Sounds of 2012: Nos. 27 to 22

Today, "Sounds of 2012" is moving into the top quarter of Everfree Radio's Top 100 fan-voted songs from seven years ago. Below you can see what's covered this time and read a bit more about each track, but as usual I'll begin by giving you my criteria for inclusion:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the artist
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion

27: The L-Train – A Symphonic Metal Tribute to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
26: Twitch – Flutterborn
25: The Living Tombstone – Octavia's Overture
24: The Living Tombstone feat. Lauren G. – Magic
23: Dasha and The Living Tombstone – Good Girl
22: All Levels at Once – Pony Should Pony Pony

I expect most of you know the form by now, but for those who don't – or who need reminding – I'll have videos and a bit of writing about each song after the page break.

27: The L-Train – A Symphonic Metal Tribute to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 14 Apr 2012
This 11-minute extravaganza is far from being The L-Train's longest work. Indeed, their most recent at time of posting (from July 2019; they're still around) is four times longer and still just Part One! Back to this track, and it's what it says on the tin: a collection of songs from the first two season in the appropriate style and with some original links. It's pretty nicely done and of course it has an appropriately nostalgic tone when listened to in late 2019! The artist links to the piece's pony.fm page from the video description, so go there for FLAC or 320k MP3 versions.

26: Twitch – Flutterborn

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 21 Aug 2012
The YouTube channel is now known as AVINOID, and in any case the artist has moved elsewhere. This track is apparently inspired by the game Skyrim, which is awkward for me as I've never played it. :P So all I can really say is that I appreciate the Fluttershy here, including extensive remix-sampling of "So Many Wonders", and that I remember seeing quite a few with 'Shy dressed up like that back in the ago. A music pack of the artist's older songs, including this one, is linked in the video description – but unfortunately the link is now dead.

25: The Living Tombstone – Octavia's Overture

Rule 1: uploaded to 5 Feb 2012
Yet another earlyish song from The Living Tombstone, and it has many of the hallmarks of other Tombstone numbers from around that time, such as rather awkward lyrics. (Though do bear in mind that Tombstone's native language is Hebrew, not English.) It does have some nice instrumental arrangement, though. It's a song about Octavia (surprise!) leaving Ponyville to make a musical career in the big city, but letting fame go to her head and not keeping up with her old friends. There's some quite effective use of snatches of "Becoming Popular". Grab a 320k MP3 via the video description.

24: The Living Tombstone feat. Lauren G. – Magic

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 30 Mar 2012
Hey, look who it is! The Living Tombstone returns, this time partnered with Lauren G., and I think this is a more successful song than the previous one, despite actually being a few days older. It's a Trixie song, one in which the then-antagonistic showmare tells us all that her stage tricks may not be done by spells in the true sense, but that they're still "real magic". The bouncy rhythm feels very Tombstoney, if you see what I mean, and it conjures up visions of a life lived in the wagons of a travelling show. Her mama used to dance for the money they'd throw. You can pick up a higher-quality MP3 from the video description.

23: Dasha and The Living Tombstone – Good Girl

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 9 Aug 2012
Swedish singer Dasha apparently didn't do much in the MLP fandom, and she's certainly got nothing Pony-related on her current channel. However, this collaboration with – it's that man again! – The Living Tombstone is more than enough on its own to earn Dasha a place in fandom history. The song is about Screwloose, the "crazy barking pony" character at the hospital in "Read It and Weep". I've always found that aspect of the episode a bit uncomfortable, but there's no doubt that this is a great song. It's a powerful rock ballad, told from Screwloose's perspective, about how she may be shunned and treated as mad, but she knows who she is. Dasha's voice is truly outstanding – I wish Tombstone had done more collabs with singers like this, actually. There's an MP3 download link in the video description, although for some reason the quality is only 200k.

22: All Levels at Once – Pony Should Pony Pony

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 17 Mar 2012
"Pony should pony pony" was a bit of a catchphrase when I joined the fandom at the tail end of S2, but I don't know whether it was inspired by this All Levels at Once classic or whether the catchphrase inspired the song. Either way, this has been one of my favourites since those far-off days of 2012. It's almost impossibly catchy, and the show samples are generally very well used. Maybe one of those songs that you had to be around in the reasonably early fandom (say, pre-Twilicorn) to feel fully connected to, but I don't know. I'd like to think it would appeal to most people. There's a link to a higher-quality (remastered) version in the video description.