Homestuck Vol. 9 - Commentary
11.2k words across 71 entries.
Homestuck Vol. 9 Homestuck Vol. 9 (album commentary) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube, YouTube (playlist)
Andrew Hussie: (MSPA news post) captured 6/17/2012
Volume 9
The music bros kicked out another album. It is the 9th volume of official Homestuck music. Wow look at all these songs!
There are plans for more albums later this summer. You may begin anticipating them starting exactly now.
Homestuck: (Bandcamp download blurb) captured 6/15/2012
Also contains large-sized track art images for the tracks with art larger than 350x350.
Homestuck: (Bandcamp credits blurb) captured 6/15/2012
Contains material by:
Clark "Plazmataz" Powell
Riki Tsuji
Svix
George Buzinkai
Robert J! Lake
Toby "Radiation" Fox
Malcolm Brown
Mark Hadley
Michael Guy Bowman
Thomas Ferkol
Erik "Jit" Scheele
Jeremy "Solatrus" Iamurri
Nick Smalley
Robert Blaker
James Dever
Alexander Rosetti
A Lunatic's Daydream
David "Dirtiest" Dycus
Willow Ascenzo
Mai "konec0" Yishan
DJ Sai Tae
viaSatellite
Ian "myusernamesmud" White
Seth "Beatfox" Peelle
Eddie MortonAlbum assembled by Toby Fox
Cover art by Lazylaz
Track art by lots of lovely people! Click on the tracks to see art and individual track credits.
Homestuck and all associated characters (C) Andrew Hussie
Crystalmethequins Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Let me tell you of this song's origins, for I saw it unfold with mine own eyes.
After our South by Southwest showcase concert, Astro Kid and I both found ourselves back at his apartment. Still in our stage costumes we opened our cans of Dr. B and casually sat around his bedroom. Computers were turned on, subwoofers were turned up. And so it began that we started remixing.
Nearly two months later we sat in the back of a van amongst instruments and gear on our way to play another concert, this time at a Houston anime convention. Computers were turned on, headphones were turned up. It was here that Crystalmethequins, begun so many weeks earlier, was finally completed.
After deciding that the track art would not be a hastily photoshopped image of troll Bryan Cranston, I came to someone I trusted. Richard Gung is unarguably the master, and his track art was well worth the cost he took from me in that dark alley.
The song was chosen from among its peers to open Volume 9. There it stands proudly to this day.
Anbroids V2.0 Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
DAVE: we are in the shit now
DAVE: we are motherfuckin entrenched in this bitchThat's right! It's time to talk about Anbroids 2.0! Hands up everyone who thought "Brobots" would've been a better name? Yeah that's what I thought... Still! Here we are so let's commence the proceedings:
THE CONCEPT
So much of the inspiration here comes directly from Davesprite, which I remember thinking "Oh god damn if that Yamaha YM2612 Genesis/Mega Driveness doesn't fit Dave quite well!". Enter Dirk Strider and his robotic creations! Suddenly a synthy, retro chiptune doesn't sound so out of place.
My idea was formed fairly early on after we'd learned a bit of his pastime. I came up with the idea of having a kind of "Workshop" theme where Dirk would put some music on and get to work constructing some brobot or other. From here there was a number of prerequisites:
- Must be kinda funky. Dude's a Strider after all. So we're looking at a bit of a groove with the beat.
- Must have square waves, which is sort of the national instrument of Robonia.
- Solos!
All this in mind, I nabbed a general purpose Genesis soundfont (Which seems to be comprised of voices mainly nabbed from Sonic, certainly the percussion is - You should be able to recognize the snare from the opening riff of Sonic the Hedgehog). And got to work.
NAME
Yeah, so I thought "Brobots" would've been a better name, especially because that became their canon name in the comic, but by then Hussie had used it in the comic under the name Anbroids, so it stuck :p I apended a 2.0 on it because the versions became fairly different. I also figured some people might want the original version 1.0 used in the comic after the album came out.
Speaking of which...
VERSION ONE
This was an in progress version that Hussie nabbed early on before I'd made changes to create the newer version. I'll go into why it changed in a bit, but here's a good place to discuss the track at large:
The main theme is there, but a bit... "Lazier" - It doesn't have a lot of the swing it'd later develop. It also opens with just a percussive riff, which is probably most influenced by the likes of Toejam 'n Earl. Overall I reckon this version lacked energy, so it needed a bit of a rework before I reckoned it was cool enough to be a Strider song...
VERSION TWO
The percussive intro was removed in favor of a "Booting up" thing (Just a pitch bended squave), followed by a not-so-subtle parody of the original Game Boy bootup noise. The main "guitar" riff came back with a bit of stereo (Which I tried to use a bit more of).
At 0:23 we jump into the first of various solos. One of the tricky parts of chiptune music is, yes you have limited channels, voices and often no polyphony (multiple notes on the same track at the same time) so if you want to make it sound realistically retro you need to abide by these laws, but that doesn't mean you can't play with pitch, modulation, stereo etc - The solos were effectively a lesson in mucking about with these to create something that sounded fairly dynamic for a sequenced solo.
At 0:40, just before the main melody kicks in, we have the first "boot error" sound - Just a flat bass note on the square. There's one at the end as well - The main concept was while he's building these brobots, occasionally something'll go wrong - It'll fail to start or it'll start going haywire - and so he has to unplug and start again trying something else.
0:43 has the main melody. It's similar to the original Version 1 but it's been funked up a bit - Mainly to avoid it sounded like other stuff (I'm looking at you, Lady Gaga's Alejandro). Again, bit of pitch wobbliness to give an air of a kind of hectic, technological mess.
The second solo changes the key, and here the idea is Dirk's moved on to working on something else. As the solo continues, it gets more and more hectic until it's just splattering notes everywhere, like the brobot's gone completely off the rails and it's flailing around the room - At 1:35 it's promptly shutdown and we bridge back into the main melody again (This bridge was removed from V1, but brought back in by, well, Rad's request :p I liked it too though, has a Sonic-y feel to it).
Bit of harmonizing later (partially indicating that the Brobot Dirk's working on has started to play ball and is synchronizing with his personality). One last "Perfected" solo (1:58) which is actually a modified version of the original solo that's basically a lot "wilder", to show we've finally perfected the upgrade and ready to ship.
So with that, everything's shut down, and the song ends.
Granted, I probably didn't manage to get this little 'story' across with everybody, but this was the general thought process when I was making the thing. Hopefully if you listen to it now you'll get some of the ideas I was going for. If not? Well... enjoy it however you like :p Or even come up with your own interpretation that's better than mine :p
Johnathan Griffiths was the track art man of the hour - There's even a mega drive controller there! And how are those shades staying on? All round awesome :)
My track art for Anbroids V2.0 by Malcolm Brown off Homestuck Volume 9!
