Sounds of 2016, nos. 20 to 16

After a gap last week, which was largely because I was just ridiculously busy with other things, I'm back today with another look at what was making waves in the Pony music fandom nine years ago. As ever, I'm using the Equestrian Trot 100 chart, which runs from December 2015 to November 2016 – although if a song was popular then, it didn't have to have been released then to qualify. Inclusion rules first as ever:

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. 

Now here's the list of songs we're going to be covering today. And yes, I'm sorry to say there's a skip. We're not quite at the point where Rule 3 conquers all!

20: Saynonara Maxwell – Light of Your Cutie Mark (remix)
19: Aurelleah ft. ButterflyIdentity & Decibelle – Midnight Lament
18: Magpiepony ft. WildCardVA – Our Sweet Little Flurry
17: Aurelleah & Orange B – Under Our Spell (remix)
16: skipped

With all that out of the way, let's get on with the actual music...

20: Saynonara Maxwell – Light of Your Cutie Mark (remix)

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 24 Oct 2015
Another of Sayonara Maxwell's once enormously popular remixes of show songs, this one is a fast-paced and extremely catchy reimagining of the song featuring Diamond Diara and the CMC in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark". It hit no. 74 in the 2015 chart, but it made a much bigger splash the following year. To my mind, it's one of SayMaxWell's most appealing remixes, keeping enough of the original to convince while putting a great new spin on it. No Bandcamp, but it is on Sayonara Maxwell's SoundCloud.

19: Aurelleah ft. ButterflyIdentity & Decibelle – Midnight Lament

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 31 May 2016

This orchestral aria about Celestia and Luna by Aurelleah is closing in on a million views, and I hope it gets there. Luna's vocals are provided by ButterflyIdentity, about whom I know nothing at all – on this evidence, I'm sorry about that. Decibelle, who sings Celestia's lines, is rather better known – not least for collaborating with Forest Rain on the tenth anniversary edition of "Great to Be Different". Returning to this song, I really like the message of sisterly love and forgiveness, and I'm always a sucker for piano melodies! Pick it up in HQ for $1 on Aurelleah's Bandcamp.

 

18: Magpiepony ft. WildCardVA – Our Sweet Little Flurry

 

Rule 1: Re-uploaded to YouTube 13 May 2016
You really don't see that many Flurry Heart songs out there – but this Magpiepony track goes a long way to redressing the balance. She sings as Cadance, while the now-inactive WildCardVA provides Shining Armor's lines. The song is subtitled "Flurry Heart's Lullaby", and that's a pretty accurate description. I like the way the two singers' voices work both separately and together, and it's a very sweet song. Even if you're not a big Flurry fan, this one is worth listening to. There isn't an official HQ version that I've found, but this third-party SoundCloud upload works well.

 

17: Aurelleah & Orange B – Under Our Spell (remix)

 

Rule 1: Uploaded to YouTube 23 Jan 2016

Here's Aurelleah again, this time with the obscure (to me, which may not say much) Orange B, aka Orange Beat. Aurelleah describes the genre of this remix as "heavy dance/hybrid moombahcore-ish" and who am I to argue? Whatever the truth of the matter, this is quite an interesting approach to the Dazzlings' track. Moombahcore, "ish" or not, is definitely not my genre, but I'd happily listen to this again with its pounding intensity. This one you can find on Bandcamp, with all the higher quality sound that you'd expect there, and it's $1 on Aurelleah's account.

 

16: skipped