Equinoxious (Mexican Minimal Synth/Synthwave)

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