Land of Fans and Music 5 - Commentary
6.6k words across 111 entries.
Land of Fans and Music 5 Land of Fans and Music 5 (album commentary) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube (playlist)
Ok I don't know how we're gonna format this but I want to thank Gryotharian and Monckat for doing an absolutely amazing job getting track art done for every remaining track in like, a week. That's 26 and 17 arts respectively! They can be said unironically to have saved the art part of this album.
The other artists are fine too but they didn't make 17 track arts and that's the cutoff for being personally mentioned...
Thanks: Circlejourney and Makin for helping with management and organization, Kanishka for working a lot to get the booklet ready, Gryotharian for giving feedback to almost every song on the spreadsheet, and everyone else on the team who took on roles to help us get this out in addition to their music and art contributions! Also, everyone who tuned in to the livestream.
I thought this would definitely be our final album going in, but now I don't feel so sure. It really was a team effort, so thank you everyone!
(alternate album art)
Skaian Spirograph Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
A Skaia song originally made for Haeldral's Felt Mansion 2. One of the two final Homestuck songs I made. I wanted it to sound pretty but epic like Skaia itself but without using the same Skies of Skaia leitmotif as always.
Skaia has such pretty colours, I wanted to capture that.
Spacetime Starstriker Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I made this track in 2017, during high school. Now I'm about to graduate from college. Isn't that surprising? Time flies.
Spacetime Starstriker was also the second track of its original release platform. It was first published through a different music team (am I allowed to name CANMT here?). At the time, I think I was mainly excited about the track's aggressive time signature changes.
Over the years, I've assembled a laundry list of things I'd change in the piece if I were to start again from scratch. But I'm still proud of the original product, and grateful for the reception thus far. I feel content with this being my last major contribution to the HS fanmusic space. For the time being.
Many of the motifs and quotes in this track are lifted from CANMT tracks. What a fun group! Those folks helped me get into music-making in the first place, and I most certainly would not be here without them. I encourage you to check out some of the more experimental albums we released. They're more interesting to me than the Greatest Hits compilations, anyhow.
Post-Ironic Radical Child Abuse Anthem Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I held a poll among friends for the title of this song, but I couldn't pick a favorite even after the results were in so i just tried to mash all of them into one title. It worked... alright. The original plan for the song was just going to be a straightforward beatdown remix, but I liked what I made too much to relegate it to that, and also really wanted to reference The Baby Is You, so thus was born this shitpost of a song.
I hope the art reflects that energy too. I've been told I have a particular talent for ironically bad masterpieces.
InterNep Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Originally named "Nepcafé", ideas for this song came from wondering how the cat sample from Mario Paint Composer would fare as a funny resonant acid 303 style sound, and puns with "Net" and "Nep". At some point I was reminded of rave and scene aesthetic Nepeta headcanons/AUs etc, loved that and thought it was the best track to riff off from that ! Even though I was inspired by Nepeta I think it could very much fit Meulin as well, it's a very Leijon track in my mind.
I'm sorry for my sins
Princess Berryboo and Her Orchestra Present "Friendship is Paramount" ft. Squishy Tentacle On Piano Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This one I actually wrote a while ago. At this point I was just challenging myself to make as many homestuck covers in as many different styles as I could and I think this one is particularly special. Squiddles were already one of my favorite little lore spirals from homestuck so to be able to put a little bit more AU weirdness is something Im honored to be able to do.
On an Island Far Away Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
A track about Jade before SBURB, when she was just a girl playing with her (teleporting space) dog. Jade's story always captivated me—the way her life was idyllic, lonely, triumphant and tragic in turns. It's one of my favourite parts of Homestuck, and I wanted to pay her a little tribute. I included her theme instruments, the flute and bass, as well as howling SFX in reference to Bec. Many thanks to FunkMcLovin for playing trumpet on the track.
24/7 lo fi anime beats to achieve your destiny to Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I was messing around with this drumkit and it just kinda turned into this.
Yeah I don't think I had another option I had to draw this.
