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Land of Fans and Music 2 - Commentary

10.7k words across 120 entries.

Land of Fans and Music 2 Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube (playlist)

LizaWithAZed: (booklet commentary)

This album means a lot to me, for a lot of reasons. Not just because it represents literally months of planning, organization, rounds of messaging, upsets, drama, triumph and general hard work on the part of me and some very good friends of mine. Not just because we managed to get some of the top talent in the fandom to contribute not only music but track art. Not just because that talent includes music and art team members and the uniquely universally beloved superfan Dante Basco. Not just because that talent also includes many friends I love dearly, some of whom I got to know through this project.

No, this album is special to me because the original Land of Fans and Music holds a very dear place in my heart. It was the first album of Homestuck-related music I ever owned. I played it over and over, and read the album commentary until I damn near had it memorized. It was LoFaM which spurred me to stop lurking on the MSPA forums and dive headlong into the collective insanity we call Homestuck fandom. And right when I did so coincided with the start of the second fanmusic thread, and a guy named Underwater Basketweaving posting something he called Fighting Spirit. I downloaded it, loved it, and have been hip deep in collecting fanmusic - not just that already collected for my convenience in an album - ever since.

Fighting Spirit is in here, and its sequel, and many others I and my compatriots ran across in our scouring of not only the fanmusic thread but tindeck, soundcloud, tumblr and basically anywhere on the big wide internet where MSPA fans celebrate their love of this remarkable work of fiction through music.

It's my hope that, having gathered it all here for your convenience, you too are spurred to start your own search for the best, including many pieces that for one reason or another we had to leave off. The Land of Fans and Music is not just this 2-disc set or its predecessor; they're only the tip of the vast landscape of amazing talent. Come in. Explore. Get lost in it, like I did. I haven't regretted it for a second.

-Liza(WithAZed) Fletcher

Unofficial MSPA Fans: (booklet commentary, back)

Special Thanks:

-CONCEPTION/ORGANIZATION-
Lambda Elise Merryberry
LizaWithAZed

-ORGANIZATION TEAM-
slogbait
Veritas Unae
Rachel Rose Mitchell
Jamie 'hrmnzr" Paige
Riki Tsuji
Sarah (clumsyroyalty)
Shoona
Charles "Crazy-8" Neudorf
Mai Yishan (Cat Boss)
Brad "Avinoch" Griffin
Mark "Dagoth Xil" Ciocca

-MASTERING-
Brad "Avinoch" Griffin
Veritas Unae

-COMMENTARY BOOKLET-
Brad "Avinoch" Griffin

-WEBSITE CODING-
Veritas Unae

-WEBSITE HOSTING-
AndrewNeo and skaia.net

-INSPIRATION-
Andrew Hussie & What Pumpkin Studios
The Homestuck Music Team

Chronology Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Jamie Paige: (composer, booklet commentary)

Hi there!! Welcome to the second LOFAM. Kind of sounds like some really gangster hiphop group or something. Anyways this is a song I made JUST FOR THE ALBUM!!! Wowee. There's a lot going on here. There's the intro which is like Lord English taking a proverbial shit on everything by existing or something like that, then it sort of BLEHs and goes into the main part of the song. Right off the bat you've got Sburban Jungle's marimba part played backwards on a piano, and then there's some stuff from a fan song that I don't remember the title of. THEN there's stuff from Condy's song off the unofficial ancestor album, and some stuff from some other things. There's basically a lot of things!! It's a very thing filled song.

Skylar: (track artist, booklet commentary)

paige told me the song was about doc scratch, the condesce and lord english, and since the track was titled chronology i tried to show some sort of a progression within the track art while expressing some of the background of each character.

Jackpot Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


alcohol
click to show

Charles Neudorf: (composer, booklet commentary)

Jackpot was originally "written" by me for the Homestuck music contest. I say written in quotation marks because at the time all I had was a cool bassline and a title, I was in a complete musical slump on what to do with the piece, and so I turned to my friend Shadolith for help. Shadolith not only helped to come up with better ideas for the song, but actually finished most if it on her own. I'm really glad she did though, otherwise the song would have never been finished, and it wouldn't be playing in your ears right now!

8bitkitten: (track artist, booklet commentary)

Here's my track art for "Jackpot"! It's a Roxy strife theme, and since we have yet to witness such an event in Homestuck, let's make believe. ;3

Satellite Physician Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Joe Ouellet: (composer, booklet commentary)

Before making this song, I had wanted to do a remix of Doctor for a while. There are so many remixes and different versions of this song that I knew there were infinite possibilities when it came to remixing the song. When it finally came time to start, I wanted to go for the spacey, electronic, •hardcore* sounding style that I attempted a little bit with Electrocumulus. This song actually turned out much better than I expected. When confronted for a name for this piece, I wanted to name it something like "Planet Healer." I decided to just swap out a few synonyms and voila, Satellite Physician was done!

grayscaleOddysey: (track artist, booklet commentary)

This track and cover art was featured in the Homestuck/Zelda fan adventure, Legend of Homestuck, as John's theme.

A Study In Skaia Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

David Ellis: (composer, booklet commentary)

I don't really have much to say about this. I'd been messing about on guitar and found that most of the first theme from Skies of Skaia was playable with harmonics in standard tuning, and only the top note wasn't possible. By returning to EADF#BE and putting a capo on at the 5th fret it was possible then to play the whole thing.

The piece was originally just going to be loose reworking of Skies of Skaia using lots of acoustic guitars but then the second theme felt like it needed something more. I ended up adding drums and electric instruments for the second section to lift the piece and finished off with a little guitar improv into the quiet harmonics to finish.

I liked the alliteration in the title and it was pretty much how I thought of the piece. There's not really a reason for the hint to Sherlock Holmes.

David Ellis: (composer, Tumblr)

This is essentially an arrangement of Mark Hadley’s ‘Skies of Skaia’ from the first Homestuck album with lots of acoustic guitars.

I found that with slight retuning and a capo it was possible to play the whole of the main theme with harmonics on guitar and so was messing around with an arrangement based on that and ended up doing this. Without retuning it’s not really possible to play the top note of the last repeat cleanly. It was originally just going to be acoustics but then distortion happened for the second part.

I was kind of using this as a break from the bigger projects I’m working on. Most of the time on this was spent playing the harmonics part wrong, because harmonics mess with my sense of where notes should be on guitar.

dodostad: (track artist, booklet commentary)

I can admit that I had no idea where this was going when I painted it. I don't think I've ever drawn clouds before either haha.

Cuddlefish Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Brad Griffin: (booklet editor)

No Commentary. Sorry fellow fans and booklet readers. No haiku this time either. Just an empty page, with nothing to entertain you except the track title, artist credits, and pretty arts to the right.

SCREW THAT.

I'm gonna fill these empty pages with a story, just for you. I haven't written anything since high school English class. You're in for a treat. It's gonna be

S T U P I D

DUSK FALLS ACROSS A SAFFROWN MEADOW. A SINGLE BLADE OF CRABGRASS UNDULATES VOLUMINOUSLY AMIDST THE RAPTUROUS BREEZE, ONLY TO HALT ITS SWAY SUDDENLY AND CRUNCHINGLY AS IT IS CRASSLY CRUSHED UNDERFOOT BY AN IMMENSE FOOT (SPECIFICALLY THE UNDERNEATH PART OF THAT FOOT). THE OWNER OF THE AFOREMENTIONED FOOT LOOKS DOWNWARD WITH AN AIR OF BAFFLED ASTONISHMENT, IN A SIMILAR FASHION TO HOW A MOOSE CAUGHT IN A UFO TRACTOR BEAM MIGHT LOOK AT A BLADE OF CRABGRASS IT HAD JUST TRODDEN ON. THIS ISN'T A SIMILE.

