Sounds of 2013, Nos. 69 to 65

Here we go again with another selection from Everfree Radio's brony-voted Top 100 fandom tracks of 2013. Not much more to say at this point, so here's the usual quick reminder of the rules I use when deciding whether to include a song.

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

Unfortunately, for the first time in a while there's a song that doesn't pass the above tests, so I'm skipping that one. That means only four tracks today, I'm afraid. Here's the list:

69: Silent Night – Paradise
68: Twitch – Gypsy Bard (remix)
67: ShadowcatKiara & GatoPaint ft. Radix – Sugar Hills
66: skipped
65: JoinedTheHerd – Again (remix)

Past the page break you'll find YouTube embeds and a bit of detail about each track.

69: Silent Night – Paradise

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 6 Jun 2013
This track by Silent Night is based on a fanfic by SlyWit that has been taken down "for renovations" for three years now, although the Fimfiction listing remains. It speaks of how Celestia and Luna must rise from being ordinary foals to become the princesses we know today. As a 2011 fic, it's very outdated, but the song is really nice, a folk song with lots of acoustic guitar and, after an instrumental opening, the singer's voice is quite strong and suited to this type of track. Maybe the repetition at the end goes on a little too long, but there aren't that many folk musicians in the fandom, so I'll take this. The Soundcloud download link in the video description still works.

68: Twitch – Gypsy Bard (remix)

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 14 Apr 2013
Twitch is now known as AVINOID and has left Pony music behind, but here's a drum and bass remix of Pinkie Pie's Friendship is Witchcraft track. As such, Pinkie's reasons for her singing about orphanages will make little sense if you're not at least moderately familiar with her character in FiW. This style of music is not generally among my favourites, but for what it is this is a pretty solid effort. Twitch mentioned that this wasn't originally intended to be released, why I don't know, but it may be why it's fairly minimalist in places. You can download this one as part of a pack of non-commercial Twitch songs listed in the video description.

67: ShadowcatKiara & GatoPaint ft. Radix – Sugar Hills

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 27 Jun 2013
I must admit I'd never heard of ShadowcatKiara until now, but she's actually still active on YouTube, albeit with anime and not MLP stuff. She sang a nice a cappella version of "Shine Like Rainbows", but let's get back to this track. With a title like "Sugar Hills" you'd guess it was a Pinkie song – and you'd be spot on. The lyrics, sung by Pinks, are all about how we need some sweetness and sugar in our lives. The tune's sound is indeed sugary-sweet, rather too much so for my taste, and the vocaloid-esque distortion goes too far for me. I'm sure some will enjoy this, but it'll probably double your blood glucose level! The download link given no longer works.

66: skipped

65: JoinedTheHerd – Again (remix)

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 16 Jun 2013
One of JoinedTheHerd's older tracks now, from an artist still active in the fandom. (Yay!) That said, I'm not sure this is one of JTH's most successful pieces, and I say that as a big fan of theirs. It's a remix of this Sim Gretina/EileMonty track, and I feel the fusion of EileMonty's clear vocals and JTH's trademark bouncy rhythm doesn't quite gel. The original is just so good that this seems like a step down. You may well disagree with me, in which case there's a 320k MP3 download linked from the video description.