crypto WAVE radio

Austin Litz was born for this. Music is in his blood, passion pumps his heart, and the future is on his mind, so he’s using what he knows to embrace the new world of crypto and NFTs. His new house/bass project, cryptoWAVEradio, is Austin’s pandemic distraction-turned-new career and second band. Since launching the cryptoWAVEradio live stream, where he explains his production techniques and discusses the blossoming NFT scene, Austin has posted over 100 NFTs for sale on the opensea.io marketplace, raised around $10K for Dance Safe through collaborations, and has started producing records for other artists, including his own and that of his original live band, LITZ.

Coming from a long line of Italian music makers, Austin’s grandfather was one of the first guitar players to introduce the electric guitar to Washington, D.C.. He later went on to establish the Litz Music Center in Maryland which still sells instruments and offers lessons today, under the same family ownership. Austin grew up in the shop, messing around with any instruments he wanted and eventually landing in violin and saxophone lessons. He was inspired by the clientele, blue collar musicians supporting their modest music careers and bigger name touring rockers, alike.

In college, Austin was the man who brought the party. Sometimes he would host the rave, sometimes he would play music, sometimes he would hire touring bands; during one show where he threw together a band to open for Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, he started to really feel like he was on to something, and they decided to keep rehearsing. It helped that two of the other members were his brothers, Mike and Logan, so they set out under the moniker LITZ. The cast of characters has rotated around them but they still play regularly and release new music together, including many of the tracks made under cryptoWAVEradio.

When the pandemic hit and live bands were entirely shut down, Austin turned to his computer and the tools he had to find the creative outlet he needed. At the same time, the internet was abuzz with talk of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are, in short, digitally certified one-of-a-kind digital pieces of art that can be worth a lot of cryptocurrency. He took the opportunity to live-stream his self-education on creating unique house/bass music and joke with some of his followers about NFTs. Now, cryptoWAVEradio has evolved into Austin’s use of Ableton Live, digital and analog synths, drum machines, just about every real instrument including all sorts of saxophones, flutes, world instruments like bells and didgeridoo, and more.

cryptoWAVEradio performs live with Austin’s custom built tower of electronic improvisations. He is often joined by his Venus Rising Dancers and occasionally with live drums from Samwise the Great. “It’s a spellbinding combination of driving synthwave bass, humorous and ironic lyrics and banter,” says The Jamwich. “Austin’s iconic saxophone and flute accompaniment... [cryptoWAVEradio is] all the vibes to fuel an economic and music revolution.”