The Miami music scene is a vibrant as it is competitive. Across every genre, young artists are making moves across gig slots and studio time trying to carve a slice of the pie for themselves. One of these artists is NGHTKRAWLER who recently landed one of his tracks “Covenant” on Max Vangeli’s label NoFace Records.
“Covenant” is a tech house track that uses soulful vocals and a busty bass line to get people moving on the dancefloor. It’s catchy, bouncy, and infectious to the ears. To talk about it, I sat down with NGHTKRAWLER and explored his origins and his future in EDM.
How’s everything going?
It’s going, man. It’s going. It’s been a solid year so far! Especially so since my new release. Shout out to my NoFace fam!
That’s great to hear! So to start off, how did you become NGHTKRAWLER? Specifically, how did you become interested in electronic music?
When I was kid, my eldest brother had me listening to freestyle dance music and disco. So I was listening to the Bee Gees and Vicky Sue Robinson. With EDM, a lot of its groove comes from that style. From there, I discovered the G.O.A.T. Tiesto and that really opened the door for me to really love electronic dance music.
That’s interesting! Especially since I know your earliest releases are groovy but more so in the bass music camp, which are pretty different from your latest release “Covenant”. How would you say that genre switch came about and did you feel comfortable making that switch?
You’re right! I originally was making a moombah-trap like my song “Muevelo” and a hybrid-trap song called “Freefall”. I’ve always had an interest in main-stage progressive house, as well. But with “Covenant”, I really wanted to try something different. Although I’m comfortable working in any genre, I thought, “Let me get a little techy with this one.” It’s still different because it uses elements and influences from my previous work. But the bass is still very tech-house which I like because it’s very groovy and meant to make you dance.
When you were working on “Covenant”, was it a side-venture that became something more or was it a main goal project? What was the process?
This was the process: When I was up in the morning, I try to make something new. So I started with the vocals. I was playing around with the vocal editing. As I was listening to the “Oh, ohs” you hear on the final version before the track was made, I thought to try some progressive house drums. That didn’t work. Then I tried deep house drums, but they also didn’t work. I tried other styles of house drums, until I added tech house drums. Then I thought, “Wait a minute! I think I got something here!” From there, I layered the drums with the bass lines for the groove and once I started doing the proper mixdown, I thought pffft…I think I got this one!
It had to feel really great when all the pieces come together working on a project like that. Speaking of your workflow, do you think the pandemic had an effect on your musical style, production decision or even your creative output?
I had take a hiatus from music with the pandemic. But my manager Marcus pushed me. He said, “Bro, we’re in a pandemic. Everybody’s making music right now. You need to release music. People know you can make music, but you have to release something.”
Then, jokingly, I made a mashup or edit of the Jauz song “Goodies” with the vocals from my song “Muevelo” and it was surprisingly groovy. When that happened, I thought to myself, ” If I can make this during a pandemic, maybe I should make something of my own.” Between that and support from my management, it pushed me more.
On that note, what is cooking in the studio with NGHTKRAWLER? What new projects can you tell us about?
Cooking in the background, we’re going to be pushing tracks to NoFace Records. But I also want to also want to work on other genres and focus on making an album. Like an actual studio album. I’m also pushing my music to some other major labels in the EDM scene that we all are familiar with. I have a lot of unreleased tracks now. I want to skip the freshman EP and boom…go straight to an album because I believe I have the potential to do it.
What do you want your legacy to be with your music in 1 year, 5 years or 10 years?
The point of my music is to make people dance. All I want is to make the people dance. You may be having a rough day or have the highlight of your life. But when you hear my music, you can dance the stress away or dance to your achievements. Live it up, because music is the language of the soul! I want people to remember my music as what helped them get through the day.
Make sure to check out the new NGHTKRAWLER release “Covenant” out on NoFace Records and stay tuned for future releases,
