Balázs Pándi

Balázs Pándi is a Hungarian-born improvisational and avant-garde drummer who has worked extensively with electronic and industrial musicians as well as jazzmen.

Pándi's early outfits were the Venetian Snares, To Live and Shave in LA, Zu, and the iconoclastic Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble.

He has worked extensively with industrial pioneer Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) on the road; the pair have recorded a number of albums together, including dates with saxophonist Mats Gustafsson.

He was a member of the Rope Cosmetology collective from 2009 -2012. They released five albums including Diffusion de la Rue de la Double Identité and Disunion Strips.

Pándi is one of the drummers in the Blood of Heroes, a collaborative project between Justin Broadrick, Bill Laswell, Submerged, Enduser, Dr. Israel, and KJ Sawka. They recorded three albums on Ohm Resistance between 2010 and 2012. During that period, Pándi has also recorded in Obake with Eraldo Bernocchi on the guitarist's RareNoise label in 2011. The band's other members included Zu bassist Massimo Pupillo and singer Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari. The label became a home for the drummer.

In 2012, another collective between the drummer and Bernocchi, with Porcupine Tree bassist Colin Edwin and pianist/keyboardist Jamie Saft, was formed as Metallic Taste of Blood and issued its self-titled debut, followed by a trio date with Ivo Perelman and Joe Morris entitled One. Pándi, Saft, Morris, and bassist Trevor Dunn issued Black Aces as Slobber Pup in 2013 and the trio recording Cuts with Merzbow and Mats Gustafsson. The next year, Pandi, Saft, and Morris collaborated on Red Hill with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. In 2015, a second Slobber Pup date titled Pole Axe was released, as was Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper by Pandi, Merzbow, Gustafsson, and Thurston Moore. The drummer, Saft, and Morris backed trombonist Roswell Rudd on Strength & Power, released in the early spring of 2016, while the summer saw the release of An Untroublesome Defencelessness with Pandi and guitarist Keiji Haino. ~ Thom Jurek