The track reminded me a lot of Toejam & Earl, so I wanted to have some kind of ridiculous 90s background, and you can’t get more 90s than complementary colors, triangles, and color halftones. ;) Then I gave Squarewave a Genesis controller necklace for good measure. THE SHUTTER SHADES WERE A SPECIAL BONUS FOR ALL OF YOU <3
Trepidation Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Kiko B.: (track artist, Tumblr)
Since the album is out now I guess it’s okay to post this!
Da-daaaaaan! Cheddar’s first album art, how adorable. Thanks for including me in this project, Toby!
It’s not very good but it’s pretty neat to be involved. Now please excuse me as I listen to the whole album in one sitting. Multiple times.
Firefly Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Firefly is a special song. I was walking through a small lot to my apartment in the summertime, and fireflies were all around me. And I just thought of the -perfect- theme for it, and I rushed in to my apartment as fast as I could to get it down. It's the only song that's come to me like that.
Ugly Betty Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
RJ gave me the reins on this one. At first I was drawing it in the same style as a later track (Before the Beginning and After the End) I did art for, but then it quickly turned in to a painting. This palette in particular was fun and challenging to work with. I'm happy with the end result, since it looks like the Batterwitch is cackling as the world burns down around her.
Hate You Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
GLUB GLUB WUB WUB
based off of the old condesce theme I did last time she debuted
OhThatNK: (full-size artwork, Tumblr)
I wasn’t gonna draw her, but then I saw arguments about the hairstyle of a teenage fish alien.
Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor)
Pumpkin Party in Sea Hitler's Water Apocalypse Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Aaah Pumpkin Party in Sea Hitler's Water Apocalypse. Or Pumpkin Party in Colony 413 or whatever I was calling it before I decided to go nuts. The original working title was just "Pumpkin Party", so at the very least we started somewhere sensible.
So let's have a chat about where this one came from.
THE CONCEPT
So around about THIS PANEL during Dirk's history lesson of the future, we got a glimpse as to what Roxy was up to - Helping the locals out in the post apocalyptic hell-future. Some bizarre idea came about that herself and the Carapacians would get together and have a little underground party away from the watchful gaze of the Condensce and her drones and the like. Gotta find some way to keep your spirits up, right? So with that incredibly vague concept the idea was born to come up with some small light of goodness and happiness in, well, "Sea Hitler's Water Apocalypse".
THE NAME
As mentioned this changed a few times, but this line sums up pretty much everything you need to know about the future:
GT: Like what is even your day to day business like in sea hitlers water apocalypse??THE TRACK
As I recall, with this one it was mainly the instruments chosen that defined it. The Banjo just struck the right kind of sound, and from there an accordion to give it a bit of a polka feel. A lot of the crafting of this one was trying desperately not to have it ending up too much like the Ievan Polkka (Which thanks to a month of Project Diva on PSP is firmly embedded in my brain...).
The idea of mixing Chiptune samples and real instruments is something I was playing with a lot this album (Encore does it as well, as did the dropped 'Mother') - I felt this was a kind of neat "This is where we were, and this is where we are now" concept. HS is still about a game, and it's neat to embed some of the more obvious gamey elements now and then. Plus it might just be me, but accordions and square waves go really well together :D
The "Ooh!" "Ahh!" chants were added just to give it a bit more of a folk appeal, and the air-raid sirens were added last to build up the scene of this party going on while the world's gone to hell outside - perhaps some other colony's getting obliterated for whatever reason. Either way, it bookends the song quite nicely, coming back now and then and returning at the end to signify the dance is over.
My favorite bit of the whole thing is the solo at 1:56 - It's just so gosh darn happy!
Overall though? It's a bit of a zany, dance-party track. Completely juxtapositions the hell-nightmare outside, and in the end that's the point! Of course things get worse, but "Red Miles In Sea Hitler's Water Apocalypse" will have to wait...
Damn, I just realized I should've added some meows. I've got like two cats sitting here ready for a vocal performance as well... Ah well, the road not taken.
Once again the art is very spiffy so many thanks to Marina! Look at that dude in the corner? That pumpkin is so nom'd! :D
Another Jungle Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer)
Before this track was used in Homestuck along with Beatfox's "A Taste for Adventure", it was actually made for a nearly 3-year-old defunct fan project. Housetrapped was a story about an alternate Sburb session and "Another Jungle" was a the-same-but-different theme for the loading screen of that universe's Sburb client. Sound familiar?
When we shifted into gear to create new Homestuck music following the start of Act 6, I was asked to refurbish the forgotten 40-second theme I'd written as the theme to Sburb Alpha. "Another Jungle" is thus the alpha equivalent of "Sburban Jungle" which I had written back when Homestuck began - structurally both songs are very similar, but each with their own melodies and sound choices.
"Another Jungle" has the benefit of years of experience with production I did not have when Homestuck began, and to me the fidelity difference really shows. Since writing "Sburban Jungle" I'd become far more familiar with automation, recording, eq, mixing, mastering, and all the techniques that polish a music project. "Another Jungle" is far more dynamic than its predecessor, with each subsequent section of the song having its own unique way of using the instruments and sounds in the project.
My favorite touches to this one are all the very mellow sounds that contrast with the brisk pacing of the track - the various pads, the wah-wah guitar, the echoing melody, all of it underlined by drums and brute synth loops. The sudden change in energy when the guitars duck out in the middle and the melody of "Showtime" whispers in is a favorite moment of mine. The very pop ending with its retro house sound was another choice I wouldn't have seen myself making three years back. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I do.
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer, Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music, adapted to text)
And then Homestuck Volume 9 - oh my god, I can't believe I busted my ass so hard back then... I have Another Jungle, which was more stuff in the style of Sburban Jungle. I think it's more evolved as a piece, I really love the way it progresses, and it's less copycat from section to section. Just a moment of great composition, if I dare say so myself.
GameGrl (Original 1993 Mix) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer)
Originally we'd planned on doing a Homestuck album that was devoted entirely to the Sburb Alpha kids and their session, all of us doing tracks that would parallel earlier tracks in a same-but-different fashion. While this album became Homestuck Vol. 9, a lot of analogous tracks remained from the original concept, including this track as an alternative to "GameBro (Original 1990 Mix)" from Homestuck Vol. 6: Heir Transparent.
While we can only imagine what the set-decorating GameGrl magazine from Jane Crocker's bedroom might actually be like, it's pretty easy for me as a child of the 90's to imagine how the magazine might have looked in the era of the Burger King Kid's Club and Lisa Frank. With GameGrl I attempted to capture a lot of the basic messages perpetuated to girls by children's advertising in the 90's:
- Boys are gross and need to have their butts kicked
- Girls are cool and should pretend to understand pop culture
- Clubs must be started in tree-houses and couch forts to keep boys out
- Parents suck and will never understand
- You can trust corporate America
The music was a hodge-podge of a lot of things - the production style of early 90's house music (Deee-Lite and Cathy Dennis were my main references) was coupled with the intentionally insipid rap vocals in a time in which many game commercials had awful raps. The lead vocals are performed by Tavia Morra, whose voice I discovered sounds scarily childlike when sped up slightly. We played the backup track at about 75% speed and had her rap over it to create the vocal comp before speeding it back up to create the cringe-worthy little girl voice. I did a digital process to lower my voice to create the Pokérap-style breakdown towards the middle of the track and then asked Erik Scheele to play a painfully retro midi guitar solo.
