Today we’d like to introduce you to Mason Guerrero.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’ve been bent on making weird noise since I was about ten years old, amongst the myriad of creative outlets. I spent hours jamming metal objects into my cheap beginner guitar and letting the feedback wail off the tiny amp, attempting to circuit bend my old toys, making lengthy sound collages using microcassette recorders, etc. I didn’t start taking any of it seriously until high school when I took a Recording Arts class. I showed the teacher my tapes and to my surprise, he liked them and highly encouraged me to make more. This gave me the motivation to buy my first synthesizer, a MicroKorg XL, and I began putting out records.
I obtained my BA from CSU Monterey Bay in Recording Arts. As an undergraduate, I collected oddball electronics, played keyboards, ring modulators, omnichord and feedback loops in various bands and helped run a very short-lived cassette label. Once I had my degree, I moved to Los Angeles and fell hard for modular synthesis. Today, I have a rinky dink synth studio where I spend my downtime experimenting with patches I make from scratch, soundtracking projects for friends or recording my little “mutant pop” jams.
Please tell us about your art.
Chiefly, I make music. I put out a solo record last year titled “Hired Goons.” It’s my first attempt in writing pop-structured songs, compared to my more ambient and improvisational output, and the first time I really incorporated lyrics. It’s an ugly and uncomfortable record; loads of dissonance and jagged structures, but silly enough where it’s not entirely void of enjoyment. I took tons of inspiration from experimental pop artists who toyed with synthesizers and digital simulacra of non-electric instruments, like Devo, The Residents, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, Prince, Haruomi Hosono, and Oingo Boingo. I also had some industrial influence like television music and B-movie soundtracks that used many of the same synthesizers as I do to cut the cost of hiring session musicians.
I make all my music with physical synths and effects processors, emphasizing the primitive but powerful features of early musical automation. Limiting myself within the quirks and imperfections of having piles of clunky gear in the age of softsynths and plug-ins. It forces me to write in a certain way that I believe I would overlook if I used my laptop for everything. That’s not to say I rule out the computer entirely, I use a digital audio workstation to record each of the tracks, as some of the songs could stack up to over 100 individual stems and needs modern processing power to play smoothly. And I write many of the songs with MIDI software because the technology is still pretty much the same as it was nearly 40 years ago and I cannot play most of the music without it sounding sloppy, so I send data to my synths and, voila! An orchestra of clangs and bloops!
I write music in a very American/western mindset. Generally, we are maximalists here in the states. Our content and things we value as “high quality” are usually loud, colorful, glossy, jumpy and grandiose. However, usually this capital is cheaply assembled, given the illusion of quality while taking shortcuts in the means of production and formulated for mass appeal with no concern of its longevity, produced for the quick, monetary gain. I think my music parallels that hollowness while elevating the overall weirdness of these illusions and the emphasis on unnecessary abundance. Whether it be in the amount of eclecticism in my instrument choices while never touching a real instrument or adding a ridiculous amount of complexity that could never be performed entirely without the aide of an automated computer; all while sounding tacky.
It’s a constant bombardment of stimuli and excess that has defied our consumption habits for decades. I think it’s the rampant, diminishing rate that high-end technology becoming obsolete within my lifetime that draws me to wanting to work with these old pieces of gear or experiment with control voltage like early electronic musicians did in the 1960s. I think of it as pastiche, reflecting the stepping stones of automated music that lead us to today’s hi-tech but folky means of making content. I’m desensitized to synthetic sound considering being born in the 1990s; fake instrumentation has been commonplace in media for my entire life. I don’t experience the uncanny valley from a keyboard emulating a human voice like someone a bit older might, I just accept it for what it’s trying to mimic and in some sobering situations, been fooled into believing its a real voice.
As I worked on the record, I sent the demos over to a saxophonist friend, who liked everything but the stiff, plastic-y saxophone patches I used. As much as I love the dynamic and shriek of a real saxophone, I felt having a simulation of it worked better for the overall concept. Eliminating the need from others, streamlining my arrangements to meet my exact needs and commandeering these aspects however I want, whenever I want, for however long I want like a tyrannical CEO looking to cut anything that will prevent them from making as much money as possible.
Along with my music, I also create most of my album artwork. Visual art was my first love but having a soundtrack to back up to my illustrations keeps me inspired to create multimedia projects.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
Of course, making a consistent living off art these days is becoming increasingly difficult, but with the ever-growing sources of information and affordable means of production being right at our fingertips, I’m seeing individual creativity and community support flourishing. I believe the role changed in a way where with these utilities, it’s phasing out of the mass exposure of a select few with corporate/individual investor/nepotistic backings like its been for many decades. Creators now are ushering in a more folksy, DIY, ambitious method of creating art; anyone with the most basic building blocks to create something can produce and distribute their work on their own terms and some lucky creators can support themselves on it. This is why trends like SoundCloud rappers and indie YouTube channels could be very inspiring in making not just something entirely unique to the creator without a higher cashflow controlling their work, but tangible and available to those interested anywhere in the world. It’s just a matter of finding exposure in a vast ocean of aspiring creatives out there and much of this endeavor could be extremely thankless. Inversely, with the higher costs of living and shrinking amount of free time the average person has, I think the deposit of creativity is being pinched to the point where finding the general motivation to make anything at all is stunted. It’s a double edged sword having so much available but no time to utilize it.
I think the status of humankind is at a precipice. With climate change largely caused by capitalism, violations of human rights, a class divide that continues to grow and businessmen/pop culture figures taking positions of power; it’s been a long time coming but it truly feels like something catastrophic will happen within our lifetimes. My music rides that anxiety. I concentrate these feelings as fuel to create songs that make little sense because our collective situation makes little sense. I can get very depressed writing songs but it’s my backward way of reasoning with the stressful world we live in. Through this, it becomes liberating, like an auditory diary of not personal struggle but a struggle people feel in some capacity, similar to the punk ethos.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
You could download my MP3s for free or grab a tape off my BandCamp. I spam my Instagram with works in progress and occasionally throw some visual art up there too. I play shows sometimes; I’m planning a few shows with a “toxic waste dump” theme, complete with visuals, DIY prosthetics, props and a little bit of experimental theater. I am also always looking to collaborate with other artists, hopefully looking to bring my ideas to a live band setting.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sherifframb.bandcamp.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midi_wizard/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kciandjojoallmylifedotmidi/
Image Credit:
Personal photo by Ben Gellinger, Live performance photo by Kassidy Penso
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
