Dave Kerzner "New World" Album Audio Preview

[Squids]

After "all the talk" with fellow PE members, here are the results of this year's work on my first solo album after parting ways with Sound of Contact. I hope you like it. Curious what you think!



This is a new audio preview of all 11 songs from my album "New World" available this month from http://www.davekerzner.com and popular download sites such as iTunes, Amazon...

"New World" is a Progressive Rock concept album and is also my first album as a solo artist since parting with the band "Sound of Contact". Joining me on the record are special guests Steve Hackett (Genesis), Francis Dunnery (It Bites), Durga McBroom (Pink Floyd), Heather Findlay (Mostly Autumn), Simon Phillips (The Who), Keith Emerson (ELP), Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree), David Longdon (Big Big Train), Nick D'Virgilio (Thud), Russ Parrish (Thud), Fernando Perdomo (Dreaming In Stereo), Jason Scheff (Chicago), Billy Sherwood (Yes), Lorelei McBroom, Emily Lynn and Lara Smiles (Australian Pink Floyd), Maryem Tollar, Christine Leakey and Ana Cristina.

In this "album teaser" you can hear segments of each of the 11 songs on the 78 minute album including the two opening and closing "rock opera" pieces, "Stranded pt1-5" and "Redemption (Stranded pt6-10)". There is also a "Deluxe Edition" of "New World" coming that includes extended tracks, 4 additional vocal song outtakes and a variety of ambient cinematic instrumentals that expand the atmosphere and mood of the album for a 2 hour+ listening experience.

It's streaming in full here with high quality mp3 and FLAC download plus PDF art, lyrics and liner notes. https://sonicelements.bandcamp.com/album/new-world

and here it is on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/new-world/id950090630

More information and music:
http://www.davekerzner.com
http://www.facebook.com/davesquidskerzner
http://www.soundcloud.com/davekerznerband

[ProgPariah77]

I'm intrigued ... this is going on my "short list." Do you have a release date on the radar yet?

[Squids]

I'm intrigued ... this is going on my "short list." Do you have a release date on the radar yet?

Thanks. Yes, it's going to be released next week on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp etc. the CD at the moment is only available through my web site but it's looking like Burning Shed will be carrying the Deluxe Edition in the UK.

[Flightwave]

Dave this sounds great! The clip for "Nothing" is my favorite. Any chance of a vinyl release?

[Jubal]

As a Kickstarter supporter, I am now listening to a 96/24 mix of the full album, I'm about 7 minutes in and absolutely blown away. This is some intensely dense stuff. I sincerely hope a 5.1 mix of this is forthcoming.

[Squids]

Dave this sounds great! The clip for "Nothing" is my favorite. Any chance of a vinyl release?

It'd be a double vinyl disc just for the Standard edition of the album which is 78 minutes (and I might even have to do some editing to fit it). The Deluxe edition would be double that. I'd love to do vinyl if there's enough demand for it but it would potentially cost a fair amount is the thing. Let's see. I'm already planning on doing a 5.1 mix at some point.

[Squids]

As a Kickstarter supporter, I am now listening to a 96/24 mix of the full album, I'm about 7 minutes in and absolutely blown away. This is some intensely dense stuff. I sincerely hope a 5.1 mix of this is forthcoming.

How did you know it was 24 bit/96k? I forgot to mention that to everyone (I'm going to be posting the lyrics in the next update btw). Glad you're liking it! Curious what you think when you've reached the end.

[Dusty Chalk]

As a Kickstarter supporter, I am now listening to a 96/24 mix of the full album, I'm about 7 minutes in and absolutely blown away. This is some intensely dense stuff. I sincerely hope a 5.1 mix of this is forthcoming.

Aw, suhweet, (wanders off to check his email box)

Congrats on Burning Shed!

Also double-plus-good on 24/96.

[Jubal]

How did you know it was 24 bit/96k? I forgot to mention that to everyone (I'm going to be posting the lyrics in the next update btw). Glad you're liking it! Curious what you think when you've reached the end.

