A full-length album is a musical statement for an artist. It plants a flag that says “this is where I am right now!” This project introduces a sound I am developing which I like to call “pop-sprinkled funk”. The singles I have released this year highlighted that sound and you can expect to hear more of it on future releases. That is the vibe of Side A on the project.

In today’s singles-driven music industry, the full-length LP is becoming increasingly rare. Before this year, I have focused on releasing singles and EP’s. However, doing that left me with several songs that fell into the “album tracks” category. This is music that I like, but I knew wouldn’t really work as singles. You will hear those tracks on Side B of the project.

My journey as a musician and producer – and now, as an artist – has been a long one. It definitely hasn’t gone anything like expected it to. The one constant has been growth. Growth as a musician, growth as a mixing and mastering engineer, growth doing cover art and video editing, growth in conceptualizing, executing, and releasing projects, growth at doing social media content. All of it has challenged me to push myself and grow.

In some ways, I am just getting started. I can only imagine how good I’m gonna be in a few years. Thanks for your support.

Produced, Arranged & Composed by Waynebo All instruments performed by Waynebo Recorded & Mixed by Waynebo at The Exodus Lab Mastered by Waynebo

© & ℗ 2025 Exodus Music

This season of my music journey has been about celebrating my musical origins.

The 80’s. A time when funk & pop combined in ways previously unheard. The sound of synths and drum machines expanded and dominated the airwaves. My life as a musician began in the midst of this flurry of new sounds and styles.

I am a child of the 80’s. I began writing & recording my own music in the summer of 1983 just as I was finishing the 9th grade. There was a ton of great music that year, but Prince’s “1999” album absolutely dominated my personal playlist. I was absolutely captivated and inspired by the sound and style of that project. As I celebrate the music of that time, I wanted to create something that sounded like it might have come from that Minneapolis hotbed of creativity.

I received a RANSOM NOTE. Feeling a new INVIGORATION, I walked THE FAMILIAR PATH. As a member of the CLASS OF 1986, I took a MIDNIGHT STROLL which led to my joining the DESCENDANTS OF THE VIOLET ARMY in a celebration of this great era of music.

Long live the spirit of the 80’s!

Produced, Arranged & Composed by Waynebo All instruments performed by Waynebo

Recorded & Mixed by Waynebo at The Exodus Lab Tracks 1,3,4 & 6 Mastered by Waynebo Tracks 2 & 5 Mastered on Cloudbounce

© & ℗ 2024 Exodus Music

The classic funk of the 70’s & early 80’s is the music that taught me how to play and is the foundation that my sound will be built upon.

This EP is my celebration of that music.

I’ve been a musician for a very long time. I’ve performed on stages as a bass player, a saxophone player, a dancer and a rapper. I’ve written songs for other artists. I’ve even ghostwritten verses for a few rappers. However, even as I’ve worn all these musical hats, I have always viewed myself primarily as a producer. From the late 80’s into the early 2000’s much of my creative energy went into honing my production skills while making beats for rappers. Even during the years when I was actively rapping, I really didn’t see myself as an artist. In my mind, the end game was always to get production work.

A few years ago, I began a paradigm shift in how I see myself as a musician. I decided it was time to step out as an artist. (I also wrote about this in the liner notes of “A Child of The 80’s Vol. 1”)

To be honest, the mental shift has been more difficult than I anticipated. I guess, it really is hard for old dawgs to learn new tricks. But it ain’t impossible. And by God’s grace I’m still going.

The biggest challenge I continue to face as an artist is deciding what my sound will be. As a producer, I am a life-long dabbler. I have always created tracks in a variety of styles – and still do - just because I love to make music. But as an artist, I know I can’t do that. In the music industry, the nature of being an artist demands that I narrow my focus a bit.

Last year I created a track that I immediately recognized was the perfect starting point for my sound. I called it “After All These Years” because even though this journey has been long, in some ways I feel like I am just getting started.

After all these years, this leg of my musical journey is finally underway. I hope you enjoy it.

Produced, Written & Arranged by Waynebo Recorded & Mixed by Waynebo All instruments performed by Waynebo All Vocals performed by Waynebo

Tracks 2 & 4 mastered by Mike Smith at Analog Mastering Track 3 mastered by Soundlab Mastering Tracks 1, 5 & 6 mastered with Landr Mastering

© & ℗ 2022 Exodus Music

The title of this EP describes me. I went to middle school, high school, and college in the 80’s. Everything I learned about being cool, I learned in the 80’s. My taste in music was firmly established in the 80’s. And, most importantly, I began writing and producing my own music in the 80’s.

I am a child of the 80’s.

As you know, over the last few years 80’s music has seen a bit of resurgence in popularity. Synthwave has gotten the lion’s share of that attention. So much so that when you say “80’s music”, that’s the immediate sonic reference that people get. I always enjoyed that style, but it isn’t what influenced me. My biggest influence was the pop funk that came out of Minneapolis in the early 80’s. It shapes my musical tastes to this day and this EP is my tribute to what those cats did back then.

