Sounds of 2016, nos. 75 to 71

It's time once again to return to the Equestrian Trot 100 for 2016, which as you may remember actually runs (in terms of voting period) from December 2015 to November 2016. It's the best you're going to get from me, though! Comforming to my usual custom, here are the inclusion rules:

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 always nice when I can feature all five songs in a week's selection, but it doesn't always work out that way. This time, though, it absolutely did! Huzzah! How many tracks do I receive? [Five. That's kind of the point. —Ed.]

75: Spectra – Welcome to the Show (remix)
74: JoinedTheHerd – I Can Do It On My Own (remix)
73: Forest Rain ft. Luna Jax – Let the Magic Fill Your Soul (cover)
72: Crusader! – Power Ponies GO!
71: Aurelleah & Kadenza ft. PegasYs – Firelight

You can make up your own pre-break waffle here. I'm going straight to the tunes!

75: Spectra – Welcome to the Show (remix)

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 30 Dec 2015
Have you ever imagined what a glitch hop remix of Rainbow Rocks' "Welcome to the Show" would sound like? Well, British musician Spectra clearly did, since that's what this is! If you know the blog Horse Music Herald (still active!) then you may know, or like to know, that Spectra founded it. But back to this track, which is at a traditional glitch hop pace of 94 bpm, rather than the slightly faster tempo often used in recent years. I think it's remarkably effective and extremely catchy, preserving the Dazzlings' creepy vocals while adding a whole extra layer of danceability. According to Spectra himself in the comments, this took about eight months to get right. I think it was worth it. This is a name-your-price track on Spectra's Bandcamp.

74: JoinedTheHerd – I Can Do It On My Own (remix)

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 4 Jun 2016

Another remix of a Daniel Ingram original here, this time the Fluttershy/Rainbow/Zephyr trio from "Flutter Brutter". I'm a big fan of JoinedTheHerd as a rule, I like the original show song, and I think the episode itself is underrated. It's a slight pity, then, that I don't like this as much as most of JTH's Friendship is Magic remixes. I don't dislike it, I just find it has slightly less strength and clarity than JTH usually achieves. I do wonder if the extremely fast turnaround has something to do with it: the artist says the remix took only 2 hours 17 minutes to make, and it was published the very same day the episode had aired. If you love it, though, it's a name-your-price song on JoinedTheHerd's Bandcamp.

 

73: Forest Rain ft. Luna Jax – Let the Magic Fill Your Soul (cover)

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 21 Oct 2015

It's going to be tough for a song with Forest Rain covering a WoodLore classic (that made the 60s last year) to do badly with me, and so it proves here. Unsurprisingly Forest Rain herself can't match WoodLore's uniquely gravelly voice, but wisely she doesn't try and gives the cover her own flavour. In particular, by turning this into a duet, with Forest Rain's parts alternating with those by Luna Jax. Now his voice is a bit closer to WoodLore's, although again he sensibly doesn't push that. The parts near the end where the two of them harmonise are especially appealing to me. I'm very disappointed that this isn't on Bandcamp, but there is at least a 320k MP3 link in the YouTube description.

 

72: Crusader! – Power Ponies GO!

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 5 Jan 2016

Hay, it's a Crusader! song. Do you think it just might be a rock number? I think it might, you know! Okay, it's pop-punk, but that's close enough for our purposes, I think. Some fine guitar work in here, certainly. As the title (and indeed the thumbnail) suggest, this is a song about, well, the Power Ponies and how in the end they'll always save the day. I'd actually had a vague memory that this had been written for a never-released animated short, but even though the song has that feel, no. I'd been remembering this animation, made for the track itself with Izeer. Again no Bandcamp, but this song is on Crusader!'s Soundcloud.

 

71: Aurelleah & Kadenza ft. PegasYs – Firelight

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 30 Apr 2015
We end this week's instalment with some cheerful, melodic, happy house. As Aurelleah says, this is simply "[a]n upbeat song about having a good time!" There really isn't a lot more to its meaning than that – and there really doesn't need to be. Just imagine a group of ponies heading out to a firelit clearing for an all-night party. You may know Kadenza better as John Kenza; they're the same person, yes! If you're into Pony music, then PegasYs will probably be well known to you already, of course. "Firelight" is available in higher-than-YouTube quality for $1 on Aurelleah's Bandcamp. It's also on the Ponies at Dawn: Awakening album.