December 2014

beat-bro:

By Paul Tuttle Starr

Image source: Homestuck.

STRONG.

The groove is excellent. The combination of violin and hip-hop synth is outstanding, and it makes for a track that sounds fresh every time you listen to it. 

But then, on another level, it has the feeling of a requiem, of a funeral dirge. Or maybe, just a cry for help: the ‘SOS’ morse code bit near the end pretty well reinforces that. It’s hip and sad all at the same time.

This is good listening. In fact, it’s my top track for the album. It’s a shame that its only feature in the comic (so far!) is buried deep into one of the Openbound games.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #30

beat-bro:

By Robert J! Lake

A cool, mellow chiptune song. It’s at its best around the minute mark. All it takes is a deceptively simple drum beat and a shimmering electronic chorus to really make the tune shine. Great, easy listening.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #29

beat-bro:

By Seth “Beatfox” Peelle. “Theme” by Toby “Radiation” Fox.

I always thought of this as sort of a companion piece to Homestuck. With all of the energy, the anger, and retribution on Alternia, this song feels almost artificially sentimental.

Of course, that label only applies when trying to shoehorn this into the album’s context. And its mellow, positive vibe does well to slow down the album’s breakneck pace a little. As a stand-alone piece, musically it’s right up there with Sarabande or Indigo Heir.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #28

beat-bro:

By Malcolm Brown

Hoo boy, where to start. Of all the non-flash tracks, this one has the most specific setting and purpose, relative to the webcomic itself.

The song’s structured as a medley: each of the trolls have a basic theme, mostly from the Alternia album, and in one form or another, they’re each revisited in this tune. But it’s not just twelve songs stitched together: there’s a great, coherent original theme, and each of those wide-ranging leitmotifs flow well throughout the track.

My favorite bit’s the heavy, fuzzy electric guitar that kicks in around 5:30. After all of the other trolls quit clowning around, Vriska steps in to put the king down.

The song has an official script of sorts in the liner notes that describes the action. It’s inspired some pretty crazy fan projects, too — even as we speak, a multi-year project is nearing completion to create a fan-Flash that shows the battle between the trolls and the Black King. With this song as its centerpiece, of course.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #27

That Flash project I mentioned in the review? Came out a few months ago. Go check it out!

beat-bro:

By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell

Fantastic. Usually I’m put off by the sort of choppy audio effects that this song features, but here’s is subtle: it’s there to establish atmosphere, not drive the song forward. This track is way up there on my list of favorites, and this isn’t even my favorite version of this song.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #26

beat-bro:

By Mark Hadley

An ambitious reimagining of Skies of Skaia. The deep strings section and the plucked harp gives it a new grandiosity. The lyrics confused me until I looked it up – it’s got Latin and Lord of the Rings Sindarin going on there.

Sometimes, on other tracks, vocals can feel forced. That’s especially so when the song is something that people are already familiar with. But here it works very well. The singer’s voice fits in as cleanly as another instrument, and it creates a new, interesting layer on the base track.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #25

beat-bro:

By First Turn Fold

The techno beat is pretty good, but what really makes this song stand out is the hook at around 2:20. It’s a great little riff, and the rest of the track drops away for a moment to really highlight it.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #24

dothemusicything made and performed an impossibly solid piano arrangement of this tune – you’ve got to see it to believe it!

beat-bro:

By Michael Guy Bowman

The song featured in the end of Act 3 Flash animation. Good highs and great lows. Especially like the manic xylophone that drives most of the track.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #23

beat-bro:

By Malcolm Brown

This track opens with a great steady bassline that underpins the whole song. The melody is rolling and leisurely, working its way up to a high point before cruising back downwards with a counterpoint hook. It’s relaxing and it doesn’t become dull or repetitive.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #22

beat-bro:

By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell

Piano, drumset, and bass happens to be my favorite jazz ensemble and man, does this number do that trio justice. There’s a break at around 1:20 where it really cuts loose. That bit didn’t make it into the Flash, and it’s my favorite part of the song. Love hearing that big bass just tear it up.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #21

beat-bro:

By Joren “Tensei” de Bruin

Image source: Homestuck.

From the calm, directly into the storm. It’s a crazy combination of chiptune-synth, rock guitar, and a few more eclectic instruments like piano and trumpet. This track amps up the energy, and it doesn’t really let off from here on out.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #20

beat-bro:

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.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #19

beat-bro:

By Monobrow

Fanart source: tinikah.

