Sounds of 2016, nos. 65 to 61

We seem to be facing another heatwave here in Britain – which, don't laugh if you're from Miami or somewhere, means temperatures nudging into the low 30s °C. I'm not really looking forward to it, especially not the warm nights that are humid and uncomfortable for sleeping. (Only about 5% of British homes have air-con.) What I am looking forward to is bringing you all a bit more of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart from 2016! Here's the usual refresher regarding 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. 

For two weeks now, I've been able to feature all five of the tracks in the relevant segment of the chart. I'm sorry to have to tell you that I can't make it three weeks on the trot. Ah well. Here's what I do have:

65: Aurelleah – Harmony
64: Vylet Pony – Little Dreams
63: skipped
62: Eurobeat Brony – Discord 2015
61: Silva Hound & UndreamedPanic ft. Synthis – The Storm

Time for us to get on to the part of this post that, I suspect, quite a lot of you scroll straight forward to anyway: the music itself!

65: Aurelleah – Harmony

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 26 Jun 2016
Number 66 in the chart this time was an Aurelleah track – and guess what? So is number 65! An orchestral suite in seven short movements, inspired by the Friendship is Magic theme, this tells the story of each of the Mane Six, with the seventh and final movement bringing them together in, well, harmony. Orchestral reimaginings of the FiM tune are not unheard of – perhaps the most famous being Marcus Warner (Evening Star)'s version – but Aurelleah's has a very appealing, bright, clean sound to it that makes it distinctive. I think I still prefer Warner's track, but that bar is incredibly high. The high-quality track is available for $1 on Aurelleah's Bandcamp.

64: Vylet Pony – Little Dreams

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 15 Feb 2016

Please note, flashing images in the video above! It's a little while since I had a Vylet Pony track to feature here, but today I fix that – and it's got Fluttershy artwork (by Sterfler) to boot! "This song is about every little dream and ambition I've ever had; every person and thing hindering my hopes and dreams" is how Vylet describes it. As such, it's perhaps not the most unequivocally happy tune you'll ever hear in this fandom, with its melodic, almost synthwave-style drive contrasting with its message. Quite a challenging song, then, but worthwhile nevertheless. Get it for $1.29 on Vylet Pony's Bandcamp.

 

63: skipped

 

62: Eurobeat Brony – Discord 2015

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 17 Oct 2015

I'm assuming that if you're reading this, you know that Odyssey's Pony identity Eurobeat Brony (and not The Living Tombstone) originally wrote "Discord". Yes? Great. Well, in 2015 she released this. It starts quite differently to the 2011 original, but it quickly settles into a much more familiar rhythm. It's more slickly produced than the original, with an even more urgent beat that works pretty well to reflect the existential threat that the eponymous Draconequus posed to Equestria back when the song first appeared. (Equestristential?) Listen carefully and there's even a little Tombstone reference! "Discord 2015" is a name-your-price track on Odyssey Eurobeat's Bandcamp.

¹ Little nugget buried in this video's description: "Discord" deliberately references Dave Simon's "Speed Man".

 

61: Silva Hound & UndreamedPanic ft. Synthis – The Storm

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 19 May 2016
A pretty heavyweight collaboration to round off this week. The still-active Silva Hound needs very little introduction to most Pony music fans, and here he's joined by UndreamedPanic, with support from Synthis, to bring us all a song about Chrysalis and her loyal changelings preparing for another attack. As regular readers will know, I'm often a bit ambivalent about distorted vocals, but when it's Chryssy at the centre of things I have no complaints! You keep thinking it's going to explode, but it never quite does – which makes sense, because the actual attack hasn't happened yet! The song was released as a pre-BronyCon freebie, and in that spirit it's name-your-price on Silva Hound's Bandcamp.