Rarely the
music causes us reminiscent of senses through its sounds. Equinoxious is the
project of Mexican young named Rogelio Serrano who has allowed us to know a little
more about his beginnings, influences and expectations in his career.
Undoubtedly, this is a very promising project.
1. When we first listen
to the music of Equinoxious, thought comes from somewhere in Europe, but then
discovered that is from Mexico. Without question, it’s not as common to listen
to this kind of music in Latin America despite it’s speaking of a revival of
Minimal, Synthwave. What do you think about it?
Perhaps due to
the instrumentation that I’ve used, many current electronic projects that have
tried to interpret old genres in a faithful way have forgotten an important
point and this is the technical part, for example I can know with relative
accuracy when subjects used a classic drum machine as the Kr-55 Korg, Roland Tr
606, Cr78, 707, 808, Oberheim DMX among others, because of my interest and fondness
of the sound of each drum machine or synthesizer. Having the knowledge and use
certain instruments used on each electronic’s disc and in this case Synthwave, Minimal
Synth allows you to interpret and sounding much like an album that was recorded
thirty years ago.
Of course, thirty
years ago most groups sounded like each other, because they acquired the
instruments that were for sale at that time and the sound market was not as
wide before the invention of samplers, now where virtual era prevails, there’s
an endless of sounds and emulations market, it’s difficult to know which is
used in each piece. Currently I work with a KR-55 and a Korg M20, instruments
used in numerous albums of New Wave, Synth Pop, Minimal Synth of the early
eighties.
In Mexico
there have been very good projects of the underground as Syntoma (1981), El
Escuadrón del Ritmo and Size, to name a few, only that they didn’t follow the line
of the Wave and continued their work on the experimental side creating projects
of this type, for example Decibel.
Robota,
mid-2000s to here, was one of my favorite underground groups, a more
experimental-industrial sound using an arsenal of analog synthesizers, only
released two albums and disappeared.
Nowadays there
is an endless of electronics projects ranging from Synth Pop, EBM, Industrial,
but they lack of soul from my humble point of view, this is due to abuse of computers
and synthesizers emulations live.
I think that a
small group of youth between 23 and 26 years geeks love analog synthesizers
were influenced by their parents or friends who did live in the era of the
eighties, some of these people played other genres for example in my case
played Psychedelic Rock-krautrock, I met friends who hit it hard and had been
years in the world of synthesizers in Mexico, and I was influenced by it and my
dad gave me the taste for electronics from the Berlin School of electronic
music, you know: Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, and all those dark wave bands
like The Cure I heard younger.
So this group
of young people decided to play Minimal Synth in the best way and don’t take it
lightly and very D.I.Y., there continue working used: drum machines, analog
synths, voices drowned in reverberation, and continually they edit in a record
label an LP or cassette.
Werner
Karloff, Rhyhthmus 23, Neue Strassen and Equinoxious started making minimal
synth, we work together in some projects but each one followed their projects
in the same year, I don’t know if this is the new wave of Minimal Synth in
Mexico.
Mecanica is a
record label and a record store of the scene in Mexico founded by Cesar
Moscoso. There is material of Equinoxious edited under his label like other
artists like Alles, Selofan, among others.
In South
America are my good friends Dante and Fernando. Dante is very involved in the
world of synthesizers there in Peru, since his project El Hangar de los Mecánicos
to Varsovia, also Tony Terán of Antidolby and Fernando of Cärclash Ferdinand.
2. How did arise
Equinoxious?
One day I set
out to elaborate electronic derived from my past and current influences, I took
a synthesizer and started recording, in this way it all started.
3. Tell us
what bands are you listening actually and what have been your biggest
influences.
Currently I
listen to much the early work of Sean McBride (Martial Canterel, Xeno and
Oaklander).
My influences
are varied: Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, John Foxx,
The Human League, Yellow Magic Orchestra, The Moog Cookbook, Aphex Twin, Neu!
Agitation Free, Can, Depeche Mode, Das Ding, Moderne, Andie Oppenheimer, The
Cure, Fad Gadget, Trisomie 21, Clan of Xymox, Ausgang Verboten, Snowy Red, El
Aviador Dro and many many more.
4. We listen to
several songs with names linked to astronomy and physics, is there an interest
in these issues?
It’s more
focused on my taste of science fiction, actually I’ve seen several films and
cartoons of the period of 1975- 1979 where the sound design for the special
effects were built based on pure analog synthesis, also by the Soviet
constructivist art applied in the space race, that inspires me.
5. We have
knowledge that you've recorded some songs with various musicians, including
international, tell us with whom and how is being the experience.
Anna Fiodorovna,
from Russia living in Mexico for a long time, collaborated on my first EP Astros
Prometidos.
Alejandra
Escamilla - Pan de Muertos, a friend from here in Mexico, we recorded a single El
Jardín.
Anna Michailidou,
Kriistal Ann from Greece, collaborated on my LP Cosmódromo.
Rhythmus 23-
brief group formed with Werner Karloff and Anna Fiodorovna.
The experience
has been rewarding with each project, each one corresponds a challenge.
6. Are you
currently working on new material?
Yes, my intention
was to launch a small EP this year, but it became an album and now I'm in the
process of recording it.
I’m also
working on a new project with Jorge Cardiel of Ruinas Para Una Era Futura and
Dali Lanzeta of Rise 1945.
7. While it’s
true, Equinoxious is a recent project of this decade; however, what do you
expect in the short and long term?
Continue
editing material until die, toured Europe and perhaps form a new group.
8. A word with
which you can define the music of Equinoxious.
Retrovanguard.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/equinoxious
Bandcamp: https://equinoxious.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/equinoxious
