Original ode to a beloved lake

I’ve seen the lake paint her pretty face
with sky colors dripping down all over the place  
I’ve seen her call the moon and stars from their throne 
To give them a new home to shine from

I am just a happy fool talking all day long
But I  know Lord  I Know that don’t know her all 
Cause I have seen her face 1,000 times
I have seen her face 1,000 times
I have seen her face 1,000 times
But I never saw her twice

I’ve seen the lake shake the stress of this world 
From all her admirers who grace her shores
The man with his guitar the dogs running free
The kids playing  shout with Glee
No school today

I am just a happy fool talking all day long
But I  know Lord  I Know that don’t know her all 
Cause I have seen her face 1,000 times
I have seen her face 1,000 times
I have seen her face 1,000 times
But I never saw her twice

The Lake

MIRAGE

The game

music: mike brosco
image: suzanne rinehart / mike brosco

Downturn

instruments and voices: Jeff Gardiner and jo richter (and one outside voice generated via magix hub and some further artefacts that just manifested during the process)
further reading: How Forests Thinl: https://www.anth.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.anth.d7/files/sitefiles/Kohn%20-%20How%20Forests%20Think%20-%20Introduction.pdf
modulation, arrangement and all that: jo richter
lyrics: Jeff Gardiner in collaboration with jo richter
image: Jeff Gardiner in collaboration with jo richter


whilst I was looking
for some kind of semblance
of something somewhere in the tangled undergrowth of
silent thoughts and bellow-voiced persuasions
that might be well described as somewhat sidewinded akin
to the kinesthetics of the barnacles and brambles and
cliffside-dangling while still clinging, perspiration hope
I met the transcendental hobo drifter
down in the scalar fields , tied with a rope
to roaming notions of delusion
and love and love and running from a mistress,
his or mine, known to be crow of crowleyan dimensions

endowed with much renown among the locals
for telling truth and spitting frogs
and hailing hail and splitting rocks
and all the while the transsedential drifter
ate from his open can of beans upon the pitted fire

and whispered ruthless, patient, cunning, sweet
on repeat:

[in the sonic version, the following 
icaro is overlaid by a voice-
over explaining the term "icaro"]

„the tunnel of dances
the funnel of trances
the fuel for chances
the focus of tidal glances
paint eyes on your forehead
wide eyes on your forehead
so the jaguar knows
so the jaguar knows
that you are not dead
not asleep and not dead
not asleep and not dead yet.“



and all I heard and all I got and all I simply understood
was to hush that voice, that voice within my head
to hush that voice, that voice within my head

it was then I noticed, not without bewilderment
the wooden spoon in his left hand
a spoon not made of silver
not silver and not gold but wood
and it was then I very nearly understood

scalar fields pt 4 talon'd heels

scalar fields pt 4: talon'd heels - with stonerjazz

Lyrics: Mag ik dan bij jou (cover Claudia de Breij)

Als de oorlog komt, En als ik dan moet schuilen, Mag ik dan bij jou?
Als er een clubje komt, Waar ik niet bij wil horen,Mag ik dan bij jou?
Als er een regel komt, Waar ik niet aan voldoen kan, Mag ik dan bij jou? En als ik iets moet zijn, Wat ik nooit geweest ben Mag ik dan bij jou?

(chorus)  Mag ik dan bij jou schuilen, Als het nergens anders kan? En als ik moet huilen, Droog jij m'n tranen dan? Want als ik bij jou mag, Mag jij altijd bij mij Kom wanneer je wilt,Ik hou een kamer voor je vrij
Als het onweer komt, En als ik dan bang ben, Mag ik dan bij jou? Als de avond valt, En 't is mij te donker, Mag ik dan bij jou? ls de lente komt, En als ik dan verliefd ben, Mag ik dan bij jou? Als de liefde komt, En ik weet het zeker, Mag ik dan bij jou?
(chorus)  Mag ik dan bij jou schuilen, Als het nergens anders kan? En als ik moet huilen, Droog jij m'n tranen dan? Want als ik bij jou mag, Mag jij altijd bij mij Kom wanneer je wilt,Ik hou een kamer voor je vrij
 
Als het einde komt, En als ik dan bang ben, Mag ik dan bij jou? Als het einde komt, En als ik dan alleen ben, Mag ik dan bij jou?

