Ready to join me again on a trip into the dim and distant world of, er, nine years ago? At this point in 2016, the last two FiM episodes had been "A Hearth's Warming Tail" and "The Saddle Row Review", so there was a fair degree of optimism around regarding the show. It's the fandom music scene I'm interested in here, though. As usual, the ratings come from the Equestrian Trot 100 chart, whose voting period ran from December 2015 through to November 2016. Here's the usual reminder of my inclusion criteria:
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.
Last week, I had to skip the very first song (ie no. 100) but the other four could be included. This week, on the other hoof, it's plain sailing all the way, since I can feature all five songs. Woo-hoo!
95: Synthis – Into the Everfree
94: WoodLore – Flowers
93: 4EverfreeBrony ft. Joaftheloaf & Relative1Pitch – Without Me
92: The Wasteland Wailers ft. Brittany Church – When the Sun Comes Back
91: Eurobeat Brony ft. Odyssey – Luna's Future (Euro Cast Mix)
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 27 Oct 2015
We had a Synthis song last time, and there's another one this time. According to the artist, this one started out as just some filler chords, but gradually expanded to become this track. The lyrics tell of the conflict between the Everfree's strange attraction and its undoubted dangers. Some very good synthiness here, and the vocals nicely tread the line between relaxing and chilling. I'm slightly less keen on the mildly dubsteppy bit around the three-minute mark, but it's short. You can pick this one up as a name-your-price download on Synthis' Bandcamp.
It's always been great to see WoodLore's name in these charts, since almost everything he created is at least very good. This is another excellent slice of folk rock, which as ever features WoodLore's highly distinctive and likeable vocals. The fact that he gave permission for his music to be used "wherever you please" means I can feature this now. By his own description this is a "comfy" song. It's about the Mane Six getting that rare moment when they're not off saving the world, but can instead simply enjoy hanging out as friends. Their "legs could go for miles but our hearts they need a little time to grow", indeed. No WoodLore Bandcamp any more, sadly, but the song has a third-party Soundcloud upload.
This is a 4EverfreeBrony song, so the beautiful guitar work and slightly ethereal vocals come as no surprise. Featuring Joaftheloaf and violinist Relative1Pitch, and actually first released back in 2014, it's the opening track from The Pink Side of the Moon.¹ This is the Pinkie Pie-themed concept album that most people these days (including me, I shame-facedly admit) have never really listened to as a whole. In the most general terms, it's the story of how Pinkie doubting herself and feeling that her friends don't really want her around, so she decides to go to the Moon. "Without Me" is where it all begins, so it's a very sad song. 4EB released a remastered version in 2018, but as usual in "Sounds of..." it's the original that's embedded here. Both versions are $1 each on 4EverfreeBrony's Bandcamp: original song here and remastered version here.
Here we have a song that was released as a BronyCon special in 2016. Posted on the OvermareStudios YouTube account, like most Wasteland Wailers songs it's reminiscent of the swing music of three-quarters of a century ago. Brittany Church perhaps carries more of it than usual, as her vocals are placed at the forefront with the instrumentals relatively quiet for much of the track. It makes her sound a little more fragile than sometimes, I think. The OS team said back in 2016 that a big band version was planned for the Fallout: Equestria-based RPG, but that never came to pass. A pity, as I suspect it would have sounded superb. The 'Wailers don't have much of a Bandcamp presence any more, but happily this particular song is still available as part of the name-your-price Ponies at Dawn: Introspection album from 2020.
It's amazing to think that, even this long ago, Eurobeat Brony had been making MLP music for a full five years. If you've heard any Pony fandom music at all, you'll know what to expect from this remix of Luna's powerful song from "A Hearth's Warming Tail" – which at the time had only been released for six weeks. As well as the canon lyrics, Odyssey added a second verse, which fits in very nicely. I'm not sure I'd consider this her best fandom track, but it's well worthy of the Super Ponybeat name that originated way back in 2011. Get the HQ version as a name-your-price download on Eurobeat Brony's Bandcamp.
ahh, Without Me is a good'n :) and the others strike me as songs you might use to introduce someone to those artists' sounds, not their best work but highly indicative of what they do
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