A smooth (Dave-influenced? It just screams ‘coolkid’) percussion beat combined with an easygoing reimagining of Doctor. It’s a cool mix of synth and guitar spread throughout (that melodic guitar cover of Doctor’s main hook that starts around 3:30 is just effortlessly smooth and mellow).

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #18

beat-bro:

By Toby “Radiation” Fox. Partial remix of “Unbreakable Union” by Robert Blaker, “Courser” by Alexander Rosetti and Seth “Beatfox” Peelle, “Carefree Action” by Mark J. Hadley, and “Homestuck Anthem” by Clark “Plazmataz” Powell

Source: Homestuck

It wanders from calm traditional introduction to frenzied tribal rhythm, and hits every point in between. My favorite part of the song, by far, is the piano interlude in the middle. It’s ominous and terribly foreboding: the most reserved part of the song serves as an accompaniment to the biggest reveal in the webcomic, up to that point.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #17

beat-bro:

By David Ellis (A Lunatic’s Daydream)

That leadoff hook, which serves as a sort of chorus and anchor for the whole song, is excellent. In hindsight, this track is more appropriate now than ever for Jane: the cheerful synth parts represent her normal personality, while the staccato electric guitar breaks represent the Betty Crocker corporate juggernaut that has bent her unwillingly to its subjug(gl?)ation.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #16

Be sure to check out a video showing the instrumentation live on this one posted a while back by David Ellis!

beat-bro:

By Joren “Tensei” de Bruin

Image source: Homestuck.

Right off the bat, the album starts with a fantastic track.

Up until the middle of Act 5 Act 2, Aradia has a pretty hard time of it in the comic. She whiplashes from apathetic (as a ghost), to violent and hotblooded (as a homicidal robot), to serene (as a god-tier). This track characterizes that last development in character.

It’s just so perky and positive. Aradia’s spent so long being burned out and jaded that she doesn’t really know how to be cheerful and optimistic. So she accidentally goes way too far without realizing it.

In an album just jam-packed with memorable hooks and cool riffs, this one stands out as my favorite track.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #15

beat-bro:

By Joren “Tensei” de Bruin. Remix of “Beatdown” by Curt Blakeslee and “Black” by Toby “Radiation” Fox.

Image source: Homestuck.

Dave takes the reins next and runs the turntables through a couple of old favorites. The song’s built around two remixes: Beatdown first, around 0:50, and then Black later on. The instrumentation’s what stands out on this song: they’re used sparingly, but holy shit, there’s so much raw power behind the horn section.

Overall, though, my favorite moment is the pause around 2:45 that leads directly into an extended guitar solo.

All together, it makes for the perfect backing track for a memorable Flash in the comic, which takes many of its cues directly from the song. It’s my top track for the album.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #14

beat-bro:

By Seth “Beatfox” Peelle, original (Sunsetter) by Toby “Radiation” Fox

Source: Homestuck

Beatfox takes an original song by Radiation and moves it into a whole new genre. Sunsetter (the original) is fast-paced and electronic, with a fantastic hook. Yet this version is even better. The pace is slowed down a bit and the saxophone / xylophone lead is replaced with a simple, well-executed electric guitar.

The main melody is something you could have pulled out of an album written in the middle of the stadium-rock 80’s (and I mean that as a compliment). This song is has ridiculous replay value (I swear, I could loop it for an hour and not grow tired of it). It’s a great example of the music team building upon earlier works and producing something even greater, and it’s one of my favorite tracks in the whole Homestuck catalog.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #13

beat-bro:

By Toby “Radiation” Fox. Original (Doctor) by George Buzinkai

Source: Homestuck

I mentioned in an earlier review that I preferred Doctor as part of a greater composition, rather than as a stand-alone piece. This is the song I had in mind when I mentioned that. Doctor is a big part of this song, and it’s even better for it.

The song begins on a low note, like a music box desperately trying to squeeze out a few more notes before it reaches the end of its winding. From there, it builds progressively, in steps, before cooling off again near the end.

