IN THE MAGAZINE

AURALLY FIXATED

Intergalactic Mastermind Ralph Lundsten Rewires Modern Music

BY MILÈNE LARSSON AND IVAR BERGLIN



Swedish composer Ralph Lundsten remains one of his generation’s greatest unheralded influences—an intergalactic ambassador who’s so accomplished he makes most other mortals look like lazy uninspired slobs. Besides releasing more than 100 records, penning four books, directing award-winning films, and exhibiting in the likes of The Louvre, he was a pioneer in the field of analogue synthesisers. In the 60s he founded Andromeda Studio, located on a small, private territory outside Stockholm, which serves as the Andromeda galaxy’s earthly outpost. Today, he reigns over the region like a present-day Odin, dismissing misguided contemporary slop and tinkering with his endless array of awesome inventions.

Vice: How did you become the Andromeda galaxy’s ambassador on earth?

Ralph Lundsten: The Andromeda galaxy always fascinated me because it’s visible to the eye yet remains inaccessible to mankind for an immeasurable amount of time. It is not forbidden to set up an embassy as long as the region isn’t already taken, and since the Andromeda galaxy didn’t have an embassy on earth, it’s all formal and correct.

By whose reckoning exactly?

I’m a member of the London Diplomatic Academy.

Fancy. What’s your personal experience with the Andromeda galaxy? I’ll assume you’ve never been.

Well, my soul has been there. But physically, no. I am, however, an Adromedar and we are indeed on Andromedan territory.

And you grant or deny access to the mother galaxy?

I gladly stamp people’s passports and give them permission to travel to Andromeda, but they have to get there themselves, of course.

Naturally. How do you recommend someone get there?

It’s spiritual. There are 11 dimensions and you can’t go there with the regular three. You did know they’ve discovered up to 11 dimensions, right?

I did not.

I see.

This is awkward.

Stephen Hawking tried to explain how these dimensions are here but you can’t see them. If, for example, someone plays a radio in the distance and you’re close to heavy traffic, you can’t hear the radio. But there is still a radio transmission there, you see?

I do.

The same goes for these dimensions, which explain a lot of mysterious things. Everything from black holes to human souls.

Was the founding of Andromeda Studio very mysterious?

It was a necessity. When I made my first composition there were no synthesisers, so you had to build them yourself. I took part in developing one of the earliest polyphonic synthesisers with sequencing in the 60s.

Did you employ any particularly interesting methodology?

I used pure logic. It wasn’t complicated. I was spared from culture until the age of 17 when by coincidence I heard a string quartet on the radio and was thrilled to bits. So I bought music paper and started composing straight away.

What were the results?

I soon realised that it’s impossible to create new orchestral music and that no orchestra could play the kind of music I wanted to make.

Which could either be enlightening or depressing, I imagine. How did you get started?

I bought one of those first home tape-recorders. A whole new world of sounds opened up to me as I started experimenting with it.

What were your first discoveries?

You could play at different speeds and play backwards. You could also get feedback effects. Then I started to cut and paste the tapes and got the most absurd noises, which became my specialty. Whatever the sound, I knew exactly what angle to hold the scissor to get the result I wanted.

So diddling around with tape recorders and scissors led you to create the first of this type of synthesiser?

Well, I eventually got fed up with cutting and pasting hundreds of thousands of times and discovered that instead you could put several tone generators in a row—I found a method for making them climb in any tempo. That’s how easy you make a sequencer with jump function!

I won’t pretend to understand what that means.

Polyphony means that, unlike the first synthesisers, you can play all the tones at the same time. That’s all there is to it. I called it the Andromatic since it made automatic Andromeda music.

Where did that lead?

I got the idea to exchange each word in a poem I’d written with an emotionally equivalent sound. When I had exchanged all the words, I had made an electronic composition without even knowing it. After that I’d found my technique and no longer had the need for words.

Does this principle apply to all of Andromeda Studio projects?

Music begins where words end. Words diminish music just like religion diminishes God and defense diminishes humans. Music is a language of the soul, yet most people turn it into small talk.

I assume you’re referring to modern music.

Contemporary music has no message. It’s all about the artist instead of the music. If you take away the clothes and the silly gymnastics they’re doing, it wouldn’t impress anyone.

