Cast of Characters:

David Marconi — @david-marconi-917184705 — electric guitar, bass, foundation synth plus midi percussion and assorted traditional voices, production, mix, and composition
Elpiverse — @elpiverse — Elpi -- vocals, vocal composition and production
Ron Lewis — @ron-lewis-779503933 — synth 
TexMex Shaman --  @texmex-shaman –Stephen– sitar and mastering
Mistermark – @user-432503709 – Mark – talking drum
Llanpsych-- @llanpsych -- Tez – electric guitar
J.J. Terrell-- @j-j-terrell—JJ-- synth flute and ambient synth
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums and percussion
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – 5-string fretless bass
AliasZen (Elpi's husband) — artwork (created with the help of AI)


This song began with David, who wrote it on the guitar, synth, and bass over a programmed beat he created. He and Josh met more than two months ago and decided to do a collaboration, based on mutual enjoyment of and respect for each other's music. Dave had this song pretty much fleshed out, although it was still a skeleton when he offered it to Josh, who, of course, got the rest of the Eclectic Collective involved. 
  Dave asked us all to compose our own parts for the song, so we all got to work right away doing that. We all realized that the first order of business would be to get a real beat on this, so Ken accomplished that task with some dynamic, Eastern inspired drums and percussion, which he plays throughout the song. JJ then stepped in and added his best eastern flute magic. Stephen was next with the perfect-vibe sitar you hear in the first two sections. 
  Josh came next to add his five-string fretless bass to the mix, augmenting David's high, staccato bass with his deep, low tone bass. Then, for the third section, where David's Gilmore-esque guitar solo resides, Josh drops out, allowing for Dave's awesome bass playing in that section. However, Josh does come in again towards the end, in the final section, too. Also, in that section, Tez dropped an augmented, harmonic, electric fire, complementary guitar part. Then, David's frequent collaborator and friend Ron added some well blended, ethereal synth to the first section, too.
  Once we had the instrumental parts pretty much laid down, we began to discuss getting a woman to sing on this, as David was inspired by The Great Gig in the Sky, by Pink Floyd, and we all agreed. Who we found to do it actually blew all of our minds. JJ, being familiar with her music, contacted Elpi first, and we were all lucky enough that she agreed to do it. Having heard Mediterranean music all her life in Greece, she tapped into what her husband said were her "ancient Greek roots," for her spectacular vocal performance. She finds all the modal notes and places them perfectly throughout her sections. 
  But before we were done, Mark came through with some really striking talking drum parts in the first two sections, too. Once we had everything in the can, David took over, both with some masterful editing and production, and with the balanced, dynamic mix. The mix was a formidable task, but he did it with considerable skill, also taking everyone's opinions into account, which is a talent in and of itself. When he was done with the mix, he turned it over to Stephen for the mastering, which the latter did to everyone's satisfaction, as always.
  This is the first song the Eclectic Collective has done with David, Elpi, and Ron, and we all hope it's the first of many, as we welcome them into the EC family. They all have some wonderful music on their pages, too, so do yourself a favor and check out all of them, as well. We hope you enjoy listening to this song as much as we enjoyed creating it.

TheSiege (David Marconi, Elpiverse, and Ron Lewis with Eclectic Collective)

The master of the previous version was a bit quite so I enhance it by raising it's normalization & loudness to match soundcloud stream standards.

Energetica [Enhanced Version]

rotten weather   rollin’ in

we’ll go walkin’ anyway

‘gainst the wind


get your go-bag ready
load the car up


did you hear it?  distant roar

keep your ear down to the ground

check the score


get your hard hat ready
fill those bottles up


i can’t remember
were you there?
your fingers running
through my hair


let them come now  let them try

beating down the beautiful

of our tribe


purple mountains raging
blackened skies 
constitution’s aging
battle cry 

high angels  hiding

my country  dying

(not too late)   (late)

let’s listen  let’s breathe 

(not too late)   (late)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Janine Levinson, Cheesemont Paisely-Paisely, and Wheelwright for early listening and feedback.

Rotten Weather

We are always moving and never in the same place again. It seems better if we take care of all loved ones and the places we live and visit. Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year ,Thanks for all the wonderful sharing of music and Positivity,

Críochnaíonn Aisling Amháin, Tosaíonn Aisling Nua. ( One Dream Finishes, A New Dream Begins )

Cast of Characters:
Stonerjazz-- @user-911083679 -- narration of questions
Surfers Like Us– @user-411502040 –Artur– guitar
mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark—synth effects, synth strings and flute, lyrics, and vocals
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – guitar and production
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– guitar, banjo, slide, sitar, and production
J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell –electric piano, organ, synth, bass, drums, vocals, and production
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums, percussion, and vocals
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –- guitar, bass, madolin, keys, banjo, lap steel, sitar, and vocals
Huge thanks, too, to the other featured musicians to whom we're very grateful to for sharing their music and talents with us this past year. They are the fuel that drives the EC into new musical realms. They include:

(especially) CGMANESS-- user-419254289-15129531
TEA R. SEA-- @tea_are_sea
STEVE'S PLANET-- @steve-vervaet
JOHN ANTHONY-- @john-anthony-871225464
JEFF ROBERTS-- @jeff_roberts
ELPIVERSE-- @elpiverse 
SCOTTY (ONE MAN VERITY SHOW)-- @one-man-verity-show 
ROY ROY-- @user-967672349
MARK FOSELLA-- @mark_f_2019 
FRANS BEELAARD-- @user-936947521 
THE MYSTERIOUS DECIBEL--  @themysteriousdecibel 
DAVID MARCONI-- @david-marconi-917184705 
RON LEWIS--  @ron-lewis-779503933 
JAMES TOBUREN (WITCHES OF THE ALAMO)-- @witchesofthealamo 