I believe you mentioned that in one of your kickstarter emails. The 96K in the soundcloud file name was probably what made me remember it. I listened to late Friday night, got to that closing section, then lost the Soundcloud stream. Several re-start tries proved fruitless and Soundcloud had a "currently not available, try again later" message.
SO this morning I was able to access it. That closing section has some absolute KILLER soloing in it!
I'm very happy to hear you'll be doing a 5.1 mix.
This is only the second Kickstarter campaign I have participated in. I am very happy with what you have done. I believe most of your Kickstarters will feel the same way. You put a HUGE amount of work into this. I know fans of heavy King Crimson and Yes and Genesis and Camel and even some Rush fans are gonna love this! Oh, I almost forgot to mention the AMAZING Pink Floyd vibe throughout much of the album!
PE folks, you should order this NOW!

[Squids]

I believe you mentioned that in one of your kickstarter emails. The 96K in the soundcloud file name was probably what made me remember it. I listened to late Friday night, got to that closing section, then lost the Soundcloud stream. Several re-start tries proved fruitless and Soundcloud had a "currently not available, try again later" message.
SO this morning I was able to access it. That closing section has some absolute KILLER soloing in it!
I'm very happy to hear you'll be doing a 5.1 mix.
This is only the second Kickstarter campaign I have participated in. I am very happy with what you have done. I believe most of your Kickstarters will feel the same way. You put a HUGE amount of work into this. I know fans of heavy King Crimson and Yes and Genesis and Camel and even some Rush fans are gonna love this! Oh, I almost forgot to mention the AMAZING Pink Floyd vibe throughout much of the album! PE folks, you should order this NOW!

Thanks. I was very lucky to get Francis Dunnery to play like he did in the old "It Bites" days. He'd rather be playing an acoustic guitar at a house concert these days (which is also brilliant btw in a different way). That part 7 "Resilience" is freakin' LOUD and syncopated! He didn't know what I was going to sing on it when he played so he actually did even MORE crazy Holdsworthian guitar than what's in this so, for the Deluxe Edition, there's another "Resilience I" instrumental that starts off with a Sigur Rosian piano/string piece (very cinematic) and then goes into a shredding instrumental where Francis "Flight of the Bumble Bees" Dunnery goes berzerks on the guitar (inventing his own key along the way! haha).

Then there's Hackett in the last two parts of the album. This guy I'm telling you... he's still got "it". What an innovative artist and cool person. Yesterday, I asked if my friend Lyle Workman (an amazing guitarist who has played with Jellyfish, Beck, Sting, Frank Black, Todd Rundgren and even Kevin Gilbert too) and Fernando Perdomo (who plays all over the album and trades licks with Steve on the opening and closing "rock opera" pieces) could have passes for the LA Genesis Revisited show. Not only did Steve come through on that he proceeded to tell Fern and Lyle how great he thought the album sounded and how much he loved being part of it! I love that he's so into it and cares about something so "next generation" like this. All those iconic Prog musicians who came from the 70s should pay more attention and/or get involved with the next generation Proggers. I love that a veteran like David Gregory plays with BBT for example (brilliant work with XTC and DOTS). I'd like to see some more crossover from the icons of past decades collaborating with the newer artists. Wetton with D97 was fun live as well. It's really cool to see how compatible they can be with us... and as for Hackett... man, I could write a whole album with him! I love what he does. I'd love to just get into the studio and improvise with him. Maybe one day. In the meantime, I'm thrilled and honored he and the other great players contributed to my album how they did. Top quality performances from all of them. But, they know how I am is the thing. It's not about my ego (if it was I'd be the noodly soloist all over the record). It's about going for something that suits the song that I feel makes an emotional impact and has tasty melodic performances from whomever is playing on it (no matter who it is, famous or not... it still has to be great).

In the past, it's possible some musicians I've worked with have resented that pickiness I have about things like solos. My preference is that it comes from them. But, if they're not hitting it I will boldly step in and co-write it with them (in some cases completely write it which tends to piss people off but... if I wrote the song you can't blame me for wanting it a certain way). Other times we'll do 50 takes until we get it right. In the case of Francis and Steve it's one or two takes though. With Fern sometimes it was one magic take and sometimes it was us exploring 50 times until we got it. The thing about Fernando, though, is that he doesn't care who ends up coming up with the solo really as long as it's good and suits the song. Same philosophy as me. The song is more important than anything. So, that really worked well I thought. A good balance. Anyway... that's the scoop and more on the solos.

