2013-09-22 1:41:00 ¶ ●

By Joren “Tensei” de Bruin. Original ‘Homestuck Anthem’ by Clark “Plazmataz” Powell

OK, it’s elevator music. Let’s just put that on the table where everyone can see it. Now that that’s on the table, we can talk about it as a song. Before the advent of Muzak, bossa nova used to be pretty popular in a real, non faux way (and it still is in some real, totally non-fake circles that I wouldn’t know anything about).

This song takes a basic existing melody (one of my favorites, as it happens), and executes it in this new style very, very well. I dare you not to like this song. Go ahead, try it.

2013-09-24 1:41:00 ¶ ●

By Toby “Radiation” Fox. Guitar by Joren “Tensei” de Bruin

Source: Homestuck

Not enough troll violence for you yet? Here’s some more. Another great mash-up of genres, with a synth / chiptune lead dueling with an electric guitar. The hook’s as catchy as they come.

2013-09-26 4:21:00 ¶ ●

By Joren ‘Tensei’ de Bruin. Original “Spider’s Claw” by Toby 'Radiation’ Fox

Starts off with a kick-ass guitar solo by Troll Eddie Van Halen (Edward Vhalen, I guess?). Seriously, if you like the intro on this song, go check out Eruption. So far as the rest of this song goes, it’s a slick combination of hard rock and blues horns, with a clean electric guitar bridge snuck in the middle.

2013-09-28 2:54:00 ¶ ●

White Host, Green Room (By Joren ‘Tensei’ de Bruin) is one of the album bonus tracks (and thus only available if you purchase the album). It’s a jazzy, slow-paced piece. I’m not a big fan of it: don’t hate it, but it’s not really on my playlist. There’s one thing about it that does interest me: the intro.

The song begins with a fuzzy medley of four songs. The first two are Terezi Owns (on this album) and Cascade (on Volume 8: this sneak peek was released well before Cascade came out, mind you). The last song is Black Rose / Green Sun.

There’s an excerpt from one other song in the middle, starting at the ten second mark: epic choir chanting and heavy, distorted electric guitar. It sounds like a ‘final boss fight’ song. Yet the track that this little snippet belongs to hasn’t been released in any official way. So, what’s it all about?

Turns out it’s an unfinished track called 'The King in Red’. Tensei made a blog post about it here, and you can listen to the work-in-progress version of the song there.

2013-09-29 1:41:00 ¶ ●

‘Black Hole / Green Sun’ by Malcolm Brown. Solo piano, violin, guitar parts written and added by Toby “Radiation” Fox, featuring Joren “Tensei” de Bruin on electric guitar and Kelly Sadwin on violin

Black Hole / Green Sun begins at 10:48 in the Cascade medley. It’s only available as a stand-alone track when you purchase the album, but the album version is unchanged from the final few minutes of Cascade.

I like this remix better than its source (Black Rose / Green Sun), but only just. The changes aren’t huge: this track’s more like a driving classic rock anthem. The melodic guitar solo in the first half is great, and the soulful, Celtic violin refrain in the second half is even better.

And I love the extended chord that finishes things up. Now where’s that been done before?