For the track art (lovingly created and posed for by Tavia) among our many references were Alex Mack and The Olson Twins. The big deal-breaker for us was getting a pair of overalls, a garment seemingly synonymous with the 90's. We spent nearly three hours hunting for a pair in Austin coming up short at Wal-Mart, Academy, Sheplers, Cavender's Boot City, Goodwill, a costume store, a paint store, and a plumbing store before finally finding a wearable piece 17 miles out of town at a farm supply store. Apparently humanity had the good sense to wipe that fucking hideous fashion travesty off the face of the earth at the end of the decade (I knew the y2k bug must have done something!) and now only people who actually need them wear them.
We took our pictures at the Japanese-style game center Arcade UFO. Outtakes can be found here.
Tavia Morra: (vocalist, track artist)
I don't even know where to start.
One day Bowman and I discovered that if we pitched my voice up a little higher than where it normally is, then I sounded like a 12 year old girl. The idea for GameGrl came up later and he proceeded to write lyrics that would make any 90's kiddo cringe at the nostalgia of their childhood and want to do it again.
I had way too much fun recording it to the point that I knocked over a music stand from dancing too much. Bowman was a fantastic coach. It's always a pleasure to work with him.
The track art has more of a story to it than I would have cared for, but Bowman and I both knew we had to go all the way with the track art. And so begun our quest for the GameGrl outfit, which we found all of the clothing elements for except for the overalls.
We figured we were just going to go around the corner to the Goodwill, find a pair of overalls, slap those suckers on and get the track art done within about an hour tops.
But no.
No, no, no.
We ended up shopping for three hours at nine separate stores before we found those goddamn overalls. Bowman livetweeted our journey:
Eventually we got the overalls and proceeded to take the most fantastic pictures ever. I'll be posting up some other photos from that day later on so keep your eyes peeled!
All in all, this track is probably the most involved I'd been on a Homestuck album and am so glad it was this one. I had a blast!
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer, Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music, adapted to text)
The GameGrl rap - I loved Erik's GameBro rap, and I thought that - when the idea of there being a GameGrl magazine was introduced - that it would be funny to write a rap and have Tavia perform it. That was based around the idea of there being a gamer girl, as it was, in the 1990s. I think we did a really good job imitating all the, like, nuances of how this girl in overalls with a backwards hat represented the ideals that were being marketed (laughs) through toy commercials, and otherwise, to girls back then. If you think it's cringy, that was the intended effect.
Austin, Atlantis Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Nothing inspires me more than spaces, regardless of whether they are real or virtual. Examples include cities, mountains, buildings, individual rooms, even entire planets (see Medium).
Austin is currently my real world home, and to imagine it flooded and empty is a fascinating thing. Should Dirk ever decide to explore beyond Houston, what forgotten worlds would he find in the other lost Texan fortresses?
The whole song was written to musically explore this sunken Austin, and to deliver a strong atmosphere and sense of place. The parts I used to piece together this portrait are the constituent Homestuck tunes, each of which I chose because of thematic applicability; they include Beatdown, Explore, Flare, and even Atomyk Ebonpyre.
To capture the same essence visually in the track art, I knew I could trust Tynic. She is an incredible background artist with an uncanny sense for colors and composition! I am so proud of her work here; the song just wouldn't be the same without the accompanying artwork.
Additional fun fact: the entire song is played off key, detuned into the spaces between quartertones. The piano itself is significantly flat. This surprised me in how far it went toward making the song sound "sunken."
Full version of the track art I did for Clark Powell’s track Austin, Atlantis, as seen on Homestuck Volume 9 (get it now go go go music music music)
Despot Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Erik Scheele: (composer, Tumblr, excerpt)
Started as a sequel to Upward Movement, before Hussie skipped over that entire sequence, which made me try to build it into a general Dirk theme. Sort of like a rise to power, from princehood to kinghood, or sommat. Maybe even a character theme, though I can't really make those calls.
Tavia Morra: (track artist)
This picture started with an innocent suggestion from RJ who imagined Dirk riding a super hang on motorcycle to this song. I took the idea over to Jit who then helped me develop the picture to what it became, suggesting the FF7 motorcycle chase as inspiration and to turn the motorcycle in to Sawtooth.
Stress Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Toby Fox: (Tumblr) captured 3/12/2013
art by P-RO at nomorepros.tumblr.com. P-RO always does a maximally amazing job so why I asked her to draw the art is a non-question.
Stress is actually a pretty faithful arrangement of an original track by Buzinkai. Buzinkai has been responsible for several HS-important melodies like Doctor, Endless Climb, and Explore and [her] work, for me, has always established a certain "essence" of what Homestuck is. My goal for this piece was actually to create a classic strife theme for Dirk with the core feeling of earlier pieces like Showtime or Doctor, so basing the piece off of something with that "essence" was important.*
I can't say why Buzinkai wrote this piece the way she did, so I'll instead highlight the differences between the original and my arrangement.
Updated the instrumentation. Buzinkai's usage of PXTONE is indeed charming and nostalgic-sounding, but I wanted to push things bit further. One major difference is the arrangement of the strings - Buzinkai's PXTONE strings have an sharp attack to them, while mine come on a bit softer but are thicker. My strings then sound more "lush" but less "urgent."
I added a section between the original A section and B section with lower intensity. This was because the song got a bit too repetitive and static simply repeating like Buzinkai's. Oddly, the repeats didn't bother me in her track. I think this is partially because MY loop point, unlike Buzinkai's, lowers the intensity a LOT more by removing a bunch of instruments where hers simply flows into a repeat. I need to think about that more.
Added an introduction and a true ending to make it more of a proper start-to-finish song.
About the similarity to Teal Hunter and a fun syncopation lesson:
This was unintentional - I not only started my arrangement of this song before the contest was conceived, Buzinkai made the original song back in 2010. THOUGH as soon as I heard Teal Hunter I KNEW people would call out the similarities because, surprise, there are plenty of them! Here's the big one:
Both pieces are in 5/4 (5 beats per measure, try counting to 5 over and over on the beat) and use the SAME syncopation (syncopation = the division of notes into smaller off-beat rhythms within the measure) throughout the track. Actually, many many many pieces in 5/4 use this syncopation. See: Hollow Bastion. Why do composers keep doing this? Two reasons: One, because it sounds awesome. Second, because the main way to compose in odd time signatures like 5/4 or 13/4** is actually to cut things into smaller units of 3, 2, or 4. Though each measure is comprised of 5 total beats, each measure in these songs is cut into 10 notes of half the length going 123-123-12-12. 3! 3! 2! 2!