[100423]

Very cool, Dave. I'm looking forward to hearing it in it's entirety!

[Firth]

Listened to the YouTube sampler and now the 24/96 stream from soundcloud. The stream is so much better, too much info for YouTube compression. I'm listening to the stream via headphones on an iPhone. Does the iPhone really convert that stream directly to analog? I can now stream this to my main system via USB output from my iPhone and see what the receiver sees, and of course what I hear. When will the production start?

[Squids]

Listened to the YouTube sampler and now the 24/96 stream from soundcloud. The stream is so much better, too much info for YouTube compression. I'm listening to the stream via headphones on an iPhone. Does the iPhone really convert that stream directly to analog? I can now stream this to my main system via USB output from my iPhone and see what the receiver sees, and of course what I hear. When will the production start?

Not sure what you mean by when the production will start as that part is done (well for the main album it is, wrapping up the near double-lengthed Deluxe Edition now). If you mean when is it being released that's next week for the downloads and CDs in a few weeks when they get back. The packaging is really nice for them with lots of art and all the lyrics. I was heavily involved with the design of the Dimensionaut booklet and I like to have accompanying images to songs. It sparks the imagination. The Deluxe Edition booklet has even more images discretely to the songs as it's a larger booklet.

I'm thinking about making the 24 bit/96k final master available for download as well for those who want to play the music out of their computer. I'm looking forward to doing the Surround mix. I'll probably end up doing it myself as I actually ended up mixing most of the stereo record myself and even though I like the idea of hiring a great engineer to come in and do these things for me A. that can get expensive fast and B. when you know what you want sometimes the best thing is for you to just dig into it yourself (even if you become a hermit in the studio in the process). I know what I want where in the 5.1 mix. All sorts of stuff flying around you. It'll be very "3D" but in a way that stays musical and isn't too distracting. There's surely an art to that and even though I've never done one myself I've been fortunate to sit in on 5.1 sessions like the ones Nick Davis did for the Genesis box set. I picked his brain. I've also asked Steven Wilson a few things about he does his mixes. I'm fascinated by that stuff. Really looking forward to it. I would have loved to have done a 5.1 and all sorts of bonus things for Dimensionaut if I was still in the band but... I'm not so that's that for that. Onto new things. Feels good to be able to do whatever I want (as long as I can afford it of course... no label and no plethora of wealth hanging around waiting for this and that to happen. I take it one step at a time with gratitude for people like the backers of the Kickstarter campaign who gave this the fuel it needed to lift off).

[Firth]

Not sure what you mean by when the production will start as that part is done (well for the main album it is, wrapping up the near double-lengthed Deluxe Edition now). If you mean when is it being released that's next week for the downloads and CDs in a few weeks when they get back. The packaging is really nice for them with lots of art and all the lyrics. I was heavily involved with the design of the Dimensionaut booklet and I like to have accompanying images to songs. It sparks the imagination. The Deluxe Edition booklet has even more images discretely to the songs as it's a larger booklet.

I'm thinking about making the 24 bit/96k final master available for download as well for those who want to play the music out of their computer. I'm looking forward to doing the Surround mix. I'll probably end up doing it myself as I actually ended up mixing most of the stereo record myself and even though I like the idea of hiring a great engineer to come in and do these things for me A. that can get expensive fast and B. when you know what you want sometimes the best thing is for you to just dig into it yourself (even if you become a hermit in the studio in the process). I know what I want where in the 5.1 mix. All sorts of stuff flying around you. It'll be very "3D" but in a way that stays musical and isn't too distracting. There's surely an art to that and even though I've never done one myself I've been fortunate to sit in on 5.1 sessions like the ones Nick Davis did for the Genesis box set. I picked his brain. I've also asked Steven Wilson a few things about he does his mixes. I'm fascinated by that stuff. Really looking forward to it. I would have loved to have done a 5.1 and all sorts of bonus things for Dimensionaut if I was still in the band but... I'm not so that's that for that. Onto new things. Feels good to be able to do whatever I want (as long as I can afford it of course... no label and no plethora of wealth hanging around waiting for this and that to happen. I take it one step at a time with gratitude for people like the backers of the Kickstarter campaign who gave this the fuel it needed to lift off).

