Walz - Of Things Past (2019)

Walz is a music producer, songwriter, and loop enthusiast born in Rhode Island and currently residing in Dallas, TX. His sound is defined by a blend of jazz, hip-hop and Soul. Walz made his musical debut in 2017 with the EP “Apt. 2132” which was created while living on a friend’s couch in 2017. He followed up that release in 2018 with the full-length project “Good Vintage.”

After a string of music placements, and production credits for rappers and vocalists, Walz turned his sights to developing his solo career.

Deciding to mix things up, Walz took time off of traditional beat making to focus on creating a jazz album. The idea was to create the types of songs that he would normally sample during his beat making process. With no traditional jazz training, Walz composed an album using only royalty-free loops. For inspiration, he studied the jazz samples and albums used by some of his favorite producers Madlib, Adrian Younge, and Q-Tip.

The result of this journey was “Of Things Past,” his debut album on Detroit label YHS Records. The album has the undeniable low-end of a hip-hop release, with the structure and instrumentation of a jazz record. The lead single “Franky Burns” blurs the lines of jazz and lo-fi hip-hop to create a smooth, vibrant instrumental jam.