Wow, that was a very poor explanation. But please go to that Hollow Bastion video I linked and count "one-two-three-one-two-three-one-two-one-two" very quickly along with each note the harp plays. You'll get it. (And I'm just making things more confusing, but isn't it awesome how the syncopation switches at the end of the 4-measure phrase to "1234 12 12 12?" The little bit of contrast makes it feel complete.)
So, why don't people just cut things up differently? like 3 2 2 3? it's definitely possible! Here's my theory about why people favor the syncopation they do: It seems like ending a measure with a shorter note ON the beat leads into the next measure more naturally. It even sounds like a leadin: dun-DUN! This is supported by the fact that one of the most popular syncopations in existence is the one in 4/4 that goes 3 3 2. This is probably the same principle.
3 3 2: ON OFF ON
3 3 2 2: ON OFF ON ONBesides the fact that the syncopation is identical, the chords and melody are similar and the way the strings are used are basically the same. I have no explanation for this other than... great minds think alike???
RANDOM FUN FACT: Awakening is also in 5/4, go to 1:40 and sing the melody to Stress. Hell, I'll do it for you. It fits!!! The main melody of awakening also starts with a similar rhythm as Stress. it's the curse of the 123 123 12 12's.
Wow, I really got off track here. But I hope you learned something today.
- Yes, Bill Bolin also started an arrangement of this piece before he left the team. I think we were both attracted to the same "essence" present in Buzinkai's piece.
** Bonus challenge: See if you can count out how I divided the measures in this song! If you can do this, you can easily understand how to compose in time signatures like this. It's actually VERY simple and derived directly from the other breakdowns I did.
Minihoof's Adventure Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer)
I get the feeling that down the line there will be an explanation for why exactly there's a tiny Maplehoof on Dirk Strider's desk and it will be one of the biggest plot revelations in all of Homestuck. For me it was a cue that there needed to be a Sburb Alpha universe parallel for the song Maplehoof's Adventure, which in itself was a spiritual sequel to Pony Chorale. It's sort of a reality check to realize that I have written not one, not two, but three songs for cartoon ponies now - I guess that's part of this disease we call the Internet.
As with the previous installments, I used a sample of Tavia Morra saying "neigh" to punctuate phrases, this time sped up to about double speed to have that chipmunk-esque effect. Everything about this song is a bit faster-paced and squeakier to reflect the stature of the tiny horse. The orchestration was largely inspired by my last trip to Disneyland - the whistles are arranged to sound a bit like the teapots from Alice in Wonderland, and the horn synths were selected because of their resemblance to a merry-go-round organ.
Along with recent tracks like Another Jungle and Elephant Gun, this song represents one of my attempts to stick less closely to a predictable song form. The key signature moves up a whole step around 32 seconds in and never comes back down, and the main repeated refrain that ties the song together is the little cadence that shows up at the end of each section. I stuck to my guns as a high school music theory student on this one, mostly drawing from Mozart and Sousa - it's an overstimulating mess of counterpoint, and my main goal was to see if it would annoy composition major Erik Scheele (it worked).
Out of all the tracks for Volume 9 I worked on, this one was a real breeze. I was on such a roll that I considered making it ten minutes long just to piss off everyone, but I knew that I'd most likely be asked to cut it down if I'd gone to that kind of excess, and I had other tracks to work on.
The track art was done by Tavia Morra.
Tavia Morra: (vocalist, track artist)
Bowman and I quickly settled on the idea of a picture emphasizing the size of Minihoof, but couldn't decide on a specific way to show it. Maybe put a magnifying glass over the little pony? Having her next to Dirk's hand while he typed on the computer? The energy of the track made us think of little Minihoof running through an obstacle course Dirk set up for her on his desk, thus the stapler, the tacks, the brads, the pencils, and the GameBro Magazines. This was a super fun one for me since I had such a personal investment in it.
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer, Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music, adapted to text)
Oh, Minihoof's Adventure - that was another piece of pony music. That was another thing where I was like, really on a roll, and like, writing beginning to end. I feel like I could have written, like... an hour of that, if I wanted to. It's just like, once your palette is figured out with like, the kind of carnival environment that it was supposed to sound like, it was just so easy to just be like - let's have something different happen here, and let's have a little breakdown, and... I could write hours of pony music if I wanted to. (laughs) I don't know why I would, but I could!
"What song on the Homestuck soundtrack did you have the most fun making?" I'm gonna say Minihoof's Adventure. I hate to say it, but like, every second I was working on that, there was a smile on my face.
Encore Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Let's talk about Encore! Or "Showtime 2: Encore".
THE CONCEPT.
So back in the early days of Volume 9, the idea was "The New Session". The further idea was to take the tracks 'n themes of Volume 1/Act 1 and 're-scratch' em to come up with a parallel for the new session and the new kids. Where this idea started to fall to bits was expecting the act to play similarly to Act 1, which it quickly didn't :)
Still, by this point we had a decent collision of re imagined classic tracks and Strife/character themes for the new kids, so on with the show.
Encore was a straight-up "Let's bring Showtime kicking and screaming into the new session, but a little bit mixed, yet still recognizable".
THE NAME.
Should be obvious. "Showtime" -> "Encore".
THE TRACK.
Making Showtime orchestral wasn't too hard. The idea of a very pomp-y, brass, adventure-y/combat affair was formed fairly early on - I think the main channeling came from a Power Stone/Smash Brothers-esque "Zany combat" idea.
Most of the voices come from EWQL's Symphonic Orchestra, with a bit of soundfonts for the later Showtime segment.
The section at 0:22 has a bit of history - It was originally a straight up Lifdoff arrangement, but I pulled it back and made it considerably less obvious (I've became hesitant of Lifdoff since someone pointed out it sounds like the Bruce Lee story theme :p) - I did leave the little brass phrases that punctuated it, which unintentionally/subconsciously might be referencing Earthsea Borealis. This wasn't intended, but it's probably close enough for it not just to be a coincidence, and enough people seem to be picking up on this accidental reference so what the hell :p
Next it returns to the alternate Showtime and adds on Unite Synchronization. Does a floaty little bridge afterwards, and then we get into the original Showtime.
I pondered adding this for a while, since it felt a bit "Yes, we get it, this is a Showtime thing, y'don't need to actually add the thing in", but eventually I liked the idea of it smashing in, completely brazen with its NES-y soundfont and blaring the original track in the last section of the song. We then wind down with the fast-paced percussion and the starting brass arrangement, just enough time for a post-battle ass-kicking pose, and then "Boom".
I think writing tracks for characters like John/Jake's quite fun in that they've got this bottomless optimism and carefree attitude, plus they do silly things. Silly things are quite fun to score...
And that's Encore! Hope ya'll enjoyed that little trip back down memory lane!
oh ok i can post this now
album art for “encore” by malcom brown!
♥ʕ◡ᴥ◕`ʔ┏┏
Expedition Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Mark J. Hadley: (composer)
As I've mentioned before, I really like finding ways to combine themes. In this case, I combined 'Explore' and 'English' in a style inspired by the sailing theme from 'Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'. (It's easy to miss the theme from 'English', since it's a lot more upbeat and in a major key.) I don't use brass a lot when I write, but I think it came out well here.
