Last Friday, my second full-length album, “Red Waves,” was released on all streaming services. This has been a work in progress for about 2 years, stylistically influenced by many genres, from EDM, to rap/hip-hop and dance music, to movie soundtracks. But the main goal was to create a musical experience that you can play loud on a daily drive or blast during an intense workout, with lyrics that also came from an honest, personal place.
Below you can see an image I did in Procreate while listening to the album with some of my creative process:
RED WAVES (2024)
Digital artwork drawn while listening to NDSO’s Red Waves album, done in Procreate.
There is a trend hype/rage music that emphasizes partying and superficial lyrics, which admittedly is great to have in a party setting. But I wanted to make something intense and energetic that covered more introspective topics, while still being something I could listen to at the gym. So that’s my general approach to these songs- loud low end, fast-tempo, while hopefully still standing out lyrically from other similar EDM/hip-hop type tracks.
I also want to mention that this was largely a solo effort- my lovely wife provided vocals on some tracks, and Milc’s awesome contribution on the track “Empty Eyes” was a perfect addition, which he recorded back in 2022. Aside from their collaborations, this album was entirely written, composed, arranged, performed, programmed, mixed, and mastered by me in Ableton Live 11.
A huge thank you to all the people who are listening! It means the world to me! You can check out the whole album on Soundcloud here: