Rancho Relaxo

Biography

Rancho Relaxo was formed back in 2002, when Inge Kjetil Sandvik Malmedal bought an old 70s Crumar organ from his neighbor, and with his electric guitar and a 4-track tape machine, he started to make music. Then Martin Schram, a longtime friend, joined in on the organ and they started to tape hours and hours of improvised music. The music was a mix between the noise of Sonic Youth, melodies of Jesus and Mary chain and the drone of Spacemen 3. Droning guitar, monolithic organ and sometimes howling...

Rancho Relaxo was formed back in 2002, when Inge Kjetil Sandvik Malmedal bought an old 70s Crumar organ from his neighbor, and with his electric guitar and a 4-track tape machine, he started to make music. Then Martin Schram, a longtime friend, joined in on the organ and they started to tape hours and hours of improvised music. The music was a mix between the noise of Sonic Youth, melodies of Jesus and Mary chain and the drone of Spacemen 3. Droning guitar, monolithic organ and sometimes howling vocals; the style came naturally.

Soon Khalil Olsen, another long time friend of the band joined in on drums.
They played in different cellars and barns on the west coast of Møre og Romsdal, Norway. The music developed as Inge Kjetil started to write and arrange songs for the band, and Martin switched from organ to bass guitar. The new songs approach was now more as Byrds-like harmonies, jangly guitars, tambourines, sitar and shoegaze vibes mixed with a good dose of neo-psychedelia. With 12 strings, lots of reverb, trippy melodies and some occasional fuzz freak-outs, they crafted their new sound. As the songs evolved they got a second guitar player. Ole Kristian Malmedal, who is Martins younger brother, joined in.

In 2007 they released "Look at the Wall", the bands first "real" full-length album.
During the year it took to create "Look at the Wall", they moved out of the cold, drafty cellars and barns,
and into a room at a local gun range. However, after a dispute with the redneck landlord, they were kicked out. Then, they moved into an abandoned house owned by a relative, and freedom was upon them in this house...simply known as the Tilla house. With the freedom of Tilla, they got busy and recorded three new, full-length albums that were released in 2009 Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.