Translation: When the war comes, And if I have to hide; Can I come to you then? If there is a club, That I don't want to belong to, Can I come to you then? If there is a rule, Which I cannot comply with, Can I come to you then?And if I have to be something, Which I've never been, Can I come to you then? Can I take shelter with you then? If it can't be done anywhere else? And if I have to cry; Will you dry my tears then? 
Chorus;
Because if I can be with you, You can always be with me  Come whenever you want, I'll save a room for you, When the storm comesAnd when I'm scared; Can I come to you then?
When night falls, And it's too dark for me, Can I come to you then? When spring comes, And when I'm in love, Can I come to you then? When love comes, And I'm sure, Can I come to you then? Can I take shelter with you then? If it can't be done anywhere else?And if I have to cry Will you dry my tears then?
Chorus;  Because if I can be with you,…L.
When the end comes, And when I'm scared, Can I come to you then? When the end comes
And when I'm alone Can I come to you then?

Mag ik dan bij jou (cover Claudia De Breij)

Tendre

W-Spanish Skyline

True story: I socialized with a guy in the late 90s who had been in a mid tier rock band (redacted) in the late 70s/early 80s. After the fame, there wasn't any money, and he had a regular everyman job like me. He had great stories, though...
A slow burner blues with a smooth groove.
From the album: "Curiosities Of Outsider Art" (Sept 2025)

Lyrics:
I just hate that celebrity bullshit
I can smell it
From a million miles away
That's what he'd say
Right there, at the bar
Having a drink
Or 2
Or 10

A broken-down singer
With too many dreams
A broken-down singer
With too many screams
Up over
A heavy metal (huh!)
Double kick drum
He says: I've been on tour all over the world
I've  been to a lot of places
And I just love every place that I'm from
But, I could use 
A billion dollar blues
Billion dollar blues
A billion dollar blues...

I was restless
And I had stars in my eyes
Dreaming about the magazine covers
And the limousine rides
Having those women at my will
Taking all the cash out of the till
Some nights I  just stay up late
Thinking about it. 
Thinking about what could have been

And......
Then I walk in ...
To a room full of bitter Muses
With bad attitudes
And  short fuses
I could use
A billion dollar blues
Billion dollar blues...

Billion Dollar Blues

sky ship

Photo from left to right: JJ, Josh, and Ken
Cast of characters:
The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — Ovation guitar, lead vocals, lyrics, and compostion
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark –- VST Chinese gong and VST cello
J.J. Terrell– @j-j-terrell – light VST Latin percussion, synth, and piano
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken -- drums
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick fretless four-string bass, chant vocals at the end 
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen — ebow, production, mix, and mastering

 This song is the fourth Carl has written and composed with a member of Eclectic Collective in mind. This time JJ is being honored, and we all agree that he deserves it, too. Carl is a wonderful singer, songwriter, composer, and musician, and we're all grateful that he's joined our collective. 
  Here's what Carl had to say about it. "The music for this was a personal song written to myself which I never really released as I was trying to say goodbye to my own ego in the song. From that point of view I have always seen the piece as a great bit of personal therapy for me. None of the original lyrics survived and JJ gets painted by the new words .. But I thought it would be nice to reuse the composition for this. There was no big reason for it only when I decided to start a 60bpm song for JJ on piano .. I started playing Goodbye Ego and the rest is history..."
  We tackled this song like we would any other, though. Mark was first up on this, adding his VST magic in the form of a Chinese gong, as well as the cello you hear throughout. The subject of our adulation came next, with JJ adding not only his hot, yet minimal Latin percussion and essential piano, but moody synth, as well. Ken added his spicy drums after that, and once they were down, Josh jumped in with his four string fretless bass to complete the rhythm section. Josh also added the vocal chant at the end.
  All that was left was for Stephen to mix it all down for us, which he did in his always pro manner. But before he did, he also added some subtle, yet stirring ebow on his guitar. 
  As stated above, this is a continuation of our songs about us. Hope no one thinks it's arrogant. When Carl presents us with these little treasures, it's hard not to run with them, though. Always a ton of fun to make music together. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Original lyrics by The Beautiful Dark:

Praying hands
Whatever cause
Once our greater good not lost
Bored children create their fun
We shelve French horn for this fine one
"Nice one lads" We read it all!
Vacation taken
To JJ calls
Neighbour to good Mickey Moore
Find Michigan piano pure

