Haddies

VanCleeve Basement recording, probably made in 2012.
At this point Austin Matthews (now the owner of Recollect Records in Denver) had moved into the house, bringing with him a massive record collection. We recorded this after he heard me working on this chord progression and he had the idea to sample a record he had been working with for a DJ set. I believe this is the first song that I played live drums over MPC samples. 
recorded on protools using:
Austin's weird-ass rare record (live cuts on his part), vibraphone, MPC 2000xl, drumset, horner clavinet/pianet duo (a true gem, that keyboard) Juno 106, and a fender rhodes

Another Man's Treasure

I Want To Be A Wave

Made during the VanCleeve basement era-2010/2011.
I wrote and recorded this in one day while reading a Sci-Fi book my dad gave me about cave monsters. My friend Neon Brown was texting me about how compression works in a mix, I believe specifically how Dilla used it, and I challenged myself to record a song for him that day. I believe this is the first time I sang on a track.. but I like this track I still perform it with The Dirty Snacks Ensemble on a regular basis.
Recorded onto Protools using:
Piano, vibraphone, drums, Juno 106, Fender Rhodes, and hammond B3 organ.

haddies

Dirty Snacks (for Vevis) is the namesake song for my band, The Dirty Snacks Ensemble. I wrote this for my dear friend, Drew Sowell after he parted the company of a close knit group of friends in the desert on one of our annual camping trips in Canyonlands, UT. He split and headed to Florida to go intern under Pharrell in Florida for some time. 
When he came back, we recorded this at Lamont during the '09 sessions.

recorded '09 at Lamont School of Music
Engineered by Drew Sowell

Mark Clifford - vibes, piano, composition
Colin Stranahan - drums
Aaron Hochberg - bass
Quinn Theis - accordion
Lannie Shelton - Violin
Shawn Burley - Bass Clarinet

Dirty Snacks for Vivace

Another song from the 2010/11 era of VanCleeve basement recordings. Dayjob is a song that was partially improvised during a jam session one night that I formalized and recorded the next morning. I appropriated it to express the regular existential crises that I experienced while scooping gelato as a living. 
I recorded this using:
a helpinstill electro/acoustic piano, a vibraphone, drumset, and the trusty fender rhodes.
Again, recorded into protools with no clue what so ever about how to mix.

dayjob

When I first moved to Oakland, CA from Denver, there was a period of time where I didn't have any gigs, and had minimal responsibilities. Most of my time was spent goofing and dreaming with my best friend Patrick and exploring the Bay Area. Patrick and I lived with Steve Taylor, who had a massive playground of keyboards and mics in our basement. I wrote and recorded this song during that time, when a typical day off would entail me making a breakfast burrito and coffee and disappearing in to the basement to try to reconcile the loss of musical community that I felt after I moved from Denver. 
The title of this song, Council, is in reference to experiences that I had with my father in the North Bay where he would take a group of people he was mentoring on backpacking trips and hold nightly council - we would pass a talking piece reflect on our daily experiences, all of which was profoundly impactful on me. 
I recorded this in the Van Cleeve basement circa 2010/11 using:
Piano, drum set, fender rhodes, vibraphone, some little yamaha keyboard, and a polymoog (holyshit, I miss that thing). 
This was recorded in Protools, and I clearly had no clue how to mix. I am still figuring that out.

Counsil

Another living room jam circa early '09

this song was composed around the idea of sampling the amazing Tony Williams composition "Peewee". I had been playing the chords to Peewee for a couple of years and found myself naturally creating loops from them and fantasizing about trying to recreate them on my MPC using actual samples from the Miles Davis recording of Peewee. I ended up feeling more compelled to write a score of the mutations of the chord progression instead, one that I still perform regularly with the Dirty Snacks Ensemble. I made this version of the song so I could still more or less adhere to the MPC/hiphop aesthetic that I originally had in mind. 
I used: vibraphone, fender rhodes, MPC 2000xl, Juno 106, casiotone recorded onto a Boss BR-532 to make this one

peepee

This is another unfinished mix of an old from the Lamont 09' session.
 I originally wrote this song for a mouse that I named to take away its power over me. It was scaring me. I thought it was a giant spider at first. But then I realized it was a mouse, and I named it. We eventually became friends. He would eat pasta that was left on the kitchen floor while I ate. (ahhh, college) Then he stopped coming around. I think he graduated and got a good job in sales or marketing in hoboken. The end of this song was a conscious effort on my part to recreate (in my own sweet way) the end of Jim O'Rourke's "the workplace", and Quinn Theis was extremely generous in playing different sections of this over and over again on a piano to help me figure out the layered sections. I love that guy. 

recorded '09 at Lamont School of Music
Engineered by Drew Sowell

Mark Clifford - Vibes, piano, composition
Colin Stranahan - Drums
Aaron Hochberg - Bass
Quinn Theis - accordian
Lannie Shelton - Violin
Shawn Burley - Bass Clarinet

elegy for gregor

I made this in my living room while living in Denver, CO somewhere in the realm of 2008/2009.
This was made using a fender rhodes, MPC 2000xl, casiotone,  vibraphone, and a Boss BR-532 that my dad gave me. Copper the dog (RIP) can be heard barking at the mail person at the end of this.

prelude

A very rough Mix of a Piece that was written and performed for Sam Stone, a Choreographer, Dancer and friend of mine. Soon to be released on Dirty Snacks upcoming album Good Boy Happy Girl.

Samsong One Intro and Samsong

A track I made by sampling my self playing live instruments using my MPC 1000.

In The Garden

Vibraphonist, composer, percussionist, keyboards
Oakland, CA
Leader of the Dirty Snacks Ensemble
Co Leader of Two Aerials
Member of Lisa Mezzacappa's Avant Noir, Rent Romus' Life's Blood Ensemble, Denny Denny Breakfast, Jordan Glenn's Beak, and Lost Shapes

Mark Clifford music

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