Entrance of the Salamanders
By Alex Rosetti
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Cover art by Sylladexter
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Released 10/23/2012.
Duration: 2:56.
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Tracks that Entrance of the Salamanders references:
Tracks that reference Entrance of the Salamanders:
Artist commentary:
This piece picks up where Buy NAK Sell DOOF left off, meaning it goes right back into a silly, dimwitted march. This time however, we are joined by John's signature instrument, the electric organ! I also put some piano in there I guess, but baby, it is all about that organ. Maybe it gives it a bit too much of a "baseball flavor" but that's okay, the Salamanders are sporting folks. Right off the "bat", you will notice the opening ostinato bears a strong resemblance to Danny Elfman tomfoolery, which is entirely coincidental; not that I have any problems with Danny Elfman tomfoolery, in fact I enjoy it very much.
Like the Crocodiles, the Salamanders have gotten plenty of characterization in Homestuck, so it was pretty easy to write their theme. They actually have a lot in common with the Crocodiles (mostly that they are enthusiastically unintelligent), which is why I decided to give them the same kind of style. There is a primary theme and a secondary theme, and they are both developed throughout the course of the piece. I realize this is an incredibly simple and non-specific description, but it is a very straightforward piece in that regard, and I don't know what else to say about it. The first theme is a bouncy little tune, and the second theme is more legato and chromatic, and they fit together in various ways when they interact with each other.
I sort of envisioned this composition as a dual piano/organ concerto in terms of how I treated the instruments. Both are featured over the orchestra, and play off it with plenty of silly textures and orchestrations. Stylistically, the oom-pah marching characteristics combined with the instrumentation may call to mind images of a circus, which is in fact how the piece got its name. It's kind of a veiled reference, but if you know what the title is referring to then it's easy to figure out why it resembles circus music. And of course in the spirit of things, for one last antic I finished it off with a slide whistle; an instrument I thought represented the salamanders' bubbles pretty well.