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| -rw-r--r-- | album/cherubim.yaml | 22 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-10.yaml | 16 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml | 13 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml | 29 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml | 10 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml | 40 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-7.yaml | 12 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-8.yaml | 48 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-9.yaml | 179 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml | 18 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido.yaml | 40 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/sburb.yaml | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/squiddles.yaml | 242 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/the-wanderers.yaml | 16 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | static-page/changelog.yaml | 1 |
16 files changed, 589 insertions, 107 deletions
diff --git a/album/cherubim.yaml b/album/cherubim.yaml index 260a33f8..846a62dc 100644 --- a/album/cherubim.yaml +++ b/album/cherubim.yaml @@ -250,11 +250,25 @@ Referenced Tracks: - Constant Confinement - Doctor Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> - I floated the idea for a UU + uu album last year in about June as a concept record divided in half with equal and analogous parts Calliope and Caliborn. While we really wanted to jump in and get to making more Homestuck music following Volume 9, we decided to wait and discover more of the two characters until December when Radiation re-organized the effort. He proposed the Jekyll / Hyde alternating pace of the album culminating in "Eternity Served Cold" and had the group split into pairs, each musician working with a partner on a track with the same themes and motifs. - I worked with Erik, who sent me the at-the-time unfinished Calliope composition "Constant Confinement" for me to base my Caliborn track around. Erik's track was so meditative, it was actually difficult to recognize the slow-paced woodwind melody over the course of the piece, which pulses onward without any strict meter. This melody had to be expanded upon a lot to match the pace of "Constant Conquest" - it actually flies by at breakneck pace in the first measure of the piece before settling into its groove. - Conquest in many ways resembles [[Ruins Rising]], another electronic track based around one of Erik's piano compositions. Like in my approach to "Ruins" I arranged the melody sparsely and created a very dense environment of drums and percussion sounds to convert Erik's pulse into a groove. Same input, same solution, although this time I went much, much heavier than ever before. I had a handful of different drum kits going all at once, each with unique effects chains, to create more of an ensemble sound than a clean dance beat. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + + I floated the idea for a UU + uu album last year in about June as a concept record divided in half with equal and analogous parts Calliope and Caliborn. While we really wanted to jump in and get to making more Homestuck music following [[album:homestuck-vol-9|Volume 9]], we decided to wait and discover more of the two characters until December when [[artist:toby-fox|Radiation]] re-organized the effort. He proposed the Jekyll / Hyde alternating pace of the album culminating in "Eternity Served Cold" and had the group split into pairs, each musician working with a partner on a track with the same themes and motifs. + + I worked with Erik, who sent me the at-the-time unfinished Calliope composition [[track:constant-confinement|"Constant Confinement"]] for me to base my Caliborn track around. Erik's track was so meditative, it was actually difficult to recognize the slow-paced woodwind melody over the course of the piece, which pulses onward without any strict meter. This melody had to be expanded upon a lot to match the pace of "Constant Conquest" - it actually flies by at breakneck pace in the first measure of the piece before settling into its groove. + + Conquest in many ways resembles [[track:ruins-rising|"Ruins Rising"]], another electronic track based around one of Erik's piano compositions. Like in my approach to "Ruins" I arranged the melody sparsely and created a very dense environment of drums and percussion sounds to convert Erik's pulse into a groove. Same input, same solution, although this time I went much, much heavier than ever before. I had a handful of different drum kits going all at once, each with unique effects chains, to create more of an ensemble sound than a clean dance beat. + What really sealed in the atmosphere of this track was the huge slather of pads that adorned the track, most of which were created using analog equipment. I fed the signal from an old Radio Shack keyboard with basic midi patches through a pawn shop guitar pedal to create the many layers of sound that fill the background. Some of the most excellent sounds on the track (especially that snarling synth at 2:57) were created by hammering the mod knobs and wah-wah pedal while playing atonal pitches. The result is distorted synth excellence. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1965), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + And then in the later years of the comic... 2013 was my final actual production that was a contribution to it. I did Constant Conquest, another piece of work with Erik. I took the Caliborn side of it and Erik took the Calliope side of it. Erik wrote the Calliope theme first, Constant Confinement, and I took the theme from that and decided to just go... real crazy industrial with it. + + You know, it's so hard when so many villains have already been introduced! You know, you've got Jack Noir, and Lord English, and all these other characters that are already in the mix - and they're already all dangerous, and now you're four years in, and you have a new villain, and you have to like, heighten that much further than the previous ones. You know, a bit of a Dragon Ball Z style problem. + + This was the only piece I actually used Logic Pro to write. I had switched over to Logic Pro at the time. I used a whole new palette of sounds, and played with all kinds of new effects chains, I found it way easier to edit the piece... I had pedals that I had used for my live performances. That was fresh off the year where I had made my live debut (laughs) - I had gone to South by Southwest and I'd had a little band involve Marcy Nabors, Erik Scheele, Clark Powell, and Riki Tsuji, and we had done a backyard show, and a show at the Velveeta Room, where we performed stuff from Mobius Trip, other Homestuck music that we could figure out how to get arranged, and stuff from my second solo album, Ithaca. So I had all this leftover equipment from that crazy adventure, and played with, you know, running the keyboards and guitars and stuff through wahs and distortions and just created this great little crunchy mess. + + I even brought in Buzinkai's [[Doctor]] for two seconds because, you know, at this point, Doctor was in so many remixes and references and revisitations, that it was fine for me to take it for the first - and only! - time, and do it in this, ah, totally out of tune, random vignette. Just to say, there, there's my Doctor remix. Y'a happy? --- Track: The Lyrist Artists: diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-10.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-10.yaml index 1e90dc70..ec7b6401 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-10.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-10.yaml @@ -146,6 +146,14 @@ Commentary: |- Album managed by [[artist:robert-j-lake]] with help from [[artist:marcy-nabors]] and [[artist:james-roach]].<br> Booklet designed and assembled by [[artist:robert-j-lake]].</i> + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=2342), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + And then, uh, the project shifted, quite a bit! We stopped releasing albums regularly, there was, you know, several hiatuses - a shift in the way that the work was made. I would have wished that the, you know, intense period of like, releasing music in 2011, had gotten to go on. Because, I think there was always a demand for it. If the comic couldn't be updated at the breakneck crazy pace it was being updated consistently, we were more than hungry enough to continue running our weird little cyberlabel. + + We didn't do another Homestuck volume until a fan volume that was being organized eventually was realized as a real album, that became Homestuck Volume 10. + + *(Continued in [[track:solar-voyage]])* + <i>Homestuck:</i> ([Bandcamp credits blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20160612161939/https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/homestuck-vol-10)) [[artist:seth-peelle|Seth "Beatfox” Peelle]]<br> @@ -866,6 +874,14 @@ Commentary: |- <i>slogbait:</i> (track artist) ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=2389), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + *(Continued from [[album:homestuck-vol-10|album commentary]])* + + My only real addition there was Solar Voyage. I didn't do any of the production for it, but Solar Voyage, which I think was coordinated by Marcy Nabors, was based on something we had put together at that South by Southwest show. We took [[track:ruins|Ruins]], [[Explore]], and [[Flare]], and we mashed it up into one giant medley. + + We really loved that one, and even though I didn't personally oversee getting that one produced, I was really glad that that one got organized and put on Volume 10. 'Cause, you know, that was one of that few IRL collaborations that we actually did together. I would have wished we could have done more with that. There weren't the resources to, you know, permanently do a Homestuck band or something, but the chance to, you know, really bring it out in person, and have cosplayers be there and listen to the stuff we made, was so cool. --- Track: Feel (Alive) Artists: diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml index e419c729..b0c00a1c 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml @@ -60,7 +60,12 @@ Referenced Tracks: - Harlequin Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + The rock version of "Harlequin" sure made a scene, blasting through people's speakers as the background music for the Green Slime Ghost pogo game. Joseph nails the tough bits along with some sweet harmonics on the chorus. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=626), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Oh, the rock version of [[Harlequin]]. That was such a cool deal. That was I think one of the first really collab-y things I did, where it was like, "hey, let's work with multiple sources, let's take this person's piece" - that was a [[artist:mark-j-hadley|Mark Hadley]] composition - "let's take that and let's arrange it some other way," and we got live guitar on that one - not my playing, but, y'know, better than I could have done that quickly. I think it's so funny that when it comes through the speakers, it's just, *so* stupidly loud... it just blasts you with energy. --- Track: Skaian Dreams (Remix) Additional Names: @@ -176,6 +181,14 @@ Commentary: |- I think putting together all these collab tracks really early on helped build the culture of the forum. There was this sense that what [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] was attempting to do was to build a studio of musicians whose work would cross pollinate. There were guys like [[artist:malcolm-brown|Malcolm]] and [[artist:mark-j-hadley|Mark]] and [[artist:seth-peelle|Seth]] and [[artist:bill-bolin|Bill]] whose work was ready to go on its own. So I worked with them less and was more interested in people like [[artist:nick-smalley|Nick]] or [[artist:buzinkai|George]] whose work was less arranged. And I wanted to work with musicians who could bring their own playing to the work so I leaned on [[artist:fenris|Fenris]] and [[artist:joseph-aylsworth|Joe Aylsworth]]. I don't think I knew just how "all in one" digital production was until I saw how quickly someone like Mark Hadley would turn out new hs music. It was competitive quickly. I guess my father being deeply anti-electronic music was a big influence. I wanted to work with musicians to qualify some reality to the work. To me it's very sexy to imagine the power of the ensemble. Composition might just be putting the right musicians in the room. So I practiced a lot more collaboration early on. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=662), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Explore was one of Buzinkai's pieces. RIP, of course. + + Chip music ended up having such an important role in this comic. I was never like, a big chiptune person - I didn't have the same dedication to trying to work with the hardware emulation that a lot of people did, and the handful of times I did chip music, I just faked it using the 3x oscillator within FL Studio. What I felt I could do, was to approach it - y'know, 'cause I'm always trying to think of it like it's something being produced in a studio, even [if it's] a simulated one within software - was to pad it out and put drums behind it, and find a way to make it more than just a loop, but something that progresses, once again. So I put the simulated drum sounds, the simulated guitars on that, and created this big ch-ch-ch rising scope to it. + + I only mention it with, you know, humility, that we had so much to work with because of Buzinkai. Including [[Doctor]], and [[Endless Climb]]... they were drawing a lot from Cave Story and the soundtrack to that game, which was such an inspiration for a lot of people. I was just glad to have something to contribute to that piece of inspiration, which I think maybe came closer to the grove, on what Homestuck - and anything that's sort of, like, a retro "let's revive the aesthetics of classic Nintendo gaming..." all that sort of thing, is about. --- Track: Guardian Bandcamp Track ID: 2586232115 diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml index 66872123..cc3fa6ea 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml @@ -184,7 +184,12 @@ MIDI Project Files: - 'Ohgodwhat Remix - Unknown.mid' Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> - The remix of Nick's "Ohgodwhat" is a terrifying little affair - that I even made it mystifies me. + + The remix of Nick's [[track:ohgodwhat|"Ohgodwhat"]] is a terrifying little affair - that I even made it mystifies me. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=751), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] did us a little favor around that time, by creating interactive elements that he could use to include otherwise unused music. So first, there was [[flash:338|Dave's beat maker]], and then later [[flash:830|the FreshJamz player]], where I had mixed [[Ohgodwhat]] done as a remix with all kinds of goofy stuff added on. --- Track: Rediscover Fusion Bandcamp Track ID: 2051130741 @@ -246,9 +251,16 @@ Sheet Music Files: - 'Chorale for Jaspers - Zephyr.pdf' Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> - My signature efforts from this album, of course, are "Chorale for Jaspers" and its corollary (or chorale-ary?) "Pony Chorale". They were the first two Homestuck tracks to feature vocals with me as the cat and Tavia as Maplehoof - for this I am proud. - ([Twitter](https://twitter.com/mguybowman/status/1669411378359328771)) - Got a message asking if "Chorale for Jaspers" is based on "[Time Is Running Out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URYhXY5R0rQ)" by Muse and now I cannot unhear it. + + My signature efforts from this album, of course, are "Chorale for Jaspers" and its corollary (or chorale-ary?) [[track:pony-chorale|"Pony Chorale"]]. They were the first two Homestuck tracks to feature vocals with me as the cat and Tavia as Maplehoof - for this I am proud. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Twitter](https://twitter.com/mguybowman/status/1669411378359328771), 6/15/2023) + + Got a message asking if "Chorale for Jaspers" is based on ["Time Is Running Out"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URYhXY5R0rQ) by Muse and now I cannot unhear it. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=770), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Oh, the Chorale for Jaspers - I don't know if it's a perfect chorale, but I did draw a little bit from basic music theory classes I took in high school, to make something that's, you know, got a little bit of a shared four-part thing, in like a pseudo-Bach kind of style. I think I might have broken the harmony a little bit with the descending meows on that. I did break one taboo that we had established, real early on, which was that there were going to be no voices in the comic. There was going to be no person doing any of the character voices, there was going to be no singing, and - right away - I managed to just do something stupid enough that [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] took it and ran with it and made a big exception for me. --- Track: Pony Chorale Bandcamp Track ID: 1771864197 @@ -277,4 +289,11 @@ MIDI Project Files: - 'Pony Chorale - Twix Stix.mid' Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> - My signature efforts from this album, of course, are "Chorale for Jaspers" and its corollary (or chorale-ary?) "Pony Chorale". They were the first two Homestuck tracks to feature vocals with me as the cat and Tavia as Maplehoof - for this I am proud. + + My signature efforts from this album, of course, are [[track:chorale-for-jaspers|"Chorale for Jaspers"]] and its corollary (or chorale-ary?) "Pony Chorale". They were the first two Homestuck tracks to feature vocals with me as the cat and Tavia as Maplehoof - for this I am proud. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=770), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + And of course, on Pony Chorale, the little [[flash:pony|secret page]] where Rose is riding on Maplehoof I guess, we snuck in a little "neigh" in there as well. + + I was a big fan of KC Green and [Gunshow](https://gunshowcomic.com), that was another webcomic that was going at the time, and I remember going to an independent press expo in Austin that was called "Staple!". KC Green happened to be there; I don't know if he was promoting anything, or if he was just hanging out. I touched base with him briefly and he said that was his *favorite* thing from Homestuck, which, uh, I'll feel free to brag about, because... y'know. I loved that comic when it came out, and I can't believe he was, like, that into the pony music. (laugh) diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml index fae40334..6a34e4ee 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml @@ -273,6 +273,16 @@ Commentary: |- it was probably the first "full" song written for the project, [[artist:andrew-hussie|andrew]] told us to do loops at the beginning thinking all the flashes would be loops. [[track:sburban-jungle-brief-mix|the short version]] was written as a loop, but then the loading screen ended. i wrote out a "full" version to give it a tag and andrew loved it so much he decided to sit on it, so the full version was ready to go as early as August 2009 but didn't end up [[flash:1149|in the comic]] until 2010 + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=405), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + So, the first major piece I worked on that ended up being used in the comic was Sburban Jungle. [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] had wanted something that sounded like music from SimCity 4. He had linked us to this piece called [Epicenter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8HW5agFwUY), and said, "I want something that sounds a bit like this," and he specifically focused on the marimba breakdown in the middle of it. And, it had kind of a pulsing beat, and sort of this evolving, atmospheric thing going on. + + I was at my computer, at the time he posted it, seeing the speed at which people were working, where they were like, seeing these little requests on this forum, where we'd just kind of talk with him. I was like, oh yeah, I gotta sit down and *immediately* make something, 'cause like, Andrew's style of working is to pick the first good thing, really. You know, he doesn't want to dwaddle. He could only really make that comic as quickly as he did because he had a philosophy that's sort of, like, I think kind of an improv philosophy of like - go with the first idea that isn't so bad you go *eugh,* you know, and sometimes even go with a bad idea and see if by decorating it, you can make it a good one. I knew that the gauntlet was thrown and that if I didn't make something, like, right away, it might not happen. + + And I sat down in FL Studio, on my terrible Dell laptop that I had had to uninstall Windows Vista from and put Windows XP on because it was so buggy and bad, and immediately got around to composing a piece that involved looping... xylophone. I think I was drawing a bit from the kinds of music I'd studied in percussion, actually. Anyway, what I ended up writing was [[track:sburban-jungle-brief-mix|about a minute of material]] - it was like, the first thing that got posted that night. I think it might have taken, like, an hour or two of, you know, feverish "let's just get something in there and figure out", and he immediately liked it, and was like, "This is what I'm going to use," and within days, it was in [[flash:137|the loading screen for SBURB]], with the spirograph and the graphics and I was just like, pleased as a peach. It was, like, one of those moments where it transitioned from comedy to an epic. + + Sburban Jungle was so clearly necessary to expand upon, and I went ahead and just wrote the full thing out, you know, with the big bridge, with the piano breakdown and all that stuff, just to see what would happen. Because, actually, the main emphasis was going to be on loops, originally - we thought that everything that appeared in the comic was just going to be a piece of looping media, the idea that he was going to do full animations, with a beginning, middle and end, that wasn't in the scope of the project yet. Finishing out Sburban Jungle and saying, like, "now *here's* something that could progress from start to finish, and stand on its own," motivated him to later bring it back at [[flash:1149|the end of Act 3]] as this big moment. And that's what ended up happening, with a lot of the project, is [that] people said, you know, "let's move away from just doing loops, and let's also focus on full-length pieces." Everybody just started working that much harder, as we saw that Andrew was willing to do that kind of thing. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([YouTube description](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP6916yGx6c), excerpt) The theme song of #Homestuck, first appearing as [[track:sburban-jungle-brief-mix|an excerpt]] on [[flash:137|page 137]] and then later in full on page 1149 ([[flash:1149]]). The full song was originally released by What Pumpkin on [[album:homestuck-vol-4]] on April 13, 2010. diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml index a83af975..7a1e15a2 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml @@ -71,7 +71,13 @@ Commentary: |- This pretty much imploded with the [[flash:1149|end of Act 3]], when Andrew informed us all that he was going to cut back on the animations after spending a week working on the accompanying animation for [[Sburban Jungle]] day and night on end. Since then, the focus has drifted to various new sectors which I guess will just have to be a surprise to all of you. Either way, consider the new album an outlet for you to sample music inspired by and written for Homestuck and as a chance to support this new community that Andrew has shepherded. - <i>Lexxy:</i> (cover artist & booklet editor, [DeviantArt](https://www.deviantart.com/lexxercise/art/Homestuck-Vol-5-167501453)) + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1081), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + *(Continued from [[track:how-do-i-live-bunny-back-in-the-box-version]])* + + That was one of the pieces that was on Homestuck Volume 5. By that point, people were really starting to cross-polenate - the musicians were talking to each other a lot more. [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] was bold enough to say like, hey, y'know, you've all written so much music that's probably never going to be used in the comic because there's more of it than he actually needs at the rate he can produce animations... Let's just say, all these albums are like, standalone expansions upon the concept. Let's not limit it to this [[album:midnight-crew-drawing-dead|"fake band"]] idea. So, suddenly, the albums go from like ten tracks lasting twenty minutes or so, to like, this fifty track monster. *(Caption in post: "71 tracks, actually")* So that was like, a cool shift for us, that suddenly created a lot of creative freedom, and kind of - had us starting to think, you know, this is more than just a little soundtrack, it's kind of a little label. + + <i>Lexxy:</i> (cover artist & booklet editor, [DeviantArt](https://www.deviantart.com/lexxercise/art/Homestuck-Vol-5-167501453), 6/13/2010) On Wednesday this past week, I was offered the task of illustrating the album cover for the Homestuck Vol. 5 Soundtrack, and this is a preview of the result! Since this album is a whopping *71 tracks long,* featuring a wealth of unreleased original songs as well as remixes and the latest [S] tracks, I decided to go the extra mile and produce a small PDF album insert with a full track list of each song title and its artist. The images shown here are the wraparound illustration that makes up the front and back covers and a modified version of the background that was faded to put behind the inner pages. @@ -85,7 +91,7 @@ Commentary: |- (Check out the [Vol. 5 Anthology Presentation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyxgBfhPEG8) for an awesome animated showing of the anthology art and original tracks!) - <i>allyssinian:</i> (anthology announcement, [Tumblr](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/154730733932/vol5anthology-homestuck-vol-5-track-fan-art), excerpt) + <i>allyssinian:</i> (anthology announcement, [Tumblr](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/154730733932/vol5anthology-homestuck-vol-5-track-fan-art), excerpt, 12/20/2016) Homestuck Vol. 5 Track Fan Art: Call for Artists! @@ -95,11 +101,11 @@ Commentary: |- The final deliverable will be a free downloadable file of all the images. Because of issues with copyright, this is an unpaid fan project, but we hope you enjoy participating all the same! - <i>Vol. 5 Track Art Anthology:</i> ([Tumblr set #2](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159528808107/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #3](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159531042667/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #4](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159533259415/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #5](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159535479078/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #6](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159537863827/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #7](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159540270055/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #8](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159542834944/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have)) + <i>Vol. 5 Track Art Anthology:</i> ([Tumblr set #2](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159528808107/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #3](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159531042667/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #4](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159533259415/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #5](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159535479078/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #6](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159537863827/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #7](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159540270055/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), [set #8](https://vol5anthology.tumblr.com/post/159542834944/hey-everyone-its-413-and-that-means-we-have), 4/13/2017) Hey everyone! It’s 4/13, and that means we have the official release for the Vol. 5 Anthology Fan Anthology! Please enjoy the hard work of all the lovely artists who participated. - <i>Sollay:</i> (anthology team, [Tumblr](https://sollay-b.tumblr.com/post/188094230423/hello-a-couple-of-years-ago-allyssinian), excerpt) + <i>Sollay:</i> (anthology team, [Tumblr](https://sollay-b.tumblr.com/post/188094230423/hello-a-couple-of-years-ago-allyssinian), excerpt, 10/2/2019) Hello! A couple of years ago, [[artist:allyssinian|@allyssinian]], [[artist:cityinthesea|@cityinthesea]] and I (but first of all ally, lest we forget) gathered a large group of artists to draw the missing art of Volume 5, but the collective download link is no longer up and none of us has access to the official Tumblr account anymore, so I’m making this post now to share a new one! @@ -348,9 +354,13 @@ Art Tags: Referenced Tracks: - Chorale for Jaspers Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (co-composer) Radiation, or [[artist:toby-fox|Toby]] as I've never actually had the chance to refer to him, sent me his midi arrangement of Happy Cat Song, a sort of lighthearted version of [[track:chorale-for-jaspers|Chorale for Jaspers]], so I loaded VSTs for each part and balanced it, along with adding a "meow" sample in for good measure. The effect of it reminds [[artist:tavia-morra|Tavia]] of arriving in a village in "final fantasy or chrono cross or something and it's initially all peaceful and then by the end of the game it's totally raped and pillaged." So the calm before the storm then? MEOW + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (co-composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1200), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + There was another, like, twenty second *(Caption in post: 35 seconds)* Toby Fox-produced [[Chorale for Jaspers]] that was called "Happy Cat Song!" - I really only set that into the program, into FL Studio, and chose the synth patches for it, like, hardly anything else. I think he expected me to go somewhere with it, and... I was just like... I don't know what to do with it. So, twenty seconds, somehow ended up on an album! --- Track: Hardchorale Artists: @@ -379,6 +389,10 @@ Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) Harchorale was another [[track:chorale-for-jaspers|Chorale]] arrangement by Alexander and Toby for which I contributed more vocals. The morning after I recorded the yelping and yowling for this arrangement, I received an ultimatum from my apartment complex, saying that if they ever received another noise complaint they would evict us so hard we would probably go blind. I know [[artist:richard-gung|Richard]] has footage of me recording this somewhere, so I'll surely post it when I find it. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1184), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Hardchorale! They arranged out a heavier version of [[Chorale for Jaspers]], and were like, "can you contribute meows to this?" and I was like, sure! I got a noise complaint from my neighbors because, I think I'd left all the windows open. I was just screaming. (laughs) Whoops on that. --- Track: An Unbreakable Union Artists: @@ -1121,6 +1135,12 @@ Commentary: |- Also, [[artist:joseph-aylsworth|Joseph]], who recorded the guitar on [[track:harlequin-rock-version|harlequin]], was missing, and when I solicited an awesome guitar solo, Nick responded out of the blue… And was the only response… So I used that I don't think anyone's ever seen from Joseph again + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1011), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + How Do I Live was another glaring exception to the "no vocals" rule. I think that was another one where I knew it would make [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] laugh, so I went for it, even if it wasn't really what was called for. But, I knew that he had a special fascination with Con Air. I, on a whim, made the How Do I Live track, done, y'know, stupidly and sarcastically and with this idea that "I'll do it dumb just to do it," and... (laughs) I think I might have tried a little harder. + + And I realized, y'know, how far How Do I Live was going to go. As the cosplay and convention scene for the comic built up, we saw, y'know, videos of people showing up to places where Andrew was tabling, and singing at him. *(Caption in post: "please send me this if you can find it")* When they're performing it in large groups of people in costumes, I'm hearing the notes I sang come out, rather than the notes that were on the original recording, and that was, like... one of those surreal things where it was like, oh my god, I can't believe who this has reached! I could tell that Andrew hated having people sing at him. No regrets there, a lot of fun. --- Track: Dupliblaze COMAGMA Artists: @@ -1260,7 +1280,7 @@ Commentary: |- This one is really hardly me, honest, it's all [[artist:michael-guy-bowman|Bowman]]. [[track:ruins|Ruins]] was this