a compilation of some of the better stuff I had recorded before 2022, the year I became much more active on SoundCloud (after getting a new piano for my birthday!). Before that, there was about 20 years (!) where I didn't record or hardly even play anything, other than drumming in various drum circles. So all this music is actually from between 1998-2002. Sound quality is not always great, but some hidden gems here & there. Thanks for listening...   :)

"Best Before Date" (music from before 2022 - compilation)

revisiting an old favourite with new & improved sound quality, mixing and arrangement. This is basically a repeating chorus, which is pretty catchy, but I’d love to eventually compose the rest of this tune, and have it played by jazz musicians with live instruments one day. This is probably still one of my top 3 favourite tracks, but there’s a couple other versions I’ve posted on here - one with a saxophone playing lead melody: 
https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/jazzy-ditty-new-med-quartet?in=user-432503709/sets/bestest-ones

and a slower extended version:
https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/jazzy-ditty-belle-curves-blues?in=user-432503709/sets/bestest-ones

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Jazzy Ditty (trio - piano)

trying out a latin sounding rhythm with various perc layered in. I miss doing this with real drums with my old buds.

Mark's Album

latin perc loop 2

a funkified creation with pretty rough drumming throughout because I insisted on playing the drum part live using the keyboard drum pads. Still, some zany chaos going on here. This is from back in 2000 or so.
Another older track I’d like to rework into something a bit cleaner, with better quality sounding instruments. 

Comments always appreciated, but don't feel shy to give critical feedback - always trying to get better!

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Funky Junk

a rare step into the electronic dance music arena, which I tend to avoid on accounta the two left feet. this is one of the older ones recorded with pretty retro equipment somewhere around 1999-2000.

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here's some pictures I took:
https://500px.com/p/MrMark?view=photos

House In Da Jungle

another older track I'd like to try to expand on some day. Just didn't have the playing chops at the time of recording it. Still don't  :O)

This track was also used (temporarily) as a middle section of an alternate, slower and extended version of ‘Jazzy Ditty’, one of my favourite tracks. But I hope to eventually replace it with something that fits better. 

Artwork is a variation I did (added guitar strings) on a well known Matisse print.

Comments always appreciated, but don't feel shy to give critical feedback - always trying to get better!

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Belle Curves Blues

experimenting with mixing some preset Garageband loops with some original rhythms and melody.

Latin Kinda Thang

an older one. seems to evoke the image of a slow moving caravan making their way through the shifting sands across a wide open desert.

Unorthodox Explorations

Desert Odyssey

the sound of these horns made me think of some ancient roman epic story. a friend of mine thought it sounded like something out of a fantasy movie soundtrack.

Epic Horns

a pretty old melody (around 2001?) from back when I was first experimenting with Arabic scales & rhythms.

Hijaz Kar - Middle Eastern Dance

One my my earliest original recordings, played on an old Yamaha PSS-680. Drum pattern is pretty sloppy since I was playing it live, and pretty beginner playing overall. Still, a funky little ditty with a baseline I liked at the time.

Groovy Smooth (Clyde's Glide)

from many years ago. messing around with some weird voice modulator stuff. you didn't think those were real chipmunks singing did you?

Lyrics:
So why do you want to go
Down where the chipmunks live, oh yeah 
Say why?!

[Repeat]

Unorthodox Explorations 

Down Where the Chipmunks Live

this recording from around 2001 was a bit of an accident; when I was messing around with a drum machine and somehow the midi connection was triggering sounds from the drum machine while I was messing around with a dark melody on the synth. sounds pretty much like the title says.

Haunted Drum Machine

'Jazzy Ditty' (https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/jazzy-ditty-new-med?in=user-432503709/sets/album-the-goods) is one of my earliest and favourite jazz tracks, which I keep revisiting and trying different things with. In this slowed down version, the opening and closing piano parts are the main chorus theme, and in the middle I tried throwing in another older track - 'Belle Curves Blues'. 

There's also an alternate faster version called 'Jazzy Ditty (alto - quartet)', where the piano melody line is replaced by a saxophone. https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/jazzy-ditty-new-med-quartet?in=user-432503709/sets/bestest-ones

I'd love to eventually expand the main theme into a longer piece, and one day have this played live by jazz musicians. 

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.   :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Mark's Album (post-2020)

Jazzy Ditty / Belle Curves Blues (slow, extended version)

One of the older recordings from around 2001; a 3-part medley made of 3 styles: funk, reggae, and 'game show' (?). Not sure that's a style but it is now. 
(Saxofunk is a rearranged piece based on the song 'Saxafunk' by Neville Brothers)

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.  :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Saxofunk / Game Show / Pennywise

one of my favourite tracks from the older batch written around early 2001. Or at least it was a favourite for about 20 years until I started writing new stuff in 2022. The violin solo near the beginning is one of my favourite bits I've recorded, but the middle section could use some work since I don't play guitar - everything on this is played on keyboard. I'd love one day re-do this with better sound quality, or even with real violin and guitar.
 
instruments include drums, bass, piano, electric piano, violin, electric guitar, xylophone, organ (all played on keyboard).

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve. :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Multi2dinal

re-uploading an old tune from around 2001, remastered from original tape. This is definitely one of the ones I'd love to hear played on real orchestral instruments.

instruments include violin (bowed & plucked), cello, clarinet, accordion, percussion - all synth sounds. 

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve. :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Aulde Europe

This was one of my earliest compositions - from around 2001 - of what I would consider a 'full' song... i.e. not the usual recording of me noodling on a part to build on later and never finishing. The main chorus & verse theme are pretty straightforward and remind me a little of the 'Winter Games' theme by David Foster. But the bridge section in the middle and especially the arpeggio in the closing section are something quite different... arguably my favourite minute or so of anything I've recorded.

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

The Last Days Of November

The sitar is one of those beautiful classical instruments that has so many rich subtleties to it... it's one of my favourite instruments but hard to replicate if you're not playing a real one! Nevertheless I've recorded a few tracks that feature sitar  - the others being "Tiger Raga" and "From Agra to Zanzibar". The other main instrument on this track is the santoor, a kind of dulcimer played with small sticks striking the strings. 

This is another older track from around 2001, which I keep meaning to re-do with better sound quality and mix. It’s dark with an upbeat rhythm, and a cool little bit around the middle. And as a drummer, I do like the percussion in this quite a bit. 

Comments always appreciated, but don't feel shy to give critical feedback - always trying to get better!

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Sitar & Santoor

Ambient sitar & tabla music, loosely inspired by the classic Dixieland standard, 'Tiger Rag' (well, only the name really).

It's another older track, maybe from late 1999 or so. The sound quality of the tape recording is not that great, but I more recently (in 2022) added a bit of reverb effects in a few parts to punch it up a bit.

I remember when I was first working on this, I started with the tabla drum pattern and tampura drone, which I liked so much, I left it playing all night and woke up to it the next morning and pretty easily came up with the main sitar theme. Maybe the drums inspired something in a dream, who knows...

instrument sounds generated using an E-Mu 'Proteus 3: World' sound module, which uses samples from real instruments.  

AI generated image using Dall-E

Tiger Raga

This track uses sound samples from GarageBand which I then arranged into this thumpin’ thingamabobber. Like lots of my stuff, this is just an idea which may be developed into a fuller arrangement later.

"Best Before Date" (music from before 2022 - compilation)

mistermark