This is a  really fun song that originated with Ominous Beats, who provided  the cool beats, some synth, and some guitar. He then sent it to Tez (Llanpsych), who added more guitar. Tez then sent it to me. I added the bass and a little synth, too. I'm very impressed with and grateful to Ominous Beats for sharing this very cool song with us. Tez knows exactly how to mix it, too. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did putting it together.

Love Me (with Ominous Beats and Llanpsych)

This is a song I came up with, using a looper to create the beat, and adding bass to that.  I then sent it to Brian, who added some killer guitar tracks. I then sent that version to JJ, who added some really cool keys and synth. We then gave it over to Tez, who brilliantly mixed the monster into something palatable. I love afrobeat, and feel very honored to have all these brilliant musicians create this song with me. It's named after a phenomenon my South African buddy Louis (Zero on here) was telling me about wherein the power is cut for more than several hours on end. Makes for plenty of misery there, although I don't consider that aspect of it as relating to the song. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it!

Shedding The Load (with Brian Butts, JJ Terrell, and Llanpsych)

This is a song that began with Steve (Steve's Planet)writing, playing it on acoustic guitar, and singing it on a stem he shared with Ken (K2 and the Three [and Four]), who added some perfect drums, as always. Ken then shared it with me, who added bass, and Tez (Llanpsych), who added some brilliant, tasteful guitar fills. We then got JJ involved, and he added the great, undulating organ. Finally, we got the master chef involved, Chris (cgmaness), who came up with some killer guitar riffs and mixed the whole thing very expertly. It must've been quite a chore, too, because there are a lot of magicians in this show. We all really feel lucky that Steve shared this song with us, and admire his singing and songwriting. We hope you enjoy our creation!

Romance by Steve's Planet (Eclectic Collective)

This is a song that began as a bass line I came up with on my four string fretless over a looper. I shared it with Ken (K2 and the Three [and Four], Stephen (Tex Mex Shaman), and Tez (Llanpsych) through BandLan, which we're all on. Ken came up with some perfect drums, as always, to prop up the whole thing. Tez added some killer guitar solos, which you can hear more towards the end, with the ripping tone. Stephen then came in and added the talk box guitar and wah guitar that you hear playing the hook more towards the beginning. It's my first song ever featuring a talk box, and I'm amazed with the part he came up with. It's a major line against my minor bass line. I love how it sounds! Stephen also was kind enough to mix the beast for us, which turned out to be a herculean task. But he was up to it, and a fine job he did, too. It was an honor and a pleasure to work with these guys. We all hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it.

High Noon (Eclectic Collective)

This is a song I came up with, playing my five string fretless bass along with essentially a click track. I then invited everyone to share their talents on it, too. Ken (K2 and the Three, and K2 and the Four) came up with exactly the drums I was hoping for, strong and accentuating what I'm doing on the bass. JJ's (J.J. Terrell) keys gave it the character of a lighter, funkier jam and completely awakened a new sound within the song by adding a great, catchy riff that flows throughout. Tez (Llanpsych) added some magnificent guitar leads, as I've come welcomingly to expect from him. You can really hear his fiery guitar throughout the whole verse and first section, and at the end, too. Steve (Steve's Planet) added the vocals and wrote the original lyrics, too. His strong, creative singing really helped jump this into the category of a song, rather than a jam. He also showed us that he's willing to follow us anywhere creatively, and very boldly, too. Stephen (TexMex Shaman) added the wild, thrilling guitar solo in the crescendo section, as well as the guitar riffs at the end. He also brought the whole thing together by expertly and meticulously producing and mixing it. Ken and Tez both added some mastering to the final mix, too. We all hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did putting it together.

