Back to 2016 again now, and today it's the final part of the bottom quarter of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart. Look, I have to say something up here, all right? :P Let's start with the usual reminder of the 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 last song of the quintet. This time, I'm delighted to say that we're back up to a full complement of five! Here's the full list of tracks:
80: OhPonyBoy – You are Wonderful
79: Silva Hound – Diamonds
78: µThunder – Lost on the Moon (remix)
77: AwkwardMarina – Open Your Eyes (a cappella cover)
76: Aviators – Dragonheart
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 1 Oct 2016
Yet another OhPonyBoy blobfest now, and as usual with these songs it's slightly difficult to talk about the track itself as it's so intimately bound up with the accompanying animation. This song is from the Blobs are Cute album, and the chibi blobbery is in full swing once more, with a bouncy electronic rhythm and occasional groups of the title, which the animation shows being said by Shining Armor to Cadance and later by Rainbow Dash to Daring Do. It's a short song indeed at only 2'17", but it may well get inside your head even so. Pick this one up for €1 on OhPonyBoy's Bandcamp.
This Rarity-themed track by Silva Hound has featured here before, since it made it into the 60s last time around. It starts very quietly, but don't be fooled! French House was how the artist originally made his name in Pony music, and the influence is very obvious here. There's also a bit of his own style, one he refers to as "Cool Friends". Yes, it's dubsteppy to an extent that means it's not going to be one of my own favourites, but the production is so well done and the vocal chops so appropriately collected that it's hard not to at least tap your hooves to it even if (like me) you're not one for dancing.The HQ track is available for $1.29 on Silva Hound's Bandcamp.
2016 was arguably the year of µThunder's greatest popularity in the fandom, and this remix of WoodenToaster and The Living Tombstone's 2012 classic is a perfect example of how he could take an even-then old song and give it new life. Irritatingly, comments on the YouTube upload have been turned off, I assume for "For Kids" reasons as the animation is taken from FiM itself, but the song is perfectly listenable. It's a rather busier and more jagged version than the original, although the story of Luna's lunar exile remains intact. Some interesting piano work, too. Sadly the artist's Bandcamp doesn't contain this, so this third-party Soundcloud upload is the best I can offer you.
It's fair to say that AwkwardMarina's best known MLP song is always likely to be "Anthropology", made when she was only a teenager, but that isn't the only fandom track she made during her Pony years. This one may be the most distinctive of all: an a capella rendition of Aviators' hugely succcessful Twilight-ascension song, "Open Your Eyes". AwkwardMarina's cover is very different from much of the music we get in the fandom, and to me that helps to make it refershing to hear. It's well above the average quality of an a cappella cover, though it does tickle me that even in 2016 the artist was looking back to (in her words) "the HAY-day of the pony fandom". All the voices here are done by her, without exception. It's impressive stuff, but sadly YouTube is the only place I can find it uploaded, so no HQ version seems to exist.
The previous song in the chart was a cover of an Aviators song – well, this one is an Aviators original! This is the second track this week to have appeared in 2015's chart as well (at no. 58) but anyone who knows me will know that I almost never regret the necessity to feature a song by this artist. "Dragonheart" is one of Aviators' later MLP numbers. It's about the conflict within Spike "between caring for the one he loves, and fighting his fiery dragon instinct". It's instantly recognisable as an Aviators track the moment the guy opens his mouth, if not sooner. The song in HQ is available for $1 on Aviators' Bandcamp.
Who knew AwkwardMarina could beatbox? :D What a cool discovery.
ReplyDeleteCan't say microThunder improved "Lost on the Moon" any. <_< I prefer Sonic Breakbeat's remix of the original.
"Dragonheart" is a favorite though. :)