There’s another original song that’s part of Savior of the Waking World: Penumbra Phantasm by Radiation. That’s the flute melody that begins around halfway through the song. In fact, I didn’t mention it earlier, but Descend ends with a fragment from this same song. There’s a few Flash animations where Penumbra Phantasm has been used as a sort of coda, and it can’t help but be memorable. Yet the song has not been released on its own, and it may never be. It’s the white whale of the Homestuck catalog: many other tracks are made better by featuring it.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #12

beat-bro:

By Erik “Jit” Scheele

Every time I listen to this neo-ragtime tune, I find something new to like about it. Its theme is common to Unite Synchronization: the kids get together to jam. Later on in the album things get a little more serious, but this tune’s all about positive energy.

On this album it’s tough to pick a favorite, but I think this is it for me (Under the Hat’s a close second, and FantasyP and Game Over aren’t far behind). Top track.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #11

beat-bro:

By David Ellis (A Lunatic’s Daydream). Saxophone performed by Malik Refaat.

Fanart source: tinikah.

‘The Beginning of Something Really Excellent’ is positive, energetic, and a little aggressive. This remix trades in the techno for a funky rhythm electric guitar, a solid bassline, and a fantastic alto saxophone lead. It’s just so damnably catchy, like the main theme from an 80’s sitcom.

What an awesome, imaginative remix. This is my top track for the album. It’s that good. No regrets.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #10

beat-bro:

By Eston “silence” Schweickart. Bass performance by Alex Amlie-Wolf

Fanart source: xamag.

Outstanding. This is one of my favorite songs on the album. It’s another fantastic combination of chiptune and more traditional instrumentation. There’s a few individual parts that I really like: the slap bass intro, the main chiptune hook, and the piano interlude that starts around the 2:20 mark.

And the track has great flow: all these segments are tied together cleanly. There’s no part of the song that doesn’t work well: just a solid, cheerful, driving energy throughout.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #9

beat-bro:

By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell and Astro Kid. Original “Crystalmanthequins” by Erik “Jit” Scheele, featuring the melody from “Crystalanthemums” by Alexander Rosetti

I liked this song’s predecessor (awesome instrumentation, awesome hook), but it felt a little rough around the edges: the opening is a little jarring, the siren kind of comes out of nowhere, and it lingers musically in places that seem a little odd. It feels a little like the middle of a song, rather than a whole composition.

This new version takes the best part of its source, and expands it into an excellent stand-alone track. The instrumentation is almost exactly the same: it’s only been re-arranged in a very effective manner. Parts that were jarring (like the intro) become smooth and ascending. Even the wailing siren finds a more effective spot in the melody.

It’s like taking an old, faithful car, and then souping it up with a supercharged big block, a new paint job, and a leather interior (complete with new car smell). I can’t complement this song enough.

And if I had to predict, of all the unfeatured tracks, which one had the best shot at being picked up for a Flash animation, I’d have to go with this one. This is my favorite unfeatured ‘sleeper’ track in the catalog.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #8

beat-bro:

Written by George Buzinkai, Arrangement by Michael Guy Bowman

The first really ‘epic’ end-of-act Flash track. It’s a great combination of chiptune (the main melody) and rock. It works brilliantly: it feels like neither a piece of video game music, nor a radio play. It’s something else entirely. Each verse adds a new layer, whether it’s an accent to the melody, a more elaborate drumbeat, or distorted power chords driving the anthem home. My top track for the album.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #7

beat-bro:

By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell, feat. belly dancing by Tavia Morra

I liked the original version of this song, but this remix takes it a few steps higher still. It eschews the more fast-paced middle section of Even in Death, aiming for a more mellow cadence throughout. The key and the bongo drums give it an Eastern sound, and the flighty, expressive violin lead is fantastic. Another one of my favorites.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #6

beat-bro:

By Erik “Jit” Scheele

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a sucker for simple piano refrains. This one fits that description to a letter. The track plays out gradually and thoughtfully. It’s an interesting choice at the end, too, letting the last couple of notes go unplayed.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #5

beat-bro:

By Various Artists. See the Bandcamp page for details.

Original fanart (used in the comic) by Lexxy.

Four excellent songs combined into one mind-blowing medley. It’s probably the most popular single track in the Homestuck catalog.

The four individual pieces are Cascade, Flare (reviewed here), Savior of the Dreaming Dead (reviewed here), and Black Hole / Green Sun (reviewed here). I’ve reviewed most of the four parts previously, so I’ll stick to the first part. There’s a ‘beta’ version of Cascade on this album as a bonus track, but I think that the final version turned out a bit more polished.

