Techno was created and developed far away from the mainstream. The underground sound got its deserved popularity in the past few years but there is a lot of movement in sound with sub-genres and a lot of talent you may not hear about.
We believe underground producers and labels deserve special recognition, so we will be dedicating our new feature series to this cause.
This week we will have a look into a true underground veteran – Kr!z.
Kr!z always had a strong sympathy for the more gloomy, dark, rawer sound of techno. Artists like Jeff Mills, Surgeon & James Ruskin had a major influence on him in the 90s. They helped to define his musical taste and develop his own identity in the Techno scene.
Being a respected & established value in Belgium for a decade and a resident-DJ for Belgium’s legendary techno night ‘Kozzmozz’, his DJ-schedule now takes him all over the world. In 2007, Kr!z felt there was too much good music around from his favourite artists that didn’t get a proper release, so he started his own label ‘Token’.
He rapidly established the label as a fixed value in the Techno scene of today by bringing a timeless & powerful sound. In the years of its existence Token released tracks & remixes from Inigo Kennedy, Ø [Phase], Luke Slater, James Ruskin, Marcel Dettmann, Blawan, Surgeon, Ben Klock, Xhin, Sigha & Peter van Hoesen, amongst many others. In 2019 Kr!z made the step from being solely a DJ to also releasing music as a producer.
His debut EP ‘Mantra’ came out in April and received high acclaim by both media and some of the scene’s best known artists. In 2020 he released ‘Scorpion’s Tail’ on Voltage Imprint and ‘Malice’ & ‘Imperative Needs’ as part of a split EP with Pfirter on his MindTrip label.