Alpha Admission Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
In a cross-multiversal display of brotherhood among shades-wearing anime swordsmen, Dirk and Kate's dad (from Desynced) chop up some goons. As a certified MSPFA addict I couldn't pass up a chance to give an excellent fanventure a shoutout in the art for this track (which originated in its OST).
Cut the Chain Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
believe me, if I didn't know what I was doing nearly 2 years ago when I made this, I sure don't when I'm writing this commentary. I liked the melody so I made a song, duh
Jack Noir decides Prospit didn't need its moon anyway. I tried my best to convey Noir's speed, as well as the scale and chonk of those massive golden chains. And yes the chains really are that long in canon please don't go check
Firefly Storm Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
As always, Astro Kid manages to turn any track into a rave-worthy bop, no matter how melancholic the original is. This used to be a lost track, and I might have never heard it if Rafe Saltman hadn't reuploaded it on Youtube, so he deserves our thanks. This art piece was actually inspired by the track a few months after it was made, so I contacted the artist to finally make it official, half a decade later.
Urban Jungle Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This song was made up on the spot note-by-note, but I think it turned out well.
Spritely Gardener Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This song is is a redo of my very first piece of homestuck fanmusic I ever did. I wanted a remix of a lesser known homestuck song so I decided to do a remix of Toby Fox's Jadesprite.
Special Delivery Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Liberty. Reason. Justice. Civility. Edification. Perfection. MAIL.
I listened to the track and just needed to draw PM with the sentry worm.
Sunriser Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
The crimson glow of the rising sun falls across the Strider apartment complex, and it looks like Dave's pulled an all-nighter working on his jams. His neighbors must love him. I made this art pretty quickly but I'm proud of it all the same, managed to capture some vibes.
Aggrieve (Knightcore Mix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Another song from the Cool and New Music Team, this time for their final album: cool and new volume 3. I pretty much barfed Aggrieve onto Famitracker, changed some chords here and there, and that's that. I think it came out pretty good.
Upon Makin's suggestion, someone needed to make the art for this Rose pondering her orb. And that someone was me. I like to think she does this regularly. Has a special room in her house just for Orb Pondering. And Kanaya just has to deal with it.
Dreamers Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I did my best to capture the dreamy feeling of the moons with the slightly sinister undertones. Originally started out as "Prospit Dreamer" funnily enough, but then I added the Atomyk Ebonpyre motif and I decided it might fit better as just a track for both the moons.
I originally had very different art in mind for this track, but every time I heard it, it made me think of someone falling through the center of Derse. The use of the Atomyk Ebonpyre motif decided that that person would be Dave, and while it didn't really end up being the center of the planet, I feel like I captured the vibe well enough.
F∞ クライミング『CLIMBING』 Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
This track originates from CANWAVE 3, a vaporwave album for the Cool and New Music Team. Yes, we cursed the world with three of them, but it was all worth it if only for this SplitSuns track. For the less leitmotif-aware, this is a take on Endless Climb by Buzinkai. Rest in peace.
Pipe Dream Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
You know that old Windows screensaver? No no, not the flying toasters. No, not the maze one! I mean that one that your teachers always used so you just stared at it all period instead of getting work done. Yes, with the pipes! This is that but LOWAS, and also taking 20 minutes to render a frame instead of whatever fps the old screensaver ran at. The cost of beauty. It's an honor to make art for a LOFAM album, I've been listening to the older ones since I was a teenager. You could say that with this art I fulfilled a Pipe Dream.
Stab - Stab - Stab Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I made this track for the Cool and New Music Team Felt/Midnight Crew album circa 2018 or so, and it was nominated for "the next LOFAM" long before any actual prep for this album had really started. I actually requested it be taken off of LOFAM5 because I felt it didn't meet my standards anymore, but due to a miscommunication it stayed on. I found this out about 15 minutes before the release stream, which is happening as I type this - Album is sounding great, y'all! Anyway, hope it sounds better to you than it does to me.