piano recording I'd put up back when I still hardly knew how to record anything, and then Bowman just went and added magic to it. And the piano track, that's just another one of those "improvisations out of nowhere", no real purpose or theory-thinking beforehand to delegate anything to it. Especially the descending-thirds, no way I could have just thought about that and been like "Yes that is a good thing to be doing", it was just spur of the moment thinking. - <i>Erik Scheele:</i> (co-composer, [Tumblr](https://erikscheele.tumblr.com/post/21217208124/ruins), excerpt) + <i>Erik Scheele:</i> (co-composer, [Tumblr](https://erikscheele.tumblr.com/post/21217208124/ruins), excerpt, 4/16/2012) [[track:ruins|Ruins]] was one of the first things I contributed to the music forum after getting on the team, a small improvisation based around descending seconds which was made back when I still had no idea how to record things properly. Since Earth was kind of a gigantic wasteland planet at that point (and it still is, today), I conceptually tied my recording in with that, and called it Ruins. @@ -1278,6 +1298,10 @@ Commentary: |- Really, the track should probably be listed simply as "Ruins" if not for the fact that there is not official piano rendition of the piece. I think it would be really cool to hear such a version of the tune if Jit ever found himself recording material in a studio again (as he did for [[artist:james-dever|James's]] piano suite [[album:sburb|Sburb]]). + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1139), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + I also arranged strings for a piece by Erik Scheele, which was called "Ruins". He had submitted [[track:ruins|Ruins]] to the forum, and I said, well, here's my, you know, decoration - my production on top of it, I said, this is Ruins *with strings,* and for whatever reason it was just published on the album as as, you know, "Ruins" - in parentheses - "(With Strings)". Which, I was just like, *yeah,* it's really just Ruins... but you know... whatever. And I like that it had that Myst-like interactive element that went with it. That felt like something that touched home for me. I'm already a big Myst fan, and I would have loved to be somebody making music for Cyan, and so it was sort of a fulfilment of that dream. + <i>ghostpressure:</i> (anthology artist, [Tumblr](https://ghostpressure.tumblr.com/post/159560433261/my-contribution-for-the-volume-5-anthology-ruins)) my contribution for the volume 5 anthology, ruins with strings, plus sketches for Drama. this was fun and everyones stuff turned out so great its a really good collection!! @@ -1803,6 +1827,10 @@ Commentary: |- "Greenhouse", of course, is the easy winner amongst the tracks I contributed. I think the spontaneity is what makes it really work - I just wrote it as I recorded each little piece. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1129), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Homestuck Volume 5, I did Greenhouse, which was dedicated to the location that Jade Harley lived in. + <i>creepyknees:</i> (anthology artist, [Tumblr](https://creepyknees.tumblr.com/post/159546453749/a-testament-to-jades-living-space-my-piece-in)) > *“a testament to jade’s living space”* diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml index 1eacadac..53aca8a1 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml @@ -395,6 +395,10 @@ Commentary: |- Did the bedroom really need a new coat of paint then and there? Could it not have waited? Guess I just don't know hospitality. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1324), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - (scoff) I was, like... totally high on paint fumes when I recorded that one. I think I would have liked, [[track:how-do-i-live-bunny-back-in-the-box-version|once again]], to have tried a little harder to do it, like, *well,* instead of just sarcastically do it. But, I liked kind of making fun of the dramatics of the Aerosmith recording. I liked weaving in all the other little themes on that. I kind of did a light remaster, [when I went to the Requiem Café](https://youtu.be/QzF-zd-C0K0?t=3139), I dug through my junky computer and found all the stems and went, oh, my god, I would never do it like that today! --- Track: MeGaLoVania Directory: MeGaLoVania diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-7.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-7.yaml index 3cce8c2e..0fec4c6b 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-7.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-7.yaml @@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ Commentary: |- Volume 7 is pretty self explanatory. Contains many songs from the story, plus a bunch of other great new ones. I say this every time, but this is now the best HS volume. AND IT KEEPS BEING TRUE EVERY TIME I SAY IT. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1684), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + At the same time that [[album:mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido|Mobius Trip & Hadron Kaleido]] came out, we released Homestuck Volume 7. That summer of 2011 was so cool because we were in full swing releasing one of these cool spinoff albums, and one of these compilation albums, like, every month. So we were operating on the capacity of an independent label, and like, really killing it. I would have loved to see that continue. + <i>Homestuck:</i> ([Bandcamp credits blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20110603145524/https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/homestuck-vol-7-at-the-price-of-oblivion)) Music by:<br> @@ -486,6 +490,10 @@ Sheet Music Files: - Title: Modernized notation by Diminutive Calvin Files: - 'Warhammer of Zillyhoo - Diminutive Calvin (modernized).pdf' +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1711), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Let's see. On Homestuck Volume 7, Warhammer of Zillyhoo - I think it started as a non-canon Problem Sleuth page and somehow spun its way into the canon of Homestuck. That was, of course, [[flash:3679|the page]] where he bothered to lip-sync John Egbert's lips to mine. Somehow, once again, we broke the rules, and there's voice acting involved, which there was never supposed to be. Y'know, you can take it as maybe like a, like, well, it's a fantasy, or it's what John's *imagining* himself doing. Y'know, it's not like I ever did it again. But, you know, one more brag for me, I guess. --- Track: Savior of the Dreaming Dead Artists: @@ -526,6 +534,10 @@ Cover Art File Extension: jpg Art Tags: - Rose - Maplehoof +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1754), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Oh, Maplehoof's Adventure. I don't know what attracts me to the dumb pony music so much, but, you know, knowing [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] and his obsession with the horse paintings and Humanimals, I figure it's just par for the course. --- Track: Sburban Reversal Artists: diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-8.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-8.yaml index 547500c4..ed84aecf 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-8.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-8.yaml @@ -152,7 +152,11 @@ Commentary: |- The countdown sample is from a NASA recording, I believe it's the launch of Apollo 11. - <i>Tavia Morra:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt) + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1809), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Okay, Homestuck Volume 8. Calamity. Awesome tune. I don't know what else to say about that. I thought [[track:walk-stab-walk-r-and-e|Walk-Stab-Walk]] was a cool contribution from Erik, and I just wanted to create something that wove that and the honking and all that, and build up to this big showdown moment between Karkat and Gamzee that never happened! You know, we were all just guessing at what [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] was gonna do next. And sometimes we got it, and sometimes we got it wrong. But at least we got this epic piece of music out of it, huh? + + <i>Tavia Morra:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt, 10/28/2011) I had a lot of fun working on Calamity which gave me an opportunity to adapt a very classic Marvel comic book style to Homestuck. My favorite part of the piece is the small touch in Karkat’s eyes where the background shows through, coloring them. As [[artist:michael-guy-bowman|Bowman]] worked on Calamity I was developing the composition for the art. [[flash:4085|The moment when Karkat and Gamzee lunge at each other]] got my heart racing in the sheer epic-ness of the sight. It had to be the track art. --- @@ -381,6 +385,10 @@ Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, Bowmantown Discord, excerpt, 8/20/2017) I was inspired by [[artist:mark-j-hadley|Mark Hadley]] announcing that he had a baby on the way + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1837), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Ocean Stars Falling - I liked Mark Hadley's [[Ocean Stars]]. I thought it was this incredible little moody thing, and taking it in kind of this indie rock direction was cool. --- Track: Escape Pod Artists: @@ -405,6 +413,10 @@ Commentary: |- The track also pulls a lot from actual rock music - the Roxy Music track ["Street Life"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_dTFdRAvN0) was a big cue here, and the start-stop structure on the second chorus was really inspired by Tally Hall's track ["Greener"](https://youtu.be/8sV1EOJQTEI) of which the effect can only be described in exotic dance. I really wanted to pull out the stops on this one and make it catchy as hell, but apparently the [[track:ocean-stars-falling|two]] [[track:davesprite|tracks]] book-ending it on Volume 8 steal its thunder. What more can be said about it? This is about as totally poppy (or perhaps J-poppy) as I get. Compared to stuff like [[track:greenhouse|"Greenhouse"]] and [[track:squiddle-samba|"Squiddle Samba"]] this track is right up my alley. It in contrast with some of the other stuff that I've made appearing on the very same album (the minimalist piece [[track:gust-of-heir|"Gust of Heir"]] which I collaborated on with [[artist:james-dever|James Dever]] comes to mind) you'll see that I can go just as far in the saccharine direction as I can into the abstract. For me range has always been an asset I've felt was important to nurture, so with Volume 8 I set the pace for my work ethic on [[album:ithaca|Ithaca]] in terms of never settling to have "found my sound" no matter how well any one idea works. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1849), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + God, I'm just looking at the list of stuff that was on that record. Escape Pod - with Homestuck Volume 8, it was almost like I, uh, said, you know, it's the eighth volume, so I'm going to write eight songs! *(Caption in post: "I only got to 7")* --- Track: Davesprite Artists: @@ -452,19 +464,19 @@ Referenced Tracks: Sampled Tracks: - Amen, Brother Commentary: |- - <i>Tavia Morra:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt) + <i>Tavia Morra:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt, 10/28/2011) So, Volume 8 came out and I did art for four of the tracks [one of which might look familiar](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/10881819098/thought-they-looked-rather-nice-together). *(contined below)* - <i>Tavia Morra:</i> ([Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/10881819098/thought-they-looked-rather-nice-together)) + <i>Tavia Morra:</i> ([Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/10881819098/thought-they-looked-rather-nice-together), 10/1/2011) <img src="media/misc/airtime-original-designs.png" width="300"> Thought they looked rather nice together! - <i>Tavia Morra:</i> ([Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt) + <i>Tavia Morra:</i> ([Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt, 10/28/2011) *(continued from above)* @@ -495,7 +507,11 @@ Commentary: |- The point of this song was to kind of put the action, the drama, and all that teenage chemistry on hold so I could focus on a moment in the story that might be just a little bit more peaceful. Going on a safari for frogs on a newly-awakened alien forest world seems to beckon a very different angle than the heated stakes typically associated with Homestuck. Plus, I've always felt that the environment of Homestuck deserves a little more attention given that nearly 99% of all art generated by the fans are homages to their favorite characters and not the fantastic places imagined by [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]]. - <i>Tavia Morra:</i> (track arist, [Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt) + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1864), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Frog Hunt was atmospheric and kind of based on, like, a weather report. + + <i>Tavia Morra:</i> (track arist, [Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt, 10/28/2011) Frog Hunt was, like [[Calamity]], one of the more challenging pieces since I opted for a much cleaner (And much more Disney) look for the piece. I totally saw Jade and Dave on the frog hunt, dressing for the part as adventurers and explorers. Jade, in her excitement, may have dragged Dave through a couple of bushes and thorned plants. --- @@ -784,7 +800,7 @@ Cover Artists: Art Tags: - John Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (co-composer) Two of the tracks I put on Volume 8 were collaborations with other Homestuck musicians, something I've been meaning to do more of because two heads are usually better than one. The first of the two was "Gust of Heir", a track that James Dever wrote and for which I did the production. @@ -793,6 +809,12 @@ Commentary: |- Anyway, I knew right away where James was coming from when he sent me a midi demo of "Gust of Heir" though originally it was arranged as a piano solo. Without access to a pro recording situation as on the [[album:sburb|Sburb]] piano suite, we knew there would have to be an alternate solution, hence the electronic approach. I played pretty heavily with a set of new sounds, specifically the soundfonts of Ethan Winer, an audio professional whose work was recommended by [[artist:toby-fox|Radiation]] a good while back. As I have on many occasions I took cues from [Oblique Strategies](http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/) to get some ideas for the arrangement. Part of the intrigue in producing this piece was that it was fully written, meaning that in some ways I was boxed-in to a complete journey for the song to take musically yet in others free to really explore and discover a unique sound for the song. I really played toggling a slew of effects until this tune became rendering hell for my computer. I stepped a bit outside my own range of comfort and got some drum loops from [[artist:clark-powell|Clark Powell]] to really polish off the piece, adding a touch that otherwise would probably have eluded me. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (co-composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1872), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + [James] was, ah, such a huge fan of Philip Glass, and we really connected on that. Gust of Heir was me taking a MIDI, I think, that he'd written, and setting that to some electronics, and I just thought it was so cool that somebody else got the appeal of that kind of composition style. + + *(Continued in [[album:sburb]])* --- Track: Afraid of the Darko Artists: @@ -819,7 +841,7 @@ Cover Artists: Referenced Tracks: - Even in Death Commentary: |- - <i>Tavia Morra:</i> ([Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt) + <i>Tavia Morra:</i> ([Tumblr](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/12054861967/homestuck-volume-8-track-art), excerpt, 10/28/2011) This one has a bit of a story behind it.<br> I am a belly dancer and most mornings I make it a point to drill choreography and fundamentals. At first I was drilling to [some](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1BG8NspIOM) [dance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTx3G6h2xyA) [music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfvIE2pVn3w) to get my blood going, [slowed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPQWYrq6LSs) [things](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCVJ-uoGOAY) [down](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcofrLg1GxI), then moved to some [more traditional music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUGMxkgIGb0). In the process I found [[Even in Death]] made it’s move in to the playlist as the Kodo sound naturally caught my ear. I let [[artist:clark-powell|Plaz]] know this and soon I found her picking my brain for what I listen to when I’m developing a choreography. She sent me versions of Even in Death for my own use. Luckily she decided to stick the new “Belly Mix” version on the latest album. @@ -1023,7 +1045,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: - Dirgeish - Sburban Jungle Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (co-composer) "Revered Return" began as a track called [[track:dirgeish|"Dirgeish"]], a .pxtone composition that [[artist:nick-smalley|Nick]] had completed some time ago but never managed to squeeze into an album. Because as a chip tune it had been long overlooked, I decided to take a whack at producing it in a different style for inclusion on Volume 8. I had been looking for a piece that would work as a rock tune, and "Dirgeish" really struck me because of the heavy involvement of drums, its steady pace, and dynamic structure. @@ -1031,9 +1053,13 @@ Commentary: |- The structure I think might be the most unique part of "Revered Return" - it doesn't waste time by really repeating itself a lot. Nine out of ten times I work on a song I find myself writing or arranging something that moves in a very basic structure like ABAB or AABA or other variants, etc. "Dirgeish" gave me the challenge of establishing coherency in a piece that seemed to move almost completely linearly, and I made sure to preserve its sort of ABCDEFGBA-type structure in arranging "Revered Return" for Volume 8. - <i>Nick Smalley:</i> (composer) + <i>Nick Smalley:</i> (co-composer) [[track:ohgodwhat|Remember that thing about ORGMaker?]] Yeah, this song, too. Except add me asking [[artist:andrew-huo|Andrew Huo]] to help finish it and [[artist:michael-guy-bowman|Bowman]] to ramp it up, and you've got Revered Return. :3 + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (co-composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1915), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Revered Return, that was a piece of Nick's music that I arranged out. That was one where I rewrote the piece, basically, from beginning to end, from this chiptune. At the time it was literally just me going through the haphazard, not really built for multitake thing on FL Studio and trying to write guitar lines that would, you know, go through, nearly one measure at a time, just to get it down. But I was so pleased with the result. --- Track: Judgment Day Artists: @@ -1241,6 +1267,10 @@ Commentary: |- The trick to this one for me was cutting out all the bullshit really - the ridiculous key change is removed and the drums are minimal to the extent of sounding like a funeral march. Rather than starting off with chipper little electric organs and keyboards, this version takes a cue from ["Purple Rain"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6Y1gohk5-A) and uses only electric guitar and vocals for the first minute. The vocals start off sounding a million miles away and are subtly brought closer and closer until the other instruments join in on the second verse. I added a new bridge section in so that [[artist:thomas-ferkol|Thomas Ferkol]] could have a chance to play some real guitar in this one, and of course he showed his colors as a metal guitarist, sending me a duet between harmonized voices. [[artist:david-ko|David Ko]] also appears on this track as the gently-spoken backup vocalist. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1940), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + The D8 Night version of How Do I Live, that was like a [[track:how-do-i-live-bunny-back-in-the-box-version|more serious]] attempt with it. I played with the key change a little bit, because I always thought that like, the massive key change on the choruses was like, really corny. So I, I got rid of that, and I added guitar from Thomas Ferkol on that one. The result, I think, is much spacier, much more serious. --- Track: Cascade (Beta) Artists: diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-9.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-9.yaml index 9691f895..079c709c 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-9.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-9.yaml @@ -374,12 +374,19 @@ MIDI Project Files: Files: - 'Another Jungle - Purple1222119 (flash version).mid' Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> - Before this track was used in Homestuck along with Beatfox's "A Taste for Adventure", it was actually made for a nearly 3-year-old defunct fan project. Housetrapped was a story about an alternate Sburb session and "Another Jungle" was a the-same-but-different theme for the loading screen of that universe's Sburb client. Sound familiar? - When we shifted into gear to create new Homestuck music following the start of Act 6, I was asked to refurbish the forgotten 40-second theme I'd written as the theme to Sburb Alpha. "Another Jungle" is thus the alpha equivalent of "Sburban Jungle" which I had written back when Homestuck began - structurally both songs are very similar, but each with their own melodies and sound choices. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + + Before this track was [[flash:4665|used]] in Homestuck along with Beatfox's [[track:a-taste-for-adventure|"A Taste for Adventure"]], it was actually made for a nearly 3-year-old defunct fan project. Housetrapped was a story about an alternate Sburb session and "Another Jungle" was a the-same-but-different theme for the loading screen of that universe's Sburb client. Sound familiar? + + When we shifted into gear to create new Homestuck music following the start of Act 6, I was asked to refurbish the forgotten 40-second theme I'd written as the theme to Sburb Alpha. "Another Jungle" is thus the alpha equivalent of [[track:sburban-jungle|"Sburban Jungle"]] which I had written back when Homestuck began - structurally both songs are very similar, but each with their own melodies and sound choices. + "Another Jungle" has the benefit of years of experience with production I did not have when Homestuck began, and to me the fidelity difference really shows. Since writing "Sburban Jungle" I'd become far more familiar with automation, recording, eq, mixing, mastering, and all the techniques that polish a music project. "Another Jungle" is far more dynamic than its predecessor, with each subsequent section of the song having its own unique way of using the instruments and sounds in the project. - My favorite touches to this one are all the very mellow sounds that contrast with the brisk pacing of the track - the various pads, the wah-wah guitar, the echoing melody, all of it underlined by drums and brute synth loops. The sudden change in energy when the guitars duck out in the middle and the melody of "Showtime" whispers in is a favorite moment of mine. The very pop ending with its retro house sound was another choice I wouldn't have seen myself making three years back. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I do. - The art for this track is by Richard Gung. + + My favorite touches to this one are all the very mellow sounds that contrast with the brisk pacing of the track - the various pads, the wah-wah guitar, the echoing melody, all of it underlined by drums and brute synth loops. The sudden change in energy when the guitars duck out in the middle and the melody of [[track:showtime-original-mix|"Showtime"]] whispers in is a favorite moment of mine. The very pop ending with its retro house sound was another choice I wouldn't have seen myself making three years back. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I do. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1965), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + And then Homestuck Volume 9 - oh my god, I can't believe I busted my ass so hard back then... I have Another Jungle, which was more stuff in the style of [[Sburban Jungle]]. I think it's more evolved as a piece, I really love the way it progresses, and it's less copycat from section to section. Just a moment of great composition, if I dare say so myself. --- Track: GameGrl (Original 1993 Mix) Artists: @@ -480,29 +487,51 @@ Lyrics: |- (Awesome! That was totally rad to the max! I could just keep doing this all day... NOT! I've got games to play, and if you think I'm gonna slow down just to talk to a bunch of amateurs, then you need to seriously blow the dust out of your cartridges. But hey, girls, whenever you need to show those creepy boys who's boss, just remember that GameGrl's got your back. Look for me on specially-marked boxes of Betty Crocker brand snacks and have an adult call the toll-free number to subscribe to the exclusive girls-only GameGrl Magazine. Alright, check you later girlfriends!) Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> - Originally we'd planned on doing a Homestuck album that was devoted entirely to the Sburb Alpha kids and their session, all of us doing tracks that would parallel earlier tracks in a same-but-different fashion. While this album became Homestuck Vol. 9, a lot of analogous tracks remained from the original concept, including this track as an alternative to "GameBro (Original 1990 Mix)" from Homestuck Vol. 6: Heir Transparent. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + + Originally we'd planned on doing a Homestuck album that was devoted entirely to the Sburb Alpha kids and their session, all of us doing tracks that would parallel earlier tracks in a same-but-different fashion. While this album became Homestuck Vol. 9, a lot of analogous tracks remained from the original concept, including this track as an alternative to [[track:gamebro-original-1990-mix|"GameBro (Original 1990 Mix)"]] from Homestuck Vol. 6: Heir Transparent. + While we can only imagine what the set-decorating GameGrl magazine from Jane Crocker's bedroom might actually be like, it's pretty easy for me as a child of the 90's to imagine how the magazine might have looked in the era of the Burger King Kid's Club and Lisa Frank. With GameGrl I attempted to capture a lot of the basic messages perpetuated to girls by children's advertising in the 90's: + - Boys are gross and need to have their butts kicked - Girls are cool and should pretend to understand pop culture - Clubs must be started in tree-houses and couch forts to keep boys out - Parents suck and will never understand - You can trust corporate America + The music was a hodge-podge of a lot of things - the production style of early 90's house music (Deee-Lite and Cathy Dennis were my main references) was coupled with the intentionally insipid rap vocals in a time in which many game commercials [had](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkWYP95WbbY) [awful](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m__j99flW9w) [raps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7FN5B02YEo). The lead vocals are performed by Tavia Morra, whose voice I discovered sounds scarily childlike when sped up slightly. We played the backup track at about 75% speed and had her rap over it to create the vocal comp before speeding it back up to create the cringe-worthy little girl voice. I did a digital process to lower my voice to create the [Pokérap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0LoHA_FPAs)-style breakdown towards the middle of the track and then asked Erik Scheele to play a painfully retro midi guitar solo. + For the track art (lovingly created and posed for by Tavia) among our many references were Alex Mack and The Olson Twins. The big deal-breaker for us was getting a pair of overalls, a garment seemingly synonymous with the 90's. We spent nearly three hours hunting for a pair in Austin coming up short at Wal-Mart, Academy, Sheplers, Cavender's Boot City, Goodwill, a costume store, a paint store, and a plumbing store before finally finding a wearable piece 17 miles out of town at a farm supply store. Apparently humanity had the good sense to wipe that fucking hideous fashion travesty off the face of the earth at the end of the decade (I knew the y2k bug must have done something!) and now only people who actually need them wear them. + We took our pictures at the Japanese-style game center Arcade UFO. Outtakes can be found [here](https://seeyoutmorra.tumblr.com/post/24983253249/some-of-the-other-photos-from-the-gamegrl). - <i>Tavia Morra:</i> + + <i>Tavia Morra:</i> (vocalist, track artist) + I don't even know where to start. + One day Bowman and I discovered that if we pitched my voice up a little higher than where it normally is, then I sounded like a 12 year old girl. The idea for GameGrl came up later and he proceeded to write lyrics that would make any 90's kiddo cringe at the nostalgia of their childhood and want to do it again. + I had way too much fun recording it to the point that I knocked over a music stand from dancing too much. Bowman was a fantastic coach. It's always a pleasure to work with him. + The track art has more of a story to it than I would have cared for, but Bowman and I both knew we had to go all the way with the track art. And so begun our quest for the GameGrl outfit, which we found all of the clothing elements for except for the overalls. + We figured we were just going to go around the corner to the Goodwill, find a pair of overalls, slap those suckers on and get the track art done within about an hour tops. + But no. + No, no, no. + We ended up shopping for three hours at nine separate stores before we found those goddamn overalls. Bowman livetweeted our journey: + <img src="media/misc/overall-quest.jpg" width="331"> + Eventually we got the overalls and proceeded to take the most fantastic pictures ever. I'll be posting up some other photos from that day later on so keep your eyes peeled! + All in all, this track is probably the most involved I'd been on a Homestuck album and am so glad it was this one. I had a blast! + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1988), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + The GameGrl rap - I loved Erik's [[track:gamebro-original-1990-mix|GameBro rap]], and I thought that - when the idea of there being a GameGrl magazine was introduced - that it would be funny to write a rap and have Tavia perform it. That was based around the idea of there being a gamer girl, as it was, in the 1990s. I think we did a really good job imitating all the, like, nuances of how this girl in overalls with a backwards hat represented the ideals that were being marketed (laughs) through toy commercials, and otherwise, to girls back then. If you think it's cringy, that was the intended effect. --- Track: ASSAULT Artists: @@ -676,14 +705,25 @@ Cover Art File Extension: jpg Art Tags: - Maplehoof Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + I get the feeling that down the line there will be an explanation for why exactly there's a tiny Maplehoof on Dirk Strider's desk and it will be one of the biggest plot revelations in all of Homestuck. For me it was a cue that there needed to be a Sburb Alpha universe parallel for the song [[track:maplehoofs-adventure]], which in itself was a spiritual sequel to [[Pony Chorale]]. It's sort of a reality check to realize that I have written not one, not two, but three songs for cartoon ponies now - I guess that's part of this disease we call the Internet. + As with the previous installments, I used a sample of Tavia Morra saying "neigh" to punctuate phrases, this time sped up to about double speed to have that chipmunk-esque effect. Everything about this song is a bit faster-paced and squeakier to reflect the stature of the tiny horse. The orchestration was largely inspired by my last trip to Disneyland - the whistles are arranged to sound a bit like the teapots from Alice in Wonderland, and the horn synths were selected because of their resemblance to a merry-go-round organ. + Along with recent tracks like [[track:another-jungle]] and [[track:elephant-gun]], this song represents one of my attempts to stick less closely to a predictable song form. The key signature moves up a whole step around 32 seconds in and never comes back down, and the main repeated refrain that ties the song together is the little cadence that shows up at the end of each section. I stuck to my guns as a high school music theory student on this one, mostly drawing from Mozart and Sousa - it's an overstimulating mess of counterpoint, and my main goal was to see if it would annoy composition major Erik Scheele (it worked). + Out of all the tracks for Volume 9 I worked on, this one was a real breeze. I was on such a roll that I considered making it ten minutes long just to piss off everyone, but I knew that I'd most likely be asked to cut it down if I'd gone to that kind of excess, and I had other tracks to work on. + The track art was done by Tavia Morra. - <i>Tavia Morra:</i> + + <i>Tavia Morra:</i> (vocalist, track artist) + Bowman and I quickly settled on the idea of a picture emphasizing the size of Minihoof, but couldn't decide on a specific way to show it. Maybe put a magnifying glass over the little pony? Having her next to Dirk's hand while he typed on the computer? The energy of the track made us think of little Minihoof running through an obstacle course Dirk set up for her on his desk, thus the stapler, the tacks, the brads, the pencils, and the GameBro Magazines. This was a super fun one for me since I had such a personal investment in it. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=2028), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Oh, Minihoof's Adventure - that was another piece of pony music. That was another thing where I was like, really on a roll, and like, writing beginning to end. I feel like I could have written, like... an hour of that, if I wanted to. It's just like, once your palette is figured out with like, the kind of carnival environment that it was supposed to sound like, it was just so easy to just be like - let's have something different happen here, and let's have a little breakdown, and... I could write hours of pony music if I wanted to. (laughs) I don't know why I would, but I could! --- Track: Encore Artists: @@ -769,29 +809,33 @@ Art Tags: - Jake - Tavros' lusus Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/kitten-burrito/25391031646/iambowman-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know), around 6/18/2012) This is pure Jake strife music - I started this project with the definite goal in mind to make something that sounded purely like video game music for a battle. Jake English is sort of the archetypal Roosevelt-type swashbuckler with all the bravado of a turn-of-the-century primitivist. For him, the palette of sounds is instantaneous: heavy percussion rumbling at a breakneck pace. I threw in chimes, timpani, xylophone, glockenspiel, cymbal crashes, and an uncompromising drum machine to get the atmosphere I wanted. - I had a nice, retro-sounding portamento synth as a lead, a quick little intro, and a couple of smart little themes going on right at the beginning, and I was all set for this to be one of those simple, memorable themes not unlike one of the previous Strife themes ("Beatdown", "Showtime"). Then, at 44 seconds in, something snapped - I suddenly decided that what I was writing was boring and that nothing could be normal from that point on. Inspired by a few listens to "Rollo Interior", I wrote a rhythmically unconventional breakdown followed by the whole song shifting into "Zappa chords" for a little while. + I had a nice, retro-sounding portamento synth as a lead, a quick little intro, and a couple of smart little themes going on right at the beginning, and I was all set for this to be one of those simple, memorable themes not unlike one of the previous Strife themes ([[track:beatdown-strider-style|"Beatdown"]], [[track:showtime-original-mix|"Showtime"]]). Then, at 44 seconds in, something snapped - I suddenly decided that what I was writing was boring and that nothing could be normal from that point on. Inspired by a few listens to ["Rollo Interior"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAZD1VCl5EU), I wrote a rhythmically unconventional breakdown followed by the whole song shifting into "Zappa chords" for a little while. - What was excellent about working on this track is it's one of the first instances in a while where I had really freed myself from any preconceived goals for the song's form and just decided to write a track from start to finish and see what felt right. I ended up at sort of the golden length - the song begins to loop at 2:15, making it still functional as video game music, and fades out by 2:39. Tavia pointed out to me that pop songs that run a bit short of 3 minutes tend to be incredibly satisfying, especially for a first time listener, as they ask for your attention for an amount of time that doesn't wear you down. Out of all my tracks for Vol. 9, this is the one I find the easiest to listen to on a loop. + What was excellent about working on this track is it's one of the first instances in a while where I had really freed myself from any preconceived goals for the song's form and just decided to write a track from start to finish and see what felt right. I ended up at sort of the golden length - the song begins to loop at 2:15, making it still functional as video game music, and fades out by 2:39. [[artist:tavia-morra|Tavia]] pointed out to me that pop songs that run a bit short of 3 minutes tend to be incredibly satisfying, especially for a first time listener, as they ask for your attention for an amount of time that doesn't wear you down. Out of all my tracks for Vol. 9, this is the one I find the easiest to listen to on a loop. - The track art is by 8bitkitten. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=2059), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) - <i>8bitkitten:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/25391031646)) + Elephant Gun, I think that one was a bit Frank Zappa influenced. I like the weird breakdown on it that's jumping around. I think if I were playing a game and I had to do a little battle, and (gesturing) press my buttons and pick my attacks while that was playing, I would be pretty hype, and not get, like, bored and driven crazy, the way that sometimes you can be in an RPG. + + <i>8bitkitten:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/25391031646), 6/18/2012) I was thrilled to get the opportunity of illustrating your music. It’s always so gosh darn fun. =3 - <i>8bitkitten:</i> ([Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/24979824333)) + <i>8bitkitten:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/24979824333), 6/12/2012) After listening to this energetic strife theme, I imagined Jake English is hunting down a pesky Tinkerbull. >:3 - <i>8bitkitten:</i> (alternate artwork, [Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/24979824333)) + <i>8bitkitten:</i> (alternate artwork, [Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/24979824333), 6/12/2012) <img src="media/misc/elephant-gun-bonus.jpg" width="300"> - <i>8bitkitten:</i> ([Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/24982629793)) + <i>8bitkitten:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/24982629793), 6/12/2012) + + <b>Elephant Gun post edit</b> So upon browsing Volume 9 on Bandcamp, I noticed my first version of “Elephant Gun” was used which is why I posted that one, but it turns out the edited version where I gave Tinkerbull a nose ring was the one included in the album download? @@ -931,13 +975,11 @@ Lyrics: |- Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> - This track was an attempt to try something in the same vain as the soundtrack to Jet Set Radio Future which was recommended to me by friends Erik Scheele and Richard Gung. Composer Hideki Naganuma has created some of the most intricate and engaging pieces of dance music I've ever heard - his signature approach is his construction of entire songs around only a handful of samples (check out "Funky Dealer" for a good example). + This track was an attempt to try something in the same vain as the soundtrack to Jet Set Radio Future which was recommended to me by friends [[artist:erik-scheele|Erik Scheele]] and [[artist:richard-gung|Richard Gung]]. Composer Hideki Naganuma has created some of the most intricate and engaging pieces of dance music I've ever heard - his signature approach is his construction of entire songs around only a handful of samples (check out ["Funky Dealer"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpAF8bGm-MM) for a good example). - Going off of the notion that there aught to be some music dedicated to the 3 years that John, Jade, and Davesprite spend by killing time in Ghostbusters 2 MMORPG, I recorded myself singing the famous exclamation uttered by Ray Parker Jr partway through the legendary 1984 single. What is the deal with that line, really? Apparently chasing ghosts isn't just a public service for Mr. Parker - it gets him off. + Going off of the notion that there aught to be some music dedicated to the 3 years that John, Jade, and Davesprite spend by killing time in Ghostbusters 2 MMORPG, I recorded myself singing the famous exclamation uttered by Ray Parker Jr partway through [[track:ghostbusters|the legendary 1984 single]]. What is the deal with that line, really? Apparently chasing ghosts isn't just a public service for Mr. Parker - it gets him off. - The majority of the track is driven by drum and crowd samples with some very funky but intentionally primitive synths on top. I liked the idea of building up to some big climactic house beat, and the climax of the song is sort of an homage to Kalibration and his EDM project Screamcatcher (albeit missing all the cool). - - <!-- The art is by Victoria Grace Elliott. --> + The majority of the track is driven by drum and crowd samples with some very funky but intentionally primitive synths on top. I liked the idea of building up to some big climactic house beat, and the climax of the song is sort of an homage to [[artist:kalibration|Kalibration]] and his EDM project Screamcatcher (albeit missing all the cool). <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (Bowmantown Discord, excerpts, 9/11/2017) @@ -949,6 +991,10 @@ Commentary: |- Neil is fantastic though, if this is great minds thinking alike I'm honored I think he understands a generation so crystal clearly though in a way I'm still never going to. They'll look at him like Andy Warhol someday. He's the next great voice in pop art after him, certainly. They want to give that honor to Banksy or some other pretentious counterculture figure but I think Neil looks up to kitsch rather than down to it. That makes all the difference, like comparing Dan Harmon to Seth McFarlane. Parody should honor its subject, not condemn it + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=2082), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + (gasp) Busting Makes Me Feel Good! Now that's a piece where I have to say... I beat Neil Cicierega to the punch on that! I'm just saying! He did that [Bustin'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tdyU_gW6WE) thing years later. I beat him to the punch. I'm not - no, I'm not sore about that, you know. Parallel thinking. Everybody wanted to make fun of Ghostbusters. It's a weird line. I mean, "busting makes me feel good"... you know, there's entendre built in there, you know. --- Track: Everything is Something to Somebody Artists: @@ -992,9 +1038,11 @@ Commentary: |- My demo fused the Spanish sounds associated with Tavros and the electric lead guitar associated with Vriska. The result was just over a minute of power-flamenco silliness which I planned to expand upon heavily until suddenly Tavrisprite exploded less than an hour after I uploaded the demo. I decided the song aught to be short and sweet as well, so I asked Thomas Ferkol to play some additional metal guitar at the end before dropping in an explosion effect and a distantly echoing "honk" from a certain codpiece-wearing merchant. - The track art is by 8bitkitten. