The13th AÑO: 3
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NÚMERO 27
UNA R E VISTA IMA GINARIA
DEAD GUITARS | A.R. KANE RANCHO RELAXO | IN CORP SANCTIS | MAL PASAR BANDAS TRIBUTO | FESTIVAL PLANCK | BRUJERÍA EN EL CINE
[ Interview with Inge Kjetil Sandvik Malmeda of Rancho Relaxo by Diego Centuriรณn ]
A SHOT OF WARM LOUD LIQUID SOUND
The sound universe of neo psychedelia has many exponents, many are lost in the large number of proposals in the network, but some come with an already stable career for several years and many publications. Such is the case of Rancho Relaxo, that with a name that reminds us of a spa of the Simpsons series, brings a world of colours and acid sixties memories, but with the strength of the shoegaze verging stoner rock. Rancho Relaxo formed in 2003 in Norway, and have released six albums and several Eps, and have a load of sonority which blends to The Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth and psychedelia all under the name of Rancho Relaxo.
Why Rancho Relaxo? No. We were reharsing in a barn, like a ranch... And why "Relaxo"? We played in this barn all night long, sometimes we were forced to "relax". Beyond his music tends to lead to a trance, is very mantra. That helped a lot to be "relaxo". There's something about that? We like the flirtation with hearbeat rythms and hidden sounds. Drone is the new tone.
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His first work, "Look At The Wall" (2007), was recorded on a Tascam porta studio. While is true that, “Today the cassette is again a fad�, would you have liked to record the album "Look At The Wall" in a studio? I would like to record it in a studio. But i didn`t have a studio back then. No rerecording, thats against the rules. But do you think that today there are "rules"? We have our own rules. Because we can have. "As Lubrication Trout Records" was his own label? It's my label. I just created it to give out music. How was the transfer of "Trout As Lubrication Records" to "Wrong Way Records"? What they have lost and won? To go to "wrong way" was allowing us to put stuff on vinyl. This we couldnt do before so thats really cool. Have all her albums remastered for upload to bandcamp? Most of the songs are remastered. Upon hearing the albums remastered, have you dis-
covered something new in the recordings? Anything that has drawn attention? Not really, i have just mixed them a little bit different. What are your influences? Don Williams, Dr Hook and at the moment, Casino versus Japan. The band has 13 years of existence. 13 is our lucky number. What changed in the band since those early years? Actually nothing has changed in the band. Only now we have a new guitar player. So we can have two guitars and an organ now in a live setting. And we have more studio gear to make more weird sounds. A few years ago there is a resurgence of shoegaze and psychedelic music. And Rancho Relaxo has a lot of these styles. How good is this revival for the band? We don't feel any different about this. We live far up north so when you open your window you just hear some stupid country music playing...we are pretty untouched by the trends you can say. But some of that country sound seeps into some of the more acoustic songs?
Yeah, actually in the beginning we wanted to make alternative country music but changed. We have two albums before "look at the wall" which is our take on country music, but its pretty avant garde stuff. ¿Ever you will publish? We just gave them away to friends at that time. Im not sure if this material will come out, we will see. Something like "Sugar For The Devil"? or stranger? Much more abstract then that...like sonic youth with cowboyhats. We were really influenced by the vibe from Twin Peaks, the scene at the bar when you have this weird drugged cowboy band playing this droned out song. Do you know? There is a marked Indian influence in many of his songs. Where does it come from? Thats our tribute to the Sami people. They are "indians" too. The Sami people didn`t have sitars but we do. How are your live performances? By the sound of Rancho Relaxo, it occurs to me to be quite colorful
and powerful. We played live with one guitar, organ, bass and drums. We felt that this was not doing justice for the sound. Now we have two guitars, so its better. What can you tell us about White Light Fever? It is a different mood on this album. It has a darker side. We tried to get more styles into the mix. It's obviously a long album. Already there are new songs? Yeah we could but the songs belonged together. It’s a certain beginning and end of it. You can hear it if you have 70 minutes to offer. In this new era of social networks, how they feel about these possibilities? I think for us it’s really good. We would not be so exposed if it wasn`t for social media. I think a lot of bands benefit from this. It has created a shortcut which the big companies are still fighting to gain control over. The thing is that they never will give up, I don`t think most people are aware of that. It’s definitely something to be aware of. The Mainstream corporations always want to mono-
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polize everything. And they don’t give up...it’s not in the nature of capitalism. The possibilities of self-management can be exhausting ¿You delegate that on your label? Me and the bass player, Martin, used to do it all, it was a lot of work but we knew this before we started out. Now we are working with the UK label Wrong Way Records which helps us get the music out on vinyl and that’s really great. But we also do cds. What are the next plans Rancho Relaxo? We are working on two new albums. One is kind of finished. We are also trying get our stuff together so we can play live this year. As they have done in 2009, two albums in the year? We actually put out three albums that year.
Those who read this interview, why should I listen to Rancho Relaxo? It's really no way around it... we make it easy for people to get their medicine... a shot of warm loud liquid sound. Finally, it would be a dream to play in Latin America, Do you know bands this part of the world? No, I can't think of someone. Do you recommend any? Iguana Lovers, Mellonta Tauta, In Corps Santics (Argentine), Resplandor (Perú), Lorelle Meets The Obsolete (Mexico) Inge Thanks for your time, for your willingness to answer questions. You are very kind, and again ¡Thanks! All ok!
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The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA