Cast of Characters:

Llanpsych-- @llanpsych -- Tez – foundational acoustic and electric guitars, distorted electric guitar, and the seed idea
Mistermark – @user-432503709 – Mark – vocals, lyrics, high organ, toy piano, percussion, sound effects, production, editing, mix
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– 5-string banjo solo, electric guitar
J.J. Terrell-- @j-j-terrell—JJ-- low organ, piano, synth flute, sound effects
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums, percussion 
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – 4-string fretless bass
Composition – The Eclectic Collective

This song began its life as a hauntingly exquisite guitar chord progression that Tez came up with and shared with the rest of us. He also stacked a couple of other guitar tracks in there for good measure. Ken was first up, adding his drums, then later his pots and pans percussion. As he was doing that, Josh was coming up with his bass line, and they did their little dance of back and forth until the rhythm section was set. Mark came in around the same time, though, and added his unique, Waitsian vocals with the lyrics that he wrote for it, too. He also added some really amazing organ parts, a toy piano which you can hear right after the banjo solo, and percussion that add a solid foundation for his voice and add magic throughout the song. Stephen followed shortly after with the big stroke guitar chords, and also came up with the amazing banjo solo you hear in there, too. Last, but not least, JJ came in with his organ and electric piano to seal the deal with the melodies and ambience. Then he and Mark added the cool sound effects you hear throughout, too.
  Every great song needs a great producer, and Mark filled the duty on this one. He has proved himself to be a masterful editor, producer, and mixer, and we are lucky to have him as part of the team.
  This one is an homage to Tom Waits in a deliberate way. We're all big fans, and tried to do something in his unique style. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.
 
Original lyrics by Mistermark:
I got something hidden in my closet 
that I don’t want you to see 
A little like a shady deposit
And it’s bound to incriminate me

Well now some might call it a skeleton 
Like a raincoat filled with bones
See I been hangin’ it there since I don’t know when
And I just can’t leave it alone

Me and Bill rolling bones in a gambling hall 
I threw snake eyes but Bill counted three
I took his accusation just a little too far 
Then everybody went quiet as they stared at me

Now the finger bone’s connected to the trigger
And the hand bone’s connected to me
And every day my secret’s gettin’ bigger
Soon enough I’ll be swinging from a tree

Coz I got something hidden in my closet 
that I don’t want you to see 
I done made a shady deposit
And it’s bound to incriminate me

Well now some might call it a skeleton 
Like a raincoat filled with bones
See I been hiding it there since I don’t know when
And I just can’t leave it alone
(repeat)

Bones (Eclectic Collective)

Cast of Characters:

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – 4-string fretless bass
Mysterious Decibel-- @themysteriousdecibel  --MD—effected vocals
J.J. Terrell-- @j-j-terrell—JJ-- organ, trippy synth
Llanpsych-- @llanpsych -- Tez – electric guitar
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– electric guitar, production, mix, and mastering
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums and seed idea 
Composition – The Eclectic Collective

This song began about half a year ago, as part of a three song set that Ken started with some really cool beats. Josh was first to the trough for here, laying in his fretless bass groove to complete the foundation and give it some tonal direction. Stephen came next and laid in the really trippy textural guitar that you hear throughout. JJ was next with his serious, no joke organ playing, which sets the mood for the whole thing. Last, but not least, Tez joined by adding some really cool accent guitar throughout.
  Of course, every great song needs a great producer, so we tapped Stephen to do the honors on this.
  We had originally made this and the other two song with the intention of having The Mysterious Decibel and his friend Modes About Me sing on them. However, life got in the way, so we sat on them. Finally, MD let us know that he wasn't able to complete the project with us, much to everyone's, including his, disappointment. However, MD did lay down a rough vocal demo for us, which Stephen very ably processed to sound almost like another instrument in there. So, we're releasing this song as a tribute to them both, with gratitude, especially to MD for all the great work he's put in with us. If you're not familiar with either of them, do yourself a favor and check them out. Modes about me is at  @modesaboutme and the link to The Mysterious Decibel can be found in the link in the cast of characters above. 
  This is an example of what it sounds like when the whole band composes a song together. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it.

Mysterious Modes (Eclectic Collective)

Cast of Characters:

 Cgmaness – @user-419254289-15129531 – Chris – bass, guitar, synth, main drums, percussion, composition, production and mix

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

Llanpsych-- @llanpsych -- Tez – electric guitar

J.J. Terrell-- @j-j-terrell—JJ-- organ and electric piano

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

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 – traditional gourd form body sitar and lap steel


 This is a song that Chris wrote on the drums, bass, and guitar and shared with the collective. We all love working on Chris's songs, and got to work on it even more enthusiastically than usual. Josh was up first with his lap steel, which he weaves throughout. He also added the sitar at the beginning and the acoustic sitar at the end. Stephen stepped in and added the gnarly electric sitar at the end. JJ also made his presence heard by adding the thrilling organ and electric piano throughout. Ken then augmented Chris's original drums with his own in expert fashion. Last, but not least, Tez added his electric guitat magic to the stew, as well. 

  Since Chris brought this song to the group, and is a fine producer, he did the honors of the mix and production. 

  This is our latest with Chris, whose music we all adore. If you dig this, you should go check out his page, as it contains lots of wonders to hear. We all hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it.

New Strings Theory (Eclectic Collective)

Cast of characters:
Surfers Like Us– @user-411502040 –Artur–composition, arrangement, and foundational rhythm guitar
Llanpsych– @llanpsych –Tez–electric guitar, composition, mix, and production
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– acoustic guitar
J.J. Terrell– @j-j-terrell – organ 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 
Mistermark --  @user-432503709 — Mark — production engineering

This song began its life all the way over in on the other side of the pond, where our frequent collaborator, Artur wrote it on his electric guitar. Being a fan of surf music, he composed this awesome piece with The Eclectic Collective in mind. He shared it with the group through Tez, who was first to respond to Artur's guitar with his own, creating a psychedelic base of sound for the rest of us to add to. 
  Ken was up next, laying down his always exciting drums and percussion. Josh, of course, followed straight behind him, now that he had a beat to play to. JJ came soon after, laying in his ethereal organ and dancing electric piano. Last, but not least, Stephen laid in a really trippy acoustic arpeggio based acoustic guitar part to kick it to the next level.
  Of course, every great song needs a great producer. But before we even started the song beyond what Artur and Tez laid down at the beginning, Mark deftly separated Artur's basic beat from the music. Amazing what technology can do these days! For rest of the production, we tapped the very talented Tez to do the honors, which he did perfectly.
  This song marks about half a dozen we've done with Artur. We're all big fans of his unique surf rock sound, and jump at the chance to collaborate with him. If you like what we've done here, you should check out his page, as it's loaded with gems in the same strain. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Flow of Life (Surfers Like Us with Eclectic Collective)

"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

New tracks tagged #original collab