Copy of Losing Control (2025 Remastered)

I'm a lifelong, multi-instrumentalist musician who records prolifically and joyfully. You'll hear me play guitar, bass (regular four string, and four and five string fretless), mandolin, banjo, keys (piano, organ, synth), lap slide, sitar, and sing on my recordings here. I've been in a few dozen bands in my life, playing everything from bluegrass, jazz, rock, jam band, reggae, funk, afrobeat, Middle Eastern, traditional Irish, singer/songwriter, pop/covers, to experimental/avant garde.
Since I found SoundCloud a couple years ago, I've found many talented, creative people with whom to create music. However, in the summer of '23 I formed a band called The Eclectic Collective with some of my favorite musicians I've met through here. It started as a loose collective of musicians and coalesced into a core group of musicians who find other musicians with whom we'd like to make music, then run their songs through our process, and in effect add a full band.

Entheogenic Psyconaut (Josh Clary) - The Eclectic Collective Collection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REBX4by8eow

In search of Reason

Music: Composed, written, mixed, mastered, and performed by: Matthew May

Lyrics: Written, performed, mixed and mastered by The Mysterious Decibel

Watch out!
I'm the joker card 
Not exactly your saint Bernard
This chemical and me have too much chemistry
But you keep on leaving me
I'm a stalker
You're a teaser
When I find you
You're a pleaser
Stimulation get inside of me 
You're number one
I'm a winner at the count of three

A little bit of this and a little bit of that
would never be too much
We go from STAR to RATS 

OOOOOO I'M FEELING GOOD
WHOOOHOOO JUST LIKE I SHOULD

Dopamine is all I need 
So let me pop that dopa seed!
That Dopamine is all I need
So shoot me right up to speed! 

Dopamine is all I need 
So let me pop that dopa seed!
That Dopamine is all I need
Watch out!
I'm feeling good!

Dopamine

this track was inspired by reading The Wager, a great true adventure story by David Grann. 

lyrics

meet me in the portrait 
down beneath the shade of tree
pack me in a suitcase
hollow out a chest built out for tea

I could be the border 
maybe you could set my scene
a painting like a raincheck 
trapped inside a submarine 

somebody is following
you better watch your back
once you lost your mind it's gone
and your incurring 
wager islands wrath 

so meet me in the rainbow 
down by the waterfront cascade
where beaux jack a dandies 
stole all the hearts from those who prayed

we could be important 
when our discoveries unveiled 
hook me up to morphine girl 
and I'll put up the bail

somebody is following 
you better watch your back
once you lost your mind it's gone
and your incurring wager islands wrath 

so meet me in the portrait 
we'll set sail at crescent moon
you can be the cannon
ball and I'll provide the boom

look out for me this summer 
when all the seas have frozen cold
you can be the treasure map
and I'll provide the gold


thanks for listening, greatly appreciated as always.


Wager Island (Acoustic)

Drifting - where you wanted to be. Lay back and let the current take you down. Lounging on the floaty that is life while the world unravels underneath. An homage to vintage summer horror flicks and the absurdity of modern escape - brought to you by The Day Afters. 

Drifting

Cast of characters:
K2 and the Three [and the Four] -- @k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums, acoustic guitar, song and vocal melody composition
Joseph Shenton -- @joseph-shenton -- lyrics
Gaz Brownie — @user-755327533 — Gaz — vocals, vocal harmonies, and lyrics
one man verity show – @one-man-verity-show – Scotty – electric guitar intro
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– Les Paul Custom electric guitar, mix, production, and mastering
Llanpsych–@llanpsych –Tez– Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar
Tea R. Sea @tea_are_sea -- Terry – low synthesizer
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 – Fender Precision bass and high synthesizer