"EUUUUUUUUNGH," GROANS THE ABDUCTEE MOOSE AS IT RISES.

Rectify Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Thomas Ibarra: (composer, booklet commentary)

My second entry to the music contest, Rectify, was a follow-up to Irradiated in that it presented the same goal of making something different with the Black/Liquid Negrocity leitmotif. In this composition, based on Cascade, the menacing tone of Black would be turned into a battle theme for the good, as if Jack had performed a heelturn in light of impressive character development. It was a fun, fulfilling project that taught me many new things.

Rabbunctious! Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Brad Griffin: (composer, booklet commentary)

The rabbit has been an evolving background character throughout the entirety of Homestuck, and I felt the most recent iteration (mischievous-robo-Strider-bunny!!!) warranted its own theme song.

I started the track seeing just how far I could get using bouncy sound effects, record scratches and beeps. The goal was something high-energy but also a bit campy. I tried to give it a similar feel to one of the Beatdown tracks. I got a lot of great feedback from my music buds, and it evolved into the track you hear now.

The hardest part was deciding between RamBUNNctious and RABBunctious.

Dawn Davis: (track artist, booklet commentary)

I love Lil Seb he's my baby.
I'm proud of this it was really fun to do =w=

Skaian Starstorm Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Brad Griffin: (booklet editor)

NO COMMENTARY HERE!

continued from Cuddlefish;

AN EERILY IRRIDESCENT INCANDESCENCE ENVELOPS THE BEHEMOTH ELK AS IT JOURNEYS HEAVENWARD, UNWILLINGLY ABANDONING THE FLATTENED DIGITARIUM STRAND IN FAVOUR OF THE CHILL EMPTINESS OF THE FRIGID EVENING ATMOSPHERE. DEER-TICKS ATTEMPT TO EVACUATE THEIR MANGY HOST, ONLY TO FIND THEMSELVES DRAWN CONGRUENTLY SKYWARD. OAK-LIKE LIMBS THRASH FLACIDLY, FLAILING FRUITLESSLY FOR A FOOTHOLD, BUT FINDING FEWER THAN FEW. AFTER A SCANT MOMENT OF MOOSE DESPAIR, THE HULKING BEAST RESIGNS ITSELF TO INEVITABILITY, AND CEASES ITS STRUGGLE.

AS IF SENSING THE CHANGE IN THE CAPTIVE CREATURE'S DEMEANOR, THE ASCENT SEEMS TO STEADY AND SWIFTEN.

Dawn Davis: (track artist, Tumblr)

Art for LOFAM 2. B)

I was going to do more but... none of it actually looked good so. I guess I’ll keep it simple.

Good Dog (Best Friend) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


blood, animal death
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Catboss: (composer, booklet commentary)

~ in loving memory of becquerel ~

He was a good dog, and the best friend anyone could ever hope to have.

Lunise: (track artist, booklet commentary)

I was inspired by the pesterlog on page 6758. Even though I had heard konec0's track long before that update, when I listened to it again to get an idea for what kind of track art I'd like to draw for it, all I could think of was that pesterlog about alpha Jade.

Catboss: (composer, SoundCloud description, excerpt)

"He is such a good boy, and truly the best friend a girl could ever hope for.
You're sure gonna miss him!"

~ In loving memory of Becquerel. Good dog. Best friend. ~

This song was nominated to be on the Land of Fans and Music album, an unofficial compilation of Homestuck fanmusic. However, I chose to submit Beginnings and MeGaDanceVaNia over it. I'm actually really proud of this remix; I'm usually terrible at slow songs, but this one just works. It's suitably bittersweet, and a sombre take on an event otherwise presented in a light-hearted manner.

Unforgiving Terrain Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Eston Schweickart: (composer, booklet commentary)

I wrote Unforgiving Terrain shortly after The Wanderers album came out. It was just an excuse to have fun with sound design and listen to Carapacian Dominion over and over. It's called Unforgiving Terrain because titles are hard. The project file is called Frozen Ruins but I guess I didn't use that name because I ended up not including Frost like I had planned.

Cap: (track artist, booklet commentary)

After the original art file crashed like a piping hot baby on a meteor, I decided to create an Egyptian hieroglyphic-ish piece for this song because you know, DESERTS and WANDERERS and WOW JUST GOSH. But I also wanted to add in some of WV's little chalk drawings too because it's cute! I mean, come on. Look at them, being happy and carefree and unaware. Yes, I know deep in my heart that this story will have a very happy end. No doubts about it. *insert evil laughter here*

CR1M1N4L, CR1M1N4L Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


hanging
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Rachel Rose Mitchell: (composer, booklet commentary)

L3T TH1S B3 4 L3SSON TO 4LL OF TH3 PROSP3CT1V3 CR1M1N4LS OUT TH3R3

1 4M 4LW4YS W4TCH1NG

F1GUR4T1V3LY

>:]

>:]

>:]

Squiddles In Sunglasses Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Eston Schweickart: (composer, booklet commentary)

Squiddles in Sunglasses was originally part of a 6-part Homestuck medley that was going to be around 12 minutes long when finished. Halfway through I realized that I didn't like anything I was writing, so I did what any good artist does when faced with self-doubt and gave up. A few months later I listened to the old project files again and liked this part enough to make it its own piece. I think inspiration for this style came from Average White Band's *Pick Up the Pieces* but I can't remember for sure.

JackBot Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


alcohol
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Riki Tsuji: (composer, Tumblr)

New remix! This is “JackBot”, a remix of “Jackpot” by Shadolith (or Steamlord313, whatever) and Crazy-8, which they collaborated on for the Homestuck music contest. Unfortunately the original submission didn’t get chosen, but it’s hella kickass so go check it out! Makes me wonder how damn good the other submissions must have been.

Brad Griffin: (booklet editor)

NO COMMENTARY HERE!

continued from Skaian Starstorm...

AS THE ANTLERED ALCES ACCELERATES ITS ASCENSION, ABJECT AWE ASSUAGES ANXIOUSNESS. IT IS DAZZLED BY THE GOLDEN TUNDRA STRETCHING BEYOND THE MOONLIT HORIZON, CUMULUS CLOUDS STREAKING BY LIKE A NUDE ATTENTION SEEKER AT A SPORTS MATCH. AS IF COMPLETING THE METAPHOR, THERE IS ALSO A NUDE MAN FLOATING ALONGSIDE.

"Well, hiya!" EXCLAIMS THE RUDELY PROTRUDING GENT, WITH UNNERVINGLY BOISTEROUS VIGOR.

"MMMRNGUUUUH," RESPONDS OUR HOOVED HERO, IN KIND.

"Quite a view, eh?"

"GNRGUUMGH"

THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES IN THIS MANNER FOR SEVERAL VAPID MINUTES, BUT IS BROUGHT TO A SWIFT END BY THEIR ARRIVAL AT THE MYSTERIOUS AIRBOURNE VESSEL.

Crystalguitarthemums Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Erik Scheele: (composer, booklet commentary)

one day I found a guitar thing and messed around with crystalanthemums

that's it

dodostad: (track artist, booklet commentary)

I thought about drawing Vriska and Aradia, but somehow this song reminded me of Jade. I don't remember seeing much art of her and Bec so I thought I'd fix that!

