MELOMANIAC

Composed in 2017.

Remastered in April 2025.

The people I follow know that sooner or later I'll visit their SC page to listen to their compositions. It's a ritual I do 4-5 times a year. And when I say listen... I mean really listen.

I do it because I like certain styles. Other times it's the technique. Other times it's the composition. Other times... simply to learn.
The truth is that music, as an element of communication, tells me a lot about the creator's intention, how it interprets certain themes, and even conveys a certain profile of the composer himself.

It's hard to explain, but it's as I say.

This composition is introspective and brings together some of my favorite styles, such as melodic, rock, and electronic.

I named it this because it corresponds to a period when my listening became more pronounced and I didn't have anyone to listen to me at the time.

It's certainly a strange composition, especially because of certain percussion sections (understood as self-criticism).

I will be grateful for your comments, as always.

Thank you for your time.

Paco

MELOMANIAC

21 tracks, MS2 native instruments and Forun Xewton
4 tracks, KV331 Synthmaster
DAW
Music Studio 2
Hardware
iPad
Mixer
My car perfectly parked.
Photo: My current complete music creation setup: iPad 7 and Sennheiser HD569 headphones

Next composition: flowers

Melomaniac

I always wanted to make a sonic companion to the last song Bitzone, Frawstakwa, and I made together, “What Difference Does It Make.” I finally got my chance. This one came together real fast. Bitzone sent me a raw beat, I asked Frawstakwa to kick it off, and then I made some arrangement adjustments and laid down my lyrics and vocals based on Frawstakwa’s. Bitzone then finished it up and bada-boom, gotta move, gotta shake!

Massive thanks to Frawstakwa for bringing the fresh ideas and original verse and chorus vocals. And big thanks to Bitzone for always make the tracks more vivid than I could imagine. 

May there always be at least a little time to bounce in your week! 

Track Credits:
Bitzone: Music, Production, Arrangement, Mix, and Master
https://soundcloud.com/bitzone
https://www.bitzones.net/
Frawstakwa: Verse and Chorus Lyrics and vocals
https://soundcloud.com/frawstakwa
the Couch King: Verse Lyrics, Vocals, and Samples
https://musiciselation.bandcamp.com
Intro: Louis Bloomfield

Lyrics: 

Hold up
Lemme tell you
What I’m talking about
To the beat
With a breakdown
That can make you bounce 

Here we are
Coming through
With whatever it takes
Full force
On these fools
All up in your face 
Show and prove
Break it down
To the drum 
And the bass
That good old
One two
Gotta move 
Gotta shake
Bada-boom
Something 
That you can feel
But wait
If you could feel 
Anything at all
Feeling great
Letting it flow
Mind body and soul
On my way
That’s how it goes
So the people them know
See you later

Hold up
Lemme tell you
What I’m talking about
To the beat
With a breakdown
That can make you bounce 

I’m just your everyday reverie of an emcee
You see
I’m but a memory of the way 
You say it be
On this beat 
You project the street 
On the hit of the kick 
The click 
Boom, respect it’s the fire of the heat 
It’s the sweat dripping from the meat 
You expect flowing from that bass 
That slow tempo that’s got you feeling 
You on the creep, you on the chase
Brace fo the bounce putting you in the some headspace 
Race everyone to hear every ounce so tie up yo shoelace 
And let’s go 
Yo, lettin’ the people know

Hold up
Lemme tell you
What I’m talking about
To the beat
With a breakdown
That can make you bounce

The flow is
Summoned 
On command
Dig deep
Within 
Without a plan
Improvise
And
Ka-blam 
That is called conviction
Can you understand
The definition
What is your religion?
Damn
It takes blind faith
To hope that one can trust
In what is true 
What is real
For real
So what it do?
We are here to
Be seen
Be heard
Be who
We truly are 
Hold up then
Please
Tell us
Who are you?
 
