Christopher Mast's new CD "Planet California"

Part gentle caress and part unexpected French kiss. Rock that spans the gamut from malevolent to benign. You like guitars? This is for you.

Planet California is like a date at an amusement park. This CD starts with the excitement of blasting through the gates at Six Flags and heading for the big dippers. There are the ups and downs of a Ferris wheel, the jolting of the bumper cars, and the open-air feeling of a bungee jump. "Mosquito" and "Rumcake" are thrill rides. "Lucky's Lullaby" is a nice easy spin on the carousel. "Orange" (the bonus track) is that one last-minute trip to the big wooden roller coaster.

This self-released CD is Christopher's freshman offering to the commercial market (not counting two previous self-released CD-Rs which he sold at gigs). Working on a digital audio workstation that he built himself and using Sonar XL software (he's also kind of a computer nut), Christopher performed, recorded, and mixed the whole project. "Maybe I'm anal retentive, but I wanted complete control over the project." Christopher says he "probably wouldn't" accept a record deal if offered one.

Notes on the songs:

1-Mosquito- A surf-punk song with a sense of humor.

2-Henry the Clown- An upbeat song that's sad and humorous at the same time. The other side of a disgruntled clown's life.

3-Rumcake- An instrumental flamenco/Latin sounding song with a Santana-like guitar solo.

4-Sheffield Girl- Voice and acoustic guitar. Jazzy and light.

5-Louise- Heavy sexy blues. This one has gotten lots of attention at online MP3 sites.

6-Mosquito (reprise)-Just plain freakin' weird! Christopher says there's a story...but don't ask.

7-Drive- An interesting hard-rock remake of a Bobby McFerrin song.

8-Flight- Acoustic instrumental with lots of guitar effects.

9-A Dog's Life- Wouldn't you like to trade places with the dog sometimes? Well...as long as you didn't have to lick your butt.

10-Lucky's Lullaby- A relaxing instrumental, the way a lullaby should be.

This CD also features humorous "hidden tracks"