Second Floor (Steve's Planet with Eclectic Collective)

When I first heard this song on Kyle's (The Pharmaceutical Phaggot--@pharmaceutical_phaggot) page, I immediately was drawn to it. I love the sitar, and he had just released a batch of unfinished sitar ideas. So, he let me play with this one. To his guitar, bass, sitar, and drums, I added an organ and a lap slide part. I really had a lot of fun with this one, as it was a real challenge to get right. If you're not familiar with Kyle's music, do yourself a favor and check it out! We hope you like our collaboration. 
Lyrics:
Cars crashing, windows smashing
God’s laughing to the sound of hurricanes and thunder
Blood splatters, nothing matters,
Need some answers to the questions we are asking
Within


Sitting at my seat, carpet at my feet
Patterns arranged so that the cycle is complete
Patterns made the blood has already has been stained
What’s happened once will happen again it’s been engrained


People clapping, limbs are snapping
Sinners lapping up the blood of the everlasting
Wind swirling, pages turning
Flesh burning as the sound of guns are blasting
Within

Within (with The Pharmaceutical Phaggot)

This is a song that originated with Steve of Steve's Planet. He came up with a really cool guitar instrumental and the vocals, which he is very passionately singing,  while travelling through the primordial forests of Central Europe and shared it with all of us. I added the bass and the electric piano. Tez (Llanpsych) added the really cool guitar parts that sound like orchestral violins. Ken (K2 and the Three, and K2 and the Four) added the perfectly complimentary rolling drums. Stephen (TexMex Shaman) added the awesome, trippy sitar and pulled the whole thing together as an expert producer and mixer. Tez also mastered it. Hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did making it.

Bird in the Blue Sky (Steve's Planet with Eclectic Collective)

This is a song that was written by the very talented Artur (Surfers Like Us), who is a surf rock master, and delivered to us in the form of a guitar track. I enjoyed adding the psychedelic, yet foundational four string fretless bass. Ken (K2 and the Three and K2 and the Four) boosted the energy level of the song when he blew our minds with his driving drums. JJ (J.J. Terrell) added the wild, dynamic organ you hear throughout. Tez (Llanpsych) brought lightning down from the sky in the solo over the third section. And last, but certainly not least, Stephen (TexMex Shaman) laid down the mind-bending guitar solos over the first two sections. He also produced and mixed it, with a little help from Ken. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as our Eclectic Collective enjoyed making it.

A Time Race (Surfers Like Us with Eclectic Collective)

Cast of Characters:
mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark—piano, composition

Mysterious Decibel--@themysteriousdecibel --MD—lyrics and primary vocals

TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– electric guitar

J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell –organ, synth

K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums and percussion, arrangement, production, mix

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-four string fretless bass guitar, lap steel 

This was brought to us by Mark, who had written it a while back, but wanted to dust it off and give the Eclectic Collective a shot at it. He recorded it with a keen eye toward collaboration with an electric piano synth with heavy stereo tremolo. We just recently found Mark, and he has proven to be a very creative, passionate, and easy to work with collaborator—all the good things. 
  Mark set it loose to me first, and I, of course, got Ken in on the act before anything else could transpire. After Ken added his wildly creative, very skillful drum beat, I was able to come up with a suitable bass line. I also came up with the lap slide part you hear with the heavy tremolo. Then we turned it over to Stephen, who added a very psychedelic, electrifying solo at the end. Also, JJ set upon it with a very hooky organ. 
  Last, but certainly not least, MD came up with the lyrics, which are a metaphor for trying to break into the business of music, and delivered them with his fiery vocals, too. Then, we all realized that the song wasn't long enough for our ambitions, so Ken came up with an idea for the arrangement, and lengthened the song to suit our needs. He also very ably mixed and produced this one for us. We had a lot of fun working on Mark's tune. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it. 

Lyrics (by The Mysterious Decibel):
 
Sometimes when we shout they can't hear us under the flow
Of the rapids

I'm screaming from the other side of the river
A shot to try
can you hear me?
I'm jumping in and swimming straight to you

All I can say is I tried
I tried and I met my own waterfall
A short way down
Did I try hard enough?
Cuz I hit the rocks below just hard enough
To hibernate me without a care
It's all just business and never fair

Away with the Rapids (Eclectic Collective)

