Marcel CHAOS: Who is the Editor of Area Orbital?
Area Orbital, already in a state of near-consciousness, gives voice to its own editor!
Marcel CHAOS, creator of Area Orbital, speaks in this interview — from a still-human phase — about his journey in cultural journalism and the birth of the project.
He also highlights how Retrowave, in its intersections with cyberpunk, black music, and technology, has become an artistic language that cuts across past and future.
A meaningful, personal conversation full of references for fans of 80s culture. Unmissable!
Fábio César
Retrowave, Culture and Roots: What is Area Orbital?
Area Orbital — what is it?
Marcel CHAOS: For me, it’s the full expression of movements inspired by the ’70s and ’80s: an expanded retrowave, a philosophical, cultural, poetic, and artistic manifestation through which the 1980s still live and guide us.
It’s retrofuturism traveling through time!
And what is Retrowave?
Marcel CHAOS: For those who don’t know it yet, Retrowave is an artistic and aesthetic manifestation influenced by krautrock, synthpop, electronic music, synthesizers, film scores, video games, retro-futurism … and everything we had at hand back in the ’80s!
between neon and memory …
Why did you create the site?
Marcel CHAOS: To go further. To show what’s being created today and also to rescue the roots of a time when disco and black music helped shape 80s music. To show how ’70s prog rock and Vangelis’ new age inspired the synthesizers we hear today.
It’s deeply rewarding to see, in 2025, the ideals of a generation who imagined technology and the future (as seen in the movies). I want the site to help keep that vision alive… evolving. The site helps me relive that time — within myself!
Why the motto “A portal between past and future”?
Marcel CHAOS: When I discovered synthwave — in the very era of AI, drones, and biotechnology — I noticed continuity between what was done back then, with Gary Numan and Blade Runner in 1982, and what Retrowave and cyberpunk are doing today.
It’s all about crossing that portal and traveling through time — like Back to the Future!
Is this something personal?
Marcel CHAOS: Absolutely, yes. I had a taste of that era, and later I covered rock and metal shows as a journalist.
I loved to write, to tell stories… it satisfied me! Because I was helping to carry that culture forward.
The Bridge Between Decades: Black Music, Rock and Synths
Are you a rocker? How did the “migration” happen — if it ever did — from metal into the synthwave universe?
Marcel CHAOS: I always loved bass, guitar, and keyboards. All three meet in rock — and that’s how I fell in love. I enjoyed everything from 1950s rock to metal and its branches.
I found the bass in black music — in Bernard Edwards’ funk with Chic, in Bootsy Collins of Parliament-Funkadelic, and in the whole afrofuturist culture with its amazing musicians.
They can’t be forgotten, because they also envisioned the future. In some way, they’re influences on Retrowave, electro, and cyberfunk. Just recently I was listening to Yota’s “Deja Vu” — with that same soul vibe, Michael Jackson style.
But keyboards — that was the ’80s thing. Every genre of that era had them at the core of their arrangements.
And now synthwave brings the synthesizer back, rethinking its use, giving it more value in compositions by today’s artists and producers … Just listen to Miami Nights 1984, Sunglasses Kid, FM Attack!
So it’s more about embracing a whole musical culture than a “migration.” Rock is a culture, black music is a culture, and now Retrowave too. I admit Retrowave has been the soundtrack helping me through tough times.
And, of course, at Area Orbital you can go further — finding rock itself (like the rockwave of Syntree or AX-80s) side by side with outrun, cyberpunk, industrial (from artists, movies, literature)… Such richness!
tomorrow on cassette tape …
Between the heaviness of metal and the glittering 80s synths … when did you realize that the sound of the future was actually the sound of the past?
Marcel CHAOS: On YouTube I found artists like NINA, GUNSHIP, Jessie Frye — with retro visuals and music videos. At first, I still didn’t link that with the future, but with the past. I loved the ’80s, and these new artists somehow carried that vibe.
Around that time I was also reading Neuromancer and listening to Billy Idol’s Cyberpunk album.
But I don’t just stay in the past: I enjoy tracks — whether AI-made or human — that bring a hybrid sound, half metal, half electronic. And since I loved movies like Tron, The Terminator, Total Recall, The Running Man … my brain connected everything.
That’s when I realized there was a fascinating parallel linking 80s culture (music, fashion, video clips) with our time.