EsfiArt: (track artist, Tumblr) captured 4/7/2018
WELP GUESS IT’S TIME TO POST THIS NOW
I got to do album art for Expedition in the new Homestuck album!!!!!
GOLLY THIS WAS FUN TO DO
Elephant Gun Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer, Tumblr)
This is pure Jake strife music - I started this project with the definite goal in mind to make something that sounded purely like video game music for a battle. Jake English is sort of the archetypal Roosevelt-type swashbuckler with all the bravado of a turn-of-the-century primitivist. For him, the palette of sounds is instantaneous: heavy percussion rumbling at a breakneck pace. I threw in chimes, timpani, xylophone, glockenspiel, cymbal crashes, and an uncompromising drum machine to get the atmosphere I wanted.
I had a nice, retro-sounding portamento synth as a lead, a quick little intro, and a couple of smart little themes going on right at the beginning, and I was all set for this to be one of those simple, memorable themes not unlike one of the previous Strife themes ("Beatdown", "Showtime"). Then, at 44 seconds in, something snapped - I suddenly decided that what I was writing was boring and that nothing could be normal from that point on. Inspired by a few listens to "Rollo Interior", I wrote a rhythmically unconventional breakdown followed by the whole song shifting into "Zappa chords" for a little while.
What was excellent about working on this track is it's one of the first instances in a while where I had really freed myself from any preconceived goals for the song's form and just decided to write a track from start to finish and see what felt right. I ended up at sort of the golden length - the song begins to loop at 2:15, making it still functional as video game music, and fades out by 2:39. Tavia pointed out to me that pop songs that run a bit short of 3 minutes tend to be incredibly satisfying, especially for a first time listener, as they ask for your attention for an amount of time that doesn't wear you down. Out of all my tracks for Vol. 9, this is the one I find the easiest to listen to on a loop.
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer, Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music, adapted to text)
Elephant Gun, I think that one was a bit Frank Zappa influenced. I like the weird breakdown on it that's jumping around. I think if I were playing a game and I had to do a little battle, and (gesturing) press my buttons and pick my attacks while that was playing, I would be pretty hype, and not get, like, bored and driven crazy, the way that sometimes you can be in an RPG.
8bitkitten: (track artist, Tumblr)
I was thrilled to get the opportunity of illustrating your music. It’s always so gosh darn fun. =3
8bitkitten: (track artist, Tumblr)
After listening to this energetic strife theme, I imagined Jake English is hunting down a pesky Tinkerbull. >:3
8bitkitten: (alternate artwork, Tumblr)
8bitkitten: (track artist, Tumblr)
Elephant Gun post edit
So upon browsing Volume 9 on Bandcamp, I noticed my first version of “Elephant Gun” was used which is why I posted that one, but it turns out the edited version where I gave Tinkerbull a nose ring was the one included in the album download?
Sorry to those of you who have already reblogged the first version, although I appreciate it either way! ^__^’
Miasmajesty Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
You ever have one of those days where the pen and photoshop just seem to be behaving? I was having one of those days and as a result this picture of Dirk happened. He's holding a Derse flag with the pointy end coming at the viewer. This man means business.
Jane Dargason Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
It may be a little late by now, but I wanted to give one more of my songs from Volume 9 a post of its own.
First let me say that RJ Lake is a joy to work with. We sent Jane Dargason back and forth between us, remixing each other's remixes until the track was in its final state. For reference:
The original sketch put together by RJ sounded like this.
By the end of the process, things had evolved quite a bit.
I also want to take a moment to say that my good friend Dawn did a spectacular job on the track art! She has a wondrous way with colors, and her drawings of the Homestuck kids have a childlike optimism about them. Nothing could have been a more perfect match for a track like this one!
Before the Beginning and After the End Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This was one of the last track art pieces I did that I had a lot of fun with. I didn't really know what I was doing when I went in, but as soon as I had laid out what Alpha Kid went where, the colors instantly stood out in my mind. I really like the way this one came out.
Bridge of Stars Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
8bitkitten: (track artist, Tumblr)
This soothing track sets the atmosphere for Davesprite, Jade Harley, and John Egbert as they cross the Yellow Yard. UuU
Busting Makes Me Feel Good Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This track was an attempt to try something in the same vain as the soundtrack to Jet Set Radio Future which was recommended to me by friends Erik Scheele and Richard Gung. Composer Hideki Naganuma has created some of the most intricate and engaging pieces of dance music I've ever heard - his signature approach is his construction of entire songs around only a handful of samples (check out "Funky Dealer" for a good example).
Going off of the notion that there aught to be some music dedicated to the 3 years that John, Jade, and Davesprite spend by killing time in Ghostbusters 2 MMORPG, I recorded myself singing the famous exclamation uttered by Ray Parker Jr partway through the legendary 1984 single. What is the deal with that line, really? Apparently chasing ghosts isn't just a public service for Mr. Parker - it gets him off.
The majority of the track is driven by drum and crowd samples with some very funky but intentionally primitive synths on top. I liked the idea of building up to some big climactic house beat, and the climax of the song is sort of an homage to Kalibration and his EDM project Screamcatcher (albeit missing all the cool).
Michael Guy Bowman: (Bowmantown Discord, excerpts)
Busting makes me feel ahead of the game
RJ once called me a Neil Wannabe I think on Twitter
Richard called me "budget Lemon Demon" in college
It is the thing that appears on my related artists on Spotify
Neil is fantastic though, if this is great minds thinking alike I'm honoredI think he understands a generation so crystal clearly though in a way I'm still never going to. They'll look at him like Andy Warhol someday. He's the next great voice in pop art after him, certainly. They want to give that honor to Banksy or some other pretentious counterculture figure but I think Neil looks up to kitsch rather than down to it. That makes all the difference, like comparing Dan Harmon to Seth McFarlane. Parody should honor its subject, not condemn it
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer, Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music, adapted to text)
(gasp) Busting Makes Me Feel Good! Now that's a piece where I have to say... I beat Neil Cicierega to the punch on that! I'm just saying! He did that Bustin' thing years later. I beat him to the punch. I'm not - no, I'm not sore about that, you know. Parallel thinking. Everybody wanted to make fun of Ghostbusters. It's a weird line. I mean, "busting makes me feel good"... you know, there's entendre built in there, you know.
Everything is Something to Somebody Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This is another one that RJ let me do whatever I wanted on. After thinking about the title of the track, I remembered the moment in Homestuck when we all finally found out the answer to the infamous question "What Pumpkin?" And what a heartwarming answer it was! To me, this was one of the most gentle tear-jerking moments in the comic to date. It just made sense to draw.
iRRRRRRRRECONCILA8LE Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer)
Before there was 20+ hours of music in the Homestuck catalog, the music team's task was to create new themes at a moment's notice for new elements of the story. When Tavrisprite appeared in the comic, I challenged myself to make a suitable theme at the same pace I might once have cobbled something together back in 2009. I posted the resulting demo track on my Soundcloud the same day as the character made its debut.
