier quotation on the basis that, as Vainio says, "it already says everything... there is no theory for Pan Sonic. We have no plan. We just make the music." Cathodephase is a bright, sunshine-y pop album that will delight both the aficionado and the newly curious.