A Dream Of Broken Clocks Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This is a really weird one for me. Originally, I started out with the intention to do a remastered and updated version of my track "The Puppetmaster" from our previous release Friendsymphony, but slowly, I came to realize that the remaster kind of sucked, and all traces of it were eventually wiped from this track. The intro (can you call it in intro if it's more than half the song?) came to me about half a year after the main body of the song, it was the first thing I ever recorded vocals for, and may well be the last. Not much point in putting lyrics down though, cause all they are is "ooOOOOooo". I was listening to a lot of Colin Stetson's music during the time I made it so that probably played some influence in it. Then another half year after that I replaced the main body of the song too, because after listening to it with fresh ears, it was kind of a discordant mess. I kept the original idea behind The Puppetmaster, a distorted mix of Worst End and English, but that's about it. I might release that version eventually, but it won't be on this album.
This was some of the first non-pixel digital art I ever did, and for that, I think it turned out pretty well. However, I had a real knack for doing things the hardest possible way, and oh my god, I never want to draw another clock again. I did all of this, with a keyboard and trackpad, on a free trial for a photoshop knockoff. That wallpaper? I didn't figure out how to use the copy-paste tool properly, and had to manually put in every detail on it. This was a nightmare to complete, (albeit a nightmare of my own making), so you all had better appreciate it.
Black (Electro Swing Remix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
The art for this track is actually a video, so I had to combine a few frames into one, but you can probably get the gist. Damn it Bandcamp, add APNG support already.
Dance of Entropy Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I was surprised by how fast everyone loved this track. I think this is the only one that I didn't have to make any edits to after submitting it, and it's one of my oldest submissions too, I made this well over a year ago. Very briefly, it was going to be a Vriska and Eridan track, using all different instruments, but it wasn't working well, and as soon as I switched it to the piano samples, the rest of the song just basically created itself, becoming a whole new vibe that was very The Felt, and not at all Vriska and Eridan.
Furthest Ringside Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
A track vaguely themed around Dave, Rose, Derse, and the lovely eldritch horrors next door. For the most part it emerged from wanting to remix some lesser-utilized themes such as Switchback, Ace of Trump, and At The Price of Oblivion
Rose and Dave chilling on Derse, with some horrorterrors looming above. (I've taken some artistic liberties with the horrorterrors, in being conjoined into a single mass they kinda resemble the horrorterrors in my fanventure The Tapestry more than canon Homestuck ones)
Wayward Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I made this during a recent re-reading of Homestuck and the upward drumbeat was really catchy and a bop and I wanted to make something with it. (Hey, maybe WV finds Dave's turntables and Rose's violin)
The Wayward Vagabond seems to have stumbled across the ruins of the NYC Skaianet Headquarters. And it seems there's an enticing, delicious green light inside. Will we ever see what he finds in there? (well none of this is officially canon, so probably not)
Upon Whom Sacrifice Calls Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Okay so I was like what if I could get the same vibe as Gold Pilot but not be an exact remix, then I zoned out for 30 hours and this was on my computer.
Sun and Setter Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
What a rad track! I'm not sure what the original Sunsetter is about, so I took a cue from the track art fan anthology piece for Sunsetter, and also the backup art choice for this track.
Hippocampus Sea Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Levc:
Inspired by the short cover of science seahorse from the medley tee-vee did some time ago (go check it out if you haven't already), I just wanted to try and do a short, simple and sweet remix of the song! (that's really it).
The magic of this track relies on me combining stuff that sounds, at least to me, relaxing. Just let the ambience kick in while your seahorse lusus just, vibes at your side...
Also this tracks makes me want to eat ice cream for some reason.
She's a D8ddy L8ng L8gs Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
I believe this time it's best to let the art speak for itself.
King Crab Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
Damn did you know this track references "Crustacean" by Toby "Radiation" Fox???
ALIVE Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Temporal Shenanigans was the first homestuck song I ever heard outside of the comic, and it's how I first discovered the full hs music library. Been wanting to do some sort of tribute to it for a long time. (I also just really really love Aradia
Thinking on the inspirations of the track, I wanted the artwork to show Aradia before and after coming back to life, and the change in her disposition.
Blood Rite Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube, YouTube
Started when I decided the Disc 3 transition i'd made for Friendsymphony deserved a full song. I've always loved the whole Alternian vibes, the hemospectrum and the high bloods and especially and so I decided to make a song about it. I did my best to capture in the song the grandness of Alternia, its sinister nature, and Doc Scratch's effect on the planet and this is what I got.I spent a while trying to come up with a name and eventually landed on either Blood Rite or Blood Right, either way it's sort of a pun so take that how you will.