My demo fused the Spanish sounds associated with Tavros and the electric lead guitar associated with Vriska. The result was just over a minute of power-flamenco silliness which I planned to expand upon heavily until suddenly Tavrisprite exploded less than an hour after I uploaded the demo. I decided the song aught to be short and sweet as well, so I asked Thomas Ferkol to play some additional metal guitar at the end before dropping in an explosion effect and a distantly echoing "honk" from a certain codpiece-wearing merchant.
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer, Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music, adapted to text)
Oh, iRRRRRRRRECONCILA8LE, I was so happy with that one. I would have liked to have seen the, uh, the attempted merge between Tavros and Vriska go on longer, and wrote it as soon as I saw it happen - wrote, like, the first chunk of it before the additional guitar with Thomas Ferkol on it. And then when they updated the comic and the two of them immediately blew apart, I had no choice but to cap it off with the sound of, you know, the whole thing (pfwhoosh) popping apart, and a random honk in, just for the sake of keeping you all on your toes. (dramatic honkscare)
8bitkitten: (track artist, Tumblr)
I wanted to compliment Bowman’s rockin’ Tavrisprite theme. }::::)
I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew (Post-Punk Version) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer)
One of the things I'd always felt was curious about our re-appropriation of the hundred-year-old vaudeville track by Eddie Morton was the complete contrast between its cheerful mood and the sinister nature of the characters it represents. The Midnight Crew, while fashion-savvy, are cold-blooded murderers, and I'd been curious as to what a darker version of their signature song might sound like.
The inspiration for this "post-punk" arrangement comes specifically from the Iggy Pop track "Nightclubbing", which was produced by David Bowie during their stay in Berlin in 1977. The Iggy Pop and Eddie Morton tracks are very different takes on a night on the town, and I was utterly fascinated by the thought of injecting the old ragtime track with the same seedy atmosphere of Iggy's sardonic croon.
I'd been playing this particular arrangement live at live shows for a while, and for this recorded version I brought in bandmates Erik Scheele and Marcy Nabors to record their respective parts. Erik delivers the excellent jazz piano, while Marcy added some amazing textures by playing theremin and accordion. I made full use of the wah pedal on my guitar to deliver the very textured guitar performance, and copied Iggy's beloved drum machine loop for the main percussion.
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer, Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music, adapted to text)
My version of the Midnight Crew song - I called it the post-punk version because it's modeled after Nightclubbing, from the Iggy Pop album The Idiot. I suppose he was post-punk at the time, but, you know, 1977, let's be real, Sex Pistols and all that stuff, it was really the breakout of it as a commercial genre.
I've heard that people say I sound drunk on the song...? I don't know, like, where people got that idea. The idea of the intonation there was to make it a little sinister, a little seductive, a little creepy, you know... It is about some villains that wander around, ostensibly being gangsters - what do the Midnight Crew even do in the comic? I forget.
I was really satisfied with that one. And that was a great collaboration, Erik on that once again... *(Caption in post: "Erik Scheele - piano, Marcy Nabors - theremin / accordion")
Three in the Morning (Aftermath) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Erik Scheele: (composer, Tumblr, excerpt)
I don't remember how long ago it was that Plaz asked me to do an improvisation around her Three In The Morning, but I did it, and here it is!
Lancer Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Track art for Lancer by Plazmataz~
I actually have two other versions of this pic. :V I’m very happy that I was given the opportunity to do more track art for the Homestuck albums! :3
clorinspats: (wiki communications over email, excerpt)
Honestly I'm super stoked that someone still remembers I did the art for these two tracks! You're very lucky, I do actually have the alternates around still, and I've attached them here. One is a high contrast black and white option I gave to Clark and the other is a softer version, so she'd have the choice of the lot.
I'm really happy you enjoyed my art from back then, it really does make me smile. I did dig around to double check to see if I had the alternates for Serenade as well still, but unfortunately those ones were lost. All of these are actually at original size of 1000x1000px (bad form back then, I know!), so these are about as high-res as they get.
Thank y'all for your work on the wiki! I actually have the relevant pages linked on my Homestuck art compilation blog on Tumblr. If you want to browse, it's here.
Thanks again for reaching out! I'm glad I still had these hanging around.
Three's a Crowd Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Track art for RJ's Three’s A Crowd on the new MSPA album.
It’s such a good song, dang.
Portrait Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Honestly, on all three, it was a lot of going with my gut because I hadn't quite gained the understanding of writing percussion that I now have. Though, having a good instinct for interesting rhythms definitely is why I seem to be so notorious for percussion/drum beats.
That said, Portrait is a funny case in particular, and its weirdness is quite a bit more deliberate than the other two, simply because I was more experienced by the time of its release.
The song is in mixed meter. Now, you certainly can hash it out to 14/4 and be happy with it, because it works out that way, but the song is actually written in alternating measures of 15/8 and 13/8. Or was it 13/8 and 15/8? It's been awhile. Either way, the song itself never sits still and shifts its pulse back and forth the entire way, and ends up making the later breakbeat/drum and bass part all the more crazy.
And yet it still seemed to work!
As for everything since Portrait, any weird percussion I do has been completely deliberate and thought out, because, as I said before, I understand my instincts on it. More importantly, I understand why those instincts work.
TL;DR; In a past life, I was probably a drummer.
:D
Red Miles Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
James Dever: (Tumblr, excerpt) captured 7/26/2012
History
Igor Stravinsky has been a gigantic inspiration for me for a long time. My favorite piece of all time is his Firebird Suite, and not far behind is his other ballet the Rite of Spring. The latter is the main inspiration behind this track!I listened to the Rite of Spring quite a bit throughout last year and I really was compelled to write something inspired by it. When the End of Act 5 flash came out, Andrew also revealed the now memetic Red Miles attack. I thought of no better way to elude to two of my favorite things than combining them this way! I set out on the concept of making a Rite of Spring-esque movement to fit the devastating attack.
The Music
The direct segment I was trying to parallel is thesecond section. Staccato unbowed strings playing eighth notes on a single chord with an accent pattern. The difference here is that as crazy as that segment may get, Stravinsky wrote the whole thing in 2/4. Red Miles I just had fun and it alternates between 2/4, 7/8, 5/8 and whatever the hell I felt like/8. I had a whole lot of fun with time signatures is what I mean.The accent pattern I use has a bit of history behind it as well. I'm a band geek if no one had noticed yet, and was heavily into marching band during high school. Being a percussionist, I kind of had a love/hate relationship with drumline warmups. One in particular we played waaaaay too much was the accent to tap exercise. For people who don't know too much about drumline, it's just an exercise that warms up the extremes of playing. Most notes are steady pulse beats but then an accent pattern is introduced to differentiate height, sound and velocity between taps (normal strokes) and accents. Ours was called "Cinco de Mayo" because it was mostly in 5/8. I took the same pulse (12 123 12 123 123 12 123 12 12 - accents on 1) and applied it to the strings.
