Contours and detours
Written and recorded by TJG May 2024

Life rarely moves in straight lines—and neither does the music. Three Photons returns with "Contours and Detours", a winding, analog-rich meditation on movement, misdirection, and the beauty of the unexpected.

Contours and Detours is my take on Gershwin's Rhythm changes with my own harmonic substitutions throughout. Written in B-flat Major with a Key change in the bridge. 

Technical Details
Rhythm Guitar: Gibson ES 335
Lead Guitar: Gibson ES 335
Guitar Amplifier: Fender George Benson Hot Rod Deluxe
Fender pedal board: Line 6 delay; Fender clean boost
Mics: a pair of Royer r10 ribbons on guitars
Mic preamps: API 312
Mixer: API 24 channel summing mixer (8200/7800)
Stereo Bus processing (API EQ and API compressor)
Final mix down to a MARA MCI JH110 1/4inch 2-track at 15 ips using ATR Master Tape.

Contours and detours

See the music video filmed in VR:  https://youtu.be/VQCHsPYp2Gs

"I Don't Want to Meet You IRL" - new song inspired by being in virtual reality and filmed in VRChat.  Thanks AC_Chosen for use of the Orion Club world and thanks Ivylistar for use of the Vibraphone world in VRChat.

Lyrics:

I Don't Want to Meet You IRL

I don't want to
I don't want to
I don't want to
I don't want to
I don't want to meet you IRL

Everything's so perfect me might as well
Hold onto a good thing
Can't afford to lose this feeling


I don't want to
I don't want to
I don't want to
I don't want to
I don't want to meet you IRL

But I'll meet you in the happy place where we dwell
People say we're crazy - maybe we are
But I just want to be with your avatar

I don't want to
I don't want to
I don't want to
I don't want to
I don't want to meet you IRL

You are so intoxicating I can tell
If we ever met eye to eye
Catastrophic overload I'd lose my mind

I don't want to meet you IRL
Everything's so perfect me might as well
Hold onto a good thing
Can't afford to lose this feeling

ISRC:
ushm82438532

I Don't Want to Meet You IRL

I was working on updating this and it suddenly struck me that it's sorta spooky sounding and it's Halloween time. Perfect.

Circa 2007 I began poking around with synth sounds in GarageBand. It was fun to play with the settings to see what new sounds I could contrive. This is the result of one of those adventures. I recently opened the file in Logic and tweaked it to match where I'm at presently in my musical journey.

(This tune is downloadable.)

I compose in MIDI, using Logic Pro and sound libraries from EastWest. This tune has a lot of personally tweaked synth sounds.

© 2024 Rebecca Williams All rights reserved.

Novel Conservation (18 Years Later)

EP: Hedera Helix

Hedera Helix ft. Hega

Cast of Characters:
J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell – drums, bass, and organ
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– mix, mastering, and production
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1–PRS semi hollow body electric guitar
This song began with JJ on a late Saturday night, coming up with it on the drums, bass, and organ. He had a killer jazz groove on his mind when he composed it, and was able to really bring it to life on all levels. He originally wrote it as a solo piece, but asked me if I would like to add a guitar part. I jumped at the opportunity to play an original jazz song on his guitar, and in a few days, recorded about 20 takes of it. He finally landed on the one you hear in here now. 
  We asked Stephen to mix, master, and produce it for them, which he did in his typically professional way.
  This was a fun, exciting collaboration, featuring just JJ and me, but the rest of the Eclectic Collective will be back with them next time. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it.

Losing the  Paparazzi (With JJ Terrell, produced by Texmex Shaman)

Cast of characters:
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick four-string fretless bass, Roland Phantom 6 synth, vocals, lyrics, arrangement, composition
J.J. Terrell-- @j-j-terrell—JJ--  Yamaha Genos 2 and Yamaha MoXF8 
synth, organ, electric piano, and vocal harmonies
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – clavinet     
Llanpsych-- @llanpsych -- Tez – Fender Stratocaser through a VST synth FX device
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen–  Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, Fender Acoustasonic acoustic guitar, Gibson Earl Scruggs Mastertone banjo, mix, production, and mastering
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums and percussion