Decided to focus on the handmaid and the condesce because of the female laughs in the track and also because they basically shaped the blood based society of alternia as it is. With a little nod to doc scratch through the handmaid.
Madame Controversielle 2 Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
If you remember my song "The Gemoni Mustard Blood" from LOFAM4, that was originally from an old Cool and New Music Team (CANMT) album I made back in 2016 called "Of Troles and Chiptumes". While I had a lot of fun making that album, over the years I've come to regard its composition and instrumentation as somewhat amateurish; I was still rather new to Famitracker, the software I used to make all those songs.
While I had at one point wanted to remake the entire album using the chiptune skills I know today, the only song I ever ended up remaking was "Madame Controversielle", the album's song for Vriska. The remake was put on the CANMT album "troleplanet", and the reasoning behind its title was simply to take the original one and slap a 2 on it! So yes, there is indeed a Madame Controversielle 1, but I really don't get why you would want to listen to it over this version.
I'm not sure about how this one turned out. All the chiptune and vriska definitely made me think of like, a retro game player select screen, so I went back to my old pixel art style, and tried to fill it with the most vriska that vriska could vriska. But it had been a while since I was working with plain pixel art again, and that probably shows.
Pumpkin Party in Sea Hitler's Water Apocalypse (Cement City Remix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
When I first heard the original version of the song, I didn't immediately think dubstep would be a good fit, but I think Cement City has proved us all wrong.
Rex Duodecim Angelus (Remix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
Artisticpolo is a legendary remixer, hailing from the very beginnings of the Homestuck fanmusic scene. Tracking him down proved to be one of the best decisions we could have made. Stay tuned for another track of his in this album!
It's hard to make a design like the unprototyped black king seem threatening.
Pondsquatter (Demaster/Demix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
This is actually the full version of an asset used for the fanventure "Karkat Goes to a Convention", which I wholeheartedly recommend. This amazing art by Radical Dude 42, an expert in the original MSPA style, suggests the fanventure's title might be selling it short...
At the Threshold Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
A song inspired by the way Beyond Canon made me feel, even though it ended up nothing like any of the songs on the album. I tried to capture the idea of standing at the threshold of an infinitely expanding universe, both literally and figuratively.
Opted for a simple panel redraw on this one, since it was going to be the backup art, and the musicians liked the panel choice.
Scratching Consequences Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Some sort of interpretation of Doc Scratch's manipulations, causing the heroes to create the green sun.
One Hour Later Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
The mixture of Jack Noir and Lord English/cherub themes, alongside the Beatdown reference, brought my mind straight to this scene from [S] Collide. The camera follows Jack English/Union Jack's head upwards as it begins to blackholesplode, tilting at the mother of all dutch angles in the process.
Viridescent Flare Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
From the artist who made the hit single flarezzzzzzz (from Cool And New Homestuck), bringing you..., another flare song.
The Dreamer and the Dream Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I had a minute where I wanted to put shakuhachi in everything I did á la HS Volume 6
Sailing (In The Sea Of Stars) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
A theme for the post-Epilogue crew(s) sailing through space.
I literally painted this furiously out of frustration as stress relief because I hated absolutely everything I drew that day, I think that was honestly a good exercise though because it let me work with less constraints and it turned out neat :>
She's Out There (In The Sea Of Stars) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
"She's Out There, Somewhere In The Sea Of Stars." Kanaya remembers Rose. Many thanks to Ucklin for the additional vocals!
Revelations of Self Importance Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I made this song shortly after reading Detective Pony, when Dirk Strider was fresh on my mind and skyrocketing to the top of my all-time favorite characters. I wanted to do something specifically for the offscreen period between the end of homestuck and the epilogues, his journey to becoming what he is now, his acceptance of becoming the villain, etc. Mainly, just really love Dirk. Also, it's an excuse to give some love to some of his more underrated songs. (Basically anything that isn't Beatdown.) I had never even heard Austin Atlantis before I started on this song, and man was I missing out, so it quickly became the basis for the whole thing. In retrospect I wish I could've put Orange Hat in there somewhere, mainly just cause that's also an awesome underrated song, but by the time I remembered, this was mostly done and it wouldn't have really fit anywhere. This might be the song I'm happiest with on this album.