The Ballad of Maplehoof Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Ian White: (composer, booklet commentary)

I wrote these lyrics around the time that Maplehoof died in-story. I didn't put it to music though until after she had been revive as Minihoof. Kinda saps the poignancy right out of it. The lovely Lauren Collis sings vocals and the ever-punctual Mike Anderson provides the real life guitars. Sound effects provided by Mother Nature!

Rainbow Rebirth Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


blood (abstract)
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David Ellis: (composer, booklet commentary)

This piece was written for Kanaya and was essentially supposed to be a kind of score for the unseen scene where she wakes up as a rainbow drinker. The non-scene this is a score for follows the structure of '[S] John: Rise Up' somewhat, with the middle horn stab section hinting towards one of the themes from Savior of the Waking World/Doctor but being off somehow (shifting time signatures too) to try to show the different nature of her return. The scene for the piece ends when she goes all vampirey on Feferi.

Rejected alternate title: 'All the colours of the rainbow (are delicious)'

Maddie Haines: (track artist, booklet commentary)

I saw the name Rainbow Rebirth and immediately wanted to do something cool with Kanaya and her fairly new rainbow drinker status, since I was pretty dang sure that was what the title was referencing. Since it was her care for the matriorb that led up to her transformation, I thought it made the most sense to include it, as well as rainbow colors, obviously, into this picture.

Psychedelic Psychodelic Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


body horror
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Catboss: (composer, booklet commentary)

Well, here you are.

Big guy's got a fancy gun, and all you've got is a bloody knife.

But it's gonna be enough. It always has been.

You've slaughtered all them torsos, now it's time to wreck the head.

What are you waiting for?

Draw, Spades.

Flare (With Vocals) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

horizon: (composer, booklet commentary)

Flare has always struck a place in my heart, for many reasons. Plazmataz has always, always impressed me, but Flare just evoked something simply raw in the depths of my mind; I knew then that I had to use that feeling as a kind of empathy towards the Beta kids. Though it was used in a specific moment in canon, I chose to write lyrics from the point of view I could most appreciate -- the pain associated with love when life hands you something you don't know how to survive.

fueledbyanimation: (track artist, booklet commentary)

I have been listening to Horizon's renditions of Homestuck music with her lyrics for a while now, and Flare has always been my favorite one she did. I hoped I could make a picture that represents the feeling of closeness beween the four kids in getting through the game that I feel in the words she wrote.

Sports Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Jamie Paige: (composer, booklet commentary)

Spectrumfizz: (track artist, booklet commentary)

dude come chekc this out hummusr is like one of my favoprite musicans so i made a thnig for this MAD TRACK

Dirgeish Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Nick Smalley: (composer, booklet commentary)

Dirgeish was made in 2008, a year before Homestuck even started! Crazy, right? Who ever thought life existed before Homestuck, ha ha ha... I made the original in about an hour, and when I got on the Homestuck music team, I had the help of Adghar (Andrew Who!!!!) to complete it!

Electrocumulus Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Joe Ouellet: (composer, booklet commentary)

Electrocumulus is a remix of Pyrocumulus by RJ Lake and was my first ever attempt at remixing an official Homestuck track. Looking back, I have no idea why I chose to remix this song in particular; it must have just been stuck in my head that day. As one could gather from the title, this remix is supposed to be an upbeat, elecronic remix. As I was composing, it seemed to turn into a dance track of sorts. The genre still fit my idea, so I kept going. I think it was a rather successful first Homestuck remix.

plaidcushion: (track artist, booklet commentary)

The songs this was remixed from are associated with Skaia and the battlefield, but I thought that Electrocumulus was way too high energy and fun for something like that. I decided to go for the next best thing- John speeding through Skaia and plowing through clouds in his Dad's car! As it turns out, exploded clouds are also rpetty fun to cut out with a scalpel.

Three in the Morning (Kali's 2 in the AM PM Edit) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Kalibration: (composer, booklet commentary)

Its a song, I made it, the computer
Great it's RJ music track enjoyed, that could bring
(⅃°ヘ°)⅃

yeah i dont know how i feel about that track i guess its a song and i made it and well, thats more than i can say for a lot of things

Lambda Elise Merryberry: (album organizer, booklet commentary)

kali has such a way with words

Showtime (End Strife Remix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Plumegeist: (composer, booklet commentary)

I composed Showtime End Strife remix roughly five months after the time I got into Homestuck. Around this time I was still really just a budding musician, and I wanted to make something heavy out of the Showtime theme by Malcolm Brown. The idea was imagining what kind of soundtrack would be backing the kids as they face Lord English in a climactic battle. I was proud of it at the time but in retrospect it never really aged that well. Despite this it remained one of my most popular works.

Around the time I finished Rust Maid and Orange Hat, I was approached for the inclusion of the remix in LOFAM2. While I was happy to have the opportunity to give people the download so many of them clamored for, I really, really had to fix so many of it's glaring issuse, and as such I remastered it for the album.

devonianecho: (track artist, booklet commentary)

Showtime has always been one of the most memorable pieces of music in Homestuck, forever representing a (if not the) quintessential "strife" theme. With this in mind, I think I had almost too much freedom in choosing the conflict I wanted to depict in this piece. Initially, I was going to make it John vs. Dad from Act 1... but that ended up being a little too underwhelming in comparison to the song it was for. So, in the end, I settled upon focusing the piece on a determined-looking John about to face down the underling horde at the beginning of Cascade. I'm pretty happy with the end result.

Soulb0t Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Charles Neudorf: (composer, booklet commentary)

Soulb0t was conceived after I tried writing the familiar Psych0ruins arpeggio to test out a new synth I downloaded. It sounded really cool to me, so I figured "why not just write an electronic remix of Psych0ruins all together." So I did just that. It took a while to get the melody just right, and if it wasn't for the various friends who helped me to decide what sounded good or bad, the song wouldn't have sounded nearly as good.

Fighting Spirit Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Kevin Grant: (composer, booklet commentary)

My goal was to mash up as many Gomestuck songs as I could. I ended up mixing 12 together. I really think the part at the end with Black, Showtime and Beatdown works well, and I discovered that Showtime is the Homestuck equivalent of Guile's Theme: It goes with everything.

AS: (track artist, booklet commentary)

Listening to Fighting Spirit the first time kind of got me nostalgic for the old Strife pages, with their chiptune music. You know, waaaay back in the beginning of the comic when the Beta kids were still on planet Earth and were being harassed by trolls. So nearly a year later, I figured that a strife page would make for an excellent cover. Admittedly action poses have always been a weakness of mine, so I probably drew each kid at least twice for this cover until I was satisfied. Still though, I'm happy with how the art came out. Hopefully I did this awesome track justice.

Lambda Elise Merryberry: (album organizer, booklet commentary)

Doctor, Showtime, Beatdown, Pumpkin Cravings, Chorale for Jaspers, BL1ND JUST1C3, Atomyk Ebonpyre, Horschestra, MeGaLoVania, Spider's Claw, Walk-Stab-Walk, Liquid Negrocity.

Irradiated Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


blood
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Thomas Ibarra: (composer, booklet commentary)

Irradiated is really an identifying track for my work, I've been told before that this track is the first that came to mind when mentioning my callsign SparksD2145. Similarly to a good portion of my work Black/Liquid Negrocity's leitmotif plays a prominent feature in the composition, providing the base melody for the entire track. The idea for Irradiated spurred from Jade: Enter, as a high-velocity and energetic track with none other than Jack Noir at the center; my goal was to take Black and give it a different feel. After a short hiatus, my track Irradiated featured in my first tribute animation on youtube for Homestuck.