Cast of Characters:
Karin-Maria Brunner-- @user-53145152-479345033 -- Saxaphone virtual wind instrument
K2 and the Three (and the Four)-- @k2andthe3, @k2-kara --Ken—drums     
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)-- @josh-clary-1 --bass, piano, composition
  This song began with a request to me made by Karin-Maria about contributing an original song as a collaboration for her new jazz album called Jazztastic. After fleshing out a song on the piano, I had to get my right-hand man Ken involved to add the drums, because of course I did. 
  After we had worked it out on bass, piano, and drums, we sent it to Karin-Maria, who added the sax solo. She had it professionally mixed and mastered, primarily because the album is now available to stream on all the major platforms. So, please give the whole thing a listen. It has a bunch of collaborators on it, many of whom you will probably recognize. 
 Here is a link to the entire album, which has 21 tracks.  youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5…si=LO_jtztHGxUAUiBp
   We hope you enjoy this song as much as we enjoyed creating it. A side note, this is my first jazz song that I've ever written, and I really enjoyed doing it.

Cooks Needed (with Karin-Maria Brunner and K2 and the Three)

Cast of Characters:
cgmaness-- @user-419254289-15129531 –- Chris-- acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums, composition
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)-- @josh-clary-1: – piano, lap slide
                                       
 This song began by Chris writing it with his acoustic guitar at the beginning of last summer. He passed it along to me, who added the piano and slide parts. Then Chris got it back and added the rhythm section of bass and drums, along with some electric accents. It's been a few months since we've released a collaboration together, not by choice, but because of our busy lives. We have been working on this one for about half a year, trying to add and cut other elements into it. We ended up deciding to put out a simpler version, which is what you hear here. It's been a long time coming, and is our final offering of 2023. It's been a great year of sharing music with all of you out there in SoundCloud land. I appreciate all of your ears, support, and sharing of your talents. We hope you enjoy listening to this one as much as we enjoyed making it. Happy new year 2024!
P.s. Everyone should check out Chris's slightly different version on his page. It features him singing, and is a very cool treat indeed! Chris is in my top three creators on the whole Cloud. If you're not familiar with him, do yourself a favor and check out what he has on offer.

Between Stations (with cgmaness)

Cast of Characters:
mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark--sax (VST), organ, tremolo guitar chords (synth), harmonica, composition, production, mix
Mysterious Decibel--@themysteriousdecibel --MD—lyrics and primary vocals

TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– second electric guitar solo, and mastering

J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell –piano and electric piano

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

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-four string fretless bass, first electric guitar solo, rhythm guitar comping 



This is a song started when Mark came up with its architecture, recorded in a  slower, more laid back version on his own. However, he wanted a more souped up version with solos in turns. So, he turned to The Eclectic Collective to fill in the pieces. He originally had solos in all the parts which he laid down on the keys, and he had some lyrics, too. However, once he heard The Mysterious Decibel's excellent lyrics and vocals, the song totally changed the direction and the vibe, for the stellar. 
  But MD didn't start the whole thing. As happens sometimes, even without Tez on this one, we still needed to clear out some space to let everyone have their say. So, Mark went in and lengthened the song mechanically. Once we had a final form, Ken, as always, came up with the foundation for the song, allowing Josh to add his version of Mark's bass line. Then, after MD gave us the vocals to form the song, we got down to adding the solos. JJ first added his thrilling opening piano solo, as well as the electric piano solo right after the first verse, which Mark is also playing a VST sax solo in, as well. Then I added my guitar solo, which is the first of the two, with a very clean tone. Right after that, Stephen added his fiery solo, which follows right after with a more overdriven tone. Finally, Mark stepped back in and added his killer harp solo at the end. Of course, it needed to be mixed and mastered well, too, so we turned to both Mark and Stephen for those important roles, once again, which they fulfilled expertly.  
  This past Tuesday, we released a fun little series of interviews over a compilation of some of our favorite musical moments. If you want to hear our voices and some of our thoughts about music, check it out. I realize it's a big ask at twenty minutes, but you might really enjoy it, especially if you follow us, and have been for a while. It's a celebration of all of our work over the past almost year together in various forms. This song was supposed to be a showcase of all of our skills, except Tez isn't in on this one. He'll be on the next one, though, for sure.
  We hope you enjoy this jazzier side of the EC as much as we enjoyed making it. MD's lyrics are about a psycho killer artist who hides clues about his murders in his paintings. 
Original Lyrics by The Mysterious Decibel:

Some might say he's crafty and planned.