Hold up
Lemme tell you
What I’m talking about
To the beat
With a breakdown
That can make you bounce 

I got the feeling the bounce is appealing
Now that the ceiling’s been breaked
We got the unwilling to denounce appearing 
How it is that they never been waked 
Allow the revealing of the fake
Watch out we congealing as we get baked 
Take out that sponge cake, make no mistake 
It got that spring, there’s no remake 
Can feel the earth quake 
The beat is shaking
The bass is rumbling
So deep you feel your belly ache 
What’s at stake 
You gotta know
It’s that flow state 
We on a roll 
So slap on the butter baby
We gravy 
Grab a plate and
Before you go

Bounce
Bounce
To the boogie
The bang
The beat
Box
About
To bring it back
The breakdown
For the block
For my people
I see you
Gimme a pound
Tell me how
Have you been
For now
The breakdown
I’m here for you
Hear me loud 
And clear
We are responsible
For where we’re 
Bound
The breakdown
Heading out
Gotta beat the crowds
To get home
Put my feet up
While I eat on the couch
The breakdown

Hold up
Lemme tell you
What I’m talking about
To the beat
With a breakdown
That can make you bounce

Break Down The Bounce

Bitzone, RS Frawstakwa & the Couch King - Break Down The Bounce

A quiet chill jazz fusion atmosphere perhaps NuJazz with minimal percussion but a throbbing beat and electro, including one synth — a marimba sounding arp like a ticking clock — that I use in this  composition and a few new songs such as Hidden Room. Time Machine is the title track from my upcoming Time Machine EP. 
..................
With respect to H.G.Wells, I daresay that the brain, and more expansively, the mind is the best time machine of the cosmos. In fact, it created the idea of a time machine and discovered the physics that can someday engineer a time travel device. Time itself is a construct or an invention of the mind.

Our minds as time machines can instantly travel to the past — retrieving data about history and the physical world, and experiences from memory as if they happened today. Our minds can also zoom out to the future — conjuring a vision of how the world could look as a mental rehearsal, a daydream, a thought experiment, and a creative process for solving problems and making art. Or building time machines. 

We, humans, may be physically limited but our minds are not. And that gives me hope, even in the midst of chaos.
..................................
An original composition, no AI, produced digitally using a MIDI keyboard and DAW.

76 bpm

DAW: Apple Logic Pro X
MIDI: Akai Professional keyboard

E-INSTRUMENTS:
Concert Grand 
Ambient Lead
Cinema Strings
Violas
Lunar Chords
Rain Harp
Robot Talk
Deep Round Synth Bass
Upright Ballad Bass

E-DRUM KITS:
Drum N' Bass Remix
Trance Remix

COVER ART: AI-generated images via the DaVinci app and composition of the final art using Photoshop
..................................
.

Time Machine

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)

Romantic〔Lylics by Romi   Composed by Romi   Arrenged by Romi , Red＆Blue〕

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)

Tis a noble sport but it does have its downside. The lifespan of a wrestler is typically reduced by 15-20 years attributed to the health consequences of the sumo diet. They are also banned from driving cars partly due to being too big to fit behind a steering wheel. This song, however, is about another fight which we must win!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSnhY0xBK7k

I’m a sumo wrestler
Don’t fit in a Tesla
I weigh 400 pounds 
Or ‘bout that
And a lotta the food’ll be
Rice, ramen noodles
Yeah
Ya gotta be fat

No gougin ’ no kickin’
Just slappin’ and trippin’
Huff, luffa 
Keep your breathing in sync
Throw salt in the air
Show your palms 
That’s just fair
Make sure your mawashi’s 
Tucked in
   
Le lutteur de Sumo
Il ma fait ‘ah’
Il ma fait ‘oh’
Le lutteur de Sumo
C’est si bon
C’est si beau

No gougin’ no kickin’
Just slappin’ and trippin’
Make sure your mawashi 
Tucked in
 And remind that bozo
Once he touches the doho
It means that he loses
I win

Huffa luffa
Huffa luffa
Huffa luffa

The Sumo Wrestler

Back with some new fusion for the summer...here's beatnik

Beatnik - Sergio Parraga & Jamie Rhind

(Verse1)
Pull out the stops, it’s just the beginning 
Now let the beat dropped, 
If you’re here, then we’re winning 
didn’t change my aim —my name —
I-P-G-1,——-M-V-P still in the game 
ain’t no shame perfect storm 
On the cloud, let it rain, let it reign 
beyond the norm, splatter on the rooftops 
And flowing down the drain
some say i’m crazy, but you have been warned 
Born and bred to rep deep underground 

(Verse2)
acknowledge the name 
acknowledge the game 
acknowledge— the— pieces ain’t the same 
Fame—-nah never, but these rap bars, make me a rockstar 
shout it from the rooftop, Its all under par
underground, with top notch quality 
still goes far, on the path to Victory 
the winning team is always near the finish line
Pull out the stops, one standard refined 
deep end, different styles, different flow combined 
I’m jammin everywhere, come on read the sign-
Pull out the stops, these are wicked times