Spectrumfizz: (track artist, booklet commentary)

Irradiated is among the first homestuck fanmusic tracks I ever heard, so I was very pleased to be able to create art to accompany it on LOFAM2. I decided to draw inspiration from AutoDevote's first HS fanimation, which to this day remains one of my favourite homestuck videos. I'm not particularly apt at composition or shading or several other things, but I'm pretty happy with what I accomplished here.

He Is Already Here Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


blood
click to show

Brenden Cameron: (composer, booklet commentary)

Ever since 'The Felt' came out, I've been in love with that piano ditty at the start of Variations and in the reversed Rhapsody in Green.

So a while ago I started fiddling around in Garageband, seeing if I could make a decent remix out of it. The more I worked on it, the more I noticed the composition was bearing a strong resemblance to Rob Dougan's "Clubbed to Death", so I kind of ran with that influence, and this is the result.

When the Homestuck fanmusic competition was announced, I made some updates to the song and tried submitting it for that (special thanks to Jit for offering some last minute advice).

This song holds a lot of personal importance to me. Before this piece I had never ever brought a composition to a completed state, let alone posted it for the world to see. Obviously I still have much room for improvement, but the fact that my debut work has received such positive feedback has been a huge encouragement.

Thank you all for listening!

Rise of the Denizens Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Domble: (composer, booklet commentary)

The original version of the track sounded nothing like this. What I want is for people who heard the first one to think, "wow, this guy really got less bad in a year." It references all the songs it originally did, whether in the same basic way (Courser, Ruins) or differently (Dawn of Man, the rose rap).

That one terrible LEGENDARY ENDLESS DVS SAX song I made almost went on the album instead of this and I felt like paying tribute to it, so that's where the little sax riff came from.

Lunise: (track artist, booklet commentary)

I had the feeling that I had to meet some pretty high expectations when I was called upon to draw this one, so I was pretty nervous about doing it. I spent a long time mulling over how I was going to go about drawing this track art after I completed the art for Stalemate. We don't know nearly as much about the denizens as we do about the kids or the trolls or even the carapacians, but I took what we do know about the beta kids' denizens and ran with it.

Brad Griffin: (booklet editor, booklet commentary)

note: Lunise wrote seven paragraphs about the creative process behind this wonderful art piece. I can only fit the first one on the page.

Unofficial MSPA Fans: (Tumblr)

Here is the full commentary to the rise of the denizens track art. c:

Lunise: (Tumblr)

This is the last piece of track art for LOFAM2 that I believe I need to contribute, for The Lovable Tramp’s Rise of the Denizens!

(Continued from booklet commentary)

There were actually a few goofs with the original composition of this drawing - Cetus' tail was originally pointing to the left but I then decided that having it face the right would give the overall drawing more flow. Also in Hephaestus' section of the art I had forgotten that Davesprite was injured when he went to him to get the Deringer repaired so for the longest time he had both wings at their full length. Not much to say about Typheus' section; I had a good idea of what I was going to do with it fairly early on.

Echidna's section is primarily inspired by the track art for Volume 8's Bargaining with the Beast, as far as her design goes. I was originally going to include Jack to the right of Jade in that section, but I didn't find anywhere to put him and I found that the composition looked just fine without him anyway! Although in this memo Jade says that Jack was with him when she was talking with Echidna and I really wanted to draw him, I just couldn't make him fit. Perhaps I'll try and remedy that if I ever make a high-resolution version of this!

I knew immediately that I wanted Echidna to be the main focus out of all the denizens because she's really important in the story since she makes Jade promise to take all the planets, the consorts, the denizens, and everything to the alpha session even if it meant Jade had to die. Then there's Typheus, who's facing doomed John, and Hephaestus looking down on Davesprite and offering him The Choice, and Cetus swimming around in the seas of LOLAR, which is now devoid of fish.

I tried to make the sections flow together the best I could - the top areas where Cetus and Typheus' sections blend into Hephaestus' section kind of fade without any borders, but I decided to make little borders based on each kid's aspect to separate each section from Echidna's section. The breath and light symbols are done in an abstract manner while the time and space symbols are just the straight-up time and space symbols; the space one just overlaps the time one.

I think I've rambled enough about this piece of track art, so I'm going to let the rest speak for itself! I hope I've done a good enough job living up to the LOFAM2 team's expectations, and if I've exceeded them, that's great too!

This has been another rambling commentary from Lune.

(THIS TRACK ALSO CAUSED ME A LOT OF PAIN AND SUFFERING BUT IT WAS MORE LIKE "DEAR GOODNESS WHERE DO ALL THESE LAYERS KEEP COMING FROM" THAN "OH GOD HOW AM I GOING TO COLOR ALL THIS BLACK."

As another side note, the layered .lip file for this had a total of 60 layers not counting the texture layer!

BONUS: When I was starting work on this, instead of copying the texture layer, I accidentally copied Jack over from the layered version of the Stalemate track art. I couldn't bear to delete him from the file, so he got to stay on the condition that his layer stayed invisible. Sometimes I'd make it visible when I was bored! Poor guy just keeps getting chased by things - first an angry PM and now an angry sea denizen!)

#lune draws things once every blue moon #lune is still terrible at commentary but that's okay?

Sburban Genesis Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Lark Mordancy: (composer, booklet commentary)

Though Sburban Jungle was the first song to hook me on Michael Guy Bowman's music, my heart lies with Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido. Dawn of Man is a favorite of mine from that album, and it also happens to be a partial remix of Sburban Jungle. In the Homestuck tradition, the natural thing to do then was mix them together, along with a cameo from Exodus, featured in SBURB. The instruments are based primarily on Dawn of Man, bringing in some of Sburban Jungle's mallet percussion and a few of my own additions. The result is Sburban Genesis, a song ultimately inspired by the mysterious origins of the game and its multi-universal legacy.

plaidcushion: (track artist, booklet commentary)

This really sounded like a night time kind of song to me, which I think went nicely with the baby frog Jade finds on her island as a kid. He's a pretty cute little guy, but his role carries a lot of weight, so I think he fits the song pretty well.

Who Mourns for Jack Noir? Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Nitrosparxx: (composer, booklet commentary)

Quite possibly the saddest piece of music I've ever written. This was what I was originally going to use for the fan album, but I decided to drop it half way through making it on the grounds that it didn't sound like a Homestuck song. Jack Noir (and by extension, Bec Noir) always struck me as a tragic character. The way I see it, he's always violent because of the abuse he receives from the black queen. He's physically shut down all other emotions save for hatred because as far as he's concerned, there is no such thing. However things change for him when Bec becomes prototyped. He suddenly has a heart and has new feelings. Bec's influence taught him what it's like to feel for someone else, although Jack desperately tried so hard to ignore these feelings. When Jade died, Jack finally knew what it felt to lose someone so close to your heart. A tragic character indeed...

Corrina: (track artist, booklet commentary)

Given the fact that the song references Jade's theme, I thought that I'd go with something that has to do with the characters' relationship. In the picture, I had originally intended Jade to be a sort-of ghost image, as if she wasn't really there. I wanted to show that Jack was alone, but I later changed that aspect, despite how much I loved the idea. Making her more faded created imbalance in the work, and the details were also washed out.