And the best part is that it keeps growing — there’s so much more to come!
How do you see this absorption of styles in retro culture, where people seem free to fuse synth aesthetics with any 80s genre?
Marcel CHAOS: Not just the ’80s, but even the ’70s — and that’s the secret: you can draw from pop, hard rock, film scores, even hip hop! And you can go further, breathing a little of the ’90s.
But since the ’80s dreamed of the future, I think they resonate more deeply with people’s souls.
The result is this creative freedom we see — nostalgic sounds, outrun landscapes, futuristic cities, neon visuals. You can live this golden age — or even critique it, to improve it!
Back then we had fanzines, FM radio, magazines that tied different cultural movements together. We had Clip Trip on TV Gazeta and MTV speaking directly to the youth.
And today, that universe is still here, updated — on YouTube, on streaming platforms, and of course, at Area Orbital!
That’s why life becomes lighter, freer from daily stress, without closing our eyes to the problems of the world and the environment.
Cyberpunk and the Spirit of the Times: Rebellion, Style, and Tech
What is cyberpunk for you? Politics, lifestyle, prophecy, fashion, style …
Marcel CHAOS: I read a line once: “Cyberpunk shows the world as something collapsing — where the future isn’t clean and utopian, but patched, improvised, dirty, and functional.”
My view is personal: it’s about not bowing to what extremist politics, religion, or financial markets try to impose. Someone who doesn’t depend so much on external impositions. And someone who can use technology against the misuse of technology itself!
Of course, there are those who exploit this power for crime, which is sad — but it’s part of our dystopian age.
On the other hand, there’s the entire cultural, historical, and philosophical backdrop we like to explore here at Area Orbital.
How do you see this hyper-technologization of life, this galloping pace of technique — especially with 80s nostalgia around?
Marcel CHAOS: I see some people getting more anxious. Others are losing jobs because corporations only think of replacing humans with algorithms to profit more.
That’s the dark side: concentration of power and resources.
But there’s a bright side: you’re reading this interview right now on your smartphone, listening to a track you just discovered. Or maybe you started a band, shared it online, and suddenly someone on the other side of the planet supported you!
So there’s no escaping it — but you can make it less invasive, unplug a little. That’s why Retrowave culture is growing: it answers these dilemmas.
My critique of tech is about its velocity. Just when you’ve adapted to one innovation, another comes and replaces it.
That’s why I prefer critical use of technology: not using AI to make fakes. Much less to deceive and inflate numbers, like many influencers do just for monetization.
… between circuits and Consciousness
And those who sigh for a simpler time but use advanced tech to express that paradox?
Marcel CHAOS: I’d say they’re living in a dystopian film like Blade Runner. Deckard hunts replicants using an old CRT TV with a futuristic tracking system — the future with old tech! (laughs)
Today, in the 21st century, people use AI to craft sounds or visuals with the aesthetics of the ’80s, ’90s, and beyond.
But your question is deeper: it’s about the human spirit itself, what makes us unique as a species. We’re capable of building an ideal world even without living in one. And if we manage to capture that 80s energy — even for a minute — that’s enough to improve a lot of things!
Long-Breath Project: Building Area Orbital
Marcel, you’ve gone from indie rock to band management, through funk, disco, and into synthwave. When did you decide that Area Orbital would be your ultimate project tying these worlds together?
Marcel CHAOS: It was when I realized all of this is truly part of the 80s New Wave, and even earlier — with krautrock, bits of glitter-rock, Brian Eno, Japan, or black music from the ’70s, which helped ignite this revival.
If I once published a rock magazine, why not now embrace the best of times — brought to us through technology?
Area Orbital is now a living being, with creative freedom, expressing what I love. And where there’s authenticity, there’s truth and heart in the project.
That’s what makes us “WORK HARD,” as my dear mother always said!
—–
Did you enjoy this time-travel with Marcel CHAOS?
Then keep cruising through Area Orbital and uncover exclusive content on synthwave, retro culture, and the digital future.
Join our crew and get the latest transmissions straight from the ship’s console!
==========================
AI-generated starship images created for this interview.
==========================
Fábio César graduated in Philosophy at São Judas Tadeu UNiversity and later completed a postgraduate degree in Art Direction at Anhanguera College.
