Although I have publicly released 7 albums under the name Mashine Music, and 5 more as Stefan, this is the first release under my own name, David Mash. All of the pieces on this album fall somewhere between the two musical personas I have developed over the last few years, but the title describes them all well: each piece is built with layers of colors and textures that set a specific mood. These are far less complex jazz fusion compositions than my Mashine Music albums, and too beat oriented to fit into the meditative minimalist style of Stefan. Instead they fall squarely into my category of unpopular music, rooted in sonic exploration, rock guitar, classical guitar, and synthesizer use. Stefan is certainly the producer of this album, and Mashine Music is clearly the band, but this music is out and out David Mash. The album cover is a painting done by my good friend Ken Lemoine, entitled “Random Dreaming.” When I was trying to decide what to call this album, I looked at this painting and it was clear, the music and this painting are about colors, textures, and moods. Enjoy!
– David Stefan Mash, March 2023
Special thanks to these great companies for their incredible products and support:
David Mash and Peter Bell – Executive Producers for Bar of 2 Productions.
Buy it now, direct from the artist! Support independent artists!
Chaconne for Guitar
This piece is in D minor, 107 BPM, 4/4 time, and 4:24 long.
The chaconne is a classical music form built on a repetitive harmonic progression, with variations upon each repetition. In many ways it is the pre-cursor to the jazz form, based on improvising over a set of chord changes. This piece came out of an improvised chord progression on my Godin Arena nylon string guitar. I recorded it, and began creating variations with each repetition. Then I added the electric guitar playing the melody, and let it flow into a rock-inspired solo. I decided to add a B section to give the chaconne progression some contrast, and brought in Bruce Nifong on soprano saxophone to double the guitar melody, then we both improvise to the end, returning to the original classical guitar motive.
Instrumentation:
- Bruce Nifong – Soprano saxophone.
- David Mash – Godin Arena Flame Maple guitar, Godin Custom LGX guitar, Softube Amp Room.
- David Mash/Mashine Music – Spectrasonics Trilian, Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, and Logic Pro Strings, Superior Drums.
- Production: Stefan – iZotope Ozone, Softube Console 1 and Logic Pro X.
Lunar Attaches
This piece is in A minor, 91 BPM, in 4/4 time, and 6:28 long
Originally composed for the release of Adobe Photoshop 4, Lunar Attaches was an accompaniment to a slide show of images made by professional artists using the software to demonstrate its new features. The piece was inspired by the opening animation (which I also scored for Adobe) that showed figures carrying briefcases on a lunar landscape. This version is re-worked to feature Bruce on soprano and Alto saxophones, with a re-imagined electronic lunar landscape as the bed for launching the mood.
Instrumentation:
- Bruce Nifong – Soprano and Alto saxophones.
- David Mash – Godin Custom LGX guitar, Studio Devil AMP.
- David Mash/Mashine Music – U-He Diva, Synthogy Ivory, Spectrasonics Trilian and Omnisphere, Logic Sampler and ES1.
- Production: Stefan – iZotope Ozone, Softube Console 1 and Logic Pro X.
Looking Back
This piece is in E Major, 83 BPM, in 4/4 time, and 4:30 long
This piece was my first ever work with a DAW. My good friend Chris Halaby, at the time president of Opcode Systems, gave me an alpha copy of the software that was to become Studio Vision, and I thought I should write a piece that used guitar with my synthesizers – what a concept! Until this software, my guitar and electronic music lived in separate worlds, Studio Vision was the first software that allowed me to bring them together in the computer and edit both as if I were editing MIDI data. This version looks back at that first experiment and brings it into the present with today’s software. Only now all my synths are in software as well! I also bring Bruce Nifong into the piece with a beautiful soprano saxophone solo!
Instrumentation:
- Bruce Nifong – Soprano saxophone.
- David Mash – Godin Custom LGX guitar with Studio Devil AMP (solo), Godin Custom Montreal Premiere guitar with Studio Devil AMP (melody).
- David Mash/Mashine Music – Native Instruments Kontakt, Spectrasonics Trilian and Omnisphere, Arturia Mini V3, Superior Drums.
- Production: Stefan – iZotope Ozone, Softube Console 1 and Logic Pro X.
Way Forward
This piece is in D Minor, at 109 BPM, in 4/4 time, and 6:04 long.
This piece started out as a Stefan piece, headed for a long slow build of textures and colors to create a meditative piece, but as I progressed, it became clear that this one needed to rock! The melody suggested horn parts to me, and the ending section began as a horn soli ala Thad Jones’ writing, but it needed to rock so in came the heavier drums and the screaming sax and guitar solos above the horns. This was the piece that suggested it might be time to make this album contain elements of both Mashine Music and Stefan personalities, after all, they are just sides of same musical personality.
Instrumentation:
- Bruce Nifong – Alto Saxophone.
- David Mash – Godin Custom LGX guitar, Native Instruments Guitar Rig.
- David Mash/Mashine Music – Logic Studio Horns, Synthogy Ivory, Spectrasonics Omnisphere and Trilian, Arturia Mini V3, Superior Drums.
- Production: Stefan – iZotope Ozone, Softube Console 1 and Logic Pro X.
Desert Birds
This piece is in C minor, at 78 BPM, in 4/4 time, and is 6:35 long.
