Sounds of 2016, nos. 50 to 46

We're into the top half of the chart, yay! The Equestrian Trot 100 for 2016 has already thrown up plenty of interest, so I'm looking forward – as I hope are you – to finding out what we'll get this week. Here's the usual reminder of my 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. 

I had to skip one track last week – and I'm sorry to have to say that I had to do the same this week. It's frustrating, but what can you do? Here are the four songs I am able to feature today:

50: PrinceWhateverer ft. Wubcake & NRGPony – So Long
49: The Wasteland Wailers – Broken Wing Recital
48: oodorato2 – トワイライト Sunshine Remix
47: PrinceWhateverer ft. Milkymomo – Frailty
46: skipped

I missed out on the waffle here last time, so I'm going to indulge myself a little bit more this week. I really do think the music scene for this fandom should be more appreciated outside it than it is. While plenty of fandoms have a few great songs created by fans, this fandom has well over a decade of them. That's quite remarkable. Anyway, let's continue...

50: PrinceWhateverer ft. Wubcake & NRGPony – So Long

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 31 Aug 2016
From the opening riff, you know for sure that this is going to be a classic PrinceWhateverer hard rocker. A little less intensely heavy (a little screaming apart) and thus more accessible than some of his harder pieces, this nevertheless deals with a fairly weighty subject: Moondancer's anger at Twilight's betrayal of their friendship. The female vocals here come from Wubcake, who does a pretty good job with her Twi voicing. Those screams I mentioned come from the no-longer-around NRGPony, about whom I know nothing. "So Long" is the opening track on the hugely popular REINVENT album, but this track on its own can be picked up for £1 on PrinceWhateverer's Bandcamp.

49: The Wasteland Wailers – Broken Wing Recital

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 12 Aug 2016

Guess what, folks? It's yet another Wasteland Wailers track! No complaints from me. This one, a very different interpretation of the bluesy version the 'Wailers had released a little earlier, sees fantastic lead singer Brittany Church (as Velvet Remedy) put on a compelling performance. Like the other Wasteland Wailers songs, it's set in the Fallout: Equestria universe, so you'll need at least an outline knowledge of that in order to get the references. Even aside from those, though, this is a fantastic piece of piano-heavy jazz, and extremely well mixed, too. Sadly this track isn't on Bandcamp, but it is at least on the Wasteland Wailers' official Soundcloud – and there's a link from the description there to a FLAC download.

 

48: oodorato2 – トワイライト Sunshine Remix

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 8 Oct 2012
Yes, 2012. This bouncy little number by Japanese artist oodorato2 made it on to 2015's chart when it was three years old, and it was still in the chart by 2016 when it was four years old! As I said for its previous entry, it's simply a cute, fun remix of "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake" that lasts a mere 50 seconds. That first word in the title simply means "Twilight" in Japanese, by the way. I think this song was used in a PMV, which might explain its popularity so long after its original release, but I can't find said PMV on YouTube now. No Bandcamp upload, but the track can be obtained from the artist's Soundcloud.

 

47: PrinceWhateverer ft. Milkymomo – Frailty

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 7 Sep 2016

A second PrinceWhateverer rock song this week, and once again it's from the REINVENT album. "Frailty", which as you'll probably have guessed from that cover image is a Twilight song. It's a re-recording of the now-unlisted 2014 original, which featured Dreamchan. This time around, the female vocals are from Milkymomo of Panda Island. The song is about the S4 finale of Friendship is Magic, and especially the run-up to Twilight's climactic battle against Tirek. There's a lovely acoustic guitar intro here to contrast with the much heavier main theme. You can pick it up in HQ for £1 on PrinceWhateverer's Bandcamp.

46: skipped