With a shade of black and a brush in his hand
Some might say the world is his oyster
But no Pearl lays inside just a conjuring blur

He'll paint you a murderous scene
With the blending of  sin all between pigments of green
He's a shady fella Who hides behind the canvas!
I spy something with my little eye
This art might show just where he died

Will you find it?
The secret
Some freak shit
are you so sure you'll really wanna Keep it ?
The secret
Are you so sure you'll really wanna keep it?
Ahhh a little secret
Are you so sure you'll really wanna keep it?
It'll haunt your mind like it does him too
He's a swifty one he'll come for you!
The secret
The secret
The secret
Are you so sure you'll really wanna keep it?

I spy something with my little eye
This art might show just where he died

His art might show
might show
might show
just where he died

A Brush With Death (The Eclectic Collective with The Mysterious Decibel)

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, I 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 with ~Mark F)

Cast of Characters:
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – bass, mix, and production

J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell – electric piano and original composition

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

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-guitar  


 artwork is a painting entitled "Dogpack" by artist Margaryta Yermolayeva
Please check out her other works at margaryta-yermolayeva.pixels.com

This one started off nearly a year ago, when the Eclectic Collective was just coagulating, and is the first one to feature Tez, Ken, JJ, and me on a song. JJ came up with it, drawing from his deep well of creativity, on the electric piano and bass, and shared it with the rest of the us. Starting with Ken, who added a phenomenal drum track to work with. I then added my guitar in a way that tried to emulate Miles Davis, albeit just an impression. Then we asked Tez to mix it for us, which he did ably as ever, and we released it early last spring. 
  However, Tez, being the always tinkering producer that he is, decided to dust it off and give it a new bass line to match the ferocity of Ken's drums. He then remixed it and added some production effects, making the song it was meant to be. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it.

In a Quiet Way Redeux (The Eclectic Collective)

Cast of Characters:

Computart – @computart – guitar, vocals/whistling, composition

Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – mix and production 

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

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-four string fretless bass and mandolin

This song started as a recording of Computart playing the guitar and singing/whistling to a metronome, which you can find raw on his page. Having worked together before on a song called The Shining, the Frenchman reached across the pond again and asked me, the Yank, if I would like to add anything to this. This style of music being one of my favorites, I jumped at the chance. Of course, I got Ken involved right away because every great song needs a great drummer. I came up with a bass line, to which Ken added drums, to which I in turn redid my bass line, as is our usual process. I then added the mandolin. Then, Ken added the hand drums to put the icing on the cake. Tez was generous enough to produce and mix this for us, and we feel like he got it to sound like we were all playing in the same room together. 
  We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Plaisir (The Eclectic Collective with Computart)

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, last summer ('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), and Stephen (Texmex Shaman), although we have also added Mark (mistermark) and The Mysterious Decibel to the mix this fall. A couple of other musicians are frequent collaborators, as well, including Artur of Surfers Like Us, and Steve Vervaet of Steve's World. 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. In fact, 100% of what I do is collaboration, within the group or with other amazing artists like Chris Maness (@cgmaness).
  I, and we, are also available for hire if you have a song 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, Radiohead, Rye Cooder, Steve Earle, Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, Arcade Fire, Mikey Dread, Yellowman, Purpleman, The Grateful Dead, 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, 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, and Sean Lennon, 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'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 some 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 recordings, 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, I just don't have access to it. 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.
  Recently, over the summer of '23, I formed a collective of my fellow SoundCloud musicians into a loose band called the Eclectic Collective. We have core members, but the lineup changes weekly. I basically found my favorite musicians on here, and asked them if they wanted to collaborate. It keeps growing strong. If you have some music that you think a band could bring to life, please hit me up and we'll see if we can add you, too. 
Here's a link to music I've recorded 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

New tracks tagged #Original collaboration