DANIEL LENZ – STUCK IN A DREAM – MARCH 5, 2009

“Stuck in a Dream is the man's debut solo album, presenting listeners with a whopping 15 tracks of grinding electronic dance music the likes of which could earn Lenz a place alongside such luminaries as Paul Oakenfold and Paul Van Dyk.”

--ReGen Magazine

 

 

WARNING: YOU’RE ABOUT TO LISTEN TO THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE!

 

THE TITLE MAY SUGGEST A DREAMSTATE, but rest assured, Daniel Lenz is awake, aware, and making the tracks that may very well be the soundtrack to your life. This isn’t just a bold way at predicting your immediate affection for his debut solo album, Stuck In A Dream, but if you’ll simply joggle your recent-to-immediate memory you may find an almost instinctual connection with his music. Was it the movie trailer you clicked on or did you hear it in the cinema? Did it help you get to the next level of that video game or did it influence you to make a special purchase?  Better yet, maybe it was booming in the background for a bootycall in the bathroom stall of a Hollywood nightclub? Yeah, that must’ve been it!

 

Truth is, it all happened, or rather, is still happening, because as we pitch this digital platter to you someone is watching Mad Men, CSI, or Beowulf. They’re playing MotoGP and contemplating buying a Dodge, but they are all interacting with Daniel Lenz, whether they know it or not. But please don’t confuse this with mere incidental “soundtrack” music. As the Platinum selling writer/performer/producer explains it: “I am not a soundtrack artist by any stretch of the imagination. I make my music, real songs, and license them to various projects.” Co-founder of both Psykosonik and Hednoize (both signed to classic industrial label, Wax Trax), Daniel got tired of dealing with record labels and found it much more appealing to create and market his music independently – in his own studio and on his own time – which meant he could make any kind of track he wanted, and in any style or subgenre (from the progressive-trance of “Turn Around” to the industrial-hip-hop of “Push The Tempo”) If anything, Stuck In A Dream is a collection of songs that may have seen their first-light elsewhere, but never together, and certainly not remixed and more potent than ever. Combined with a few brand new tracks created specifically for the album, Stuck In A Dream is poised to keep up at night.  While physical CD’s are available through his website, when we say independent we mean it, as Daniel is adamant on selling the record digitally, and by himself sans any record labels, via iTunes, Napster, Amazon, etc.

 

With the technical prowess that nearly blinded that scientist, Thomas Dolby, only Daniel Lenz can make the Prince of Darkness, Alice Cooper, and the Pimp of Rides, Xzibit, sound like they were mashed up by Trent Reznor, and that’s not even detailing the hurdles of capturing a Kool Keith vocal…LIVE over the internet. But as much as he loves his gear and software, the artist insists that, “It’s the emotion I put into my production that makes the difference.” Not content to use basic presets or cliché drum loops, Daniel likes to think outside the box when it comes to sound design, so he constructs and deconstructs each sound, each melody, until the track growls, moans, or weeps. Of course, this usually goes on till the break of dawn, but that’s OK because the long nights have allowed him to assemble a playlist that can proudly sit somewhere between The Crystal Method and Massive Attack.

 

In the end it’s the beats, the hooks, and the soundscapes that Daniel Lenz provides that have become part of the fabric of the endless dreamscape of media we constantly experience while driving, slamming, slumming, clubbing, shopping, sex-ing…Living. This is all the sound of Daniel Lenz, but for too long he’s been in the shadows of your consciousness, and now it’s time he steps into the light. He says it best: “I’ve been behind the scenes, for the last few years, but now it’s time for me to put myself out there and show people what I’ve got. I’m not afraid if they don’t like it, but hopefully they will!”

 

Stuck In A Dream is released on March 5, 2009.