Strain Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
Do you know the track "Stress" from Homestuck Volume 9? It was based on an ancient unreleased track by the legendary Buzinkai, and TirantBacon and WarxTron put their music making hands together to the task of remixing the original once more.
Dirk finds himself in a mildly spooky, straining situation deep in the depths of the Land of Tombs and Krypton.
Death Minute in Duodecimal ~ Regicide Demonica Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I was listening to Demetori as I usually do and once thought "What if the source material for their arrangements wasn't Touhou ?" and of course the first thing that came to my mind was Homestuck, so I thought I could actually run with the idea ! Rex Duodecim Angelus in all it's dark neo-classical glory seemed like the perfect track to arrange in this style, though I only kept the original melodies and ideas from it so I wouldn't have to go down a rabbit hole of character themes that could derail the intent of the arrangement. The ending section is inspired by another IP entirely (if you can guess what it is I did a fine enough job), but it seemed appropriate given the context. Very happy with how it turned out! Also the title is pretty long winded but I wanted to fit the Touhou/Demetori naming format haha.
Tried my best to create something as complex and intimidating as the track itself. The idea here was for the art to initially seem like random organic noise, with the Black King only popping into view on a closer look. Originally I was planning on using a lot more shading on this, some gradients and blur/glow effects too maybe. But I ultimately found it was more striking to restrict myself to only two colors. I like the idea that this is simultaneously my simplest track art in terms of color range and my most complex in terms of detail.
Black Hole's Dozen Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
The Lyrist is one of my favorite Homestuck tracks, with its main melody being in my humble opinion the most hauntingly beautiful refrain on the whole soundtrack. Which is why it's always driven me slightly mad that said melody only appears in the first 45 seconds and never returns. And while the rest of the track is wonderful in its own right, it's never stuck in my brain quite as much.
So the idea with this track was to attempt in my own flawed way to extend those first 45 seconds into a full track, and for the most part the way I chose to do that was to work in pieces of The Thirteenth Hour (along with adding in some original stuff). Hope you guys like it!
The title is in reference to a baker's dozen (13), which alludes to the use of The Thirteenth Hour.
The teal and purple orbs are intended to be the orb things Alt Calliope uses to create the black hole in Act 7. My little headcanon for those orbs is that they're genesis frog frogspawn, basically embryonic universes. The idea being that since it took two universes to create the Green Sun, perhaps it takes three to destroy it.
PAST FUNK IS WORSE THAN FUTURE FUNK Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
koba:
i made this song back in 2017 originally and then changed it a bit in 2019 (i think), i have not seen the project file since, it is a mystery on where it has gone, if someone finds it please put it on a usb drive and get it to me via pigeon
sleep peacefully, my beloved witch, karkatrice
what's a homestuck
Infinite Zest Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
Originally known as "you have got to be SHITTONG me (temp title)". No further commentary.
I really wasn't sure what to draw for this one at first, and I'm not sure it's even possible to capture everything going on here in a single image. But hey, I think any piece of art that contains a watermark of Sans WV superimposed over a pumpkin-guzzling black hole can't be too bad.
TEETH AND BLOOD Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
There was a lot going on in the production of this, and none of it had to do with the final track. A long, long time ago, before any of my other submissions, I was going to do a Caliborn track, with the intent of being presented as a track that Caliborn himself produced. But at that time, there weren't many other submissions for this album yet, and a disturbingly high percentage of them were cherub related, so I dropped it. A year later, I was working on a remix of the afterword theme from Pesterquest, but it wasn't really clicking right. The heavy bass synths and bitcrushed drums weren't working for the style of the track. Around the same time, I finally got my hands on the incredibly elusive midi of Carne Vale, which has been my favorite homestuck song since the first time I heard it, and has yet to be dethroned. So I had the crazy notion, that the instruments I was using for my Pesterquest remix would work fantastically if I decided to go back to a Caliborn track, now that I could properly reference Carne Vale. (I had been trying to figure out that bassline by ear for, oh lord, something like 3 years.) And, I ended up with what might be one of my favorite compositions of mine to date. Had it stuck in my head for months. Cleaned up the mixing over the next little while, and the rest is history. I had two names for it for a while, Teeth and Blood, and Space Crusader. Originally I was going to go with both, have one of those little ~ things in between, but I decided that Space Crusader, while it fit the vibe of the song, didn't really fit the vibe of Caliborn, so I dropped it.
