Sounds of 2013: Nos. 89 to 85

Something the little meetup group I'm part of (virtual meetups now, of course) has done for the past couple of weeks is to have a midweek music meet – specifically focusing on Pony music (both official and fandom). It's been a success, and since the members' interests cover a variety of genres and artists, it's been good for discovering new songs as well as enjoying old favourites. More music now, in the shape of the next "Sounds of 2013" post. The inclusion rules are, as ever:

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

Good news! This time around, all five of the next tracks in the chart qualify for inclusion here. Yay!

89: ElectroKaplosion – Snowdrop
88: Glaze – Heartmender
87: Aviators ft. Glaze – Shadows
86: Aviators – From All Sides
85: Aviators – Heartmender (remix)

Rather a repetitive track list in a way, but past the page break you'll find that there's plenty of interest to be had. :)

89: ElectroKaplosion – Snowdrop

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 22 Mar 2013
We had an ElectroKaplosion song last time, and here's another. Based on Silly Filly Studios' (now SFS) once hugely popular animation Snowdrop, this is a tribute to the blind filly who is the hero of that creation. In fact, this was uploaded to YT on the very same day the animation itself was. It's a nice song, too, although my personal preference would have been for straight vocals without the distortion. I really like the repeating theme played on bells (or similar), though. You can pick this up in HQ for one US dollar on ElectroKaplosion's Bandcamp.

88: Glaze – Heartmender

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 20 Feb 2013
Glaze is of course WoodenToaster, but this is not an especially Pony-sounding song. In fact, the lyrics contain no obvious reference to ponies at all, and the video description leaves me little the wiser as to whether it was even intended as a fandom song. Still, it's similar to the last track in that it has some lovely melodic running themes allied to a slightly distorted vocal track. The lyrics are very simple, but they work well enough. Sadly I can't find any trace of a high-quality version to download or buy.

87: Aviators ft. Glaze – Shadows

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 30 Apr 2013
This is the first time Aviators has made the 2013 list, but it sure as hay won't be the last! Anyway, for this one – which featured on the From All Sides album – he teamed up with Glaze/WoodenToaster. Aviators described this as "one of [his] darkest songs ever", and it's about Discord. In this version of his story, he rejects the chance to use his great power for good and instead embraces his evil side. (The song came out a couple of months after S3 ended.) I really do like this one – it's got a wonderfully disconcerting, ominous feel that really suits its subject. Even though it lasts over six minutes, it doesn't feel excessively long. For HQ goodness, pay $1 on Aviators' Bandcamp.

86: Aviators ft. Bronyfied – From All Sides

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 4 Mar 2020 [sic]
I said Aviators would be back, didn't I? And from the very same album as Shadows! This seems to be an auto-upload via TuneCore – just last month, too! – but it's definitely hosted on Aviators' official YT account. It features a long-gone MLP artist in Bronyfied, who I assume is the guitarist. The video description is a really bare-bones one, which also means there's no info on what this song is actually about, beyond what's in the lyrics. Those talk about holding true to yourself against a rising tide of danger. There are clear echoes of Aviators' much older "Never Back Down" at times here, and I wonder whether this might be interpreted as a Daring Do song as "NBD" was. You can pick it up in HQ versions for $1 on Aviators' Bandcamp.

85: Aviators – Heartmender (remix)

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 11 Mar 2013
Wait, didn't we just have this song? We did indeed! And didn't we just have this artist? We did indeed! Aviators once again, this time with a remix of the Glaze/WoodenToaster track discussed above. As you'd expect from Aviators, his attentions give the song a rather lighter, floatier feel with plenty of synth. There's an all-new bridge, as well as some nice backing vocals. You can find a 320k MP3 download via a Mediafire link in the video description.