This song started when as a vague idea Josh came up with while listening to Lionel Richie's All Night Long followed by Michael McDonald's song Sweet Freedom. He wanted to create a song that uses that same basic structure because those are both perfect pop songs in his opinion. He came up with a rough structure on his bass and piano before enlisting the help of his team of musical superheroes. 
  Ken was first up to bat, adding his magical drums and helping Josh find a groove on his bass. Ken later added the hand percussion that adds a spicy drive to the song, too. Next up was Mark, who added the funky clavinet throughout. Stephen threw down after Ken, adding some foundational guitar to the stew. He also added the awesome banjo you hear trickling throughout. Very shortly after, Tez came through with the trippy guitar solo at the end. JJ followed with the breathy organ that lifts the whole thing aloft.
  Now that we had a solid foundation to work with, Josh added the synth "horn" part in the middle, as well as the vocals, including the third harmony part in the choruses. JJ added the fifth harmony part in the choruses soon after. He also added the synth hooks throughout and synth solo at the end. Not stopping there, he also added the electric piano intro, with Ken's drums, and Stephen, who added the electric guitar in that part, as well.
  Now that the whole thing was in the can, it was time for a mix. One of our resident production experts, Stephen, did the honors, as well as the mastering. 
  This is an example of everyone in the Eclectic Collective adding just the right puzzle piece to form the bigger picture. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it. 

Original lyrics by Josh Clary:

Got a little baggie
Got a tank of gas
Now what I need from you 
Is to light a fire under my ass

Let’s put down our phones
And turn up the tunes
By now you know there’s nothing 
That we can’t get up to

Wherever we go 
That’s where I want to be
Just as long as 
I know I have
You there with me
Because
I’m down for anything x2
And you know that’s true
You know that’s true

Whatever you wanna do
Whatever we get up to 
I’m down for anything
Anything

With you I love to eat
But I never want to sleep
Because I don’t want to miss out 
On spending any time with you

When I hear you laugh
Or get excited with a gasp
You make my heart feel like
I just ran a lap

Let's go on a run 
Or figure out some fun
Or jump in the car and drive to where 
The ocean meets the sun

Chorus repeats/Chorus reprise

When you hit me with those eyes
You know you hypnotize me
And just when I think you won’t 
You can still surprise me 

We’ve done it all before
Now let’s go do it all some more
Every day is a reward 
When I feel like I just scored

Down for Anything (Eclectic Collective)

This track contains complex glitches & rhythmic patterns. a collect all parts together & came with new idea.

Vision X

The hurt and then the anger of having the truth kept from you.

Nobody Told Me

I'd been talking for a while with @kinelle-man (one of my favourite Soundcloud artists) about collaborating on something, but I was always too lazy to do anything about it. Then he recently approached me with this great tune, which was more or less complete already, and he suggested I add some drums to it, and whatever else I thought might work. most of the music is from kinelle man, while I added some drums, organ, and extra guitar bits (see below for details). Once I mixed it together, we really loved how it turned out and I'm grateful to kinelle man for this fun opportunity! Dedicated to a friend of a friend.  :)

kinelle man - bass, main guitars, arrangement
mistermark - drums, percussion, organ, additional guitar fills (samples of GarageBand loops)
Kevin G Davy - trumpet


Image design concept by me based on kinelle man's song title, created using ChatGPT 4o and Photoshop. It's meant to be an abstract of a cell nucleus, on an old polaroid photo.

Family Circle (a kinelle man / mistermark 'cool'-laboration)

Bad things don't break close to home, close the blinds
Turn the T.V. on, sleep on the couch
Freaks still rumble, stuff going down 'neath my nose

There was a shooting at the park
After dark anything can happen
Police can't be everywhere at once

Still pretty sure nothing gonna break, avoid the news
At every cost, anything I don't know aint gonna hurt me
Anything I don't know I don't need to know

Lawless society is a no-mans-land
Destroy everything
Sit and watch as all this play on the screen

08-07-2024

A Shooting At The Park

simple song about a simple time way back when
#lofi   #first love  #losing yer VitaminC

Tangerine
                                                                                     
Well I was thinking of how we used to play                                        
Oh so many years ago
Made up some silly names
No one knew what we meant
Where did that time with you go

I recall you had a passion for those fruits
Called me your Red Raspberry Toy
You were my mashed Banana Girl
Well that really cracked you up
And I was your Cherry Baby Boy

Then our time was over when you said                                                                        
Your Daddy’s gonna move the family west
On that final day, you pleaded, “Hold me Sugar Plum,
and whisper the name I like the best”

Tangerine, Let me be  the Apple of your eye
My Tangerine, I’m sticky and sweet, your guy
Oh Tangerine, my first love
Now say goodbye

You sent me letters saying you’d always wait for me
Using veggie names to cheer me up
I became your Broccoli 
and I christened you Sweet Pea
It was all I had but it was enough

Saying when can I see you my Cauliflower Queen
I would call you up but we couldn't talk for long
Paying by the minute, those long distance charges added up 
There was only time for me to sing your favorite song

Tangerine, I wanna  be the Apple of your eye
My Tangerine I’ll always be sticky and sweet, your guy
Tangerine, you were my first love 
Now say goodbye
Goodbye





Tangerine

"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

Losing the Paparazzi (With JJ Terrell, produced by Texmex Shaman)

Entheogenic Psychonaut (Josh Clary)