The Seer and the Tribesmen Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Brad Griffin: (booklet editor)

No commentary here!

continued from JackBot;

THE LUMINESCENT AURA SUBSIDES, AND BOTH OF THE UNCLOTHED EARTH CREATURES ARE PLUNGED INTO INKY BLACK DARKNESS. FAINT SOUNDS AND METALLIC SCRATCHING SUGGEST NEARBY MOVEMENT. THE MOOSE IS VISIBLY SHAKEN... AT LEAST IT WOULD BE IF IT WERE VISIBLE TO ANYBODY. BUT IT ISN'T BECAUSE OF THE DARKNESS.

BUZZING FLOURESCENT LIGHTS FLICKER ON, REVEALING A VAST DOMED ROOM. IN THE CORNER, WHAT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS A CROSS BETWEEN A GIANT SQUID AND A CORGI FIDDLES WITH A PANEL ON SOME MYSTERIOUS MACHINERY. THE NUDIST EMOTES IN SURPRISE. THIS CATCHES THE ALIEN'S ATTENTION, AND IT ABANDONS ITS FORMER TASK, APPROACHING THE NEW ARRIVALS EXCITEDLY. WITH ITS SOFT, FURRY TENTACLES GESTICULATING WILDLY, IT GESTURES TOWARD WHAT ONE CAN ONLY ASSUME IS ITS TORSO. UPON CLOSE INSPECTION, IT IS WEARING A NAME TAG THAT READS:

Hello, My Name Is
BNORKEL

Four Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Nekachen: (track artist, booklet commentary)

When I listened to Four for the first time, I imagined the entire Incipisphere as if it were one of those cool panoramic views of the universe. The title more than likely relates to the planets the kids arrive upon in the Medium, so I decided to use that aspect to create the basis of my idea. I recreated most of the planets from scratch while using references, used tons of Photoshop effects to create shading and light sources, and utilized stock images to create what I believe represents the "Four" planets within the Incipisphere that the song centers around.

Prospitian Lullaby Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Jamie Paige: (composer, booklet commentary)

Hello again!! Disk one is coming to a close. I hope you've enjoyed the fan land and of music so far!! This is a lullaby based mostly off of Homestuck Anthem by Clark "Plazmataz" Powell and Sburban Jungle by Michael Guy Bowman. It's really slow and sweet and has my favorite chord thingy ever which is the F to F Minor thing going on there. It's all in all a song that you hopefully fall asleep listening to because that's what it's supposed to do!! And you might need a nap after listening to disk one. In fact, for the full Land Of Fans And Musics Experience The Second™, take a nap in between the two disks. Yes. Anyways, I hope you enjoy our musical stylings and that you don't buy this album because that's illegal.

Brad Griffin: (booklet editor)

[END OF DISK 1]

•~Disk 2~• Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Lambda Elise Merryberry: (album organizer, booklet commentary)

Hi. I'm Lambda Merryberry, or Xzaz. I started the project to put LoFaM2 together.

I started reading Homestuck because of the music. It's fantastic.

In some cases even moreso than the official music, the music that fans have made for it.

This is to be expected, considering..... this album.

I don't have some whimsical, vaguely inspiring words to put here, but thanks to everyone that helped make ths labum and everyone that's listened to it!

-λ

Brofessor Layton (Every Puzzle Has A Brolution) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Ian White: (composer, booklet commentary)

This is... this is I don't know. I think Neudorf told me to do this, so I did it. It works pretty good.

doctoroftime: (track artist, booklet commentary)

The song was a Gamebro remix and I had just figured out that Bro Strider probably writes Gamebro so it was obvious that a Professor Layton x Homestuck crossover needed to happen. I looked at the covers of the Layton games and basically just went for it.

And because Professor Layton has tons of weird puzzle shit that no one ever questions and Homestuck is the exact same.

Plus I wanted Bro in a nifty tophat and Dave in Lambda's snazzy sweater.

ElecTrollCopSwing Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


alcohol, cops
click to show

Rachel Weiss: (composer, booklet commentary)

I was thinking that it would be in a speakeasy during the jazz era, and Terezi is there undercover to knock heads and bring the sweet taste of justice to miscreats and wrong-doers. Or something like that, heh heh.

Dance-Stab-Dance Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Catboss: (composer, booklet commentary)

I've wanted to make a sequel for MeGaDanceVaNia for a while, but only recently did I actually get around to it. Some songs are in here because they were in flashes; others are in here because they're my personal favorites, like Gaia Queen. And Infinity Mechanism is in there because Thomas once complained that no one remixed his songs, so THAT'S FOR YOU THOMAS.

The full list of songs is on the next page below, so I'm just going to run over what I consider to be the highlights of this song:

Which parts were YOUR favorites? ;3

DANCE-STAB-DANCE
Full Breakdown

Trapped Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Yan Rodriguez: (composer, booklet commentary)

Back when I had a far more depressing view on being trapped in the veil I wanted to make a short tune for it using a chord progression I played on piano all the time and really wanted to use. Reminds me a bit of how some of the chords go in Shadow of the Colossus, but a lot less epic.

Till The Last Breath Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Brenden Cameron: (composer, booklet commentary)

Originally titled 'A Heroic Death', this song was my second entry into the Homestuck Fanmusic contest, as well as the second song I've ever released in general.

My intention at the outset of the contest was to write a theme for Tavros, my patron Troll and a character who I thought would otherwise be under-represented among the competition. However, every time I sat down to work on the song, I found myself experimenting with several of John's themes instead. Eventually I relented and combined those experiments into a song for John.

Even though neither of my entries was selected for the contest album, I'm still immensely grateful for the experience. The process of preparing my songs for the competition taught me a lot about music production and showed me some of the areas I might improve on in future (specifically: I need to stop quoting existing songs so much and focus on creating original melodies).

So again, thank you Andrew and everyone on the music team; both for that opportunity and for all your creative work which inspired me in the first place. Thanks Jit for offering some last minute advice (though I didn't get a chance to implement half of those suggestions...). And, of course, thank you Liza and Xzaz for organizing this second Homestuck Fan Music Album; your dedication and enthusiasm is truly an inspiration.

Racheme: (track artist, booklet commentary)

This shows little John asking his older self if they saved Dad from the game. I wanted to reflect some inner workings in John's mind, he still thinks about his only family rather than simply drawing him as powerful and never giving up like in most pictures.

The Note Desolation Plays Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Max Wright: (composer, booklet commentary)

This is quite an old piece of mine, written mid-January 2010. As the title suggests, I wanted to write something that represented the first act of Homestuck, to capture the feeling of the story as we are introduced to its darker elements - the Wind Skims the Void flash is a good example to use. That page is almost like a title screen for the webcomic as a whole, not giving away a thing, but nudging ever so slightly towards things to come; likewise, the repeating piano ostinato in here pays tribute to the Chrono Trigger title music. Little did we know at the time, though, how destructive the conductor's baton can be.

Here's hoping for a happy ending.

Fortnight: (track artist, booklet commentary)

First of all- I love this track, it sounds to me like the start of something new, with hope and high expectations thrown in. I drew this track art based off that mood and also the unnamed flash from Act 1, page 1982.

I'm The Doctor Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Veritas Unae: (composer, booklet commentary)

I recall this was primiarily composed for two reasons. One: Combining the Doctor Who theme with Doctor needed to happen. Two: The Doctor Who Sburb fan adventure was something I had just discovered and I wanted to compose something for it. There's not much to be said about this one. It's Doctor + Doctor Who Theme. Yeah.

Wind In My Heir Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Joe Ouellet: (composer, booklet commentary)

WIMH is one of my fisrt original Homestuck fan-pieces. Originally entered in the contest to select tracks for Colours and Mayhem, it was a song geared towards John and his powers as an Heir of Breath. I chose a very laid back feel to this piece, progressing from a soft choir at the beginning, picking up an arpeggiated synth and kick on the way to a more intense section of the song. I wanted the song to flow just like the wind: starting softly, the breeze picks up gradually, when suddenly a gust of wind comes, only to leave just as fast as it came.