---

See all articles by this contributor

Comments

Anonymous, on Jul 7, 2009 wrote: androgynous elderly egotistical eurotrash hippie windbag. case closed. i’ll take tralfamadore over andromeda any day.
Anonymous, on May 6, 2009 wrote: Why is everyone mentioning babies all of a sudden?or am I just making this up? No I’m not. I swear to god there’s way too many infant related comments about this article.
Anonymous, on May 5, 2009 wrote: Interesting I mean hes nuts..article- I wanna hear more!
Anonymous, on May 4, 2009 wrote: that room is just begging to give someone a stroke.
Anonymous, on May 4, 2009 wrote: I wanna be a space ambassador!! has any taken earth’s ambassador for the moon? I want it.
Anonymous, on May 4, 2009 wrote: "he clothes and the silly gymnastics they’re doing" he must be referring to rap?
Anonymous, on May 1, 2009 wrote: "I never liked parties, but whenever you met a pretty girl it was a party." What an awesome quote.
Anonymous, on May 1, 2009 wrote: How is he not an artist? Other famous people respect him, ladies want him to be their Andromeda baby-daddy, and he dresses fly and denounces fame. Hes an artist.
Anonymous, on May 1, 2009 wrote: when he means "silly gymnastics" does he mean dancing? breakdancing?...Sheesh. Good thing he’s in Stockholm.
Anonymous, on May 1, 2009 wrote: This guy is bugging me out. And Vice is totally jacking him. Id rather hear someone talk about quantum physics then hear about the spiritual retreat to Andromeda.
Anonymous, on Apr 29, 2009 wrote: look at all those disco balls and lights. add some ecstasy and youd be in heaven.. acid however, would be a scary scary hell
Anonymous, on Apr 29, 2009 wrote: is that him in that picture?... is he wearing lipstick? strange, yet not really surprising after reading this interview
Anonymous, on Apr 28, 2009 wrote: that has to be a wig right? he has the look of a child molester. sorry dude, but you do. that said, i can’t wait to see him on film. you know this guy is crazy as a wombat.
	foxface, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: "but whenever you met a pretty girl it was a party" how many pretty girls did he meet? im guessing quite a few, i dont know wether he is eccentric or just plain nuts, look forward to watching the vbs on him.
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: i want to know what his medal is for? the furtherment of space cadets into society? he seriously believes that the world surrounding him doesnt effect what he does, i find that hard to believe.
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: you can hear what your face looks like? what if your face sounded horrible? that would bum you out pretty hard.
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: that studio looks like an acid trip, even when completely sober you still feel like your tripping balls.
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: you can seriously get your passport stamped to go to andromeda? wonder what the work visa situation is over there? plus i bet immigration would love reading that in your passport.
	joe bananas , on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: what is this guy talking about? i read the article but dont really understand what i just read. is the guy a genious or a loon. what the hell is he talking about going to andromeda? think ill give this guy a wide birth.
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: he sure has a huge ego for being such a weirdo. it makes me wonder what woman in her right mind would want him to knock her up. like the world needs any more dorklets running around bitching about comic book movie adaptations and the price of comicon tickets.
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: "There’s the DIMI-O, on which you can play the whole 12-tone gamut with your hands in thin air" air keytar is now a reality. thanks mr. lundsten. that’s one i can check off my future fantasy list.
	tammy faye, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: polyphony is related to polygamy except it’s multiple notes are fucking instead of multiple mormons.
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: The ambassador to Andromeda is impressive, but I still believe the ambassador to Zimbabwe would pull more weight.
	lowbrow, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: it is not impossible to make new orchestral music. i saw a video of a car horn orchestra and it was put together by a church music director. surely with all you gizmos and trinkets you can come up with something.
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: Im guessing this guy has definitely done some acid in his days. Not like thats bad, but its just definitely prevalent
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: haha i love what he did to Ingmar Bergman. passive aggressive fighting is the best kind
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: my uncle is this really great artist/musician and he did this piece where he composed a piece of music and then for each note he painted a face that matched it and the synced up the music to a video that projected all the different faces. it was really cool looking and it kind of reminds me of his poem music thing
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: haha I love when vice just says "this is awkward"... im sure that didnt help the situation
Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: jeez talk about tripping the light fantastic. i really hope dude took a ton of acid in the sixties. there’s no other excuse for dressing like that.
	poozer, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote: 11 dimensions? i thought there were three and the fourth might be space. i want to know about the other seven.
Next 30 comments >