oh how I love it when someone can play the piano like that. I can feel every note - floating, dancing, dreaming, just wonderful work

A delightful free flowing expression, bravo!

sweet. love this piano style and sound. it's all you need. play on.  (<:

Another beautiful composition ... really nicely done!

Great to see you and your work back, Skai! And thanks for this piece, I had not heard of Nicky Hopkins before, but it reminded me instantaneously of the 70s ballads, somewhere between Billy Joel and Elton John. But actually not really anyone of them, so now I know, whom I need to look out 😊. Compositionwise, I really admire  the structural complexity of this track, the jumping between the different rhythms and themes which still makes a comprehensive whole. I still have not yet grasped the full structure of the track, though I heard it on Powerplay the last days 😊. And beautiful play, of course, as always!

A beautiful little idea in the intro, first the chords and then the arpeggios to lighten it up. Really nice!

Music by Kontra Sz & Val Akey.
- Kontra Sz: plays rythm guitars, lead guitars;
- Val Akey: drums-, bass- and keys programming (mixing and mastering) + cover art.
Many thanks Kontra Sz for the fantastic guitar play! https://soundcloud.com/kontra-sz

Release date:
12 January 2024

Captive Of Time (Kontra Sz & Val Akey collab)

UnBoxed February 2024

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

Spaced Out

Cast of Characters:

~Mark F-- @mark_fosella -- bass guitar, composition
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – first screaming electric guitar
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– second psychedelic electric guitar, production, and mix
J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell –electric piano 
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums and percussion

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-organ
This song is the first The Eclectic Collective has done with Mark, and we all had a great time making it with him. This song started with Mark, who is a bass player's bass player, giving his raw bass track to Ken, who brought it to the group. Ken laid down his exciting drums to match Mark's bass line before anything else happened, though. Once we had a rhythm section, JJ laid down his dancing electric piano. Once that was in place, Josh laid down the organ. Then it was time for the guitars, played electrifyingly by both Tez and Stephen. Tez plays throughout most of the song, and Stephen added his part towards the end. Stephen also mixed this for us expertly, as always. If you have a beverage in your hands, you might want to set it down. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it.

Esophagus Metamorphosis- - The Eclectic Collective

Written and performed by Stefano Manotti

A song born after spending an entire day in the woods... A song against depression, an enemy that makes us forget about the beauty surrounding us... Life is a struggle, and we must fight to see beyond our sorrows...

LYRICS

Courage came on my first sunny day
Birds fly higher, life is beautiful today
Let me touch The morning grass
Let me see What lies beyond

I am alone but I'm touching everything
Eyes are tired, but life is beautiful today
Let the wind make me fall 
I just want to forget These walls
 
The sun is hiding now 
Life can win if you play 
You feel dizzy, but life is beautiful today

Life Is Beautiful Today

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

This is an original composition in tribute to heroically good classic rock pianist Nicky Hopkins (a.k.a. “Edward” as he was sometimes called in the studio by members of the Rolling Stones).  He would have turned 80 years old today (02/24/2024).

This was not an attempt at impersonation, but rather an effort toward one specific aspect of his versatile playing style, namely, that elusive balance of flow and syncopation.  Simply put, listening to Nicky Hopkins makes my brain dance, and trying to capture that effect is what inspired this piece.  

Note: Many are unfamiliar with the name Nicky Hopkins, but everyone is familiar with his piano playing which has appeared on records of the Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, the Who, Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, the Kinks, Steve Miller Band, Art Garfunkel, Jerry Garcia, the Beatles (as well as solo work of all four individual Beatles), and many others.  He played on over forty top 40 albums, and dozens of singles.  He was practically a member of the Rolling Stones (and came up with many of the Stones’ most iconic piano parts including for the songs Angie, She’s a Rainbow, Loving Cup, Sympathy for the Devil), but his battle with Crohn’s disease prevented him from being able to commit to regular touring.  As a result, he spent most of his career working as a session musician. He was, however, an official member (from 1969-1971) of Quicksilver Messenger Service where his piano work generally sits up front in the mix and where you can hear his creativity fully unleashed (e.g., check out their songs Shady Grove, Edward the Mad Shirt Grinder, and Fresh Air).  In spite of his limited number of live performances, he was also a talented improviser as showcased in the Rolling Stones studio jam album “Jamming with Edward”, and another great example of this is the high-quality recording of his live performance with the Jerry Garcia Band on “Let it Rock: The Jerry Garcia Collection Volume 2" https://soundcloud.com/jerrygarcia/sets/let-it-rock-the-jerry-garcia.

Here is the Wikipedia article on Nicky Hopkins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Hopkins

Song art: The image depicting “a session pianist resembling Nicky Hopkins” was created with a lot of help from my brother-in-law Patrick McGee using a combination of AI art generators.

Edward Piano Hands

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

2024/2/26

Website

koyomi

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

i want to be here with you just a little longer

4-24:0b: "moment"

-professional mathematician by day and amateur composer by night (time permitting--I am also a father of two beautiful young rascals)

I grew up in the Florida Keys where both of my parents worked as musicians in the entertainment business.  My grandmother taught me to play the piano at an early age.  I ended up pursuing a career in mathematical research and teaching, but in my free time I enjoy composing music mainly for piano.

Edward Piano Hands

Skai Eriksson

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