Fighting Spirit ~Second Form~ Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Kevin Grant: (composer, booklet commentary)

With 16 songs included in the mashup, it's a far more complicated piece than the original. I tried to include many songs from Volume 8, like the Ocean Stars Falling bit near the end. I think it flows smoother than the original due to both song choice, and the one-year difference in skill level when creating the song. Both are made entirely in Famitracker.

Lambda Elise Merryberry: (album organizer, booklet commentary)

Upward Movement, Endless Climb, Showtime, Eridan's Theme, Doctor, Sunsetter, MeGaLoVania, Pumpkin Cravings, Beatdown, Chorale for Jaspers, Harlequin, Liquid Negrocity, Crystalanthemums, Ocean Stars, Homestuck Anthem, How Do I Live.

Corkscrew Sundown Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


body horror (abstract)
click to show

straightfacedgriff: (track artist, booklet commentary)

This is my favourite song on the album, and I ended up doing two track arts for it. This one is better, I think! I decided to use Doc Scratch because the song was about the Green Sun, and out of all the characters associated with it, I felt Doc Scratch best suited the song.

Doghead Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Willow Ascenzo: (composer, booklet commentary)

I got the idea for "Doghead" shortly after "Cascade" and Jade's incredible ascension. I set out to create something epic, fast-paced, and exciting, but once I'd finished the first part, I found it was missing something. So I approached MSPA forumite and fellow Homestuck fan musician D. Crystal to see if he could add some guitar and drum tracks. He was happy to oblige, and the end result turned out much better than the work I could do by myself. I learned two lessons that day: one, that two heads are better than one and collaboration is incredibly fun, and two, that electric guitars make everything better.

Jane's Theme Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

David Dycus: (composer, booklet commentary)

Jane's theme was my third and final entry into the HS music contest, conceived and completed less than a day before I made my submission. It obviously didn't make the cut, and Jane ended up receiving a much more badass theme in the form of Cyan Beast. At the time when I wrote the song (around January 29, 2012), we really didn't know much about Jane beyond the fact that she was a nice girl who enjoyed baking. I tried to give her a theme that was quaint and melodic, not too energetic like my other submissions; compared to most of the other characters, Jane is very down-to-earth, which I admired. Structurally, it loosely parallels Fuchsia Witch, which was originally titled "Jake's Theme."

positivelymorbid: (track artist, booklet commentary)

When I first listened to it, I thought it was a really calm, tranquil song, so I thought maybe Jane relaxing. The more I listened to it, the more adventurous it sounded. Then it hit me, why not Jane having a picnic in LOCAH, picnics are relaxing and adventurous. Overall, I enjoyed the song, and I really enjoyed drawing this art for it.

The Four Thrones Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Samm Neiland: (composer, booklet commentary)

So this was done mostly as a self response to another fan track I did which was a minute or so long music box rendition of Showtime. While pretty, it hardly showcased my abilities as a musician or a producer. So in about the span of the week, I arranged, composed, and produced a traditional string quartet, heavily inspired by cellist and multitrack recording artist, Zoë Keating. All the recording was done with only my viola and my signature production style.

I remember it being a week of musical hell for me, but I'm quite proud of the end results. Perhaps one day, I'll be able to rerecord it with a proper quartet. One can dream at least.

Reid Slater: (track artist, booklet commentary)

I wanted to represent the beta kids reaching their godtier status while mixing in the royalty theme that Samm's song gave me. Samm said to me himself that he thought of the crowning scene in Narnia and the four thrones, and I thought it was suitable to represent them with crowns, holding the Skaia they influenced and looking content and almost relieved in each other's company. I wanted to create something happy and a little bitter-sweet, which was the feeling I got from Samm's track. And I wanted to show that sort of unity and friendship the kids have, even after all they've been through.

Jade Aubade Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

nappotuna: (track artist, booklet commentary)

Listening to the song, I immediately wanted to do something involving Jade doing something cool. When I asked Trogg about it, I learned that the song was actually based more so on the Green Sun. I didn't want to just trash my current progress with Jade so I changed things up a little. Added the Sun in the back, changed the light sources into more green-like tones, et cetera.

And what you see here is the finished product.

Blood Knight Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Rachel Rose Mitchell: (composer, booklet commentary)

When I made Blood Knight, I was still pretty exhausted from putting Mechani% - now known as Indigo Archer - together. I'd never made anything as complex as Indigo Archer before and on top of that I had massive anxieties about getting into the competition. I was stressed out! So Blood Knight nearly never happened.

About a week before the music contest ended, I was talking to my best friend and he said he thought I could make a kickass song for Karkat. I didn't really believe him at first. Karkat is one of my favourite characters and I didn't feel confident about capturing him at all. But my friend persisted and threw a few ideas at me. Eventually I found myself in Cubase making music again with my best friend to thank for it.

Immediately, I knew it needed electric guitars. That was problematic for me as I'd never, ever gotten synthesised guitars to sound halfway decent before. Heck, I'm still not entirely sure how I managed it, but I'm super happy with how it turned out. The feel of it matches what I was going for; not quite metal, not quite a ballad, kind of melancholy but also kind of in your face. Sort of. You might be able to tell that I had an easier time making it than describing it, heh. Pretty darn proud of this piece.

In The Shadow of a Fractured Sun Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Artisticpolo: (composer, booklet commentary)

Initially a Frost remix but it became something else. The square-wave arpeggio that you hear is probably the only thing that is now reminiscent of that remix. It was because of the harp that this grew into something different. I actually composed this while the composition was playing. I would listen to the notes I had composed, and I would just place new notes where I think they would work while listening. Somehow, everything just seemed to fit together - the violins, the synths, the percussion - everything just worked. The structure of this composition just flowed. I'm pretty sure this is one of my best pieces so far.

Red Miles Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


blood, body horror
click to show

David Dycus: (composer, booklet commentary)

Red Miles was the first Homestuck song I ever completed, early in 2011. I had just installed a new copy of FL Studio after losing my old copy in a hard drive crash two years earlier. I imemediately threw together about five Homestuck songs in a desperate attempt to get on the music team. Shortly thereafter, I discovered about a thousand other fan musicians like myself (and also LOFAM I), and quietly accepted that I would never, ever be on an official Homestuck album.

A year and a half later, Red Miles definitely sounds like a first attempt. My only objective was to try to make the most over-the-top, attention-grabbing chiptune-metal song I could muster, so I threw in every trope I knew: the pipe organ, the wall of 8-bit synths, the Inferno electric guitar patch, and the Sburban Jungle motif (which I would use many, many more times). It may have been a bit much, but it was a necessary first step.

Elegy for a Thief (Dreamscape Remix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Willow Ascenzo: (composer, booklet commentary)

I wrote Elegy for a Thief back in August 2011, inspired by the evocative image of ghost-Vriska standing in the snow outside John's house. After re-arranging it into a solo piano piece, I sat on it for a while. Eventually I began to work on another remix, but forgot about it. Then the song was nominated for Land of Fans and Music 2, and I rushed to polish up the song now that I had better tools and more skill. But I'd lost the original file, and the only remaining part of the scrapped remix was the right-hand piano notes (luckily, those were the most important part of the song)! The new remix is exotic and a bit hypnotic, symbolizing John and Vriska's journey through the surreal and fantastic memory-realms of the afterlife.