I tried to fully orchestrate it, so the next section introduces an English Horn (oh man english horn I could go on for days about) and a bassoon (also could go on forever fuck yeah double reeds) trading off a little melody between accent patterns akin to Rite of Spring. Then I gave the accent to two timpani (yeah the piece would require two timpanist or an inhuman player) because it's my favorite instrument and I don't incorporate enough percussion into my pieces for a percussionist. The next section introduces the first real theme. I originally wrote these melodies messing around with four mallets on a marimba. I was intending on making something primitive like RoS (hence unmoving bassline) and then translated it to piano then full score. It alternates between d minor and D Major just by tweaking around with the F sharp. Fun stuff.
Samm Neiland influenced me in two ways in this piece. The first being the continuation of the accent pattern through the middle sections. I personally really enjoy the piece more because of it. It makes it really interesting because it brings so many different time signatures against each other. The melody is sporadically flipping between 7/8 and 2/4 while the accent pattern is mostly in 5/8. They don't quite match up either but I fix the problem with a few filler measures with the pulse.
After the middle themes are presented it returns back to the beginning with just the solid accent pattern and the return of the simple trading melody (this time with oboe and bass clarinet). The timpani returns triumphantly afterwards. This time, however, I change it up by immediately jumping back into the strings having the pattern. At this point, the brass and woodwinds are given simple versions of the accent pattern. They all come in at different times creating a really uneven spread. Eventually the upper lines start to contort the line and break into competing dotted rhythms to give a feel of chase. It builds more and more through the ending section up until a sudden cut off.
The final addition by Samm was the diminuendo final chord to ease the listener out of the piece!
Concept
As stated earlier, the whole concept is suppose to be giving the terrible fear inducing attack "Red Miles" a soundtrack. The attack is devastating and annihilates all in its way. As we all have heard countless times: you can't escape the miles. Originally, there was to be a whole lot more to the piece (multiple movements!). I didn't have anything else in other movements concrete at the time for finalization of Volume 9 so I released the abridged version you have now! Therefore, I like to think of this version as the Diamonds Droog version of the attack. Smaller scale but not any less deudley.I originally wanted to name it Red Miles (Abridged) but that ended up falling through. It sounds perfectly fine as is anyways. Eventually though, I would love to completely finish the whole work (I'm talking 5-6 movements, all inspired by RoS).
The last section that I described as sounding almost like a chase is purposeful. The concept is that Diamond Droog is releasing the miles upon the universe and the different musical sections are the different scenes of destruction. The final scene where everything becomes hectic is suppose to be Dirk flying through crumbling towers and crazy red death tentacles trying to escape a painful death. The sudden cut off was suppose to be kind of a cliffhanger like "where did he go???" but then the final resolution was supposed to sound similar to a big sigh of relief as he narrowly avoids doom.
Art!
Originally, the art was to be done by everyone's favorite person. Because of silly reasons (really silly, the silliest) it didn't end up happening though. I freaking loved the art too. Instead though, we have a panel from the comic. It just so happens to be the panel where the miles are about to wreck shit at the abode of my favorite Alpha character. I didn't know this at the time otherwise I'd never make a reference to such a horrible event :P
Homestuck: (Bandcamp credits blurb) captured 6/15/2012
Red Miles by [James Dever]
Requited Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Back on Volume 8 I wrote a song called Serenade; the track art for it explains well what the song is about. In a great many ways it was an important song for me. For one, it was the first song I've ever written, by which I mean a short, lyrical work written in a structure including verses and choruses. On top of that the music and the melodies came unusually naturally to me, and it all felt organic and expressive of my situation in life at the time of writing. Serenade is by far the closest emotional connection I have to Homestuck.
Naturally I wanted to do things properly if I was going to revisit a tune so personally significant. As part of a larger project I was tentatively calling "cellostuck" I decided to tackle Serenade and record a version with live cello parts, hopefully bringing rich textures and lyricism to the song to reflect the musical and personal progress I had made since writing the original. It came out beautifully, much more so than the other experiments I had tried with other songs. I called the final mix Requited, implying that the song can be seen from the opposite side.
Consider Requited the pre-Scratch counterpart to Serenade.
For the artwork on this track I asked my chum Dodostad to draw something up. Her style of whimsical, faded character art seemed the perfect match for the song, and she did a magnificent job.
Princess of Helium Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
This was the first track art I had done for Volume 9, but at the time I drew it I didn't know it was going to be on the upcoming album. Plazmataz played a track she'd been working on outloud for me and asked if I wanted to do art. I jumped on the opportunity and got a lot of painting practice in with this one. I'm super proud of this one, since it was the first picture in a while that had a strong palette.
Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor)
This artwork was originally created for Jane Dargason, also by Clark Powell, off the same album; it was featured on Tumblr prior to Vol. 9's release.
Candles and Clockwork (Alpha Version) Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
James Dever: (composer)
History
Throughout the last year I've been more active on Skype with fellow Homestuck readers and contributors, especially since February when I was added to the (in?)famous Stupid O' Clock chat. What I found out from a lot of them was that quite a lot more people enjoyed my first ever Homestuck track than I expected. Candles and Clockwork was actually pretty popular and multiple people came to me at different times saying I should work on it again with the better programs and talents I've acquired since.
The outcome was the remake I posted on my Tumblr a few days before the album came out. I posted this in the Volume 9 thread we had, and Albatross Soup offered to work on the track. The outcome is this final version of Candles and Clockwork!
The Music
I put a whole lot of subtle nuances into this piece. The biggest one being something that occurs throughout the piece and in almost every track of Sburb: hemiolas. For non-music folk, a hemiola is when a rhythm does not fit into the measure of music it is in. They are very similar and often function as polyrhythms, another favorite tactic of mine. In this track specifically, you can notice that the piano ostinato is clearly in 4/4. The clarinet and harp however, are in 3/4. Because of this, these lines only ever match up ever three measures for the piano and every four measures for the other instruments. Since the phrases don't fit that pattern either, the actual lines never quite sync back up and repeat themselves. The melody line above it is for the most part in 4/4 but kind of sways the line between the two time signatures. This is also how I was able to adapt the melody into straight 3/4 for Chronicles (from Sburb) since that version does not have the 4/4 ostinato until the second section!
For this version, Albatross reorchestrated the parts and added his own distinct flare to the piece. The original version had a dulcimer and harp generating the two ostinati in an attempt to generate a similar feel to the Kingdom of Zeal theme Corridors of Time from the video game Chrono Trigger. The remake I made changed the dulcimer for a harpsichord to change up the timbre slightly. The biggest change was moving the melodies first instance to cello. Albatross took this concept and took it further! The harpsichord became a piano line reminiscent of Chronicles and Candles and Merry Gentlemen (a bonus track from the Holiday album). The harp stays, but the lower voice doubling the part now became a clarinet. A flute is added at the vocal breakdown midway through the piece and then takes over the cello for the recap of the main melody! The ending also became a general diminuendo much like the original! I absolutely adore his take on the song.
