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 (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 (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 (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. You can find more of Computart's music, as well as this one, for sale on his BandCamp page, which is right here.computart.bandcamp.com/track/plaisir

Plaisir (Eclectic Collective with Computart)

Cast of Characters:
mistermark-- @user-432503709 --Mark-- horns and shakers

TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– guitar, production, and mix

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

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

Llanpsych– @llanpsych –Tez– guitar 

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

This song was written by Ken and a dearly departed friend and former bandmate named Chris Bennett about the latter's divorce that he was going through at the time when their band was also breaking up. Ken had a good demo of the two of them fleshing it out, which the Eclectic Collective used as a template for the song. Josh was first to add his unique slide bass line to the song. Next up was Tez, who added the fiery solo you hear at the end. Stephen came in not too long after with the rhythm guitar, complete with the intricate fills you hear throughout. Around the same time, Mark added some really innovative, genre-bending horns and shakers to it. Ken then completed the song with his stellar vocals. 

  Of course, every great song needs a great producer, so Ken turned it over to Stephen for an objective mix, although Ken was still heavily involved in the process, too. This is the first time Ken has sung lead for an EC song, and we were all very impressed with his skills on this one. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it.


Original lyrics by Chris Bennett:

I once believed in happy ever after
Now I’m convinced by tears instead of laughter
There’s not much good inside that’s left to do the things for my survival

If I relied on you to make it better
I’d die a 1000 times, before we get together
All that is bad inside will rise back to the top
With your arrival

Burn down the doorway
Run down the hall
Scream out my name
But I may never hear you, never hear you
Drive down the highway
Until you’re gone
I may never hear you call

I still believe that someone’s always watching
Each time I turn around, I never hear them talking
All that is bad inside will never fade away with your arrival

Burn down the doorway
Run down the hall
Scream out my name, but I may never hear you
Never hear you
Drive down the highway
Until you’re gone
I may never hear you call

Na Na Na  Na Na Na
Na na na

Happy Ever After (Eclectic Collective)

Cast of Characters:
 
Cgmaness – @user-419254289-15129531 – Chris – foundational acoustic guitar and seed idea
J.J. Terrell-- @j-j-terrell—JJ-- organ, electric piano, lyrics, and vocals
Llanpsych-- @llanpsych -- Tez – electric guitar
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
The Eclectic Collective — composition and mix

  This is the second song in a row that The Eclectic Collective is releasing in as many weeks that was written by Chris. We love working on his songs, and all jumped at the chance to play with this one, as well. He wrote it on an acoustic guitar, onto which he also put some heavy reverb, giving it an ethereal, chordal sound. To that bare bones, Josh fist added his four-string fretless bass to a click track, of all things. Luckily, Ken swooped in soon after and gave it a proper beat with his lively percussion performance. 
  Once the rhythm section was complete, Tez added his melodic, golden-tone guiar in there. Then, it was JJ's turn. He added not only the piano and synth, but wrote the lyrics and sang it, as well. 
  This song was actually mixed by the group, as we all added our parts, although Ken did some final adjustments, too.
  JJ's lyrics tell the story of the first people to reach Easter Island, millenia ago. The wonder of the journey and the discovery of a new home, while using the materials available to survive. Here are his original lyrics.

Original Lyrics by J.J. Terrell:
 
Through the eyes of the gentle rain
Monuments raised where the Lapwings stay
All the sand, the hourglass of man sifts here
A traveling band of gypsies in this land appear
Crowd the fire as the night sets in
Listen for tales of enlightenment
Until dawn
The flowered down of a bird so true
Pure as heaven, the chosen few
It's all waiting for the night

Unabashed (Eclectic Collective)

Cast of Characters:
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums, vocals, lyrics, and seed idea 
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– electric guitar, mastering, and seed idea
Mistermark – @user-432503709 – Mark – all instruments in the break, including clavinet, organ, bass, and drums, as well as production, editing, and mix
Llanpsych-- @llanpsych -- Tez – electric guitar
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – 4-string fretless bass 
The Eclectic Collective -- composition

This song began its life when Ken came to with a series of drum skeletons about half a year ago with the intent of starting several McDonald's themed songs that The Mysterious Decibel was writing for the group. Well MD had some life getting in the way and then decided to pursue another project full time, leaving us with four solid songs, but without vocals. Ken ended up supplying the solid lead vocals and harmonies you hear the whole way through, with original lyrics that he also wrote.
  But before any of that happened, we got this song together. Stephen was first up, coming up with the main guitar riffs that carry the whole way through. Josh responded quickly to the his guitar parts with some matching bass to go along with it. 
  About this time, Mark heard the funky break in there, and so installed every part of it all on his own, including the clavinet, organ, bass, and drums. Although, Ken is also still playing in the break, as well. When we had it pretty well set, Tez came along and added some fiery guitar to go along with Stephen's. 
  Once we had it in the can, we turned it over to Mark for his expert mix. Stephen mastered it for us, too, for the final, winning touch.
  This ended up being a satisfying product of The Eclectic Collective's teamwork. We hope you enjoyed listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Original Lyrics by K2 and The Three:

I built my library, by burning it to  the ground
I live my life, through all this singing sound
Can’t remember, what then we should’ve done
It’s up to you, now, you’re the chosen one

Scaling the riverbank
Scaling the riverbank
Scaling the riverbanks
Scaling the riverbanks

Till we reach solid ground
Pit for play dirt(pay dirt)
Muddy water all around
Sift the sandbox
There’s gold in them thar hills
Treasures lying
Skills to pay the bills

Hanging on and on
…. and I, can’t find my way up!

New to you
It’s goo to you
New to you
It’s goo to you
New to you!

Scaling the River Banks
Scale the riverbanks
Scaling the riverbanks till we reach solid ground
Scaling the riverbanks till we reach solid ground

Hanging  on and on
And I can’t find my way up!

Scale the River Banks
Scaling the riverbanks!

Scale the riverbanks!

Scaling the Riverbank (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 collaboration