This song began a few months ago as an idea Ken had to make the quintessential Gen X song. He structured the chords, beat to appeal to anyone of a certain age group, of which most of the folks in the band are a part. He even played wrote it on his acoustic guitar and came up with the vocal melody, which Gaz put a shine on for the final version. Once he had the form of the song down, he tapped the incredibly talented Joseph Shenton to write the lyrics. Gaz not only superbly sung four part harmonies for this, but the came up with the lyrics for the break parts, too. 
  When he first envisioned it, Ken thought it would be fun to invite as many musicians as we could onto it. However, for whatever reason, it stalled out and sat untouched for a couple months, with just Stephen's foundational guitar, Scotty's thrilling guitar intro, Terry's lush, low end synth, and Josh's bass to hold it down. Then, Ken had the great idea to invite Gaz to sing it for us. His awesome vocal track inspired us to heat up the kiln again, and put some real effort into bringing it to life. On that note, Josh redid his bass part to match Ken's rocking drums, as well as added the high, melodic synth you hear throughout. Tez came in last with the fiery guitar fills and solo, which you can hear throughout, as well. 
  Once it was all in the bag, we tapped Stephen to produce and mix it, which he did in his always pro manner. 
  This is the first collab Eclectic Collective has done with Gaz, but we all hope it won't be the last. He is one of the finest singers on the Cloud, and we're honored that he would sprinkle his magic on this song with us. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Original lyrics by Joseph Stenton:
Where were you on those days gone by
Were you out by the tracks where the lone train whistle cries
Or kicking up rocks on those dusty roads of dirt
Or skating on streets paved with gold
Or wrestling upon the grass beneath endless sky

On days gone bye
On days gone by
To be back there again
For all its lows and for all its highs 

Where were you on those days gone by
Were you tugging at the stars too
In an attempt to release their light
Bonded by hours
To a brotherhood we believed would never die

On days gone bye
On days gone by
To be back there again
For all its lows and for all its highs 

Where were you on those days gone by
From within this dull petrification of time
Comes a crystalline memory
Of those long lost moments, now born free 
Of come what might, come what might be

On days gone bye
On days gone by
To be back there again
For all its lows and for all its highs 

Where were you on those days gone by
With a tape in the walkman
Playing the soundtrack of passing time
To these moments of our lives
That once burned bright but never died

On days gone bye
On days gone by
To be back there again
For all its lows and for all its highs

Generation X (Eclectic Collective with Gaz Brownie, One Man Verity Show, and Joseph Shenton)

“Losing Control” drifts through the storm of sorrow, where rain washes away the past and silence speaks louder than words. It's a soul unraveling—through pain, through numbness—until a glimmer of light breaks the dark. From losing oneself to finding hope in love again, the song is a slow burn of release, reflection, and rebirth.

Break The Matrix

Losing Control

Losing Control (2025 Remastered)

Cast of Characters:
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 – Sigma acoustic guitar, Collings mandolin, Roland piano, vocals, vocal harmonies, and arrangement
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– Gibson Earle Scruggs banjo, arrangement, production, mix, and mastering        
This song is a Phish song written by Trey, Page, Fishman, and Tom Marshall, who wrote the lyrics. Originally, on their album Hoist, it's just Trey playing and acoustic guitar and singing. Stephen and I wanted to give it our own flavor though. After I asked him to play banjo on it and produce it for me, we started spitballing ideas about how we could add something more to it. Originally, we both played every instrument, guitar, banjo, mandolin, and piano, through the whole thing, except the first and last verses. Then we decided to trickle the instruments in for maximum effect. I also sang the harmonies throughout. Finally, Stephen came up with the idea to wrap the last verse in a mono effect, giving it a detached feel. He mixed it brilliantly, too.
  This song has always had a special place deep in my heart. Sometimes you hear a song and recognize such truth in it, it feels like it was written about you. This is such a song for me. Plus, it was written by my favorite band, Phish, so it has even more meaning for me. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Dog Faced Boy by Phish (with Texmex Shaman)