Concept
The original song was written at first in an attempt to go along with Doctor and Endless Climb as a calm and atmospheric song aimed at being a land theme for Dave. At the time we knew him as a knight and WV's painting showed his planet with a large gear and fire. I figured from this that his land would involve something knightly/fire based and something involving gears. From that I guessed it'd be the Land of Candles and Clockwork. Little did I know that Andrew was going to break the chain and pick a vastly different song with Atomyk Ebonpyre.
Ever since I've considered the song to be a Strider anthem. Dave and Dirk have a whole lot of songs about them, but all of them are either derivatives of his instrument (inspiring hip hop beats etc) or just really intense. They both are actually really chill and collected for the most part, so I liked the idea of them having a calm song.
As for this name in particular, it should be obvious that it's the post scratch version of the song (so aimed more at Dirk and Alpha Dave). The working title was also Candles and Clockwork (with the a's replaced with lower case alpha symbols). Sadly, it doesn't really differentiate itself from the original. The symbols aren't separate enough to make it easy to tell the two versions apart.
Art!
The art was done by the fantastic Worthikids who I only just recently discovered! They actually made it a while ago for the original Volume 5 version. I messaged them about using it for this version. Go check them out!
Worthikids: (track artist, Tumblr)
I wanted to make something for Candles and Clockwork,
Because it’s really an awesome song, and if you haven’t heard it,
LISSTENN RIGHTT NAAOOO.
Soyeah.
Dave was drawn in SAI
The lazily modeled background was made in Blender.
WITH HEAVY BURN FILTERING.#HEAVY BURN FILTER
Worthikids: (track artist, Tumblr, alternate artwork)
Messy gif version.
The texture doesn’t loop properly.
But I didn’t save the .blend file.
So. Whoops.
Also a bunch of the gears spin in the wrong direction. > n >
#no intention of fixing
Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor)
There are two "HQ" versions of this track's artwork. The one used as the main cover art is the version posted on Tumblr, which is 800x800 (possibly source resolution), but has JPEG artefacting. Below is the 500x500 artwork used on Bandcamp, which is a clean PNG, but blurs some details (due to downscaling).
Coursing Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
I wrote it to be the "alpha" version of Courser, another piece by myself and Beatfox. Where Courser is a theme for Bec, Coursing can be thought of as a theme for GCat, though in my mind it encompasses the idea of any First Guardian. It is not a "remix" or even an arrangement of Courser, but it is based off Courser's material and of course heavily references it and quotes it. I hope you enjoy! The track art is by the amazing Zilleniose. Thanks Zoey!
Cairo Overcoat Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Track art for Cairo Overcoat by Eidolon Orpheus on the new album!!
I was going to do something completely different and cool for this but Photoshop crashed hardcore and corrupted the file ): This one is probably ultimately better for a cover because it is a lot simpler but I miss what could have been... Tried to keep in the spirit of the first version w/ old jazz covers here because a lot of them are gritty black and white photographs of guys playing a saxophone with a simple colour wash. Think it looks ok for a plan B??
Noirscape Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
David Ellis: (composer, Tumblr)
This tune got some pretty cool art from Kendle Iulus. I don't really know anything other than 'wow, that's really cool'.
So let's talk about the track. I said a little bit about it when I posted it but I thought I'd expand a little.
The piece is written for the Alpha kids' version of Jack Noir, in particular his attempted jailbreak. Unsurprisingly then every guitar stab is supposed to represent Jack stabbing something. In the original version there were actually more stabs at the start that got cut fairly late in the process because while more stabbing probably suits the character it made the intro feel too long.
As the tune is for a Jack I thought his piece should be based on the Black theme. I'd been thinking about doing a take on it for a while but hadn't figured out how I would do it until the jailbreak scene started. At the same time I'd been struggling to write the verse for the Jane song (I have that bit now but I'm still working on the song) so taking a break from that to play a lot of angry distorted guitars also seemed like a good idea.
The guitar solo is really hard to play.
Originally it was just going to be a fairly loose guitar jam over the chords from Upward Movement but while that was a lot of fun for me to play it turned out it wasn't that much fun to listen to so I figured it was going to need some more backings. This led to the inclusion of a number of themes from Descend building up and then a little interplay in the strings at the end. Unfortunately this meant a loose jam style solo wasn't going to cut it anymore so I sat and wrote out the solo you hear now. I threw in a quintuplet and a 5:6 tuplet because apparently I hate writing things I can play.
When it was all done I uploaded it, blogged it and then tried to sleep while my phone kept going off until I turned off alerts. I didn't really expect anyone to pick it up but it surprised me by being the most popular thing I've ever posted by a long way (thanks Radiation!).
The next day I got a message from Radiation saying he'd like to include it on the album (which turned out to be volume 9). So I went back and tweaked the mix a bit (mainly turning down the gain on the guitars and bringing out the strings in the descend section) and sent him the final wav which is what's on the album. I'm really grateful to be included on the album and I'm glad people seem to like the track.
Fun if somewhat nerdy fact: The power down sound that leads into the guitar solo section is actually the sound made when the Hammond organ is switched off while holding down the last chord. The tonewheels inside the organ that generate the pitches start to slow down before the amplifier cuts out so you can hear the pitch lower before the sound stops.
After I posted Noirscape it got added to the tracklist for LOFAM2 and straightfacedgriff had actually started doing art for it before I had the chance to quietly let them know that it wasn't going to be on the album. The art pretty much sums up the scene the music was meant to be describing at the start though (assuming jack has a few more knives up his sleeve for the other guards) so I thought I'd include it here.
straightfacedgriff: (alternate artwork, for Land of Fans and Music 2)
album art for noirscape, which you can listen to here
here is the reversed side
Stargaze Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Nick Smalley approached me about this one with a very specific image for this one. He wanted a night time version of Lexxy's wonderful Beta Kids image. I had a lot of fun sprinkling details in to this image. I think the part that makes me smile most is little Minihoof curled up on Dirk's chest.
Another Countdown Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer)
I've mentioned a few times that Homestuck Vol. 9, in its early planning stages, was conceived as an album that would be dedicated to the new session of Homestuck, and most of the tracks would mimic older songs re-imagined in the new universe presented in Act 6. "Another Countdown" was thus the sister song of "Sburban Countdown" - both are brief arrangements of their parent songs ("Another Jungle" and "Sburban Jungle" respectively) meant to crescendo towards a major climax.
"Another Countdown" was retooled from its parent track to be far mellower at first - the bass and drum comping is a bit latin in flavor, and much of the song's first half is almost completely quiet until the explosion that finishes off the track. When the concept of the record was changed, it was decided that this relatively short song would be included as a bonus when you purchase the full album.
Michael Guy Bowman: (composer, Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music, adapted to text)
Oh, Another Countdown, of course I put a little cap on the Another Jungle thing, with a revisitation of Mark Hadley's Sburban Countdown.
Homestuck Vol. 9
Main album (1–49)
Bonus tracks (50–51)