Josh Mason
Selected Works ︎︎︎
Selected Works ︎︎︎
Careless approval without examination, and a subsequent deception for want of warning. Honors rendered to sampler detritus—the bones and dust of pilgrims and martyrs; of thieves and asses—enclosed in a vessel with candles lit before it.
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Art and Sound by Josh Mason
︎
Art and Sound by Josh Mason
Utility Music
Sep 2021
Newport, 5 July, 1969 / Juan-les-Pins, 25 July, 1969 / New York, 20 August, 1969 / Copenhagen, 4 November, 1969 / San Francisco, 9 April, 1970
Program
32:12
Sep 2021
Newport, 5 July, 1969 / Juan-les-Pins, 25 July, 1969 / New York, 20 August, 1969 / Copenhagen, 4 November, 1969 / San Francisco, 9 April, 1970
Program
32:12
Westheimer's Discovery: A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a couple hours in the library.
Utility Music is the result of a year long exploration of a Doepfer A-100 modular synthesizer system of my own planning, beginning on January 1, 2019 and ending December 31, 2019. It was my attempt to learn more about the foundational building blocks of synthesis and to explore the idea that interesting and compelling synthesizer-based music can be realized without the aid of modern DSP and "shiny" hardware within the format.
The final audio portion of the project is a mosaic assembled from these weekly stems. Accompanying the CD is a 72 pg. perfect-bound book containing further information on the project as well as weekly point-to-point patch notes and insights into process.
︎
Edition 3 (50, 50, 75)
Artwork, Writing and Design by Josh Mason
Technical Assistance Andrew Weathers
Utility Music is the result of a year long exploration of a Doepfer A-100 modular synthesizer system of my own planning, beginning on January 1, 2019 and ending December 31, 2019. It was my attempt to learn more about the foundational building blocks of synthesis and to explore the idea that interesting and compelling synthesizer-based music can be realized without the aid of modern DSP and "shiny" hardware within the format.
The final audio portion of the project is a mosaic assembled from these weekly stems. Accompanying the CD is a 72 pg. perfect-bound book containing further information on the project as well as weekly point-to-point patch notes and insights into process.
︎
Edition 3 (50, 50, 75)
Artwork, Writing and Design by Josh Mason
Technical Assistance Andrew Weathers
Filed under:
CD, Book, Digital
NA Distro
Mission Synths (US)︎︎︎
Cicada Sound (CA)︎︎︎
UK Distro
Signal Sounds︎︎︎
CD, Book, Digital
NA Distro
Mission Synths (US)︎︎︎
Cicada Sound (CA)︎︎︎
UK Distro
Signal Sounds︎︎︎
Recreación Segura
Feb 2021
Water Closed To Public / High Hazard / Medium Hazard / Low Hazard / Stinging Marine Life
Program
20:40
Feb 2021
Water Closed To Public / High Hazard / Medium Hazard / Low Hazard / Stinging Marine Life
Program
20:40
I needed to eat breakfast, and I needed to get home—except I can't actually go home anymore. It's all been carried away, and the voice of mind trembles upon recital of this certitude.
And so I find myself itinerant and uncertain; a foreign body. An Idiot, combing a new coast for shards of that old one that may have washed ashore, no matter how woolly salt and separation have left them to be.
But back in the city, accounts of the hour jitter and diverge: Big Jim bellows, signaling St. John's to toll, and when a plastic wristwatch chimes, it occurs to me, and only then, that this new dialect—does actually have a familiar cadence.
︎
Art and Sound by Josh Mason
And so I find myself itinerant and uncertain; a foreign body. An Idiot, combing a new coast for shards of that old one that may have washed ashore, no matter how woolly salt and separation have left them to be.
But back in the city, accounts of the hour jitter and diverge: Big Jim bellows, signaling St. John's to toll, and when a plastic wristwatch chimes, it occurs to me, and only then, that this new dialect—does actually have a familiar cadence.