Cast of characters:
The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — acoustic guitar, vocals, lyrics, and compostion
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken -- drums
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– Tom Anderson custom T electric guitar, production, mix, and mastering
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick fretless four-string bass, and Roland organ
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – Fender Stratocaster electric guitrar, mix, and production
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – triangle, and ancillary vocals

This song began when Carl, who is always making connections on the Cloud, was inspired to write a song about our bandmate, Mark. As you can tell from his lyrics, Carl shares our appreciation and respect for our resident Canadian singer and multi instrumentalist. So, when he had the chords worked out on his acoustic guitar, and a great vocal track, he recorded them and started a project, to which the rest of Eclectic Collective were invited.
  First up to bat was Ken, laying in his always clever, essential beat for the rest of us to work with. Stephen was the next person to lay down a track, which was his essential, but subtle electric rhythm track. Later, after it was almost done, he also added a fiery solo in the firt part of the ending section. Josh came along right after Stephen, laying down his signature fretless bass. He also added the organ shortly after, as well. Tez entered the fray next, adding the lightning, Gilmore-esque final solo in the end section. 
  We considered what to do with this song for a minute, too. The thought was whether to present it to Mark as a gift, or to include him in the mix. We decided to go with the latter, and he added the awesome vocalizations towards the end, as well as some cool triangle.
  Once we had it in the bag, we turned it over to Stephen for the production, mix, and mastering, which he always does in a very pro manner.
  This is our second of hopefully many songs with Carl. If you have good music on your page, there's a good chance that he'll hit you up to collaborate. Like the moon, he's everywhere, and he's a damn fine collaborator, too. We hope you enjoy hearing this as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Carl also wanted to share this message about Mark, as well.
  "This song is written for our Canadian friend Mark. Mark is a pivotal member of the Eclectic Collective who as a band and equally Mark as an individual I'm discovering are phenomenal to work with. I was particularly struck how multiple generations of Mark's family enjoy music and creating together. Thanks for your music man. You really do show a unique approach and I look forward to making more really enjoyable songs like this one with you buddy. In my head lyrically Mark is whoever you focus the love on. Rock and Real!" ----TBD

Original lyrics by The Beautiful Dark:
You are the Mark
Mister Lark
Pedigree Bark
Stunning musical stark
Meet Mistermark

From Wondr to Bossa
All from I' Spy
Projecting your best
Proud human melody cry

May 2019
Maybe some fear became esteem
Soft bands in garage channel a way
Internal dreams in sound found light this day

So Dad was a seed
Kudos big man
You do good breed
In music we learn with proper concern
I think now you found Josh the EC

So onto Collective
You expand their perspective
With you and your music
Now Earth gets more fuses
Because of your music
It's a better blue ball
I know I certainly love hearing Marks call

We pressed the remote
We having those jams
Let's get it on and get more brain tan
We singing to clan
Wham bam thank you man

Miss No Mark (Eclectic Collective with The Beautiful Dark)

