It's now time to set off on another journey into the past, with "Sounds of 2016". As for the 2015 series, I will be taking chart positions from the Equestria Trot 100. I should note right at the start that this does not quite use the calendar year: it is based on "chart points" from 5th December 2015 to 26th November 2016. These were based on monthly votes, weekly views and weekly likes, but I don't know the precise formula. I assume the eligibility period was so that they could do a big Hearth's Warming special with the list, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, my criteria for inclusion remain as they were:
Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original 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.
It's often the case that some of the songs down in the lower reaches of these charts have disappeared into the ether with the passing of the years, and so it is today. Somewhat disappointingly, the very first song I would have liked to have featured today is one I have to skip. Still, I've managed to find official uploads of the other four, so we're not too badly off! Here we go:
100: skipped
99: PrinceWhateverer ft. CookieSoup – A Place That We Call Home
98: PON3 – We Can Fly
97: Synthis ft. Sora – Insane
96: PON3 – Proxy
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 28 Sep 2016
The first song I can actually feature from 2016's chart is from that highly obscure and low-energy musician, PrinceWhateverer. Whatever happened to him? ;) As for CookieSoup? That turns out to have been the name that dBPony used in between being called dBPony and, er, dBPony again. No, me neither. So, a pretty decent rock pedigree for the artists! The song is about the Crusaders having something of an identity crisis about who they are and where they go now they have their cutie marks. In spite of the obvious passage of time, I don't think this has dated badly at all. Want it in high quality? It'll set you back £1 from PrinceWhateverer's Bandcamp.
Okay, listen carefully. PON3 is the Czech artist now known as Scraton. This song was originally released in 2015, but the only official release I can find online now is the six-year-newer Bandcamp one. There's a more progressive 2024 remix, but the original embedded above is from an archive channel. The song is a nicely produced affair from this EDM/house specialist, and as long as you can deal with distorted high-pitched pony vocals everything else fits together excellently. At less than three minutes long, it won't start to drag, either! You can get this original for $1 on Scraton's Bandcamp, or obtain the remix as part of the name-your-price Ponies at Dawn: Blossom album.
These days Synthis has prefixed his name with "Sam" on YouTube (although not on Bandcamp), but back then one word was enough. This is a really great piece of poppy electronica, one which came from a happy place: at the time Synthis was in a stable relationship and said that the girl he was dating had driven him insane – in a good way! I don't know anything much about Sora, who still seems to be fitfully active, mostly in the Bluey fandom. Her vocals complement Synthis' own very nicely, though, and the synths are just perfect. "Insane" has a great flow and you feel as though you're being carried away on a steadily flowing river. This is a name-your-price download on Synthis' Bandcamp.
This is another track by the artist now known as Scraton, but this one is available on his own official YouTube channel. We're in chillstep land here, something the musician went for heavily on the Ark EP of which this tune formed a quarter. "The power of sound is endless," says the artist in the YouTube comment, and at times you may feel this song is the same. That isn't intended as a criticism, especially since it's only 4'50", which for this kind of track is far from excessive. I mean more that you really can let yourself glide away with your mind as the music washes over you. This piece can be bought for $1 on Scraton's Bandcamp.
ooh, just charging right into the next year, huh? :D exciting! I don't remember hearing a single one of these, though I definitely have XD
ReplyDeleteYeah, I didn't want to wait until 2026 to do this! In fact, if this works out, I'll probably carry on with 2017's chart shortly after finishing this one.
Deletesynthis is classic pony!
ReplyDeleteI found a pony to match it https://imagehosting.equestriadaily.com/images/2025/05/25/derpibooru-3611359.jpg