Music is one of the most important things we have left
by Andrés Asia
29/7/2020
TRANSGRESORCORRUPTOR
(we recommend to hit play and read the interview while listening to this track)
Yamil Rezc is a Mexican composer, producer and musician of great stature who participates in every musical project he crosses, be it making pop, rock, film, television, theater music, playing live, and above all his fascination for Ambient music. The excuse to talk with him is his forceful one-man project TRANSGRESORCORRUPTOR in which he plays Ambient music, dream-pop, psychedelic, ambient-shoegaze, drone. He talked about his origins, impressions of the current pandemic, working methods, the scene of CDMX, its influences and more.
As a guest Andrés Asia interview Yamil Rezc exclusively for SUBTERRÁNEO.
Do you remember when you discovered music and later when you decided to take it seriously?
My maternal grandmother was a concert pianist and at her house we had a piano, more like a souvenir and a piece of furniture. I started playing keyboard when I was 12 years old and later I bought a drum set.
What are your listening habits?
They vary a lot... I usually listen to music at night or very sporadically. I don't have a pattern.
How was your TRANSGRESORCORRUPTOR project born?
By accident, one day I realized that I had a lot of shapeless pieces that I really enjoyed making and could’t depend on anyone else to make and be satisfied in the process. Actually, the result matters less and less to me. I like to know how things happened and what was happening around one of these pieces that I do. They are like postcards that remind me of something or someone.
This is a friendly question, almost to share some anecdote even, What satisfactions has TRANSGRESORCORRUPTOR given you?
I have traveled playing my music and have been able to play at festivals that I like and around artists that I admire. That is very important to me and I never thought about it like that.
Here in Argentina last year, your first self-titled Ep was published digitally, which had already been published in 2012 by Static Discos - Mexico City and some discovered your music and work. Do you have any knowledge about the ambient, noise and experimental scene from Argentina and the rest of South America?
Not much, just thanks to that license I have been able to soak up more of that scene and I am very surprised by the amount of good things and the way they are organized. Mexico is slower in that I think.
Considering socioeconomic, geographical and cultural factors, what is it like to do a project like TRANSGRESORCORRUPTOR in CDMX, your city?
It becomes very personal, I am not very interested in playing in places just to play and CDMX has a lot and at the same time very little. So it really is a whim that I see as it evolves with little apprehension and with little pretense more than I continue to be excited. I like that the music I make here is still an experiment for me.
Do you feel that you are somehow part of some Mexican "scene" of ambient or experimental music?
Not at all. I belong more to rock / pop. Few people know this music.
Can you tell us a bit about the experimental CDMX scene?
I know that there are some places that seek to give space to multiple types of music and artistic expressions. Personally, if there is no good audio, good intentions do not serve me, so I chose to only present myself in places where I can sound good or adapt to what is there and see how to do something with what there is, which is tiring and it's not always very worthwhile. I have traveled to some cities in Europe and it is a priority no matter how small the club or space; audio is the most important thing. And the beer, obviously!
In these times where the ephemeral prevails, where everything seems to become liquid and most people seek stimulation / excitement rather than a real experience with sound. You, as a composer / producer, what reflection can you share with us about sound?
The sound is broader everyday and everyday people experience it more and at a higher freq range, I like to think about perception, how our way of perceiving everything changes, that excites me to seek to tune into people's perception. I am not interested in having my pieces reproduced or consumed, today everything exists and it's an important part of being able to be at PEACE with oneself. I really enjoy this and it’s an important part of my motivation... knowing that there is something to discover... or not.
With TRANSGRESORCORRUPTOR you seek to take the listener to some kind of emotional sensory state or experience? Are you looking to arouse a particular reaction?
Not really, sometimes I try to be pleasant and sometimes not. But the listener is not what matters most to me (laughs).
"One day I realized that I had a lot of shapeless pieces that I really enjoyed making and I couldn't depend on anyone else to make them".
- Yamil Rezc.
Are there any labels / labels or artists with whom you identify or share their work dynamics / artistic spirit?
Yes! I'm a big fan of the Future Sound of London people, not just their music but their philosophy. I am faithful to John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno and I seek that everything I hear always has a space in my thinking. I love cumbias and the music of neighborhoods that brings tears to your eyes.
You have worked with artists such as Zoé, Le Barón, Hello Seahorse !, Juan Son, Siconauta, León Larregui, Subdivision, Yo Camaleón, The Falopium Tubes, Kampion, Thomas Newman (arranging for the music for the film SPECTER 007), Julieta venegas and many other artists ... What was the most difficult job you have had to do musically since it is due?
Each job has a different context and therefore a different problem, they are all great challenges, I would not know which was more difficult, I just know that it has already happened.
I suppose you must have been asked this question a thousand times but… How did you become the Mexican who made the incidental music for Specter, the film about agent 007, James Bond at the time? How did this experience happen?
A production company with whom I work carried out the production services and at one point I was invited to make an aesthetic proposal for the music of those scenes since the director felt that it had a cultural aspect that he did not want to touch or take responsibility for. So one day I sent a text with what seemed to me something interesting to sound in a celebration of day of the dead.
When I was young I saw Tambuco play many times: a percussion ensemble of contemporary and pre-Hispanic music. I presented it and the director San Mendes loved the idea, he said: Can you do it?
In a certain way we can say that Yamil Rezc is a musician and producer who can give himself certain types of licenses, since the experience he accumulates in films, plays and musical albums is considerable and important and I suppose that at this point you choose how and with whom to work. When you decide to work with artists, what prompts you to make that decision?
The honesty with which they execute their trade. I don't work with people who are not the most important thing in their life, their work or at least it has to be more important for them than for me.
This is a very simple question: Can you recommend music from your country to listen to?
FAX, CAMILLE MANDOKI, ALVARO RUIZ, NIMA IKI.
What impressions do you have about the current pandemic that humanity is going through? How is it lived in your city and how are you living it? Do you think that when this happens it will gradually return to being like before or will everything change forever?
UFFFFFFF!!! We are here at the top, fortunately I am well and my activities have not changed so much in terms of employment, but I am sure that everything will change and without a doubt for the better, the ways of consuming will change. It will be good for us to re-value the past in order to value the future.
"It will be good for us to re-value the past in order to value the future".
- Yamil Rezc.
What do you think of live streaming concerts that are held in all homes today?
I DO NOT GET IT.
What is music for you?
For me it is everything. My life revolves around music, I have no children nor do I believe in living standards. When I was very young I chose to be in search of being an artist who uses music as a medium, I keep discovering it every day and I like it more and more, it makes you have relationships with more people, memories, emotions and in many cases it really generates social phenomena healers. Music is one of the most important things we have left.
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Interview by Andrés Asia (Sonido Atmosférico Ediciones).
SUBTERRANEO
Para escuchar o saber más acerca de TRANSGRESORCORRUPTOR / YAMIL REZC ir a:
Bandcamp / Instagram / Facebook / Spotify