Cast of characters:
Tea R. Sea @tea_are_sea -- Terry – Synthesizers, Ibanez electric guitar, beats, composition, mix, and production
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– Fender Acoustasonic acoustic guitar and e-bow
K2 and the Three [and the Four] -- @k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1– Custom five-string fretless bass
Llanpsych–@llanpsych –Tez– Fender Stratocaster electric guitar
electric wah guitar
Cgmaness – @hiddenhands-760647700 – Chris – vocals, vocal harmonies, and lyrics
This song began its life as a skeleton of beats and synth created by Terry, who also added some crunchy electric guitar hits to it, too. Terry is a very skilled electronic music producer, and frequent collaborator with Stephen for a project they call Texas Tea. It's worth going to check out their other collabs, as well as Terry's solo projects on his and Stephen's page. 
  Even though Terry and Stephen work together frequently, Terry approached Josh with a couple of ideas, and Josh picked this one, so Terry started the project and invited the rest of the band to join in.
 Stephen was the lead off hitter for this one, though, adding his magical and heavily processed acoustic guitar to the bridge in the middle, as well as textural guitar in the entire first half. He also added a couple of cool lines with his e-bow, which he used on his guitar. Ken was next up to bat, adding his always thrilling drums to compliment Terry's beats. Josh went to work next, now that he had a solid beat to work with, added his low-frequency five string fretless bass to it. Tez batted clean up, adding his thrillling Gilmore-esque guitar solo to the end of it. 
  Then, once the music was all finished, we turned it over to Chris so he could add his amazing, psychedelic vocals delivering his original lyrics throughout.
  Once we had everything recorded, we turned it over to Terry to mix, as it was his song to begin with. Terry is an excellent producer with a great ear. Stephen, who is our trained mixer gave him some key advice along the way, too, though.
  This is Eclectic Collective's third song with Terry, and we're always thrilled when he has something to offer us. He's a wonderful collaborator with tons of great songs on his page, that are all worth checking out. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.
  Oh, and it's worth mentioning that three of us on this have birthdays this week, too. Chris' was first, on Wednesday, Terry's was Thursday, and Josh's is Friday (today). So, this is an extra special celebratory song for all three of us. We're all so very grateful for our SoundCloud community, friends, and musical family. We appreciate all of you!
Original lyrics by Cgmaness:

Lost in inner space,
questions interlace,
often they're erased.
amnesia's saving grace.
...
Many rising up,
What do you think it means?
Anything at all?
Anything?
....................
Wonder if you feel,
any of this truth?
Root systems occur,
we are one from birth.
we are one.
....
Slow to realize,
something is in the skies.
I cannot be wise.
We are lied to.
Realize, it's all a ruse.
but, we ripple on.
we ripple on.
we are one.
...
And that's when we fell back into,
a very familiar feel.
but I know.
Just pinholes,
just pinholes. 
....
Many rising up,
what do you think it means?
....
Sometimes we have to let go!

Koala Tea (Eclectic Collective with Tea R. Sea)

Cast of characters:
Jack Karasek — beats and seed idea
K2 and the Three [and the Four] -- @k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–beats
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1– Roland Phantom workstation
Llanpsych–@llanpsych –Tez– electric guitar
Tea R. Sea @tea_are_sea -- Terry – Synthesizer
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– mix, master, and production
This song began with Ken's oldest son, Jack, who laid down the basic rhythmic beat. Ken took over after that with the rest of the beats, though. Jack just graduated high school last week, and he's into hip hop and trap music, so he wanted to share some of it with his musician father, who is very proud of him.
  Tez was first up on this one, which surprised me when I went back and checked the workflow. He added the perfectly placed guitar hits throughout. Josh was next up, using his synth to add the falling bass line. Last, but not least, Terry came aboard, adding the moody, melodic, high register synth.
  When it was all finished, we asked out resident pro mixer, Stephen, to mix it for us. 
  This song was in its current form for about the past eight months. It was originally part of a series of vehicles Eclectic Collective composed for The Mysterious Decibel. He got caught up in life, though, and had to abandon the project. So, we sat on it, asking all the rappers we know if they'd be interested in having a go with it, but no one bit. So, with Jack's recent graduation, Ken revived it as a celebratory song for his son. It could still use some vocals, too, so think of this as an open invitation to anyone who want to do the honors. 
  We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it. 
  Oh, and just a side note for all of our friends who follow along with us, we won't be releasing a song this coming Friday, the 4th, but will have  new one for you, the following Friday, the 11th. Thank you for keeping up with us!

