mindwax: "I craft my music to strike both body and mind"
- Editorial Staff
- Feb 24
- 4 min read
mindwax is the product of over thirty years immersed in the global underground, from industrial raves in Germany to contemporary dancefloors in the UK. The music doesn’t follow trends—it thrives on feel, intensity, movement, and atmosphere. Part of the BLACK WAXX ecosystem, a label and community founded in 2025, each release reflects decades of experience, trust, and shared taste, delivering a bold, authentic, and powerful sound, signed mindwax.
"CRYO" evokes a sense of coldness and intensity. What inspired the title, and what atmosphere were you aiming to capture with this release?
When I started "CRYO", the focus was entirely on that rumbling kick, layering it up to capture that heavy, underground warehouse feel. The name felt fitting because it reminds me of thick bunker walls and those old-school brick train archways from the free parties I’ve been to. It brings back the feeling of cold steel and industrial spaces, so "CRYO" became the perfect metaphor for that environment.
The atmosphere I was aiming for is a relentless, peak-time energy, a proper driving techno track that builds up over time. I wanted to create something that feels both mental and physical, capturing that raw underground feeling but with the technical precision of a modern club system. Since I handle the music and the visuals myself under BLACK WAXX, I was able to make sure the video and artwork matched that cold, industrial weight. It’s a "dish for the ears" designed for the floor, an immersive experience that reflects that bunker-like intensity.
Being born in Hamburg and now based in the UK, how have these different scenes shaped the sound and energy of "CRYO"?
Having been in the scene for 30 years, both the German and UK electronic landscapes have obviously had a massive influence on me, but it’s really about those worldwide flavors that find their way back into my productions. For "CRYO", the goal was to recreate that specific feeling from the early days of the free parties I went to in both countries. It’s a feeling that is dark, moody, and industrial, and it doesn't really matter what country you are in, that energy is universal.
I wanted to capture that raw, underground pressure but deliver it with a modern, peak-time drive. Even though I’ve absorbed so much from the different scenes over three decades, "CRYO" is about the "now". It’s a proper techno track that works in any set, whether it's played at its natural tempo or pushed to 150bpm like I did during a recent road-test. It’s that uncompromising, high-definition sound I’m pushing forward with mindwax, taking those global influences and refining them into one focused, immersive experience.
Your productions span hard techno, minimal, melodic techno, and house. Does "CRYO" lean more toward one of these styles, or is it a fusion of all your influences?
"CRYO" definitely leans toward the harder side of techno, but I wouldn't strictly label it as "hard techno". It’s much more of a fusion. While it’s built on that hard, rumbling kick, it has several layers that give it a different dimension, like the atmospheric, cinematic textures and those slight trancy electronic vocal parts.
I’ve never liked being boxed in, so I’d purely put it under the banner of Techno. I make music for myself first, and my taste often sways between different styles, from the Hard Techno tracks I have in the works to more melodic projects. For me, "CRYO" is about the energy of the track as a whole, it’s a "dish for the ears" that brings all my influences together into one peak-time experience. It represents the total creative freedom I have with BLACK WAXX, where I can experiment with different flavors but keep the core sound raw and authentic.
As the founder of BLACK WAXX, you’ve created a platform for no-compromise underground music. How does "CRYO" reflect the label’s vision?
"CRYO" reflects the vision of BLACK WAXX in a very clear way, 100%. This is exactly how the label is moving forward. At the BLACK WAXX collective, we don’t follow trends or try to fit into whatever is currently popular, we simply make the music that we would like to hear and that moves us.
That’s why the label isn't set on just one specific genre. We all have different tastes and influences, and we want the freedom to explore all of them. Whether it’s a heavy industrial track or something more melodic, the vision is about authenticity and speed, being able to release high-quality, underground music on our own terms. Because I handle the music, the video, and the artwork myself, there’s no compromise on that vision. "CRYO" is the flagship for that mindset, it’s raw, it’s peak-time, and it’s a pure reflection of the creative freedom we’ve built here.
Compared to earlier releases like "A Quiet Moment", how do you feel your artistic identity has evolved, and what does “CRYO” represent in this new phase of your journey?
It’s funny, because I’ve actually been thinking about working on a few new tracks in the vein of "A Quiet Moment," I just love those schranz-style acid bangers. To be honest, I’m not sure my identity has "evolved" in a traditional sense since that release. If you look at my output, you might see an evolution, but for me, I’m just making the tracks I want to hear and that I enjoy making at the time.
What "CRYO" represents in this phase is the freedom to explore all those different directions. I have a big list of tracks ready for this year, some are Hard Techno and some are peak-time driving techno. You can expect a real selection of flavors from me, I simply can’t stay on one specific style because there are too many that I love and want to produce. Whether it's the industrial weight of "CRYO" or a heavy acid line, it’s all about the "now" and whatever moves me in the studio. With BLACK WAXX, I finally have the platform to release all these different sides of my sound without compromise.
Follow mindwax