Originally composed for the release of Adobe Photoshop 5, the title came from the opening animation (which I also composed) which was a desert scene with pixels that fly like a bird then actually swirl into a real photograph of a bird. This piece starts with a drone that comes from the desert scene but is heavier because some of the artwork that this was meant to accompany had alien planet references, and that suggested the swirling synth sounds. Then I built layers of textures using percussive sounds, each in a different pattern, suggesting differing time signatures, some in 3, some in 4, some in 5, which creates an interesting fabric of sound that reminds me of one of my compositional influencers, Steve Reich, except perhaps on drugs. Then the bass comes in to lay down the actual groove, which may be startling if you fall into one of the non 4/4 patterns as the main groove. One of my favorite things about the piece is that you can get lost on any one of the layers, and that can change your reference point, and the whole mood of the piece.
Instrumentation:
- Bruce Nifong – Alto saxophone.
- David Mash – Godin Custom Montreal Premier Supreme guitar, Studio Devil AMP.
- David Mash/Mashine Music – U-He Hive, Spectrasonics Omnisphere and Trilian, Logic ES2, Sampler, and Electric Piano, Arturia Mini V3.
- Production: Stefan – iZotope Ozone, Softube Console 1 and Logic Pro X.
Ode for Jeff Beck
This piece is in B Minor, at 89 BPM, in 4/4 time, and is 4:20 long.
I had just started this piece with a little arpeggiated theme and a percussion groove when I learned that Jeff Beck had passed. Jeff was one of my earliest guitar influences. The first record I bought with my own money was the Yardbirds’ “Over, Under, Sideways Down,” and the flip side of the 45 was “Jeff’s Boogie.” I must have worn off the grooves of that record copping Jeff’s licks. Although Jeff got knocked down to second place when I first saw Jimi Hendrix play, he kept growing and stretching throughout his long career and I never stopped loving his playing. I didn’t try to copy Jeff in any way in this love poem to him, I just reached down into my guitar roots to pull out the way that he influenced me to be myself. RIP maestro Beck!
Instrumentation:
- Bruce Nifong – Alto Saxophone.
- David Mash – Godin Custom LGX guitar, Studio Devil AMP.
- David Mash/Mashine Music – Logic Studio Horns, Spectrasonics Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, and Trilian, Superior Drums.
- Production: Stefan – iZotope Ozone, Softube Console 1 and Logic Pro X.
Movie Scene
This piece is in C Lydian mode, although you could hear it in E Aeolian if you’re feeling in that kind of mood. The tempo is 120 BPM, it is in 5/4 time, and is 5:46 in length.
I started this piece looking for an arpeggio on the guitar that would get as many intervals of 2nds into the chord, then recorded a few bars of me playing the arpeggio. Sitting back and listening, I started hearing more textures and colors, and began building layers that suggested a non-existing movie scene to me. I went with it and built my own mental image of the scene and this music is what I heard. You can make up your own movie scene! Enjoy!
Instrumentation:
- David Mash – Godin Custom LGX guitar, Studio Devil AMP.
- David Mash/Mashine Music – U-He Diva, Spectrasonics Trilian, Omnisphere, and Stylus RMX, Logic ES2, Superior Drums.
- Production: Stefan – iZotope Ozone, Softube Console 1 and Logic Pro X.
Illustrating Venus
This track is in G minor, tempo of 109 BPM, in 6/4 time, and is 6:14 long.
Originally composed for the release of Adobe Illustrator 7, the title is based on the opening animation, which I also composed, and the animation builds layers upon layers to create a beautiful image of Venus. The music also builds layers of colors into a tapestry of rhythm and textures. There are a few twists and turns rhythmically, sections in 4/4, sections in 3/4, and the occasional bar of 5. Listen for it!
Instrumentation:
- Bruce Nifong – Alto saxophone.
- David Mash – Godin Custom LGX guitar, Studio Devil AMP.
- David Mash/Mashine Music – Logic Sampler, Vintage B3, and ES2, Spectrasonics Trilian and Omnisphere, Arturia Mini V3, Native Instruments Kontakt.
- Production: Stefan – iZotope Ozone, Softube Console 1 and Logic Pro X.
Chaconne for Inuk
This piece is in A minor, 75 BPM, in 4/4 time, and is 5:46 in length.
My friend Walter Bitner came to visit me in our North Carolina home, and brought his Roland keyboard so we could jam (in headphones so we could play loud and not disturb the neighbors). I pulled out my Inuk to start our improvisation, and after a few seconds, we stopped so I could build a quick rhythmic groove with a Middle Eastern/South Asian feel to fit the sound of the Inuk. We started improvising again, and what came out was the chord progression to the Chaconne for Guitar that I had recently written, but in a different key and very different tempo and feel. And I loved where it went. That inspired me to record a new version of the Chaconne for Guitar featuring the Inuk, re-orchestrated to support its sound, and close the album on a mellow, meditative note.
Instrumentation:
- David Mash – Godin Inuk.
- David Mash/Mashine Music – Spectrasonics Stylus RMX and Omnisphere, Arturia Mini V3, Superior Drums.
- Production: Stefan – iZotope Ozone, Softube Console 1 and Logic Pro X.