If you’re looking for a new artist to check out, then you’ve come to the right place: in this edition of ‘Artist Spotlight‘, MendoWerks Magazine sat down with German electronic music producer, crowit. In the three years that he has been releasing music, this artist has explored a variety of genres, such as ambient, wave, hardstyle, hyperpop, future garage, and most notably, hardwave. His music has found homes on labels like Karmakontra, Lost Sounds, Cyberwave Collective, and Baku Records.
As you listen through his discography, you will notice quite a number of collaborations–such as those with Azcona Savage, xanashimi, Exodynamics, shrxpnel, and others–which only further demonstrates crowit.’s versatility. If follow the wave music scene closely, then you might recognize crowit. from his collaboration with KENØK on Neo Subculture III, the 2024 edition of the wave compilation series curated by Interval Audio and Teneki.
As anticipated, crowit.’s discography is overall rather eclectic, with some tunes leaning more melodic-melancholic contemplation, while others are much more suited for the dancefloor. While the tonal shift may seem jarring upon first listen, after a while, it becomes clear that there’s an emotional thread that connects each of crowit.’s releases– a comforting, grounding presence that allows for strong emotion to be evoked. This is especially evident in songs like “blue ice,” which has a gentle undercurrent guiding listeners through the emotions that come up as they listen– a sort of guided meditation without the vocal intrusion. This is also apparent in “aurora”, which, while less contemplative, also evokes strong emotion and offers listeners a way out of their melancholy with its movement-inspiring beat.
Compare the two below:
The producer’s most recent song, “Nebulous,” ended up being one of my favorites. It has an awe-inspiring current throughout, somehow encapsulating the grandness of the universe while veiling it in the warmest possible light. Closing your eyes, you will find yourself fully immersed in a sea of sound, the weight of which is the gravity keeping you from getting lost in the vastness of it all. It’s quite beautiful.
The main take-away here is to be open to surprises while you spend some time with crowit.’s discography– preferably while reading the Q&A below.
If the onset of autumn is getting you down, maybe start with “Metamorphosis,” which has an ominous atmosphere that’s perfect for Halloween prep.
Introducing… Crowit.! [Q&A]
AM: Hi! Thank you so much for connecting with us. Would you please take a moment to introduce yourself to our MendoWerks readers?
crowit.: Hi, I go by crowit., and I’m a 22-year-old self-taught electronic music producer from southern Germany. I found out about wave and hardwave back in 2021, and now I am proud to call releases on the newly founded Cyberwave Collective label and Interval Audio’s legendary Neo Subculture compilation my own.
I am truly honored to be a part of this new ‘Artist Spotlight’ series, so thank you so much for inviting me!
AM: How would you describe the kind of music that you make?
crowit.: I would categorize my music mostly into the trance-infused hardwave subgenre. We jokingly started to call this style ‘Hardwave 2’.
I, and many friends of mine, feel like there are two kinds of hardwave out there – the one that is more wave-adjacent and rather laidback, and one that is taking a more trancey or even a bass music approach to it. The latter is what I would categorize my music into. My good friend Altered Soul once described hardwave as “crybanging music”, as in ‘music to cry and headbang to’, and for me this captures the essence of what ‘Hardwave 2’ is.
What I love most about this genre is how it incorporates everything I always wanted to hear in a song: catchy and hype melodies, a good amount of bass, lots of energy, always that touch of nostalgia/emotionality and, of course, the versatility when it comes to mixing hardwave with other genres.
“[Hardwave] just sounds good with everything – Hardstyle, Hyperpop, Trap, Dubstep, Trance, you name it.“
crowit.: I am also heavily inspired by euphoric and uplifting trance, Virtual Self’s neotrance, as well as the hypertrance scene around nuphory. However, I also love the bass heavier side of dance music like dubstep and trap, especially that new stuff coming from ISOxo and RL Grime is incredibly refreshing and inspiring! So you will find me making those kinds of genres as well or mixing it into my hardwave tunes. But I don’t want to restrict myself to genre boundaries too much and focus on vibe and bringing out emotions with my music instead.
My ultimate goal is to recreate the feeling of euphoria and excitement I experienced as a 12-year-old discovering electronic music for the first time with artists like Swedish House Mafia, Avicii, and Skrillex. I re-discovered this kind of feeling when I stumbled upon hardwave with artists like Teneki, Sublab and Sudoverse, which led to me starting to make hardwave in the first place.
AM: Tell us your favorite piece of lore about yourself / your artist project.
crowit.: I was always an art-oriented kid, and I used to draw and sketch all the time. I lost that interest in my later teenage years due to my newly found passion for music production, but the fact that I can come back to it now is just amazing. I enjoy the opportunity to take the time and express myself in the cover arts of my independent releases; I also dabble a bit in graphic design, but my main interest is pixel art, and I have set myself the goal of learning and mastering pixel art step by step with each new cover I make. This started as a fun little gimmick but it is turning more and more into my artist image and I’m all here for it!
AM: Lastly, give us some exciting news—what is something coming up that you’re looking forward to?
crowit.: I am currently experimenting a lot with new different sounds and styles as well as collaborating with the most talented people around me to improve my skills and expand my sound palette. So there are a lot of fresh, fun and experimental tracks in various genres to expect, ranging from techcore and neurofunk to trance, hyperpop and festival trap, but obviously there is going to be a good amount of ‘hardwave 2’ tracks, too! “Voice Of Desire” with Azcona Savage and Exodynamix and “Uranium” with Azcona Savage are setting the tone for the hardwave style I am going for with the next releases. So, if you enjoyed those, you will love the tunes that are about to come out next!
There is also a big ‘hardwave 2’ compilation album coming soon that I’m going to be a part of, which is super exciting!
crowit.: The last project I’d like to mention is a resource (sample, preset and midi) pack me and some friends in the scene are currently putting together–that we plan on giving out for free, so new producers actually have the opportunities to get into hardwave production without feeling the need to buy packs, expensive tools or subscribe to Patreons before even starting out. Our goal is to inspire, share the knowledge and the tools to start out and give back to the scene that has been so welcoming, wholesome and supportive over the years!
Follow crowit.:
Instagram | Twitter | SoundCloud | Web
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