2024/2/26

Website

暦 (koyomi)

Sailing Away

2025/6/2

前夜 (zenya)

Boy, it's sure weird posting a song that was written for yourself! These gents (including our buddies J.J. & Chris who didn't make it onto this track, but equally deserving of mention) are a fine group of fellers who all come from good families and such, but over time have developed ways about them that just ain't right. Lol, I kid, but they are gems to a man, and I'm surprised, confused, honoured to have them pick on me with their weapon of choice, music. Special thanks to Carl for his boundless generosity and music energy, and for just being Carl in everything he does. 
Thanks boys!!!

Cast of characters:
The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — acoustic guitar, vocals, lyrics, composition
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken -- drums
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– Tom Anderson custom T electric guitar, production, mix, mastering
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick fretless four-string bass, Roland organ
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – Fender Stratocaster electric guitrar, mix, production
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – triangle, backing vocals

This song began when Carl was inspired to write a song about our bandmate, Mark. As you can tell from his lyrics, Carl shares our appreciation & respect for our resident Canadian singer & multi instrumentalist. So, when he had the chords and great vocal track worked out, he recorded them & started a project, to which the rest of Eclectic Collective were invited.
First up to bat was Ken, laying in his always clever, essential beat for the rest of us to work with. Stephen was the next person to lay down a track, which was his essential, but subtle electric rhythm track. Later, after it was almost done, he also added a fiery solo in the first part of the ending section. Josh came along right after Stephen, laying down his signature fretless bass. He also added the organ shortly after, as well. Tez entered the fray next, adding the lightning, Gilmore-esque final solo in the end section.
We considered what to do with this song for a while. The thought was whether to present it to Mark as a gift, or to include him in the mix. We decided to go with the latter, and he added the vocal whoops & hollers towards the end, as well as a bit of triangle.
Once we had it in the bag, we turned it over to Stephen for the production, mix, and mastering, which he always does in a very pro manner.
This is our second of hopefully many songs with Carl. Like the moon, he's everywhere, and he's a damn fine collaborator, too. We hope you enjoy hearing this as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Carl also wanted to share this message about Mark, as well.
"This song is written for our Canadian friend Mark. Mark is a pivotal member of the Eclectic Collective who as a band and equally Mark as an individual I'm discovering are phenomenal to work with. I was particularly struck how multiple generations of Mark's family enjoy music and creating together. Thanks for your music man. You really do show a unique approach and I look forward to making more really enjoyable songs like this one with you buddy. In my head lyrically Mark is whoever you focus the love on. Rock and Real!" ----TBD

Original lyrics by The Beautiful Dark:

You are the Mark
Mister Lark
Pedigree Bark
Stunning musical stark
Meet Mistermark

From Wonder to Bossa
All from I, 'Spy'
Projecting your best
Proud human melody cry

May 2019
Maybe some fear became esteem
Soft bands in garage channel a way
Internal dreams in sound found light this day

So Dad was a seed
Kudos big man
You do good breed
In music we learn with proper concern
I think now you found Josh the EP

So onto Collective
You expand their perspective
With you and your music
Now Earth gets more fuses
Because of your music
It's a better blue ball
I know I certainly love hearing Marks call

We pressed the remote
We having those jams
Let's get it on and get more brain tan
We singing to clan
Wham bam thank you man

Miss No Mark (Eclectic Collective with Beautiful Dark)

It goes without saying but no music maker or AI.  Thank you all for your encouragement. 

If there’s one thing that you must do
Be yourself and let the light shine through
It’s time stand up tall and proud
Don’t let the bad times bring you down

If it feels like your broken heart won’t mend
When  all seems lost you’ll find your strength within

Take a look at the world around you
it’s your life and it’s finally found you
now it feels like you are not alone
And it feels like you’ve come home
 
See the people walking hand in hand
It’s time for  celebration in this land

We all come from the stars
We all are who you are
We were born to shine
We were born to live our life
We  were born to find our happiness where you might

this love it makes me high
As we float across the sky 
Now we Hold your heads up high
And together we will rise

(cue self indulgent fade out)

Trickery (wt KBS, raw edit)

Some words for our darling boy who has now departed us.

The tiny patter of four furred feet.
The one among your litter, we were blessed to meet.
With a whimper, with a yelp,
in 'dog' you said, 'I'll help ...
to make you love, to make you laugh
and cry.'

As a pup, you chased the deer away,
were even lost for one whole day!
But praise be to DOG, you came back.
To us,
your pack.

No Einstein, this is true.
But in treats, one was surely one less than two.
Socks meant walks
and we loved you.
This, you knew.

In your cosy bed,
sleeping days away.
With every year, a thicker coat of grey.
But your hazel eyes seemed to defy all time.

And now.
No tiny patter, whimper, yelp.
Who will we turn to now for help?
To love. To laugh. We cry.
Stan, you brought us endless joy.
Rest in peace. 
We love you.
There's a good boy.

Dear Stan

Zhoca:  Vocals
Ben Juul:  Drums, Mix & Master at Tone Hill, NY
Dirk Taubenheim:  Guitars, Bass Vocals

It' s time now    to worry    'bout all those    sad children
like we were,    two brothers    deported    abroad.

Just sent away
to enjoy your heyday.

INTRO

We should talk    about it,    there' s no time    to keep quiet.
The wound must    be cared for,    it' s your turn,    come on now.