︎
Art and Sound by Josh Mason
Filed under:
Digital
Digital
The Computer Has Been Drinking
Sept 2020
Boot / Opinions Of An Ocean Based On Experiences In A Pool / FPS Cloth / The Computer Has Been Drinking / Symbol For Number / Casualty Of The Edit Wars / Segment / SOL Chair / F Chair / SOC Chair / Fun With Heresies /~1 / Screen Job / Jones / The Number You Have Dialed Is Imaginary
Program
32:28
Sept 2020
Boot / Opinions Of An Ocean Based On Experiences In A Pool / FPS Cloth / The Computer Has Been Drinking / Symbol For Number / Casualty Of The Edit Wars / Segment / SOL Chair / F Chair / SOC Chair / Fun With Heresies /~1 / Screen Job / Jones / The Number You Have Dialed Is Imaginary
Program
32:28
A spiritual companion, that no one asked for, to Nathan McLaughlin's The Refrigerator Is Emotional︎︎︎
The computer has been drinking,
And we let it.
It cradles our histories
In however many millions of colors,
And we forgive.
It hears us, though we do not hear ourselves,
And we forget.
It groans under the weight
Of our petulance,
And we simply do not care.
It cries for help (remind me later.)
It screams for a surge (go to sleep.)
︎
Edition 50
Mastered by Andrew Weathers
Artwork and Design by Josh Mason
The computer has been drinking,
And we let it.
It cradles our histories
In however many millions of colors,
And we forgive.
It hears us, though we do not hear ourselves,
And we forget.
It groans under the weight
Of our petulance,
And we simply do not care.
It cries for help (remind me later.)
It screams for a surge (go to sleep.)
︎
Edition 50
Mastered by Andrew Weathers
Artwork and Design by Josh Mason
‘Aumakua
Feb 2020
Program
20:00
Feb 2020
Program
20:00
My grandmother passed away in the afternoon on July 24, 2016. (which is also my wife’s birthday) I lost my grandfather two years later on February 21st. She was born in the morning on June 5 (which is the day before my birthday) in 1921 and he on April 27th of that same year. After growing up in a small town in South Carolina, where most of the population at the time never left home, they were married when my grandfather, who was a lieutenant in the Air Force, returned home in November of 1945 – and from then till 1971, the traveled from duty station to duty station, all around the continental US, the Panama Canal Zone, and most importantly, The Pacific Rim.
The sounds presented here are a loose take on a Hawaiian vamp (also thought of as a turnaround in jazz music) in C. This usually small section of music is often used as a staging area between one section of music and the next. For me, this serves as a connecting bridge between the time I knew with them and the time I’ll spend without them. The length of the piece follows the timing of a typical progression of this sort, in that the first two chords span an equal amount of time and the third spans the same time as the first two combined. So, instead of 2 counts + 2 counts + 4 counts, it's expanded and interpreted as 5 + 5 + 10 minute sections respectively, to allow one time to live in each.
My family fostered my creativity, spurred on my imagination. They taught me which tools were right for which jobs. They were the embodiment of generosity – and they were my friends.
For John and Elsie, whom I loved.
︎
Label Longform Editions (AUS)
Mastered by Seth Chrisman
Artwork and Design by Mark Gowing
The sounds presented here are a loose take on a Hawaiian vamp (also thought of as a turnaround in jazz music) in C. This usually small section of music is often used as a staging area between one section of music and the next. For me, this serves as a connecting bridge between the time I knew with them and the time I’ll spend without them. The length of the piece follows the timing of a typical progression of this sort, in that the first two chords span an equal amount of time and the third spans the same time as the first two combined. So, instead of 2 counts + 2 counts + 4 counts, it's expanded and interpreted as 5 + 5 + 10 minute sections respectively, to allow one time to live in each.
My family fostered my creativity, spurred on my imagination. They taught me which tools were right for which jobs. They were the embodiment of generosity – and they were my friends.
For John and Elsie, whom I loved.
︎
Label Longform Editions (AUS)
Mastered by Seth Chrisman
Artwork and Design by Mark Gowing
