what a great sound, love that mandolin, and great vocals, and the bass is spot on! I have been having a really tough time posting comments lately, apparently I might be a robot, but I have really been enjoying your work!

This is top stuff Josh great cover enjoyed the listen as Mr Plant would say up the wolves 🐺even he would love it 👍

Absolute RESPECT to all who recorded this, with us, Josh! Freaking amazing! Got to pinch myself!, ha!😇

Love this! Excellent tone quality on everything. Nicely performed and produced.

sonic and rhythmic exploration of my noisy electric guitar solo.
visual: extract of one of my recent abstract painting in colors.

DANS L'OMBRE DE MA GUITARE  PATRICK PICAULT

UnBoxed February 2024

[ d o w n l o a d a b l e ]

Spaced Out

Happy Friday to my SC friends. Today’s musical offering is very special to me because it signifies a breaking away from my old patterns. Long story short… old Justin was pretty set in his music making/production routines (solo work belongs on solo albums. Collab work belongs on collab albums. And never the two shall meet). 

But new Justin is proving to be surprisingly more flexible in his thinking; an interesting (I might even go as far as to say… shocking) result of my new paradigm. And while it might seem like a ‘nothing burger’ to most people… the way my brain is wired, this is a huge change… and one I am grateful for.

So today I happily offer my first collab song, also intended for my first hybrid album. The song is called ‘Life In Twilight’… and my guest artist is our dear friend, Carlos Vivanco (https://soundcloud.com/carlosvivanco-1, https://carlosvivanco1.bandcamp.com), offering up the lovely Alto Sax and Guitar you hear in this piece

If you haven’t already crossed paths with Carlos, you are missing out. He is one of the most prolific people I have encountered in my travels. He plays about 30+ instruments, each with impressive skill. And if the instrument doesn’t exist... he creates it himself. And 'musician' is just one aspect of his inspiring and adventurous life. He is a great example of a person who discovered his passions early, and is now living a beautiful life pursuing those passions. We need more people like him in this world, reminding us of what is truly important.

On a personal level, the stuff Carlos has taught me over the years has helped me ease into this new sober life with tremendous grace. The music theory and instrumental lessons have helped make my sonic worlds more sophisticated (and therefore more rewarding to craft). And the moving and breathing meditations (Chi energy exercises) have proven fundamental to my mental/spiritual well being too. Needless to say, he has been a major influence in my evolving life; and I will be forever grateful. 

Carlos, I am honored beyond words that you are the guest artist on my first hybrid album. It signifies a great new direction for me. I’m excited to be on this path, and I’m glad you agreed to join me. 

To everyone else, we hope you enjoy “Life In Twilight”, the first of two new songs with Carlos that will ultimately wrap up my upcoming album “What Color Is Your Paradox?” 

(And yes... this is the last song I still had in the archives from my little break; originally finished on 1/20/2024. It's all going to be new content from here on out). :)

Paradox?

Life In Twilight | Carlos Vivanco & GrevusAnjl

My words are always wrong
I don’t know what to say to you
i’ve tried to put them in a song
i hope that it's a way to break through

I think we’re stronger than you know
More than you give it credit for
yeah,there’s a long long way to go
But first we have to open up the door

So we’ve had our share of tears
You think the dream has gone
We are fumbling through the years
We can find a way to carry on

How can you say that i’m not here
I’ve been right here all along
How can you say that i don’t care
When everything i do is for you, right or wrong

Look straight ahead, don't look back
We both know what we’ve been through
Please don’t mind those hard times
Because they led me here to you

I’ll hold on
And you’ll stay strong

Now it’s good to see you smile 
you haven’t felt like smiling for a while
And the feel of your hand in my hand
It makes everything worthwhile

we’ve had our own share of the dark 
But all of those hard times are gone
And the road ahead is long
But we don’t have to walk alone

Look straight ahead, don't look back
We both know what we’ve been through
Now i don’t mind those hard times
Because they led me here to you

I’ll hold on
And You stay strong

Looking Ahead

PS Perkins: Guitars, bass, lyre, vocals
Ron Thomas: Autoharps, Drums

Production notes:
---------------------------------------------
Very early on we wanted to use autoharps on this song to create a sort of swirling backdrop, reminiscent of the harps in Indian/Bollywood soundtrack songs of the seventies.