Predomination Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Calliope alone, haunted by visions of her other half's future.
The Power of RETCON Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Levc:
TIME, SPACE, MAGIC, HANDS, UHHHH NARRATIVE?
RETCON
A melody that encapsulates the powerful nature of the retcon powers John has. Really tried to capture the style and vibes of old homestuck songs, re-make the mental image I had of some of them and just, express those feelings of adventure and wonder. something grand and fun.
Personally, the melody in this is one of my favorite pieces I have ever wrote. Modulations are fun.
Heir of Grief (Sax Cover) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
You guys all remember that iconic moment in [S] Collide where PM finally steals the sax that Jack's been using to play Black all this time and uses it to perform a haunting sax rendition of Heir of Grief, right? Yeah me too, thought it was a perfect fit.
Collapse Reprise Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I originally wrote this song in 2019 for Stable Time Loops and Paradoxes 3 but i ended up scrapping it and completely redoing it, i'm not exactly sure why i did that but either way i felt really bad about that because IMO i ended up ruining the song LOL. So anyway this is the 3rd and proper final version of Collapse AKA "The Descend of the PMT" because it references so many songs.
Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor)
The original version is most likely Driven Factor.
Shattered Spacetime Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This was another one that I made surprisingly quickly, and didn't need many edits afterwards. In a weird way it was inspired by David Wise's ambient synth style, cause I'd been listening to a lot of the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack, especially Stickerbrush Symphony. For a game about a monkey fighting a crocodile over a pile of bananas, that game has a surprisingly amazing soundtrack. Once I had a chord progression down I felt like it should be about the cracks in the universe, with a similar vibe to Do You Remem8er me, and then I eventually ended up just referencing it at the end of the track. It didn't really end up very DKC or very Do You Remem8er me, but both those things are far outside of my usual style so I'm not all that surprised, and what it did turn out as is something I like a lot.
When you think about it, Caliborn/Lord English is kind of a tragic figure. Multiple universes of emotions, and the only one he can understand is rage and hatred. I almost feel bad for him. Almost. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah. Presenting, "Lord English throws a tantrum in a glass room."
Consonant Conquest Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I wanted to make what's probably the last Homestuck song I'll ever release publically something special, and I think the final product here fits that bill. This track began as an experiment with the layering of different-length loops on each other in a way that would never exactly repeat itself, which you can hear in pretty clearly the first section - it's something one encounters often in minimalist and ambient music, and I'd like to do more with the technique in the future. Hope you enjoy!
I like to think Caliborn worked really hard on this one, maybe it's hanging over a mantelpiece in Lord English's manor somewhere. He's added some tasteful JPEG artifacts and plastic wrap filters to his style, I'm so proud of him!
Reunion Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
A father and son reunite. With this song I played with one of my favorite lofi ambient tricks that being recording the song to a weird audio format. In this case the song was recorded directly to a wire recorder. (the small skips and hitches you hear is the thin steel wire that will snag on the play head every now and again)
As for the Content recorded to the wire Its a semi improvisational piece that was made to reflect John's mindstate when he reunites with his dad after the long road that was most of the comic.
Crystalschalasthemequins Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
There's a Homestuck continuation fanventure named "Act 8", and this amazing track scored part of it! You can check it out here.
Sburban City Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
In order to really progress much further I think they'd have to start a new sburb session in Homestuck^2. So I thought I'd try to make a theme for that.
Based on the box art for SimCity 4. The instruments used here made my mind jump to the idea of a Maxis-made SimCity style sandbox version of Sburb, so I spoke it into existence. I have no idea how such a game would actually play but I need it now.