This EP also has a deeper, more personal significance for me as well. Most of my musical life I have viewed myself exclusively as a producer. Everything I created and/or released during the 90’s and 00’s was done with production and remix work as the endgame. In December of 2016 I decided to make the transition from producer to artist. Mentally, it was a life-changing paradigm shift. The biggest decision I had to make – and am still wrestling with – is “What does Waynebo the artist sound like”? I have always been eclectic in my musical tastes, but when I began creating music in July of 1983, that music was funk. So I decided the world needed some more good ‘ol 80’s funk and I knew I had a ton of it inside of me. Waynebo would be a funk artist! So I thought…

I recorded and mixed this EP in December of 2016 with the intent of releasing it in the spring of 2017. Unfortunately, my lack of diligence with backing up my computer got exposed. Right after I completed this project, my hard drive crashed. It took several months before I was able to recover any of my files. I lost everything I had been working on since 2013!! I was devastated and angry with myself. I knew better, but I got caught slippin’. After receiving a very poorly executed data restoration - almost miraculously - I was able to wade through over 50,000 wav files and find the 4 files containing these songs. In the fall of 2017, I started over from scratch creating music. By this time, there were some other things a bit too personal to share here that happened in my life that completely derailed my musical efforts for the rest of that year so the EP was pushed back yet again.

In early 2018, I released a 3-song EP “2 Stankin’ Minutes (The Prequel)” with the intent to follow it up in the spring with this release. I will spare you the rest of the details about 2018, but this time life blocked my plans in some ways that were beyond my control. Pushed back again… In 2019, I released some music under my Electric Maestro and The King Midas Project Monikers but wavered in my commitment to fully embracing the role of an artist. Truth is, I enjoy being a faceless entity that creates music. When you’re an artist you have to really put yourself out there and share who you are. Producing and composing is more natural for me.

So here we are. I’m finally releasing this EP and opening a new chapter in my musical life. To be honest, I am just as relieved as I am excited. I planned to get this to you a bit earlier this year, but I think it’s fitting that circumstances pushed me into dropping this on my 52nd birthday. It’s a nice birthday present for me and I hope you feel the energy I poured into creating this.

As the work to develop my sound continues, I’ve decided to take you guys on that journey with me. You can expect to see several singles over the next few months with different types of vibes. Please feel free to hit me up on social media or chime in here with some feedback.

And let me know if you want to hear Vol. 2.

Thank you for your support.

p.s. Yes, that's me in 1983 on the cover.

released September 24, 2020

Produced, Arranged, Composed, and Performed by Waynebo Mixed by Waynebo at The Exodus Lab

Mastered on eMastered.com

Consider this release a bookmark for this chapter in my journey. A new album is coming this summer. This project connects the dots between my EP's and the new album.

The EP's I have released - "2 Stankin' Minutes", "A Child of The 80's Vol. 1", "After All These Years", "A Child of The 80's Vol.2" - were about me paying homage and celebrating the music that influenced me at the start of my journey as a musician.

The sound was intentionally retro. I wanted to make music that would have fit neatly into the early 80's. I love that sound - and I will return to it - but I never intended to stay there.

2024 was about beginning to connect the dots from where my music started to where it ultimately will land. It was about taking the elements of the music I have celebrated in my previous releases and using them to create my own sound. In the 8 tracks I released in 2024 (afterACOT80sV2), my sound was wildly inconsistent. I spent the year groping around sonically. Passionately searching for what I wanted to sound like.

I was particularly obsessed with my drum sound - which was different on every single track I released. I went through multiple drum plug-ins and sample packs and experimented with a ton of different effects. I finally realized that what I was looking for would require me to further refine my sound design skills. I ultimately had to start from scratch with some natural drum sounds then dig in and master the techniques that engineers have been using for decades. It was like putting on a blindfold and feeling my way along a narrow corridor filled with countless different shapes. I didn't know what I was looking for, but I knew I'd recognize it when I found it. After that, I had to decide just how much modern flavor I wanted to blend in. I'm 100% Gen-X so I ain't trying to sound like the young cats. But there are some new tools and sounds that I definitely like. I gotta figure this out...

In addition to 7 previously released tracks, this project also features 3 additional tracks that I like, but didn't really fit the vibe of the upcoming album. As disjointed as this collection is, it's a very important chapter in my journey.

I could have kept all of these to myself and spent the year locked away in the lab - showing nothing until I found what I was looking for. Instead, I have chosen to share this with you as I grope around.

I hope there is something here you can enjoy.

Produced, Arranged & Composed by Waynebo All instruments performed by Waynebo

Recorded & Mixed by Waynebo at The Exodus Lab Mastered by Waynebo © & ℗ 2025 Exodus Music