(Chorus)
pulled out the stops, pulled out the stops
Never fear, I take it as it comes. 
5-4-3-2——yeah, number 1, 
I-P-G in Forefront no I’m not done 
-Don’t matter where you come from
Come on get you some
Truth filled with facts, repping  underground
We won’t stop, or hold back
That’s a fact, so stay on track, 
pull the stops, got it like that
beat drop—————bars come off the top, 
——--Expressive with the style 
That’s a difference, why not? 
pulled the stops, 
pulled the stops

[Interlude]
Pull the stops-pull the stops
[Scratch]
Pull out the Stops
Crazy shit!
[Scratch]
Pull out the Stops
Jamming everywhere 
[Scratch]
Pull out the Stops
Levels to it!

(Chorus)

(Verse3)
Ain’t gonna stop, we’ll  just keep going 
paths been laid out highs and low-end 
stay motivated it’s a positive trend 
keep on Rollin, Switch it, flip the script.
Got the hip-hop groove, With soul in it
M-V-P so the track gets lit

Pull out the Stops

Pull Out the Stops

MISSING YOU  (From Open Collab Paploviante)
Backing Track:
https://soundcloud.com/paploviante-and-friends/turn-of-time-open-collab-offer
Vocals Leslie (Ghosthack) Missing you
Lillithe:  Mix, Arrangement and Production

Missing you (From Open Collab Paploviante)

Arm-in-ARM, America moves on!  
www.americanrosiemovement.org  
Additionnal Vocals Barbara Browning

ROSIE THE RIVETER ROSIE THE RIVETER
RIVETING INSPECTING WELDING CONNECTING GETTING ALONG AND PULLING TOGETHER
ROSIES THE RIVETERS ROSIES THE RIVETERS ASSEMBLING PERFECTING ERECTING PROTECTING NEVER ALONE COS PULLING TOGETHER
JUNE ROBBINS ROSE SHELENGIAN GLADYS REESE BUDDIE CURNUTTE DOT FOSTER PAULINE ADKINS I COULD NAME THEM ALL
BUT THEY ALL ARE ONE
BERTHA GLAVIN NEVA REES KRISTINE VROOMAN MARY ANN DIAMOND THE GOODYEAR AIRCRAFT SQUADRON
I COULDN’T NAME THEM ALL
COS THEY ALL ARE ONE
ROSIE THE RIVETER ROSIE THE RIVETER PROTECTING COMBINING UNITING PRODUCING GETTING ALONG AND PULLING TOGETHER BELIEVING
RIVETING RIVETING
AFRICAN AMERICAN HISPANIC WHITE AND ASIAN PULLING TOGETHER THREE SHIFT ROTATION
ALL AROUND THE CLOCK COOPERATION
OH ARM IN ARM FREEDOM IS THE KEY
GETTING ALONG NEVER ALONE
ALL AROUND THE CLOCK WHATEVER THE LOCK FREEDOM IS THE KEY
ROSIE THE RIVETER ROSIE THE RIVETER RIVETING INSPECTING WELDING CONNECTING GETTING ALONG AND PULLING TOGETHER ROSIES THE RIVETERS ROSIES THE RIVETERS PULLING TOGETHER
GETTING ALONG AND PULLING TOGETHER
RIVETING INSPECTING WELDING CONNECTING ASSEMBLING PERFECTING ERECTING PROTECTING COMBINING UNITING PRODUCING
BELIEVING
COS IF YOU CAN USE AN ELECTRIC MIXER
YOU SURE CAN OPERATE A DRILL
DOING THE BEST QUALITY WORK
ARM IN ARM THE AMERICAN ROSIE MOVEMENT
FREEDOM TAKES WORK TO GET AND KEEP
RIVETING RIVETING RIVETING RIVETING
SHARING THE CHORES OF COOKING CLEANING AND BABY-SITTING DOING THE BEST
SQUARE DANCE ON THE SATURDAY NIGHTS IT WAS DIFFERENT TIMES
BELIEVING
WHATEVER THE LOCK FREEDOM IS THE KEY BELIEVING
RIVETING RIVETING RIVETING RIVETING

ROSIE THE RIVETER (Lyrics) + B.Browning. Song for the Rosie Team

"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

Throwing Rocks (Eclectic Collective)

Entheogenic Psychonaut (Josh Clary)