Right away there were challenges because the song is in B flat and is not wholly diatonic to begin with, utilizing a chord built on the augmented lydian scale in the choruses. So rather than transpose the song to a more amenable key (since the chromatic bits weren't going to work no matter what key we used) we instead re-tuned the autoharp. Moving through the strings one by one we tuned them either up or down a half step where applicable to bring them into key. Where the augmented chord hit in the choruses, we excluded those notes so that the autoharp was filling the diatonic parts of the chords and omitting the accidentals. It took us several tries to get it right. In the end we arrived at a chord progression that could be strummed on the autoharp and the modified chords could be played with existing dampers.

We also tuned the lyre so that the top half of the strings included the chromatic augmented notes while the lower register of the lyre was tuned using the diatonic, so the lyre could play the melody all the way through both parts of the song.

The inspiration for this song was essentially fourfold:
--------------------------------------------------------
First, H.P. Lovecraft's terrifying necromancer Joseph Curwen (from "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward") who masked his true identity in order to thwart suspicion from his fellow townsfolk. He has many secrets lurking in his underground catacombs where he performs acts of necromancy most foul, extracting the "salts" of the dead in order to raise them at will and learn the secrets of ancient eldritch deities.

Second, a poem by Rudyard Kipling titled "En-Dor" which was a warning against the rise of spiritualism and the cost of communion with the dead in the early 20th century.

Third, the biblical Saul who traveled in disguise to visit a witch at the city of Endor in order to summon Samuel from the dead and garner advice on defeating the Philistines, but who only prophesies doom for Saul. Saul dies later the next day in the battle of Gilboa.

Lastly, the story of Odysseus communing with the underworld where he enlists the help of Tiresias to have a chat with the dead and secure for himself a safe journey home.

They all seek communion with the dead for one purpose: to gain knowledge which only those who have crossed over between realms might possess. 

Lyrics:
-------------------------------------
A mask may reveal what it’s meant to conceal
From those who are standing beside us
Armor of pride, so we learn to abide
By the monsters which hide deep inside us
The monsters which lurk deep inside us
Oh, how they scratch and they bite us
The monsters which lurk deep inside us

Only to know what the professor knows

Eating black bread, wearing clothes of the dead
The soil soaked in honey around us
For fear if we failed, leave the ogre unveiled
And it’s back in the grave where they found us
Back in the grave where they found us
Freed from the ties which had bound us
Back in the grave where they found us

Only to know what the professor knows

In the catacomb vaults, we extracted the salts
From cadavers to lengthen our youth
Chanting the names at the edge of the flames
And a mirror to show us the truth
A mirror which speaks only truth
See how it seeks not to soothe
A mirror which speaks only truth

Only to know what the professor knows

In the underworld maze, in the night of no days
Concocting the plan we’re devising
Much to endure on the road to En-Dor
And to snatch from Elohim arising
To snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising

BARDS: Of the Shimmering Seraphs

The Professor

Cast of Characters:
John_Anthony-- @john-anthony-871225464 --guitar, mandolin
The Mysterious Decibel-- @themysteriousdecibel – vocals
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums and high harmony in the end vocals, mastering
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– production and mix
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-four string fretless bass, melody and third harmony on the end vocals

This song actually began more than a year ago, when Ken and I were just sniffing each other out. We'd been working on Zeppelin's Night Flight, for those of you who remember that long ago, and I was having trouble with latency in my recording. Out of frustration, I recorded a really rough version of this, to which Ken put really amazingly perfect drums. Shortly after, I got my recording issues settled and we continued on with Night Flight, shelving this half baked creature for more than a year. But it wasn't forgotten. 
  In the meantime, I'd been following John Anthony on both YouTube (https://youtube.com/@johnanthony5720?si=-ooQcUUQaemrk-NH) and on the Cloud. If you were ever curious about how Jimmy Page's fingers looked in the studio, do yourself a favor and check him out on there, too. Since he can play literally every Zep song note for note, I figured I'd ask him if he would replace my pitiful by comparison guitar part with his own. He not only did that in numerous sections, as Page would've, but played the mandolin for it, too. Now, we had a song that was almost ready, but of course we needed someone to fill Plant's part. So, of course we asked The Mysterious Decibel if he'd do the honors, which he came through with in grand fashion. 
  Now that the song was done, we needed it to be mixed, too. So, we tapped our resident mixing expert, Stephen to do that for us. It was a surprisingly difficult mix to get everyone to agree on. And there were philosophical questions that arose during the mixing process, too. We're very lucky, though, that Stephen is not only an expert producer, but a great teammate as well, with the patience of your favorite high school teacher. 
  You can even watch a video of us all adding our parts on John's page right here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mdeT8ySZow&ab_channel=LowTechniqueCovers
  Our hope is that we honored the almighty Led Zeppelin with this one. We hope you all enjoy our reverent tribute to one of our collective favorites as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Hey Hey What Can I Do (The Eclectic Collective with John Anthony)