Throwing Rocks (Eclectic Collective)

Cast of characters:
The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — Ovation acoustic guitar, lead vocals, lyrics, and compostion
Scratch Kelly -- @scratchkelly — Sarah —  vocals
one man verity show – @one-man-verity-show – Scotty – Epiphone Casino melodic  electric guitar and vocals
Joe Stroffolino-- @joseph-stroffolino --  vocals
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – triangle and vocals
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken -- drums
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – Tom Anderson Custom T electric guitrar, mix, and production
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen — Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, production, mix, and mastering
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick fretless four-string bass

I just want to say I'm beyond honored to be the subject of such adoration from my musical family here. Carl really knows how to make a brother feel special, and he did it for me this time, with the help of some of our EC extended family. Here's Carl's write up. 
"Mr Bringer-er Together-er is Josh. You may also know him as artist Entheogenic Psychnought, or the spine of Eclectic Collective. We all came across Josh in our own lucky ways, but he really sets a high bar for spreading constructive musical love and encouragement on SoundCloud. This song started out as a comment. I (Carl/TBD) went to call Josh Mr Bringer-er Together-er and my phone auto corrected it. the next morning K2 swooped in and said what I wanted so I used that as a trigger for the song.
So, I had a rough arrangement. We then invited a few artists, except Josh, to paint it for him. Scratch Kelly, aka Sarah, beamed through some amazing vocals. Not long behind Joe Stroffolino painted in some brilliant backing vox. Then Scotty (One Man Verity Show) chimed in with some amazing guitar, trippy backing vocals, and the super artwork you get to enjoy. Mark brushed in a triangle and some vox, and then Ken added those trusty drums. Tez then strutted in and added some super lead guitar, and not far behind him was Stephen with some epic rhythm guitar that showed the way for the song from that point of view showing a much better space to all the other instruments than the original demo guitar. That was a lovely lesson on less is more...

The song was now ready to give to the main man for him to paint, and he chose his trusty bass to put some strawberries on his own musical cake.

I now stared at 37 tracks and went... Hmmm Stephen, Help! Stephen mixed and mastered it to its crisp current form, and it was a very difficult mix. He basically had to merge 3 projects to one and really aced the challenging mix and master like the true shaman he is. We hope you enjoy the song that brought us together again. May it give us more togetherness like Josh so wonderfully demonstrates everyday

You da brother man Josh 🤘🏽"

Lyrics

Magnet of human
Moulded by melody mind
Just jester Josh delivers this kind
Collective of creed worth all our belief
Friendship
Togetherness through skill and relief

Sharing, Caring
Composer of purr
Human vibrations of the highest occur
Let's celebrate this human some more
It's Mr Bringer-er together-er

Mr Bringer-er together-er
Mr Bringer-er together-er

Loving, Not shoving
Honing, Not moaning
Positive to give
In music he live
Loving his kids
Like he loves us
The luckiest kids who take this EC bus
Josh is the driver
Mr Music Jeez
More Mr Bringer-ers together-ers please

Mr Bringer-er together-er
Mr Bringer-er together-er

The Joshua Tree collecting collective
Physical dreams
Metaphysical pleasures
Skills. New.
Unconditional prime time
The only thing we tow is how we making new time line

Mr Bringer-er together-er

You are the rod
You cast your spinners
You reel us back in from lake bitter winter
It's Spring all the time in your World and Page
Our Mr Bringer-er together-er sage

We all love ya mate

Mr Bringer-er together-er
Mr Bringer-er together-er Oh oo
Mr Bringer-er together-er
Mr Bringer-er together-er Oh oo

Mr Bringerer Togetherer (Eclectic Collective with TBD, Scratch Kelly, Joe Stroffolino, and One MVS