Man, drawing this has made me sad there's no Spore 2 again. Dammit.
Gold Mage [Playtime is Over Mix] Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube, Bandcamp
Oh boy. I feel the best way to justify this mix of the song's entire existence is with the following; the original Gold Mage had a very barren and empty arrangement, designed to facilitate a vocal track that never actually got made, and though the lack of vocals probably helped it make coloUrs & mayhem Vol. 1 in the long run, a lot of people picked up on how empty the song felt. This mix was kind of my way of making up for that, but in the process I created the opposite problem of having TOO MUCH going on, especially in that first 'verse' section. Oh dear god, that first 'verse' section; I am baffled as to how I could possibly have thought that sounded good at the time. Technically speaking the cutting and looping on that guitar sample is very well done, but it doesn't work with the vibe of the beat, and it REALLY doesn't work with the bassline. The second 'verse' isn't much better, in that itself it's a nice chilled out rework of elements from the original, but it jars with the rest of the "GET PUMPED" vibe the tracks got going on. Also, man oh man, Toby Fox felt the solo from the end of the original song was boring; the solo on this song is utterly lifeless. It can barely be called a solo. Ok, ok, some positives; though the chorus is somewhat cluttered, I do like how punchy the chords sound using a more typical "rave stab" type sound (hell, in general the synth stabs on the cut are often the better elements), the stock sawtooth bass synth actually works quite nice with the bassline, and though it gets buried in a lot of the mix, the main drum machine beat over the 'verses' and the solo is actually quite punchy, and has a real late 90s game soundtrack vibe to it that I like. The original is definitely the better version of the song in the long run, though.
Makin: (album management)
This amazing redux version of the Colours and Mayhem: Universe A track was hidden away in the musician's bandcamp, known to few. It's time it saw the light of the mainstream and knocked your socks off.
Black ($C4RL3TT Remix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Some minimalist 3D art, vaguely inspired by the sort of 90s cgi stuff you see on youtube compilations of jungle/d&b music.
Snake Case Closin' '18 Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Surf rock/metal arrangement of That's how I beat Snake / Serpent Genesis made in 2018 a few months after the release of Hiveswap Act 1, along with a video playthrough on my Youtube channel. It's slightly dated but I'm still happy with what I did with it back then!
"can homestuck truly be an anime if it doesn't have a beach episode" —Tee-vee
Fun Fact: I had the cursed idea of making this image as a 3D scene in Blender. But only got partway through modelling Xefros when I realized that I didn't have enough time or patience for it.
Minor Manor Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Wanted to go for a sort of Luigi's mansion type thing at first, but then style-wise switched up to like mid-90s low budget MS paint edutainment game, and ended up with this.
Joey: Play Haunting Melody Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Or maybe it should've been called Play Dramatic Melody? I dunno, either way.
Because why not have a piano refrain? People stop paying attention to meteors falling from the sky to dick around on their instruments all the time, don't know why monsters attacking should make a difference.
Sburban Fall Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This track was made for Homestuck's 10 year anniversary back in 2019, in the span of about an hour. Sburban Jungle always felt to me like the "core" of Homestuck's extremely varied soundtrack, so I always wanted to do a take on it in some form. This didn't end up very similar to the original song, and I wasn't intending it to sound so melancholy, but neither is a bad thing.
matthiuss1988: these music will make you shit hard!!!
All Alone (Redux) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Redux of All Alone from PMT's "Beforusbound" album.
Damara is such a dense character with her story being told at the edges and words of everyone else with barely any exposition coming directly for her, the music is inspiringly striking in capturing that, the one time the spot light is shined on her is when she is under the influence of LE and thus i shined the spotlight on her in the focus of the art.
Time Running By Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
I remember looping this track over and over back in 2011, and Kanishka helped me get back in touch with the musician. There's something about it that brings the Homestuck Act 4 feelings back, like how a Faygo smell can bring you back to your amazing and smelly experience at the 2009 "Clown Killaz" Insane Clown Posse concert.
Sorry he's not running. Just standing there. Give him a break, it's hard to run on a clock.