  Well folks, it's that time of year again. It's time for the Eclectic Collective to take stock of the fruits of the year previous, and reflect on what making music together means to all of us. We hope you all take a chunk of time and indulge in our gift to you. We wanted to address every one of our SoundCloud friends with our voices as an intimate way to connect with each of you.
  This has become a tradition within the EC now that we've made it to our second (and a half) year of making music together. For the second time, JJ asked our friend and sometimes collaborator Jeff (Stonerjazz) to ask some interview questions of us. Then, we all came up with the answers and sent them to JJ to assemble the project.
  This mighty music machine we've created, that manages to release a new song every Friday, wouldn't mean anything if no one was listening to us. Which is why we want to extend our very sincere thanks to you for tuning in and supporting our efforts. If one other person gets joy from our music, that's such a huge accomplishment. However, it really feels like a bunch of people whom we really respect are digging what we're doing, which feels truly humbling and fulfilling. 
  With that, we hope you enjoy hearing us voice our thoughts over the highlights of our musical year as much as we enjoyed a year rich in music and comradery. Happy New Year!
 Here's a breakdown of the time stamps for each of our individual questions and answers, in case you want to skip ahead or want to hear someone more than once. 
1:28 TEZ Q1
2:20 TEZ Q2
2:37 TEZ Q3 
4:42 KEN Q1 
7:36 KEN Q2 
13:04 MARK Q1
18:42 STEPHEN Q1 
23:21 JOSH Q1
27:36  ARTUR Q1  
32:00 J.J. Q1

The 2024 Eclectic Collective Rockumentary

Funky Flow - By The Numbers - Im Keeping Score
thank you for this collab.. https://soundcloud.com/ipg1 
https://soundcloud.com/ipg1/sets/vocals
https://soundcloud.com/ipg1/by-the-numbers-160-bpm?in=ipg1/sets/vocals
https://soundcloud.com/ipg1/funky-flow-collab-vox-90-bpm?in=ipg1/sets/vocals
https://soundcloud.com/ipg1/im-keeping-score-vocals-92-bpm?in=ipg1/sets/vocals
instrumental version:
https://soundcloud.com/30gradx/planet-x

planet x w/ IPG1

Hakan kindly invited me to collaborate on his track Nitro - what you hear is Nitro plus one take bass and guitar as a 'live' jam.
Hope you enjoy the vibe :)
Listen to Well here
https://on.soundcloud.com/8s7LXNint8jSN8gu5

Nitro - with Well

Unsure

all sounds and effects of the Anyware "tinysizer", mixed in a DAW

let me drone

Don de nature, présent du printemps, abondante et pourtant discrète, la fleur de forsythia (une dernière petite balade piano/piano électrique/guitare/voix

la branche de forsythia

Cast of characters:
Jonathan Beckenstein — @jonathan_beckenstein — acoustic guitar, composition

Cgmaness – @user-419254289-15129531 – Chris – bass, vocals, and lyrics

K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums, percussion, and vocal harmonies

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Roland FP-10 piano and Collings mandolin

TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– Tom Anderson custom T slide guitar, production, mix, and mastering

Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – harmonica, edited fiddle samples, and jaw harp

This song began when Jonathan wrote it on his acoustic guitar several months ago with the intention of developing it into a larger song. When Josh approached him about doing a collaboration, Jonathan thought this one would fit the bill. I should say at this point how much we all admire Jonathan and enjoy his music. On the unlikely chance you aren't already familiar with his music, I suggest you go hop on his page and check it out. 

  All that to explain the level of excitement that ran through Eclectic Collective when Josh shared the project with the group. Chris was first to jump on it, coming up with his intricate bass line even before Ken added his moving drums, although they went back and forth a couple of times to create the rhythm section. Josh jumped on right after that part was complete, adding his mandolin and piano to the mix. Steven was next up, adding his howling slide throughout. Last, but certainly not least, Mark came up with the driving harmonica and twangy jaw harp, and the raspy fiddle, adding them all to complete the instruments. 

  At this point, we had a pretty good instrumental song on our hands. However, Chris decided to give it the extra kick by adding the vocals, the lyrics for which he wrote himself. Our multitalented drummer, Ken, added the vocal harmonies shortly after, too.

  Now that it was in the bag, we needed some production for it. So, we turned to Stephen, who mixed and mastered it in his always expert fashion. 

  This song is a real treat for everyone in the band, as I mentioned earlie. We are all very grateful to Jonathan for sharing this song with us, and had a wonderful time helping bring it to life. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Original lyrics by cgmaness:
 Come on now let's break a leg,
We've got it made in the shade.
One more day, go out and play.
I guarantee we've got it made.
Oh, we've got it made.
Happy to be with my friends today.
Fill up your drink whatever it may take.
I guarantee we've got it made.
~Gibberish~
Don't need a reason,
Or wait for the seasons to change.
That's what I claim.
Go out on this limb with me,
And realize, we've got it made.
We got it made in the shade.
Can't you see we got it made?
Oh, we've got it made.
Happy to be with my friends today.
Fill up your drink whatever it may take.
Can you believe that we've got it made?
Come on now let's shake a leg.
We've got it made in the shade.
Don't need a reason,
Or wait for the seasons to change.
That's what I claim.
Go out on this limb with me,
And realize, we've got it made.


We've Got it Made - (Eclectic Collective w/ Jonathan Beckenstein)

"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