Sunday, 10 March 2019

Sounds of 2011: Nos. 10 to 7

It's time again for... this! Just four posts to go in this series if you count this one. As I've mentioned before, there will be a "Sounds of 2012" at some point, but it won't take quite so long. Also, Pony Music Library will be getting another inductee fairly soon, hopefully before S9 of Friendship is Magic begins. Okay, here are the next four songs from Everfree Radio's Top 100 chart for the first full year of FiM:


This is an unlisted video on d.notive's account, which gave me slight pause – but it is available and this is a specialist MLP blog, so I feel okay featuring it here. The unlisted status may be because this is based on "The Conversion Bureau", a sometimes controversial class of ponyfics involving human-to-pony transformation (and more; see the TVTropes page I linked to) that were very popular in the earlyish days of the fandom and which people still occasionally write. The song itself is a nice, fairly simple piece of electronica with some good lyrics wherein the two artists alternate lines. Worth a listen even if you don't care about the fics that inspired it, and there's a 320k MP3 download link in the video description.


A remix of a General Mumble song, itself based on a track from Pirates of the Caribbean, WoodenToaster's version is a cross between pirate derring-do and Pinkie's "Grand Galloping Gala" song from way back in S1E03. It's more electronica – if there's one thing the Everfree Top 100s tend to do, it's to give that genre a little too much prominence – but it's a nice bit of swashbuckling silliness all the same. Not too long, either, at a mere 3:17. I'm afraid I can't find a download in HQ, though there may be one somewhere. I'm just a silly pony.


You know how recently I mentioned that there was a 2011 The Living Tombstone song I really liked? Well, this is it. Making use of the chorus from Jackle App's "Autumn" (which has previously featured in this series) this is a fantastically energetic number that might even get me up and dancing... if I ever danced. Which I don't. It's both happy and nostalgic, a difficult combination to pull off, and Mic's vocals avoid the problem of Tombstone's sometimes overbearing accent, something that badly affects some of his other old songs. You can grab a 320k MP3 from the video description.


A fantastic early track from the guy now known as RC88, this is Twi's theme from the ill-fated Fighting is Magic. As I've said before, the artist went on to compose music for the replacement game, Them's Fighting Herds, but this one is pure Pony. It really captures Twilight's energy and ability, with some lovely glockenspiel-esque notes and nicely judged references to songs such as "At the Gala". This is great even if you have no interest in the game, though sadly the song listed as inspiration in the description is no longer available. For HQ versions, pay $1 on RC88's Bandcamp.

Next time, yet another song by The Living Tombstone. And two others.

6 comments:

  1. Really getting to the business end of this now!

    I’m quite familiar with numbers 9 and 7, but not the other two unfortunately. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the other ‘Fighting is Magic’ tracks in the top 6.

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    1. There is another "Fighting is Magic" theme to come... but it wasn't released in 2011, so it's not in the top six. Without giving anything away, I've heard of all the remaining tracks, but some of them are now much less popular than they once were.

      Three more posts to come: one for nos. 6, 5 and 4; one for nos. 3 and 2, and the final one for the top spot alone.

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  2. My favorite Fighting is Magic theme BY FAR was Pinkie's. Was pretty dissapointed when they didn't keep it when they transitioned the project to original IP, since it was one of the only tracks that didn't sample from in-show songs.

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    1. I'd almost completely forgotten what Pinkie's theme sounded like, so had to go and have a listen.

      it was one of the only tracks that didn't sample from in-show songs.

      Not directly, but the WhiteTail Music page says that 'Various motifs have been taken from "Giggle at the Ghosties" and "Cupcakes"' – and they're obvious enough that it was probably still too risky from an IP point of view.

      That page also says "Comments closed until the flame wars die down." I've no idea what that was all about, as the comments remain closed to this day! It really was a long time ago...

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    2. Now I'm wondering if I'm deaf. I used to have that song on repeat in the background back when I still played League, and I *still* don't know where the "Giggle" or "Cupcakes" bits are.

      Also, no clue what the "flame war" situation was, either. It was still like that when I found it. :P

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    3. Well, as one example, there's a short repeating passage that starts at 1:31 in the video I linked to. That's very clearly "Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall" from "Giggle". The "Cupcakes" bit I noticed is the fast section from about 2:29 on. The notes have been changed, but it's pretty much "All you gotta do is take a cup of flour..." speeded up.

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