Cap: (track artist, booklet commentary)

Originally, I planned to do a sentimental image of Vriska standing in the snow, but it turned out pretty lame. Then I figured hey, since I'm making something for a fantastic song for an amazing troll, why not make the piece almost as gr8t as her? So the snow idea melted and turned into this bizarre, dreambubble-ish creation!

Now imagine my surprise when I heard that Ascenzo later remixed the song and made it like 16,777,216 times cooler.

Embittered Shore Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Max Wright: (composer, booklet commentary)

I've always liked the idea behind Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido, and the mysterious character canvas that the album brought across. So, from there, I wanted to contribute my own ideas of how MTaHK were represented, and ended up with Embittered Shore. I wanted the piece to have that 'Bowman' quality to it, while still refraining from outright copying his ideas off in any particular way - the heavy use of guitars and fleeting synths was my way of capturing the emotion that Bowman injects into his music, to bring across his characterisation. Ultimately, the piece ends the way it started - it is a brief window through which the troubled characters may be projected and represented.

Aysha U. Farah: (Pesterquest director/writer, Twitter)

oh yeah that final track in the game is "embittered shore" by max wright! i'm really glad i finally got to use it, it's one of my favorite pieces of homestuck music

when "unofficial" music becomes Official

Ye Flarey Gentlemen Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Clark Powell: (composer, booklet commentary)

This song was made at Christmas.

It's not Christmas anymore.

Lambda Elise Merryberry: (album organizer, booklet commentary)

this entire album was a joke at clark's expense

Finale Strife Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Willow Ascenzo: (composer, booklet commentary)

I began "Finale Strife" as a long, slow-burning build-up song for the final battle with Lord English, in a similar vein to "Finale Toccata" from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. That, however, didn't pan out, and it ended up turning into a fast-paced, high-energy strife theme more in the vein of "The Curse of Sorrow" from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (the only Castlevania game I've actually come close to beating), especially the organ, electric guitar, and snappy drum kit. The main melody has some resemblance to the Black King's theme from "Rex Duodecim Angelus" by Malcolm Brown, but not enough to qualify as a remix or arrangement.

Ducky Senpai: (track artist, booklet commentary)

I initially had no idea what I was going to do for this song. I skimmed through the tracks and noticed this one by Willow Ascenzo (who did some of my favorites on coloUrs and mayhem: Universe A like Teal Hunter and Violet Mariner), and I was instantly sold probably because of my love for pipe organs. Anyway, for a lack of better inspiration, I used the description left on soundcloud - "Final battle with Lord English." Tie that to Aranea's mentioning that Jake was destined to beat Lord English, and I had my inspiration. The lineart took much longer than it should have since my tablet had been freaking out and I haven't gotten the new one yet, but the coloring went quite smoothly.

Gangsta Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Dante Basco: (composer, booklet commentary)

one of my first comments for rose was "she's gangsta"... then when i met jade, i said she was gangsta too... it kinda just stuck in with the homestucks and this is a song that i dedicate to those girls... i'm glad everyone dug it.

Lambda Elise Merryberry: (album organizer, booklet commentary)

there would be lyrics here if i were capable of interpreting them.

Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor)

Would you like a live performance?

Joy And Dreams Eternal Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Fitzwibble: (track artist, booklet commentary)

When I first heard this song, I got this sense of... I guess you could call it grand scale? Glorious grandscaliness? No wait that's dumb. I wanted to do something that captured that feeling, and it made me think of the panel where we see Prospit rising over the towers of the moon, and I could just imagine Jade flying around and marvelling at this amazing view. I hope I did the song justice!

Guns Blazing Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Catboss: (composer, booklet commentary)

The first song I made for the Homestuck contest, and IMO the best! It's supposed to be a Showtime for the new generaiton, a strife theme for Jake English - although the melody ended up sounding more like Dissension than Showtime. The progression is supposed to be Showtime-esque as well, starting from the piano refrain, going into a chiptune-esque portion, and finally building to a BOSS FIGHT version, using punchy drums (the punchiest!) to simulate gunshots.

So close your eyes and imagine Jake doing that thing where he flies through the air shooting both guns at once. Yes. So sweet. Wouldn't it be great if there were an animated flash to go with it? That would be SUPER SWEET.

(Bonus fun fact: the last 30 seconds of the song was actually the first part to be conceptualized!)

Catboss: (composer, SoundCloud description)

> Jake: Fly through the air shooting two guns at once.

The first of my three entries to the Homestuck Music Contest, the other two being Vodka Mutiny and Daywalker ~Rise~.

This didn't get in, even though I felt that it was my strongest contender. I hoped that it could serve as the "Showtime" for the Alpha kids, and modelled it specifically after "Showtime" and "Dissension," with a recognizable motif repeated in different styles.

Fun fact: I came up with the last 1 minute of the song or so first; I got the idea to use punchy snares to simulate Jake shooting everywhere. I quite like the result!

Catboss: (composer, Tumblr)

Finally finished my first song for the contest, and I’m going into it

guns

blazing

It’s a Strife theme for Jake English! I was originally going to make something Showtime-esque - hence the piano refrain at the start - but it ended up sounding more like Dissension. I figure Jake is p. much a John/Jade cross so I just ran with it.

Also, towards the end, please imagine Jake doing that thing where he jumps in the air shooting both pistols at once.

Showtime (Svix Mix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Svix: (composer, booklet commentary)

I created the first version of my Showtime remix back in September 2009 shortly after I started getting into Homestuck, it seemed to go down well and a few months later I was invited to be part of the official music team.

Since then I feel that I have improved significantly and so I've given the old remix a quick reworking. Whilst I think that structurally the track is a little too similar to the original and if I were to make another remix I would do things quite differently, this piece was the one which began to outline my chiptune style which I've since developed with my other Homestuck tracks. My main influences with chiptune are from the SID and Yamaha chips found in the C64 and Sega Mega Drive respectively, and as such many synth and percussive elements from each can be heard in my work.

fueledbyanimation: (track artist, booklet commentary)

To fit a remix of one of my favorite Homestuck themes, I wanted to make the Strife scene between Dad and John in my own style, while still holding somewhat true to the original. A remix of the art as well as the song.

Ugly Story Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

PhemieC: (composer, booklet commentary)

This song chronicles Eridan's thought process and a bit of his history leading up to his death, and examines why he made the decisions he did. I think there's a lot to his character people normally forget and I just wanted to expand on his motivations a bit.

prismatic-void: (track artist, booklet commentary)

The first time I heard the song I thought it described Eridan perfectly. It's about being left behind and distrusted by the only people he ever put faith in. He's angry and selfish and decides to forget about them in favor of his own goals. I wanted to show him essentially walking away from the ghosts of his past and doing his best to ignore how much they've hurt him.

Dark Funk Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube


blood
click to show

Kevin Grant: (composer, booklet commentary)

This didn't start out as a Homestuck themed song, but once I realized that it matched up with the dark and moody feel of the Midnight Crew, I decided to complete it with that goal in mind. The song itself is pretty simple, all in all. I just really dig that bassline.

A Stitch In Time Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Joe Ouellet: (composer, booklet commentary)

When given the chance to make an extra track for LOFAM 2, I jumped at the opportunity. It turns out I was assigned a Felt related track, specifically to Stitch. I wanted to stay true to the feel of the album The Felt. I used strings, light percussion, and most importantly, I messed around with the tempo. This was a little bit of a challenge for me, but I think it turned out alright. Fun fact: The glitchy effect was not on purpose, it was an export error I thought sounded cool so I kept it.

