October 2013

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.

By Sinister Psyche

Easily the most widely featured track from this album, it’s a cool jam: that distorted, industrial synth drives a rockin’ beat. It’s a little bit like Hate You in its general feel: light on top, but with a belligerent undercurrent (get it? it’s a fish pun!)

By DJ 最テー

Image source: Homestuck.

Karkat start thrashing up stunts something uncannybrutal on his quest for “MAD PALEMATES YO” and get this way rude clown under control. Shit is basically flying off the hook. It’s like shit wants nothing to do with that hook. The hook filed for divorce from that shit and is now seeking custody of the hook and the shit’s two kids.

Oh yeah, the song’s great, too. Heavy metal with a side of 80’s style thrash. It inspired me to look up some wicked flagrant quotes. Perfect for some rudebrazen wicked extreme shoosh-papping.

By repeatedScales

A futuristic techno tune (them Captors sure love their techno raves, it seems). These sort of techno tunes fall a little outside my own personal musical taste, but I can’t deny the energy and the complexity in a track like this.

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.

By DJ 最テー

What’s cool about this song is how it develops over time. It starts off with an antique marching band sort of feel (like something out of the Civil War or something), before kicking off with a little more depth in the horns. 

It takes a different turn in the second half, switching up the snare drum with something a little more synthetic. Near the end, it works in a little chiptune, before dropping back into that marching band feel.

By David “Dirtiest” Dycus

A playful Caribbean tune. I doubt it’s possible to make a song maudlin and brooding when you’re working with xylophone, woodblock and guiro.

By Yan “Nucleose” Rodriguez 

Acoustic guitar and flute: yeah, this is the perfect song for a showdown between Vriska and Tavros, only they’re in the American Southwest wearing cowboy hats, in a Mexican standoff with Eli Wallach for some reason.

Seriously, if you like this, go check out some Ennio Morricone, the undisputed king of the Italian western soundtrack. Metallica opens their shows with this (the first link, specifically). Specifically because it kicks ass.

By Frank Haught

Passive and atmospheric. The staticky, swishy percussion beat gives it a techno feel, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing that plays at troll-raves. It’s a cool jam (in a refrain-y, haunting sort of way, of course).

By Ray McDougall

Most of Vriska’s tunes are pretty intense. This is a nice change of pace. Strings, piano, and xylophone carry the melody. It’s introspective and miles-below-the-ocean calm. The chiptune and synth that starts around 2:30 is so subdued, you could swear it was just another instrument in the orchestra (probably played by Luigi and Sonic the Hedgehog, respectively).

By Plumegeist

Starts out almost operatic, like it has a story to tell. After that, it’s more whimsical than anything, driven by strung-out clarinet and staccato xylophone. It’s reminiscent of something Tchaikovsky might have written.

By Kera L. Jones

This album is jam-packed with excellent, classically-inspired music, and this track might be the purest out of all of them. If I didn’t have the credits right in front of me, I’d swear it was co-composed by Edvard Grieg and Pee Wee Herman.

On a heavier note, this song could fit right into a tense moment in an action movie. Or more appropriately perhaps, into the climax of a stage play.

By Gec

Chiptune drives it, but it’s that hostile backing rhythm that makes this song.

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.

By Marcus Carline. With Rachel St. Marseille (voice), Steve Blum (piano), Nicole Sequeira (bass), and Eric Hagstrom (drums)

When I heard this song the first time I dismissed it, which was a mistake. It’s done in the style of a 40’s lounge singer, with a jazz trio backing her up. I mentioned that techno’s a little bit outside of my own personal taste: this is way outside my usual playlist.

That being said, I like this. A lot. It’s smooth, and the vocals are fantastic. And it’s very, very clever. Read the lyrics if you get a chance.

By Samm Neiland

Just can’t get into it. The track serves its genre well, but pipe-organ hymns and unaccompanied Troll-Latin make for a tall order. The second half of the song is undeniably impressive, though.