Well this is another with Greg Willis from Wales on Sax , it's got a Northern Soul sort of sound , hope you like it ! On a similar theme , on the 5th of March me and Charlotte ( Charlie and the Fox ) have a 60s Wall of Sound song out , I tried to get the Spector sound , we'll see whether I succeeded or not ! Greg is on this one too , I can't seem to leave him alone Ha ! Renowned Lyricist Tony Harris ( from Alabama ) and I got together for a lovely song which is out on the 15th of March . After that a new one from me and Gaz Brownie . Thank you so much for giving us your time !

No Album

Different Melody ( feat. Greg Willis )

Different Melody ( Fox and Willis )

I'm sorry y'all--this is another downer of a song with preachy lyrics but it's an idea that came up and demanded to be completed. 

The only side I take is the human one, but I couldn't have more contempt for the ostensible leaders of both Gaza and Israel who seek their own interests at the cost of so much suffering among innocents. Nothing good comes out of "Let's go kill some people."



You Let This Happen

have you understood that this is the final warning call
abandon hope all those that linger here

you lived the diamond life and could not lend your ears
and now the sand is wet with blood beyond our wildest fears 
how could you let this happen here

we plant the seeds of death beside the seeds of life 
so they can pay the price and have the will to fight

the bloodied face that no one could identify
now here's the news that was a mother's precious baby
how could you let this happen here

so how do you think this story ends
when it begins with the death of innocents
another thousand years of war is in the cards
another generation with daggers in their hearts

and you let it happen

You Let This Happen

Stari Most (Old Bridge) is the name of the legendary 16th century bridge in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) which was bombed and destroyed during the Yugoslav Wars but later rebuilt thanks to people of peace and good will. 
Free Palestine! Stop genocide in Gaza! 

Stari Most (Vieux Pont) est le nom du légendaire pont du XVIe siècle à Mostar (Bosnie-Herzégovine) qui a été bombardé et détruit pendant les guerres yougoslaves mais reconstruit plus tard grâce aux gens de paix et de bonne volonté.
Palestine libre ! Stop au génocide à Gaza !

Time Zones

Stari Most

Original composition, electric guitars and bass by Neno J.

Beware of distortion! Listen loud!

Turbulent Times

An Unfilled Void

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, last summer ('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), and Stephen (Texmex Shaman), although we have also added Mark (mistermark) and The Mysterious Decibel to the mix this fall. A couple of other musicians are frequent collaborators, as well, including Artur of Surfers Like Us, and Steve Vervaet of Steve's World. 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. In fact, 100% of what I do is collaboration, within the group or with other amazing artists like Chris Maness (@cgmaness).
  I, and we, are also available for hire if you have a song 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, Radiohead, Rye Cooder, Steve Earle, Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, Arcade Fire, Mikey Dread, Yellowman, Purpleman, The Grateful Dead, 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, 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, and Sean Lennon, 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'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 some 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 recordings, 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, I just don't have access to it. 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.
  Recently, over the summer of '23, I formed a collective of my fellow SoundCloud musicians into a loose band called the Eclectic Collective. We have core members, but the lineup changes weekly. I basically found my favorite musicians on here, and asked them if they wanted to collaborate. It keeps growing strong. If you have some music that you think a band could bring to life, please hit me up and we'll see if we can add you, too. 
Here's a link to music I've recorded 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

Hey Hey What Can I Do (The Eclectic Collective with John Anthony)

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)

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