One year after he rocked Le Bain with Superpitcher (as Pachanga Boys), here comes the warrior again. Mauricio Rebolledo plays an extended 5-hour set in the skyline on Saturday, August 12th. We sat down for a chat.
LE BAIN: Glad to have you back, Mauricio! Last summer, your night with Superpitcher at Le Bain was one of the highlights of the year. Any backstory on that night?
REBOLLEDO: The pleasure is mine! Always great to be back to the big city, a highlight in my calendar every time. That was a very fun night as I remember. Lots of friends who were in the city showed up, we were playing super freestyle from old disco to new twisted stuff. It was a pleasure to play in that booth with that amazing mixer of yours. The cherry on top was that Prince Language was kind enough to give me a copy of a record of his label that I wanted for years and I just could never find. It was great to have it and play it for the first time there.
REBOLLEDO: The pleasure is mine! Always great to be back to the big city, a highlight in my calendar every time. That was a very fun night as I remember. Lots of friends who were in the city showed up, we were playing super freestyle from old disco to new twisted stuff. It was a pleasure to play in that booth with that amazing mixer of yours. The cherry on top was that Prince Language was kind enough to give me a copy of a record of his label that I wanted for years and I just could never find. It was great to have it and play it for the first time there.
"The one big decision [of an all-night DJ set] is 'How should I start?'" –Rebolledo
Playing a 5-hour set with a DJ you know very well must be a great thing in terms of energy–challenging and never boring (hopefully!) What’s your state of mind when you’re about to start at 5-hour set just by yourself?
It's always different. Sometimes it's just easy and comes super natural, sometimes, if the context or the situation are not ideal, you have to work for it. Just like we do it as the Pachangas, I always try not to take the easy way. I always try to stay away from playing hit after hit (even ours), and make interesting things happen on the dance floor. I have never planned a set. The one big decision of the night is "How should I start?" Everything after that is improvised. Without the interaction of playing with a great partner, all the decisions are made by myself, so the dynamics of the set work a bit differently. When playing solo there's the chance to plan a lot ahead if you have an idea of something you want to happen, you can create the perfect way to reach that moment. When playing as Pachanga Boys, we surprise each other and unexpected turns are taken and you have to adapt.
Is there such a thing as feeling like a lonely DJ?
The lonely DJ feeling comes from time to time... but it can be a good thing.
You just released your album of remixes, Mondo Re-Alterado. How does that feel to get remixed?
It was such a nice process! Especially because all the people involved are close friends who had total freedom to do what they wanted, so the results were very interesting.
It's always different. Sometimes it's just easy and comes super natural, sometimes, if the context or the situation are not ideal, you have to work for it. Just like we do it as the Pachangas, I always try not to take the easy way. I always try to stay away from playing hit after hit (even ours), and make interesting things happen on the dance floor. I have never planned a set. The one big decision of the night is "How should I start?" Everything after that is improvised. Without the interaction of playing with a great partner, all the decisions are made by myself, so the dynamics of the set work a bit differently. When playing solo there's the chance to plan a lot ahead if you have an idea of something you want to happen, you can create the perfect way to reach that moment. When playing as Pachanga Boys, we surprise each other and unexpected turns are taken and you have to adapt.
Is there such a thing as feeling like a lonely DJ?
The lonely DJ feeling comes from time to time... but it can be a good thing.
You just released your album of remixes, Mondo Re-Alterado. How does that feel to get remixed?
It was such a nice process! Especially because all the people involved are close friends who had total freedom to do what they wanted, so the results were very interesting.
We'll be celebrating the recent release of Rebolledo's jam-packed album of remixes, Mondo Re-Alterado (inspired by 2016's much-acclaimed album Mondo Alterado on Hippie Dance), featuring Red Axes, Maceo Plex, Mike Simonetti, DJ Tennis, Superpitcher, and many more.
You just collaborated with Lexus, and it looks and sounds good.
When the advertising company taking care of the Lexus campaign contacted me I thought it was because they had watched my fake car documentary that I did to promote my album. When I asked, they actually had never seen it, they just liked my work, and saw me performing one time and thought it was a good fit. At that time I was putting together the remix album, so I chose the tracks that thought could work for the project and adapted them to the clips. They were happy with the results.
How would you describe your relationship towards cars in general?
I LOVE CARS! And anything with an engine in it... I guess it's a family thing. Since I was young, I would go with my older brother and my father to car and motorcycle races. I always loved the racing aesthetics, TV shows where the cars were as important as the actors, road trips, hot wheels... Then in the '90s, my brother started to race motocross and I would go on the road with him to support him. Every time I'm in Mexico, we find the time to go with my dad for a ride with the bikes.
How does the love of car aesthetics inspire your music?
I decided to include my favorite cars somehow in my productions, so for "Momento Drive" from 2014, I used my 1974's 911, recreating an amazing record cover from Philippine psychedelic rock legend Wally Gonzalez. I got super hooked on Porsches after the 911 experience, so I had a 928 in my mind as my next acquisition. I was already working on "Mondo Alterado" and I thought I'd like to continue with the concept of recreating existing album covers with cars, so I looked for existing artworks featuring this car so I would have an excuse to get it...telling myself "it's for work." The only thing I found was the artwork for the '80s movie Risky Business, which I thought was just perfect. I got the 928 and went for it, then for the remix album I used one of the photos from the original photoshoots just to close the circle.
I decided to include my favorite cars somehow in my productions, so for "Momento Drive" from 2014, I used my 1974's 911, recreating an amazing record cover from Philippine psychedelic rock legend Wally Gonzalez. I got super hooked on Porsches after the 911 experience, so I had a 928 in my mind as my next acquisition. I was already working on "Mondo Alterado" and I thought I'd like to continue with the concept of recreating existing album covers with cars, so I looked for existing artworks featuring this car so I would have an excuse to get it...telling myself "it's for work." The only thing I found was the artwork for the '80s movie Risky Business, which I thought was just perfect. I got the 928 and went for it, then for the remix album I used one of the photos from the original photoshoots just to close the circle.
On Saturday, August 12th, Le Bain presents Rebolledo
The Standard, High Line | 10pm
