Some of the pony that might possibly be fit to print
Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Sounds of 2016, nos. 55 to 51
Some big news from UK PonyCon: Weekend and Saturday tickets are sold out already! The lower capacity of this year's venue (which was not the con's first choice) has been a major factor. Sadly the early sell-out of full-weekend tickets (not since 2018 has this happened in July) has caught out a couple of my friends, who just weren't able to buy in time. As I type, Friday-only and Sunday-only tickets are still on sale, but even they probably won't last that much longer.
Returning to music, today we round off the lower half of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart for 2016. As usual, I'll give a quick reminder of my inclusion criteria, of which Rule 1 is always the most important:
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 was able to feature everything. Not this time, sadly.
55: Foozogz – Acceptance 54: The Wasteland Wailers – Dare Master 53: skipped 52: JoinedTheHerd – Out On My Own (remix) 51: Metajoker & Respin – Become
You know what? No waffle here this time. Music awaits!
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 22 Dec 2015 We start off this week with one of the mainstays of the musical section of our fandom in the shape of Foozogz. It's a track about accepting change and development as a part of life to be embraced rather than feared. It's always a bit nostalgic looking back to the S5 era and seeing that people were already thinking about how characters such as the Mane Six had evolved. Some really excellent splicing of vocal samples from the show itself, and the whole thing is clearly intended to tie in with the S5 finale. As you'd expect from 2015-era Foozogz, the production is excellent too. Get it on a name-your-price basis on Foozogz' Bandcamp.
Oh fantastic, another Wasteland Wailers song to feature! Some people consider "Dare Master" to be at the very pinnacle of the Wailers' output, and while there's strong competition for that title it's definitely one of their best. With the usual fantastic vocals from Brittany Church, this glorious piece of Fallout: Equestria-inspired swing jazz that has an atmosphere very reminiscent of Thirties gangster movies. Guns, booze, romance – they're all here. The lyrics fit the music very nicely, and the whole thing is just enormously satisfying. The song isn't available individually on Bandcamp, but it is accessible in high quality by grabbing the Memories album from Ponies at Dawn, which is a name-your-price record.
JoinedTheHerd has a pretty good hit rate when it comes to my enjoying their songs, and this is one that hits the mark for me. A remix of AppleBloom's song from the S6 episode "On Your Marks", the version by JTH ups the tempo and adds more urgent drums, but without losing the underlying emotional tug of Apple Bloom's uncertainty about her destination. I particularly like the final section, which is quite simply designed but underlines the feeling of emotional turmoil that AB is going through at that point in the episode. This track is a name-your-price download on JoinedTheHerd's Bandcamp.
This was apparently the second in a "Three Songs, Three Fandoms" project, the other two fandoms being Five Nights at Freddy's and Steven Universe. But let's stick with this song, which is about Rainbow Dash. Metajoker and Respin (female vocals, then as now on Bandcamp as postergirlxoxo) combined to create this track which is heavily inspired by "Wonderbolts Academy", although there are a few show vocals from elsewhere, such as "I'll Fly". A nice piano line, which is nearly always a plus for me! Metajoker says that the song asks "[A]t what point do you have to lose what you were to become what you thought you wanted to be? And should you even do so?" The HQ version costs $1 on Metajoker's Bandcamp, but it's also on the Ponies at Dawn album Memories as a name-your-price download.
ahh, "Acceptance"! that's such a good track, it's just sad that, if someone wanted to get the same vocal effects today, they'd probably just make an AI do it, this takes real skill
I've definitely heard that remix of "Out on My Own" before, but it seems to be hitting differently this time :) one of the rare instances (these days, anyway) of you bringing a good song to my attention!
And "Become" is great too! This is a banger post! :D
Heh, don't tempt me to get back into posting about AI here given what happened last time! ;) Suffice to say my opinions have hardened a bit, but I still find the idea of just saying "AI slop" at everything overly simplistic. End of AI section. :P
And yeah, a pretty good week this time, in spite of the skip. JTH is nearly always great for me, but not quite always. This one was a hit.
ahh, "Acceptance"! that's such a good track, it's just sad that, if someone wanted to get the same vocal effects today, they'd probably just make an AI do it, this takes real skill
ReplyDeleteI've definitely heard that remix of "Out on My Own" before, but it seems to be hitting differently this time :) one of the rare instances (these days, anyway) of you bringing a good song to my attention!
And "Become" is great too! This is a banger post! :D
Heh, don't tempt me to get back into posting about AI here given what happened last time! ;) Suffice to say my opinions have hardened a bit, but I still find the idea of just saying "AI slop" at everything overly simplistic. End of AI section. :P
DeleteAnd yeah, a pretty good week this time, in spite of the skip. JTH is nearly always great for me, but not quite always. This one was a hit.