Sounds of 2015, nos. 45 to 41

It's back to "Sounds of 2015" today, and things are really hotting up. Actually they're kind of doing so in real life as well, since as I type the sun is out and the sky is (mostly) blue, which makes a change after the endless weeks of grey drizzle we've endured in these parts up until recently. Never mind; it's time to blow any remaining clouds away! The usual reminder of my inclusion criteria first:

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. 

For the past couple of weeks, I've had to skip at least one track. This time around, it's back to the full five, although I'm afraid I still couldn't find official HQ download links for most.

45: Sim Gretina – The Pony I Want to Be (remix)
44: TheIronPony & Michael Picher – Rio's Ballad
43: Foozogz – Faded
42: Scraton – Wireless
41: Lenich & Kirya – Love Me Cheerilee (cover)

And now we're done with that, come with me for embedded videos, a few facts and figures, and my trademark semi-pointless ramblings about each song.

45: Sim Gretina – The Pony I Want to Be (remix)

 

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 14 Oct 2015
Although Sim Gretina hasn't been active in the My Little Pony fandom for many years now, their remixes of official songs remain highly popular. This version of Diamond Tiara's lament from "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" is, to my mind, one of the very best of those remixes. It doesn't change all that much beyond speeding the song up a bit, really, but the beat is utterly infectious and the "doo doo doo" stuff even became something of a meme in places. Unfortunately I can't find find any HQ official uploads, but as it's up on YouTube it seems reasonable to post this unofficial Soundcloud upload.

44: TheIronPony & Michael Picher – Rio's Ballad

Rule 1: uploaded to ILoveKimPossibleALot's YouTube 25 Jul 2015
Cards on the table here: I've never even heard of this song, unless (as is quite likely) I knew it all those years ago and have since completely forgotten it. It's broadly a parody of "Celestia's Ballad" from the S3 finale. The additional original music is credited to Michael Picher, and other stuff to TheIronPony. s to why, again I either don't know now or never did, but it's some kind of celebration of ILoveKimPossibleALot. Now there's a name I haven't typed for a while! She's actually still around on YouTube, but a decade ago she was very active in the MLP community as a critic, YouTuber and so on, and was definitely involved in some kind of big drama that I (once again...) now can't remember the details of. Anyway, more than basically anything else I've covered in "Sounds of 2015", this one doesn't make much sense without the context – which I don't have. And no, this one doesn't have a music download either, not even in the video description. Best I can do is one minute of contributory music free from Michael Picher's Bandcamp. Them's the breaks, folks.

43: Foozogz – Faded

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 20 Dec 2014
To my relief, this one is a bit more straightforward! Although this is perhaps not one of Foozogz' best remembered tracks, it's very much in his usual zone of (in this case, possibly deceptively) cheerful beats and cleverly sliced vocal chops. I'm not sure, but judging by the thumbnail it seems as though this might be intended as a collection of memories for a far-future immortal Twilight. Something like that, anyway; Foozogz doesn't say much int the video description, though he does dedicated to his "2011 friends". Whatever the case, it has a slightly more bittersweet feel than some of the artist's other tunes, which again fits with my speculation above. A nice little sax solo in the middle, though the track may be slightly too long for my taste. "Faded" is a name-your-price download on Foozogz' Bandcamp.

 

42: Scraton – Wireless

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to Soundcloud 4 Jul 2015
It took me about seven and a half million years, but in the end I did find an extant official upload to this Scraton piece of largely instrumental ambience from nearly a decade ago. Not on YouTube – the embed is from an archive channel – but right here, on Scraton's Soundcloud. To quote the creator from there: "Let the title be the reference of the connection we all have with each other, even if it feels remote or wireless, it is not as far as it seems first." It's certainly a soothing, peaceful song, which is something I'm all for. It was apparently part of a series called Octavia's Symphonies, but as is the case depressingly often this week I don't remember anything about that. Soundcloud link already posted; there isn't a Bandcamp one.

41: Lenich & Kirya – Love Me Cheerilee (cover)

 

Rule 1: Re-uploaded to YouTube 17 Jan 2015
We end this week with something out of Russia, and with Lenich & Kirya. Their Russian folk-styled version of the WoodenToaster/Tombstone's hit is utterly joyous and absolutely sounds like some kind of dance around a campfire out on the Siberian steppe, even if it does use the very much not Russian ukelele¹ as a central instrument. We started this week's selection with one of the best show song adaptations, and we're closing it out with one of the best original song adaptations. Sadly this cover isn't on Lenich & Kirya's Bandcamp, even though some other Pony remixes are, but it is available on their Soundcloud.

¹ Fun fact: the ukelele isn't Hawaiian in origin either. It's Portuguese.