niklink's own canwc voulem 1 commentary

1 files changed, 34 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/album/cool-and-new-voulem1.yaml b/album/cool-and-new-voulem1.yaml
index 5db2cb76..a6b26438 100644
--- a/album/cool-and-new-voulem1.yaml
+++ b/album/cool-and-new-voulem1.yaml
@@ -5,6 +5,15 @@ Cover Artists:
 URLs:
 - https://coolandnewwebcomic.bandcamp.com/album/cool-and-new-voulem-1
 Directory: cool-and-new-voulem1
+Commentary: |-
+    <i>Niklink:</i>
+    There's so much to be said about the absurd trajectory of the Cool and New Music Team, but I'll try to keep it short.
+
+    After the release of the incredible [[album:homestuck-vol-10]], which was a sort of epitaph to the official music team, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJWqqikd6S0">a Q&A stream was held with the musicians</a>. There was a bittersweet tinge to it, not just because of Homestuck's recent ending, but because they reflected on their artistic trajectories and how they had been musical amateurs that had been able to refine and hone their skill through the comic's run. To me at least they had always felt like inimitable performers, even if I'd always aspired to be as good as them or as the high-quality fan music that was being made at the time. But their encouraging talk about how they had progressed as artists over the years led to an idea formed right there, in the livestream chat. Why not make our <i>own</i> music team?
+    
+    A music team on our own terms, expressly as a practice vehicle, to create and release music without a care in the world as to whether it was good or bad or terrible? No shame, no hesitation, just for the hell of making Homestuck fanmusic, and maybe improving along the way. Cool and New Web Comic's popular but low-quality presentation was a natural fit. And the response was massive. It turned out many people felt the same way, or simply wanted to see what all the noise was about.
+
+    Only two weeks later, the newly-created Cool and New Music Team released a 50-track album. This is that album.
 ---
 Track: Cascante
 Duration: '3:05'
@@ -42,6 +51,9 @@ URLs:
 - https://coolandnewwebcomic.bandcamp.com/track/flarerererererere
 Referenced Tracks:
 - Flare
+Commentary: |-
+    <i>Niklink:</i>
+    The only piece of Homestuck fanmusic I had ever completed was this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AxgMI6451M">Famitracker remix of Flare</a>, but since at the time we were fully committing to the 'shitty music' idea, and a straight up transcription of a Homestuck track isn't particularly CaNWC-ish anyways, I ran it through a bunch of filters. Just to make sure no one accidentally liked it.
 ---
 Track: Showtime (piano a fine)
 Duration: '3:32'
@@ -208,6 +220,9 @@ URLs:
 Referenced Tracks:
 - Homestuck
 Directory: anthem-canv1
+Commentary: |-
+    <i>Niklink:</i>
+    It's depressingly common for collaborative fandom albums to run into trouble getting art delivered for all their tracks in time. I don't really blame them, drawing is hard enough without knowing that it's probably going to be playing second fiddle to the music anyways. But nevertheless I knew I could phone this one in without any artistic skill, so I took it off the un-arted song pile. The secret is: there's actually an online tool that generates Minecraft logo-style text.
 ---
 Track: Three in the Medley
 Duration: '3:58'
@@ -353,6 +368,9 @@ Cover Artists:
 - Niklink
 URLs:
 - https://coolandnewwebcomic.bandcamp.com/track/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
+Commentary: |-
+    <i>Niklink:</i>
+    This is just a SBaHJ panel with a bunch of filters run over it like a steamroller. I was aiming to emphasize the resemblance to 'The Scream'. I don't even remember what I did to that poor SBaHJ panel at this point, but I'm sure those emotions made their way into the final product.
 ---
 Track: rolercoasteng in SPACE!??!??
 Duration: '2:48'
@@ -365,6 +383,9 @@ URLs:
 Referenced Tracks:
 - RollerCoaster Tycoon Theme
 - Space Jam
+Commentary: |-
+    <i>Niklink:</i>    
+    When [[artist:o]] sent in his 'songs' in a surprise show of appreciation for our musical efforts, I immediately nabbed the art spots for them, because I wanted the 'honor', I guess. In any case, I'd say my skill at creating track art was roughly on par with o's skill at creating music, so I guess it worked out fine. You just don't get that kind of rail wobbliness from a lesser artist, you know.
 ---
 Track: ScArY roller coasteds!!
 Duration: '3:44'
@@ -376,6 +397,9 @@ URLs:
 - https://coolandnewwebcomic.bandcamp.com/track/suburbon-contdon
 Referenced Tracks:
 - RollerCoaster Tycoon Theme
+Commentary: |-
+    <i>Niklink:</i>
+    You know that old RollerCoaster Tycoon meme about MR BONES WILD RIDE? This is that, that's what this is. I also managed to sneak in a 720.
 ---
 Track: suburbon contdon
 Duration: '0:39'
@@ -465,6 +489,13 @@ Referenced Tracks:
 - THIS Pumpkin
 - Conclude
 - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
+Commentary: |-
+    <i>Niklink:</i>
+    I- ok. I can explain, okay?
+
+    This is an oblique reference to the album [[album:medium]]. When it was initially released, there was a lot of speculation, particularly on the MSPA Forums, around the idea of combining or layering the different tracks on the album to find cool mashups, particularly the matching song pairs for each Land. It was even implied that this was a specific musical choice by [[artist:clark-powell]], to make 'hidden' music (she immediately denied this, but it had no effect). Ultimately it culminated in the creation of 'Medium - Mega Mix', which was for all intents and purposes all eight tracks in the album sandwiched on top of one another into an ungodly sound wall, which was nevertheless positively received by fans. This worthless shitpost of a song is based on that phenomenon, as well as being a sort of 'tribute' to [[album:homestuck-vol-10]] which had after all been the insipration to establish CaNMT in the first place.
+
+    Also in a way, getting the obvious unfunny ear torture shitposts out of the way early on meant subsequent CaNMT musicians would be forced to innovate. So, in a sense, you're welcome?
 ---
 Track: dono't dsiturmpt plsthx
 Duration: '2:44'
@@ -716,3 +747,6 @@ Referenced Tracks:
 - Homestuck Anthem
 - Cascade (Beta)
 - Freefall
+Commentary: |-
+    <i>Niklink:</i>
+    Another art self-assignment, but I think it ended up alright. It's of course a SBaHJ-ified parody of the Homestuck 'title screen' flash with the adventure name, parallelling this song being intended to be CaNWC's counterpart to [[Homestuck]] and [[Homestuck Anthem]].
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