Ave Dei Novi Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Willow Ascenzo: (composer, booklet commentary)

When I started "Ave Dei Novi" (a song made just for Land of Fans and Music 2), I fully intended that it would be the biggest, strongest, most well-composed, best Homestuck fan composition I've worked on to date, a sort of capstone of Homestuck fan music. The first Land of Fans and Music had two of my early songs on it, and I felt it was appropriate that I do my best and show how far I'd come in a year for the second album. "Ave Dei Novi" takes its cue, partially, from the bombastic and incredible Gundam Unicorn soundtrack by Sawano Hiroyuki, especially in the orchestra and percussion grooves, which I worked very hard on. I think I'm most proud of the bongo groove breakdown in the middle and the "Atomyk Ebonpyre" section near the end. Those two parts ended up especially fantastic.

xkoraxayomex: (track artist, booklet commentary)

Overall I feel that the artwork suits the piece in terms of relativity and presentation. I think it looks refined and somewhat detailed, but there is room for improvement. When I read the title for the piece, Ascension, I automatically thought back to Jade's god tier, as it is simply gorgeous and I just love it. It was a milestone for her becoming an even more essential character in Homestuck.

Lambda Elise Merryberry: (album organizer, booklet commentary)

this song was originally titled "ascension", but there was to be another song on lofam2 with a similar title ("god tier ascension") (except now there isn't) so wmm changed it to "ave dei novi" which translates to "hail the new gods"

Nevermore (Can't Sleep, Crows Will Find Me) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Brad Griffin: (booklet editor)

No commentary here!

continued from The Seer and the Tribesmen:

THE NAKED FELLOW INTRODUCES HIMSELF IN RETURN. OVERJOYED, BNORKEL BARKS UP A CLOUD OF PUNGENT INK. THIS STARTLES THE MOOSE, WHO PROCEEDS TO INSTINCTIVELY CHARGE THEM BOTH. A FLURRY OF ACTIVITY! ANTLERS FLASH, TENTACLES FLAIL, EXPOSED FLESH JUTS OFFENSIVELY.

AFTER A BRIEF BUT VIOLENT SCUFFLE, BNORKEL COWELS IN A MASS, LICKING HIS WOUNDED SUCKERS. AMIDST THE COMMOTION, THE FRIENDLY NUDIST WAS KNOCKED THROUGH THE AIRLOCK, BRIEFLY INTO THE FRIGID VACUUM OF SPACE, THEN THROUGH THE PLANET'S ATMOSPHERE AT HIGH SPEEDS.

THE MOOSE INADVERTENTLY TAKES CONTROL OF THE SPACESHIP (IT IS A SPACE SHIP BY THE WAY) AND ACCIDENTALLY USES IT TO DESTROY NEPTUNE. BNORKEL DIDN'T LIKE NEPTUNE ANYWAY.

THE END.

The moral of the story is, people should write their own dang commentary or else this happens.

Thomas Ferkol: (Tumblr)

Finished the Dave’s dream track, might post it later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Thomas Ferkol: (Tumblr)

So it begins.

TG: i was in this dark place surrounded by this big flock of crows
TG: god this is so generically morbid
TG: im sorry in advance for exposing you to my unconscious minds retarded cliches
TT: It’s ok.
TT: They wouldn’t be cliches if they didn’t comprise the unanimously understood bedrock of phallic symbolism, with no other viable interpretation.
TG: well obviously i knew the birds were just black screaming sky dongs just hear me out
TG: i kept dying
TG: there kept being these traps like i would go one way and get my head chopped off
TG: or go another way and get stabbed or whatever
TG: and every time i died the dream reset itself and i was standing there alive and ready to try to escape again
TG: but each time i would be watching myself from the vantage point of a different crow
TG: like i was the crow all squawking around in circles like a macabre flapping douche
TG: and i would always watch myself try to do something different to dodge the trap but i always ended up dead

Prophecy Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

David Dycus: (composer, booklet commentary)

Prophecy was made in February of 2011, a couple of months after I re-installed FL Studio. Umbral Ultimatum remains one of my favorite HS songs, and I wanted to do something in 3/4 time using the opening melody. The song's development is kind of a blur to me now, I was busy with work and was experiencing some anxiety problems, and threw the song together over a two or three-day period, but it obviously took a very dark turn somewhere along the way. Whatever happened, I'm still pretty pleased with how it turned out.

The Dance of Oblivion Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Domble: (composer, booklet commentary)

The original version of this track had huge problems. I kept the writing mostly the same, only adding little flourishes here and there and improving the overall sound of the piece dramatically. It just sounds nicer now, and that guitar solo part at the end helps add a real finish to the piece while referencing both titular tracks in a different, significant way.

Oh and the title makes me think of The Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater which is a really cool song.

Alphamatic Replacement Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Xauric: (composer, booklet commentary)

So... this piece was originally designed to just be... exactly that. Just another piece. It wasn't meant for Homestuck, it wasn't meant for Tumblr or anyone to see it. But a fantastic friend of mine told me about the Homestuck Music competition, so I figured why not. I sent this in after tweaking it a bit, and just for fun, threw it up on Tumblr. I then left for vacation, but still had internet access. I came back to see my song exploded on Tumblr, and was promptly getting upwards of 1,000-3,000 views a week. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. The song itself was kind of... my own personal blend? I love songs that combine organic and inorganic elements, and with Homestuck being the big thing on the block lately, I decided to try it out. As evidence by this album, it didn't make it, but it certainly was a big hit. However, what's funnier is that the version I put on Tumblr was the unmastered version, so when I put the mastered version up, it didn't get nearly as many hits as the unmastered version.

A lot of people have asked me whether or not I'm going to make a second Homestuck track. And as much as I love the motivation from fans to do so, I don't think I could handle trying to one-up a piece like this and failing. So, here's to you, Homestuck.

dodostad: (track artist, booklet commentary)

For me the song was about alpha kids, no question about it. It took me a long time to come up with a composition that I liked and that seemed to fit the song. LOOK OUT FOR THE MILES JANE

Planetarium Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube

Rachel Rose Mitchell: (composer, booklet commentary)

Planetarium was the first piece of Homestuck fan music I ever made. I'd only just caught up with the archives when I was set a composition assignment for university. Having never used Logic to compose before, I had fun playing with a bunch of the different inbuilt instruments. When I found the koto, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I tried to make it sound somewhat ethereal and otherworldly to represent the Incipisphere in all its beautiful weirdness. To try to do that, I threw a whole lot of reverb and delay at pretty much every track. I really did not know what I was doing, but it was fun.

The vocal lines were an afterthought. Actually, no, they were less than an afterthought. They weren't actually something I thought I should include at all, but the assignment had a requirement of at least four recorded audio tracks. I threw those lines together at home on Cubase (I don't actually have a Mac, let alone Logic!) the morning the piece was drew it, slapped them onto the piece with Logic that day and got the assignment in just in time. But in the end, I think they enhanced the feel of the piece, so I'm kind of glad I had to chuck them in there!

Spectrumfizz: (track artist, booklet commentary)

This is probably my favoured piece from my two more serious ones. I wanted to make a layout reminiscent of an actual planetarium, and I think I achieved that well (the "strings" hanging up the planets are simultaneously that and the kids' houses built up towards Skaia, which indicates that I kind of overthought this). I'm actually pretty fond of how the tiny Beat Mesa and Prospit's moon turned out.

Oh yeah, the song itself is also SUPER pretty (I'm surprised I managed to snag such a lovely song to make art for), but you'll know that already considering you're probably listening to it right now.

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