Once again that xylophone gets a heavy-duty workout in the intro. At about 1:33, there’s a really cool phaser or flanger effect on the lead guitar, a great improvement over the ‘beta’ version of Cascade featured later in the album. The ‘Cascade’ portion of the track varies from fast-paced to introspective.

Of all the music in the Homestuck library, this piece is probably the one you could best describe as a soundtrack, rather than a stand-alone composition. Parts of it were modified specifically to fit the Flash animation, but that doesn’t really hurt its quality as a track. Andrew Hussie described it a little more (as well as the production and content of Cascade, the Flash animation) in a series of Tumblr posts that you can find here.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #4

beat-bro:

By Malcolm Brown

To dust off a terribly stale, overused cliché, this song is a tour de force. It’s one of my top five favorites throughout the entire catalog.

The quality of the music is superb. Piano and xylophone kick it off, and if you turn it up loud, you can hear the dull, thudding, secondary impact of the piano key (or possibly the hammer against the piano string). It’s akin to hearing the valves opening and closing on a clarinet or a saxophone during a particularly quiet solo. If that’s sampled, there’s no way to tell: it is perfection.

This is the first song in the Homestuck library that I went and sought out. I blasted through the first several acts in two weeks or less when I first read the comic. I watched the Flashes in order, but the sound attached to them didn’t really stick until this song popped up. This is the track that forced me to take pause, to recognize that there’s something special about the soundtrack for this web comic.

I looked it up on YouTube to listen to it, to replay parts of it. I found myself asking questions about it. What was that familiar melody in the middle, when Lord English was rainbow-fricasseeing all of the ghosts? (it was Revelawesome). Haven’t I heard that haunting piano tune at the end of the Flash before? (Penumbra Phantasm strikes again). 

It led me to look backwards at earlier music: there was more value here than I initially gave it credit. I listened to music, bought albums, and now here I am, writer of a snarky blog all about the music. All catalyzed by this one track.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #3

beat-bro:

By Malcolm Brown

What an awesome, well-balanced combination of instrumentation. At its most basic level, it’s a duel between leads: chiptune, piano, electric guitar, string section, bass guitar. When one section takes over the main melody, parts of those prior leads add to the harmony.

A song like this could very easily feel stapled-together with so much variation, more like a medley than a single composition. Except for a rather abrupt break in the middle that adds a bit of character (and also proved helpful for the bifurcated Flash animation that features it), this track flows easily from one part to the next. It feels totally complete as a single piece. And to top it all off, the main hook is awesome, and it’s not overplayed or relied on too heavily. This is one of my favorite tracks in the library.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #2

Malcolm Brown described his thoughts on this song in a blog post a while back: go check it out!

beat-bro:

By Mark Hadley. Original (Homestuck Anthem) by Clark “Plazmataz” Powell

Absolutely superb. As I’ve mentioned previously, this is my favorite single track in the Homestuck catalog (to date, in any case).

An ethereal, mellow xylophone provides the main melody, backed by a reserved string section. A subtle harp counter-melody adds just the right amount of complexity: it’s a simple track, and is all the better for it. The second half of the song is more powerful, but this is accomplished austerely by adding deeper strings and doubling up on the main melody. The song evokes feelings of discovery, of new beginnings, of simple, childlike wonder.

In the flash animation (which kicks off Act 5 Act 2), certainly these themes make sense. As the viewers, we’re seeing John’s life in fast motion: his relationship with Dad, the first time he meets Jade, all kinds of poignant moments. Moments in a protagonist’s life, one whom we care about as a character.

Within the story, ironically, Karkat’s mind is racing in completely the opposite direction. His initial curiosity begins turning to anger, then to hate. In his own words, “IT IS A HATE SO PURE AND HOT IT WOULD CONSUME YOUR SAD UNDERDEVELOPED HUMAN THINK PAN TO EVEN CONTEMPLATE.” Watching Karkat get madder and madder forms a hilarious contrast to the viewer’s experience. It’s like seeing Sonny Corleone get shot… while Dream Weaver plays in the background. Well, that’s how Karkat would describe it, anyways.

TOP TRACK x50 COMBO: #1