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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 90ies. They helped to define his musical taste and develop his own identity in the techno scene. Kr!z still has a big love for hip hop, which has left it’s mark in his technical dj style: fast & tight mixing, properly dosed with cuts & scratches. Being a respected and 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.
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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 90ies. They helped to define his musical taste and develop his own identity in the techno scene. Kr!z still has a big love for hip hop, which has left it’s mark in his technical dj style: fast & tight mixing, properly dosed with cuts & scratches. Being a respected and 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.
His label Token began life in 2007, at the exact moment that certain things were peaking (minimal) and other things were just beginning (Ostgut Ton). A moment when certain artists and labels were left behind as distributors tried to adjust business plans to deal with the brave new digital world. "I went through my collection of records, and there were maybe ten people that I felt like weren't putting out new stuff at the time," explains Kr!z.
The brand side of things had always been part of the philosophy of Token, even if Kr!z would likely never use that word per se. Nonetheless, his long-term relationships with Inigo Kennedy and Ø [Phase] have defined the label's output—especially so given that Kr!z himself doesn't produce music. Their names appear on about half of Token's releases, and the hard-edged techno sound they make has obviously influenced the other half. Kennedy's Identify Yourself was the label's first release, Phase's Mass was Token's third.
Kennedy, Ø [Phase] and others that have released on the label have been associated with darkness in the past. (Token's early graphic design didn't help this perception much, the first 20 or so 12-inches depicting corroded metal surfaces.) As time has gone on, however, you can hear other sounds percolating. Like many of the most fascinating techno labels around—Semantica, Stroboscopic Artefacts—the genre is a core around which many different influences orbit. It's a long way from its humble beginnings as a Belgian DJ in love with the sound of some producers that were in danger of being forgotten by the wider techno community. But that's generally how all successful ventures in techno begin—find a gap in the market, work extremely hard, dance in nightclubs all night long to the result. « hide |
Similar Bands: Phase, Inigo Kennedy, CTRLS, Rodhad, Xhin Contributors: Typhoner,
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