"Magic is what we do. Music is how we do it." -- Jerry Garcia

Welcome to my page, my peers, associates, friends, and musical family. I'm a lifelong, multi-instrumentalist musician who records prolifically and joyfully. You'll hear me play guitar, bass (regular four string, and four and five string fretless), mandolin, banjo, keys (piano, organ, synth), lap slide, sitar, and sing on my recordings here. I've been in a few dozen bands in my life, playing everything from bluegrass, jazz, rock, jam band, reggae, funk, afrobeat, Middle Eastern, traditional Irish, singer/songwriter, pop/covers, to experimental/avant garde. 
  Since I found SoundCloud a couple years ago, I've found many talented, creative people with whom to create music. However, in the summer of '23 I formed a band called The Eclectic Collective with some of my favorite musicians I've met through here. It started as a loose collective of musicians and coalesced into a core group of musicians who find other musicians with whom we'd like to make music, then run their songs through our process, and in effect add a full band. That core of The Eclectic Collective includes Tez (Llanpsych), J.J. Terrel, Ken (K2 and the Three), Stephen (Texmex Shaman), Chris (cgmaness), and Mark (mistermark). A couple of other musicians are frequent collaborators, as well, including Artur of Surfers Like Us, and Steve Vervaet of Steve's World. More recently, we've been joined by Carl of The Beautiful Dark fame. 
  The magic of music is amplified exponentially by each person adding to it. So, we really try to add our sorcery all kinds of music from all kinds of artists. Sometimes, we keep it within the group, but a lot of what we do is collaboration with other artists. Therefore these days, 100% of what I do is collaboration, within the group or with other artists on the side.
  I, and we, are also available for hire if you have a song or lyrics and you really want to add bigger instrumentation or a band and good production to it. 
  A small sampling of the artists whom I consider primary influences, and whom you will hear coming through my fingers include Phish, The Flaming Lips, The Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Rye Cooder, Steve Earle, Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, Arcade Fire, Mikey Dread, Yellowman, Purpleman, The Meditations, Michigan and Smiley, Lee Perry, Dillinger, Django Reinhardt, Impossible Recording Machine, The Allman Bros Band, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Bela Fleck, Les Claypool, Sam Bush, David Grissman, John Prine, Talking Heads, Beastie Boys, MMW, Moe., Morphine, Ween, Steve Lukather, Michael McDonald, John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, John Scofield, Victor Wooten,  Cannonball Adderly, Thelonious Monk, Flea, Parliament Funkadelic,  Frank Zappa, Prince Paul, Pete Rock, Thievery Corporation, Amon Tobin, Chet Baker, Joao Gilberto, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Carol Kaye, Tame Impala, Mumford and Sons, Japanese Breakfast, LCD Soundsystem, Beach House, Sean Lennon, and Billy Strings, but of course there are many more. I also really like and am influenced by traditional Iranian, Palestinian, Indian, Sri Lankan, Sudanese, Mauritian, Somalian, Egyptian, West African, and Syrian music. I welcome anyone who plays non-western music to contact me for a collaboration, too.
 I'm overjoyed to have found my community on SoundCloud. This is a truly unique forum where everyone is sincerely trying to build each other up. The profoundly supportive and positive SoundCloud community has really opened up an exciting new world of collaboration for me. That is the main reason I'm in the Cloud, actually, to connect with other musicians and make music that I enjoy listening to, and hopefully others do, as well. I am ALWAYS looking to collaborate with interesting musicians, mostly though BandLab, which is where I record almost exclusively. It's a solid, free digital audio workstation hub where you can share recording projects, even if it's not where you make your recordings.
  Everything I do is live instrumental, not programmed, and using no computer beyond my phone. That's not to say that I would be opposed to using that kind of tool, it's just not my preferred medium with which to paint. If you like my music, please share it. If you want to collaborate, my BandLab handle is @bingo_pajama. Feel free to contact me at cornbreadband@hotmail.com, as well, even if you aren't on BandLab.
  If your music is primarily AI, please don't come around my page, as I'm not at all interested in complimenting a machine.
  Here's a link to music I've recorded live with a group of musicians here in Pittsburgh called The Northumberland Street Ramblers.
Check out The Northumberland Street Ramblers on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/fU4Me

Generation X (Eclectic Collective with Gaz Brownie, One Man Verity Show, and Joseph Shenton)

Entheogenic Psychonaut (Josh Clary)