Sorry for the use of the ambiguous term "production". The musical production sounds great, you answered my question with respect to the packaging and CD. I am really interested in that 5.1 version because there just is not much modern prog in 5.1 which starts with high resolution recorded multichannel tapes. Steven Wilson's original productions maybe it for all I know. As I have stated on PE before, I'm disappointed in the restoration of the low end on classic Yes that Steve has mixed in 5.1. I think Nick Davis did a great job on the early Genesis box set.

[Firth]

Listening to this on extended stereo which on my receiver is an expansion to 5.1 of stereo tracks. Can't wait to crank this because now my partner is trying to sleep. It sounds very spacey, more so than Dimensonaut.

[Dusty Chalk]

I'm thinking about making the 24 bit/96k final master available for download as well for those who want to play the music out of their computer.

Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please. Your production deserves high res.

[progmeister]

When will this be available on bandcamp?

[Ursa Minor]

Thanks. Yes, it's going to be released next week on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp etc. the CD at the moment is only available through my web site but it's looking like Burning Shed will be carrying the Deluxe Edition in the UK.

Dave. Whats the distribution for the UK for the standard CD. Are Burning Shed going to carry it.

Progmeister, it's available now on Bandcamp https://sonicelements.bandcamp.com/

[Squids]

When will this be available on bandcamp?

Here's the latest news on that:

My new album just released here and on iTunes features musicians who have played with Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, ELP, The Who, Porcupine Tree, Big Big Train, It Bites and more. It's streaming in full here with high quality mp3 and FLAC download plus PDF art, lyrics and liner notes. https://sonicelements.bandcamp.com/album/new-world

and here it is on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/new-world/id950090630

[Squids]

Dave. Whats the distribution for the UK for the standard CD. Are Burning Shed going to carry it.

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Yes, the official announcement hasn't been made yet but Burning Shed will have the physical disc versions. I'm pretty sure they'll have the standard CD but definitely the Deluxe version.

[emperorken]

"New World" is also the name of a great song by the Strawbs. I'm confident this will be just as good.

[BobM]

Man, you couldn't have snuck in another second of sound. A full 80 minutes to fill a CD. Value for our money!

And on top of that I feel, as a Kickstarter contributor, that I was really part of the whole process. It's MY CD as much as it is yours, in some ways. Thanks for all your effort and great work keeping your fans in the mix as you went along. This is the way it should always be in the music business.

And I agree - "Nothing" breaks up the album beautifully. A great vibe at the right time, and decidedly different, yet still in theme, from what came before and what follows.

You know, one of the problems with making a great album is meeting expectations for the next one, Dave.

[dgtlman]

WOW Dave!!!! Totally impressed! I diggeth

[Squids]

You know, one of the problems with making a great album is meeting expectations for the next one, Dave.

There's something that happens in terms of confidence (I mean genuine confidence and not the inflated pretend kind) when you've achieved something artistically. After I saw the response to "Dimensionaut" and knowing how much of my artistic expression, style and creativity is present throughout that album (whether or not people recognize it), this gave me a lot of confidence to do my first Prog Rock solo album. I felt a quick external validation that people would be into certain songwriting and stylistic production elements that came from me. Then, from the Kickstarter beginning to the first 24 hours of public release of my solo album, I felt another plateau had been reached in terms of my artistic goals (I'm not talking about the music industry standard of "success" which is measured mostly in sales and charts... I mean on a personal level in how the artist feels both of their own work and of the outside response to it... if they even care about the second thing. Some artists say they don't. I do! I love it that people are enjoying the music. That's half my mission!). Anyway, I can tell you that from what I've learned making the last two albums, which were truly a challenge, I think the next album(s) will benefit from this experience and I am reasonably confident (as much as one can be) that they will meet expectations... or at least my own expectations and I am my own toughest critic!

[Squids]

WOW Dave!!!! Totally impressed! I diggeth

Thanks. I don't know if you guys are into lyrics or not but I just started a contest this week where you pick out your favorite line from my album's lyrics and explain why you like it... something that requires some thought (instead of it just being random). If that's for you then join in on my FB page http://www.facebook.com/davesquidskerzner If not, no worries. I have all of the lyrics posted on the bandcamp page where the entire album is streaming for free right now: https://sonicelements.bandcamp.com/album/new-world