MP3 Daniel Kemp - Voices

Haunting soundscapes dedicated to the Dark Goddess. Imagine the music of the stars, Voices is a collection of celestial symphonies punctuated by the influence of Americaâs most formidable catastrophe. A truly unique blending of classical and modern instru

17 MP3 Songs
ELECTRONIC: Soundscapes, NEW AGE: Meditation



Details:
Hurricane Katrina Survivor, Daniel Kemp, Releases Second CD â Voices


âThe night we knew Katrina would hit New Orleans was the night I sat down at my keyboard and recorded âRequiem for Orleansâ.

He stayed in New Orleans when most everyone else fled, working on his second CD when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Voices, (which began as a follow-up to his debut CD Invocation), an ongoing tribute to the beauty and resplendence of the Night Sky, suddenly changed direction, literally in mid-creation.

Voices evocatively tells the story of a life interrupted by disaster. Flowing instrumental sound-scapes, infused with Danielâs own spoken-word readings from his best selling book, The Book of Night, incorporating angelic guest vocals by Mary Riley and Katja Mueller.

Imagine the music of the stars, Voices is a collection of celestial symphonies punctuated by the influence of Americaâs most formidable catastrophe. A truly unique blending of classical and modern instrumentation, infused with old-school Progressive keyboards, haunting vocals and a dark, brooding undertone influenced by Danielâs connection to the Dark Goddess.

Imagine a dark forest under a starlit sky where the ghosts come to chant along in the distant field. And, then suddenly, the pastoral scene is washed away, and all that remains is the music.

âIt all comes down to sitting in front of my keyboard with my eyes closed...remembering the feeling of floating out amidst the stars. It was then and there I met what I call, The Lady, for the sky threw itself back at me. All of my music starts with that moment of remembrance, and then gets modified by the world at large.â


âI desire to paint pictures with musicâ¦images filled with emotion.â

Brief Bio;

Daniel Kemp was born on Long Island, N.Y. in 1965, and currently resides Leesville, Louisiana. He started playing guitar in his teens, and in High School had various bands. They would play parties, local âBattle of the Bandâ shows, etc. He lost his taste for that after he had finally put together a really good band, and after their first rehearsal, their singer O.D.ed on drugs and alcohol and died playing chicken in traffic. That depressed him so much that he stopped playing with other people entirely. He did, however, start playing about with pianos on his own. He went on to play guitar, keyboards and even attempted to learn the flute.

When he was 25, Daniel moved to New Orleans, a city rich in musical culture. Due to circumstances, he found himself playing flute one night along with two drummers at the opening of an art gallery. Shortly thereafter he borrowed a 4-track recorder from a neighbor and made some demos. That led to the neighbor asking him to play some keyboards on a cd he was working on at the time. Daniel also found himself being a street musician in New Orleansâ famous French Quarter, just making things up as he went along. But, the best response he ever got was by commandeering a piano in Lafitteâs Blacksmith Shop bar. He sat down at the piano, closed his eyes and remembered nothing of what he had played. When he opened his eyes again, there was a man in tears in front of him and a $20 dollar bill sitting in the donation glass on the piano.




Music is not the only one of Danielâs many loves. He is also an accomplished author of several books. The most well know being The Book of Night, Danielâs written tribute to what he calls âThe Ladyâ, an embodiment of the Night Sky in personification, who, since childhoodâs hour has been both friend and paramour. âShe is the universe we all exist within, and our tiniest breath. She is existence within the infinite, looking out upon the grand panorama that is.â

In 2004, Daniel released his debut CD Invocation, â a paean to the Dark Goddess of the Night sky with ambient soundscapes that caress the ears. Daniel Kempâs evocative keyboards illuminate the unfolding veils of the Spirit of the Night. Within this aural embrace, your spirit is set free to dance with the shining darkness of the night sky.â

The timeline for his second CD, Voices began in October 2004, shortly after Invocation was finished It was half done when hurricane Katrina was beginning to bear down on New Orleans. âThe night we knew Katrina would hit was the night I sat down at my keyboard and recorded âRequiem for Orleansâ. Daniel remained in New Orleans for four days after the storm, left for 2 weeks, and returned just in time to get hit with hurricane Rita as well.

âKatrina has affected my music universally. There is no way that anyone can live through that kind of experience and NOT have it change themâ¦If anything, it has made my music a bit more melancholy simply because of the sorrow I feel for a place I called home for 17 years.

Currently, Daniel is working on his third CD, From Wasteland to Woodland which will be a musical interpretation of life during the aftermath of the storm, and his subsequent relocation to the woodlands of Western LA. where the Lady Night continues to be his main source of inspiration.

Influences:

Growing up, Daniel listened to a lot of Progressive Rock â early Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Hawkwind, Gong, Pink Floyd, Brian Eno, Mike Oldfield. He also listened to a LOT of other things, like Classical, Punk and a lot of Frank Zappa, and just about everything in between.

Instruments;

All of Danielâs music are original compositions and basically start out bare bones on a keyboard. Most of his instrumentation is done via virtual means (VSTi). Wusikstation being the one he reaches for most simply because of the wealth of sound libraries available and the ability to use any .wav file as a sound source. He also uses Dimension Pro, Absynth, Atmosphere, Cameleon 5000, EVE and others too numerous to mention. Daniel is now also offering his own presets for some of these programs and will also shortly be offering soundsets as well. âLearning how to make my own sounds has opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities and I am starting to experiment more with programming other virtual instruments.â