The mindwax (@mindwax) project comes from decades spent inside the culture of electronic music rather than around it. Created by producer Marcus Voss, the project draws on more than thirty years of underground experience that stretches from early German warehouse raves to the illegal forest party circuit in the UK.
That history shapes both the sound and the philosophy behind the music.
The focus remains on tension, groove, and disciplined production choices rather than trend-driven releases. Following the BBC Introducing support for the track “Lose Control,” mindwax returns with “Cryo,” a new industrial-leaning techno cut that pushes the project further into its stripped-back, pressure-focused direction.
“Cryo” reflects the same mindset that has guided Voss through decades of DJing and producing. Built around a driving kick, saturated textures, and subtle movement through micro-FX, the track favors tension and atmosphere over dramatic drops.
Produced inside an independent studio tied to the BLACK WAXX collective that Voss founded in 2025, the release also signals the wider community around the project. In this interview, mindwax discusses the deeper mechanics behind DJ selection, how years of experience shape the way a crate is built, and why instinct and emotional response still guide every track that makes it into a set.
Interview With mindwax
When someone hears one of your sets, what do you hope they learn about your taste?
I hope they realise that nothing in there is random.
A lot of work goes in before I get behind the decks, I’ll go on a deep dive, one track leads to another, and before I know it I’m hours in and buzzing. I record the set at home first, listen back, work out the timing and transitions until I know it inside out. I always research the crowd and the venue beforehand, because reading the room is half the job.
I learned that years ago playing a venue called The Country Club, voted the biggest underground club on the south coast by Mixmag at the time, that crowd listened to everything, and if you got it right they let you know. I want people to hear a set and understand that every single track was chosen for a reason.
Do you think your crate reflects who you actually are—or is it more who you want to be seen as?
It’s who I am.
There’s no version of my crate that’s been put together to impress anyone. Every track in there is something I genuinely believe in, even if the production isn’t mine, the selection is completely my own. I’ve been at this for 30 years and the one thing I’ve learned is that the crowd can always tell when you’re faking it. If it’s in my crate, it’s because it moved me.
How do you know when a track really belongs in your rotation versus being a passing phase?
I know because of how it makes me feel. When I land on the right track, my hairs stand up, heart rate goes up, I get genuinely euphoric. But the real test is whether it still does that a week later. A lot of tracks sound great in the moment but don’t have the depth to stick around.
The ones that stay are the ones I can still feel on the third or fourth listen, if it gives me goosebumps every time, it’s a keeper.
Has your crate ever surprised you, like, “I didn’t realize I was into this sound right now”?
Not really, because nothing ends up in there by accident.
But I always take more than I need to a gig. Sometimes you get there and think, this track is going to go crazy on this system with this crowd, even if it wasn’t in the original plan. I research who I’m playing too beforehand, so the crate itself doesn’t surprise me, but the night might change which parts of it I reach for. The tracks I carry might be unreleased, my own productions, or even old ones nobody’s heard in years, doesn’t matter, as long as they hit.
Do you keep folders or playlists that are just for you, even if you rarely play them out?
Yeah, loads.
My taste goes way beyond what I’d play in a club, classical ,metal, jazz, blues, all sorts depending on my mood. At home is where I let loose and experiment, I’ll speed up an old 80s track and mix it in with some techno, loop things, layer stuff together just to see what happens. Those playlists are like a reset after a weekend in high-energy environments. And all of it feeds back into what I do as mindwax, even when I’m working on my own productions.
What’s a sound, mood, or genre you’ve always felt drawn to—regardless of whether it’s trendy?
Anything with a deep, immersive quality, sounds that hold a note and create this massive atmosphere.
That goes all the way back to my first encounters with electronic music, being fascinated by Jean-Michel Jarre and Art of Noise etc before I even understood what I was listening to. I find the same thing in classical music, especially strings, that tension when a violin holds a note and creates real emotional weight.
Those early influences never left. They’re always there underneath everything I produce, even the harder stuff.
What do you think your taste says about your story as an artist?
That I could never just pick one lane. Music is extremely special to me, it’s thought, it’s emotion, it is memory.
The mindwax sound is the result of absorbing a massive range of music over a very long time and finding a way to bring all of those influences into one place. Whether it’s deep atmospheric textures or something heavy and direct, it all comes from the same place. I want to pass that on in my mixes, my productions, across all my projects.
The post mindwax Talks 30 Years Of Underground Influence and the Release of “Cryo” appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.