JJ calls
Just for us
Love lit up
Just for us

Down the road city of cars
To Howell front deck
Dad and Guitars
We jam that love then tell the world
Love and service human highway knurled
Good bi-product of happiness sought
With Croatian fun to cloud we court

Terrell Terminator in Jungle
Predator for good
Keys like Mr Bungle
Faith in more like we could
He Thanks you
It's lifestyle
Built from a porch
Good collective friend
Keep lighting that torch

Some moments sealed, marked and moulded
Pure intention
Dark blindfolded
Howl from human to Howell good soul
Keyed keystone as collective role

JJ calls
Darkness falls
Love lit up
Just for us
Love lit up
Just for us
Love lit up
Just for us
JJ calls

JJ calls
Just for us

JJ Calls (Eclectic Collective)

I am overjoyed to partake in sounds beautiful:
https://youtu.be/1TnalFltP_Q?si=VidMVZ9VDKGZiNUm  by Dan and
https://stonerjazz.bandcamp.com/album/up-up-out by Jeff.

Jeff also gifted me a visiting role on his previous album: 
https://stonerjazz.bandcamp.com/album/quintessential

.... and here is my own test account:
https://sonicstructuresandsilentstretches.bandcamp.com/track/eliza

POETRY IS VITAL

This threshold space exists for those who feel like listening to some of my quite professional poetry embedded in rather amateurishly recorded but judiciously arranged sound, a modicum of purely acoustic work notwithstanding.  Fortunately, some other artists have also transformed the symbolic expression of my words into the tangible beauty of real songs and soundscapes - just listen to Sympoetic Ultrasounds: https://soundcloud.com/sonic-textures/sets/sympoetic-ultrasounds !

SOUND, SPACE AND TIME

Tend your listening senses gently. Even though my general approach welcomes and embraces lo-fi concepts like the precision of spontaneously occuring imprecisions, headphones worth their membranes are recommended - unless you like your sounds flat, mangled, battered and helpless. You don't, do you? Be kind to these soundscapes.

STRUCTURING IMPULSE

Due to the nature of "poetry soundscapes", your listening expectations regarding traditionally structured "songs", sonically purified "raw wildlife soundscapes", keyboard-laden "ambient recordings" or voice-centered "readings" might not be met. You will find some of those in my list of /likes/. "Noise" is a recurring structural element like any other. This is what this sounds like - within its own rights, limitations, tangents and interconnections. Sonic structures. Silent stretches. Poetry emerges from the gaps between the ruts, seeps in from the undergrowth, sweeps down.

CARVING, CHISELLING, KNEADING, MORPHING

A quick glance into my toolshed rests on Zoom recorders, Samplitude software and a dizzying array of diverse sonic machinery.

LARGE AND SMALL GIFTS

-----------------------------
Small Gifts

the less to remember, the more to listen
gifts from the ice age reverberate
a simple story, a forest, a coastline
entangled in silence, one starts to relate
---------------------------------------------

In case you have read up to this point, you might be a sonic creator yourself. May I ask you for a helping ear? Above, there is a tiny poem of mine that I do not understand how to translate into sound. If you do - please act on it. It is a matter of common decency, of course, to keep the title (Small Gifts) and to credit the lyrics to me (jo richter). And please do notify me of your version via a soundcloud message. One bewilderingly beautiful version crafted by mono-lux has already gone public, as well as an amazing version by cthonicist.  You'll find both in my playlist Sympoetic Ultrasounds. This is just a small gift, not a challenge - life already has more than enough of those on offer, doesn't it? Treat it this way.

POETRY IS VITAL
sound, space and time
structuring impulse
carving, chiselling, kneading, morphing
large and small gifts
poetry is vital

GENERAL POLICY regarding the use of LIKES, REPOSTS and FOLLOWS:
I like what I like and want to hear again.
I only repost what I've had a hand in creating.
I follow when I see directions or arrivals I like, not when followed (though I might peek in to get an idea of what your sounds are about). I have set myself a limit of accounts I follow not to be all too overwhelmed. Not following does therefore not mean I do not appreciate what you contribute to the enjoyments of soundcloud.
Do not expect other behaviour from me.
(jo richter)

scalar fields pt 4: talon'd heels - with stonerjazz

sonic structures and silent stretches