Give up your life lie,    I have no more tears to cry.
Nothing I haven' t tried    but all you did was hide.

Oh, why don' t you love me?
Mhm, why don' t you care?
+ instr.


Don' t tell me    that' s your way    to show your    strange love,
it' s hurting,    just hurting    and I know you' ll    never change

You' re too weak to say the words    "sorry for all that hurt,
I' ve caused deep scars in your heart,    ignored how precious you are".

Sad Children  ft. ZHOCA

"She sat beside him, their shoulders almost touching, yet a canyon of unspoken volumes stretched between them—longing for what could have been and mourning what never was.  Each silence echoed with a thousand words neither dared to speak, the air heavy with the ache of both wanting and withholding.  In the quiet, their hearts told stories their lips never would—have missed chances, of the right words arriving too late, or not at all." 

There's this Flemish/Dutch expression "het spreekt boekdelen" which means something like "speaking volumes". In Flemish it means saying a lot, not with words but with a look or a gesture, usually in emotionally heavy situations. I wondered how one would put it if these emotions, however very present and clear to all concerned, would not be expressed at all. Hence the title "unspoken volumes".
I was reading about synth architecture then and wondered how an electric piano would sound like if I had to program it with a DX7. So I tried to emulate it using FM synthesis. The "unspoken volumes" theme came to me while messing about on the keyboard. The choir seemed like a fun contradiction to this idea of something unspoken.

unspoken volumes

Having to destroy yourself in order to begin again.
From the album: "Curiosities Of Outsider Art" (Sept 2025)

Bandung, sea of flames
In 1946, the people of Bandung Indonesia
They had risen up against their British oppressors
Realizing that their army was weaker
And much less powerful
They decided to abandon the city
They adopted a scorched earth policy as they left the city
Burning the city to the ground
And one day start again...

Bandung, sea of flames

Bandung, Sea Of Flames

Cast of characters:
The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — Ovation acoustic guitar, lead vocals, lyrics, and compostion
Scratch Kelly -- @scratchkelly — Sarah —  vocals
one man verity show – @one-man-verity-show – Scotty – Epiphone Casino melodic  electric guitar and vocals
Joe Stroffolino-- @joseph-stroffolino --  vocals
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – triangle and vocals
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken -- drums
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – Tom Anderson Custom T electric guitrar, mix, and production
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen — Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, production, mix, and mastering
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick fretless four-string bass

I just want to say I'm beyond honored to be the subject of such adoration from my musical family here. Carl really knows how to make a brother feel special, and he did it for me this time, with the help of some of our EC extended family. Here's Carl's write up. 
"Mr Bringer-er Together-er is Josh. You may also know him as artist Entheogenic Psychnought, or the spine of Eclectic Collective. We all came across Josh in our own lucky ways, but he really sets a high bar for spreading constructive musical love and encouragement on SoundCloud. This song started out as a comment. I (Carl/TBD) went to call Josh Mr Bringer-er Together-er and my phone auto corrected it. the next morning K2 swooped in and said what I wanted so I used that as a trigger for the song.
So, I had a rough arrangement. We then invited a few artists, except Josh, to paint it for him. Scratch Kelly, aka Sarah, beamed through some amazing vocals. Not long behind Joe Stroffolino painted in some brilliant backing vox. Then Scotty (One Man Verity Show) chimed in with some amazing guitar, trippy backing vocals, and the super artwork you get to enjoy. Mark brushed in a triangle and some vox, and then Ken added those trusty drums. Tez then strutted in and added some super lead guitar, and not far behind him was Stephen with some epic rhythm guitar that showed the way for the song from that point of view showing a much better space to all the other instruments than the original demo guitar. That was a lovely lesson on less is more...

The song was now ready to give to the main man for him to paint, and he chose his trusty bass to put some strawberries on his own musical cake.

I now stared at 37 tracks and went... Hmmm Stephen, Help! Stephen mixed and mastered it to its crisp current form, and it was a very difficult mix. He basically had to merge 3 projects to one and really aced the challenging mix and master like the true shaman he is. We hope you enjoy the song that brought us together again. May it give us more togetherness like Josh so wonderfully demonstrates everyday

You da brother man Josh 🤘🏽"

Lyrics

Magnet of human
Moulded by melody mind
Just jester Josh delivers this kind
Collective of creed worth all our belief
Friendship
Togetherness through skill and relief

Sharing, Caring
Composer of purr
Human vibrations of the highest occur
Let's celebrate this human some more
It's Mr Bringer-er together-er

Mr Bringer-er together-er
Mr Bringer-er together-er

Loving, Not shoving
Honing, Not moaning
Positive to give
In music he live
Loving his kids
Like he loves us
The luckiest kids who take this EC bus
Josh is the driver
Mr Music Jeez
More Mr Bringer-ers together-ers please

Mr Bringer-er together-er
Mr Bringer-er together-er

The Joshua Tree collecting collective
Physical dreams
Metaphysical pleasures
Skills. New.
Unconditional prime time
The only thing we tow is how we making new time line

Mr Bringer-er together-er

You are the rod
You cast your spinners
You reel us back in from lake bitter winter
It's Spring all the time in your World and Page
Our Mr Bringer-er together-er sage

We all love ya mate

Mr Bringer-er together-er
Mr Bringer-er together-er Oh oo
Mr Bringer-er together-er
Mr Bringer-er together-er Oh oo

Miss No Mark (Eclectic Collective with Beautiful Dark)

mistermark