Event Horizon/Barium Starlight Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Makin: (album management)
This track art actually depicts Rose in her Lord of Space outfit from Cool and New Web Comic, since this track originates there. I cropped it a bit to not blow people's minds too much. Wait, what is that drop OH MY GOD
[S] ==> Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
So [S]ynchronise is just...really really good and it makes me feel a lot of things. Yeah it's vocaloid and that's funny but god DAMN it gives me chills every time I listen to it. I've been working on this cover for maybe two and a half years now? Since the Before Times definitely. It has gone through a lot of tweaks but I'm pretty proud of it overall. HUGE thanks to Ucklin for final mastering and vocals, and to CJ for the harmonies! Pronunciation of the title is up for
interpretationI guess. I wanted it to be a tribute to the original title, and also just seeing the [S] in front of the next arrow always gave me a rush of adrenaline since something amazing was probably about to go down. So you click on that arrow with anticipation and launch yourself into the experience and then freak out about it on the internet afterward. Here I go getting emotional about homestuck again, wild.
I wanted to put a lot of emotion and expressivity into the vocals even if that made them a bit weird! Puns was really cool and waited a long time for me to finally record them while stuff was going on in my life. I'm glad I got to work with him!
You can just hear the love and effort that went into the track, it brings the nostalgia rushing back so I tried to create an art piece that would do that justice.
Abstract Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Features a sort of on-a-whim redesign of the Theseus to be closer to the sorts of spaceship designs I usually draw. Admittedly though, most of the spaceship designs I draw aren't smashing through gigantic versions of Dirk's shades so I maybe don't have a leg to stand on there.
Saccharine Slumber, Strider Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Inspired by Sweet Dreams, Timaeus. I like the chill instruments and atmospheric chords from the original and wanted to do something similar.
This ended up being some of the most work I've ever put into an art piece. I had the original idea for it long before it was finished, of Ult Dirk holding the broken lantern over a sleeping younger version of himself. At some point the skull got added, and the whole piece became very... I dunno how to describe it, like classical? Archetypical? Something like church stained glass, or a tarot card, and I gave Ult Dirk a halo type thing. Then a very unfinished version of it sat on my desktop for several months, just the rough outline with the colors blocked in. I slowly chipped away at it, adding details like each poster and book and the window, until finally I decided that I'd better finish this up, and did all the shading and lighting and everything in one incredibly long day. There's an alternate version without the highlight sketching, which I was unsure about, but Shwan said they liked this version better, so this is the version on the album.
Somnambulist Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This is like the third entirely redone version of this song but I think it's finally getting there. Not perfect by any stretch, but better. Anyway, Roxy is great.
So if anything was pushed off to the last moment, it was this haha. This was probably the first one I started and the one I reworked the most when it came to the concept. In the end I basically scrapped it completely because I liked this idea better, even if it was less complex.
Crystallized Flowers DX Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I love drawing gnarled, twisted trees so much. Almost as much as I love drawing things half-buried in snow. Today must be my lucky day!
Please do not eat the bright red crystal flowers, no matter how tasty they look. They are deadly poison. Thousands have died already this year.
I Am Bigger Than This Story Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I loved the ending to Pesterquest and wanted to do a track on it.
A Story That Consumes Itself Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
An ending after all endings and before all beginnings. Alternate titles that I considered: "Apocalyptic Waltz" and "Ouroboros".
Inspired by the alternative title Ouroboros.
Ophiuchus (Full Suite) Listen on: Bandcamp, SoundCloud, YouTube
calliope and caliborn's skulls sitting in the heroic/just grandfather clock
forgot to mention this in the artist commentary, but the coloring & linework is based on The Magician's Birthday
Swan Song/Until Next Time Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Decided if this was going to be the last LOFAM album, it needed a good closing track. Not a full huge song (that honor definitely goes to and belongs to Ophiuchus), just like a short little thing, the last few notes for the fandom, to wrap everything up. I think I went for a more hopeful tone, that maybe this won't be the end for homestuck's era on the internet. Maybe in another 4 years there'll be another album. Personally, I doubt it, I think the song I made is more hopeful than I am. But who knows.
Maybe.
Makin: (album management)
Land of Fans and Music 5
Track list (1–80)