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=2104), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Oh, iRRRRRRRRECONCILA8LE, I was so happy with that one. I would have liked to have seen the, uh, the [attempted merge](https://www.homestuck.com/story/4829) between Tavros and Vriska go on longer, and wrote it as soon as I saw it happen - wrote, like, the first chunk of it before the additional guitar with Thomas Ferkol on it. And then when they updated the comic and the two of them [immediately blew apart](https://www.homestuck.com/story/4837), I had no choice but to cap it off with the sound of, you know, the whole thing (pfwhoosh) popping apart, and a random honk in, just for the sake of keeping you all on your toes. (dramatic honkscare) - <i>8bitkitten:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/24981766963)) + <i>8bitkitten:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/24981766963), 6/12/2012) I wanted to compliment Bowman’s rockin’ Tavrisprite theme. }::::) --- @@ -1019,19 +1067,64 @@ Art Tags: Referenced Tracks: - track:im-a-member-of-the-midnight-crew Lyrics: |- - I hate a moral coward, one who lacks a manly spark<br>I just detest a man afraid to go home in the dark<br>I spend my every evening where there's women wine and song<br>But like a man, I always bring my little wife along! - I'm a member of the Midnight Crew<br>I'm a night owl, a wise bird too<br>Home with the milk in the morning<br>Singing the same old song!<br>Rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun<br>Early to bed, and you'll miss all the fun<br>Bring your wife and trouble, it can never trouble you<br>Make her a member of the Midnight Crew! + I hate a moral coward, one who lacks a manly spark + I just detest a man afraid to go home in the dark + I spend my every evening where there's women wine and song + But like a man, I always bring my little wife along! + + I'm a member of the Midnight Crew + I'm a night owl, a wise bird too + Home with the milk in the morning + Singing the same old song! + Rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun + Early to bed, and you'll miss all the fun + Bring your wife and trouble, it can never trouble you + Make her a member of the Midnight Crew! + (Make her a member of the Midnight Crew) - The fun it doesn't stop 'til 12 on happy old Broadway<br>So what's the point of going home, until the break of day?<br>Now, something confidential, whisper not above a breath<br>I once went home at 2 AM, and scared my wife to death! - I'm a member of the Midnight Crew<br>I'm a night owl, a wise bird too<br>Home with the milk in the morning<br>Singing the same old song!<br>Rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun<br>Early to bed, and you'll miss all the fun<br>Bring your wife and trouble, it can never trouble you<br>Make her a member of the Midnight Crew! - I never shall forget the night I made six robbers run<br>Although I did not have a knife, a blackjack, or a gun<br>I proved myself a hero of a very high degree<br>I ran for home, and six of them, was running after me! - I'm a member of the Midnight Crew<br>I'm a night owl, a wise bird too<br>Home with the milk in the morning<br>Singing the same old song!<br>Rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun<br>Early to bed, and you'll miss all the fun<br>Bring your wife and trouble, it can never trouble you<br>Make her a member of the Midnight Crew! + + The fun it doesn't stop 'til 12 on happy old Broadway + So what's the point of going home, until the break of day? + Now, something confidential, whisper not above a breath + I once went home at 2 AM, and scared my wife to death! + + I'm a member of the Midnight Crew + I'm a night owl, a wise bird too + Home with the milk in the morning + Singing the same old song! + Rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun + Early to bed, and you'll miss all the fun + Bring your wife and trouble, it can never trouble you + Make her a member of the Midnight Crew! + + I never shall forget the night I made six robbers run + Although I did not have a knife, a blackjack, or a gun + I proved myself a hero of a very high degree + I ran for home, and six of them, was running after me! + + I'm a member of the Midnight Crew + I'm a night owl, a wise bird too + Home with the milk in the morning + Singing the same old song! + Rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun + Early to bed, and you'll miss all the fun + Bring your wife and trouble, it can never trouble you<br>Make her a member of the Midnight Crew! Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> - One of the things I'd always felt was curious about our re-appropriation of the hundred-year-old vaudeville track by Eddie Morton was the complete contrast between its cheerful mood and the sinister nature of the characters it represents. The Midnight Crew, while fashion-savvy, are cold-blooded murderers, and I'd been curious as to what a darker version of their signature song might sound like. - The inspiration for this "post-punk" arrangement comes specifically from the Iggy Pop track "Nightclubbing", which was produced by David Bowie during their stay in Berlin in 1977. The Iggy Pop and Eddie Morton tracks are very different takes on a night on the town, and I was utterly fascinated by the thought of injecting the old ragtime track with the same seedy atmosphere of Iggy's sardonic croon. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + + One of the things I'd always felt was curious about our re-appropriation of the [[track:im-a-member-of-the-midnight-crew|hundred-year-old vaudeville track]] by Eddie Morton was the complete contrast between its cheerful mood and the sinister nature of the characters it represents. The Midnight Crew, while fashion-savvy, are cold-blooded murderers, and I'd been curious as to what a darker version of their signature song might sound like. + + The inspiration for this "post-punk" arrangement comes specifically from the Iggy Pop track ["Nightclubbing"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVqag7tN8k8), which was produced by David Bowie during their stay in Berlin in 1977. The Iggy Pop and Eddie Morton tracks are very different takes on a night on the town, and I was utterly fascinated by the thought of injecting the old ragtime track with the same seedy atmosphere of Iggy's sardonic croon. + I'd been playing this particular arrangement live at live shows for a while, and for this recorded version I brought in bandmates Erik Scheele and Marcy Nabors to record their respective parts. Erik delivers the excellent jazz piano, while Marcy added some amazing textures by playing theremin and accordion. I made full use of the wah pedal on my guitar to deliver the very textured guitar performance, and copied Iggy's beloved drum machine loop for the main percussion. - The track art is by Cari Garafalo. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=2143), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + My version of the Midnight Crew song - I called it the post-punk version because it's modeled after [Nightclubbing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVqag7tN8k8), from the Iggy Pop album The Idiot. I suppose he was post-punk at the time, but, you know, 1977, let's be real, Sex Pistols and all that stuff, it was really the breakout of it as a commercial genre. + + I've heard that people say I sound drunk on the song...? I don't know, like, where people got that idea. The idea of the intonation there was to make it a little sinister, a little seductive, a little creepy, you know... It is about some villains that wander around, ostensibly being gangsters - what do the Midnight Crew even do in the comic? I forget. + + I was really satisfied with that one. And that was a great collaboration, Erik on that once again... *(Caption in post: "Erik Scheele - piano, Marcy Nabors - theremin / accordion") --- Track: Three in the Morning (Aftermath) Artists: @@ -1681,10 +1774,15 @@ Art Tags: Referenced Tracks: - Another Jungle Commentary: |- - <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> - I've mentioned a few times that Homestuck Vol. 9, in its early planning stages, was conceived as an album that would be dedicated to the new session of Homestuck, and most of the tracks would mimic older songs re-imagined in the new universe presented in Act 6. "Another Countdown" was thus the sister song of "Sburban Countdown" - both are brief arrangements of their parent songs ("Another Jungle" and "Sburban Jungle" respectively) meant to crescendo towards a major climax. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer) + + I've mentioned a few times that Homestuck Vol. 9, in its early planning stages, was conceived as an album that would be dedicated to the new session of Homestuck, and most of the tracks would mimic older songs re-imagined in the new universe presented in Act 6. "Another Countdown" was thus the sister song of [[track:sburban-countdown|"Sburban Countdown"]] - both are brief arrangements of their parent songs ([[track:another-jungle|"Another Jungle"]] and [[track:sburban-jungle|"Sburban Jungle"]] respectively) meant to crescendo towards a major climax. + "Another Countdown" was retooled from its parent track to be far mellower at first - the bass and drum comping is a bit latin in flavor, and much of the song's first half is almost completely quiet until the explosion that finishes off the track. When the concept of the record was changed, it was decided that this relatively short song would be included as a bonus when you purchase the full album. - The track art is by Emery Ferguson. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (composer, [Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=2192), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Oh, Another Countdown, of course I put a little cap on the [[Another Jungle]] thing, with a revisitation of Mark Hadley's [[Sburban Countdown]]. --- Track: Frustracean Artists: @@ -1704,6 +1802,9 @@ Sampled Tracks: - Snake Eyes - Leaving Las Vegas Lyrics: |- - That was the plan, to give you a boner<br>And you GOT ONE + That was the plan, to give you a boner + And you GOT ONE + Ha-HAA + boner diff --git a/album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml b/album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml index 879712db..fdcd73e1 100644 --- a/album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml +++ b/album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml @@ -73,6 +73,14 @@ Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> The Midnight Crew album was the first of our really high-concept releases with the fake bands, especially since we attempted to invent some kind of goth-jazz genre out of thin air, despite the team's minimal understanding of goth music or jazz. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=861), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + This was, I think, right at the cusp of Bandcamp being a known platform, and for a minute when we started releasing these albums, they were, like, routinely the best sellers on there. At the same time that the Alabama Shakes were on there, like, breaking out as a band, it's like - "Wow! Look at this big indie band that's doing numbers using Bandcamp - this obscure platform!" We were routinely outselling (laugh) the Alabama Shakes. We were super stoked to just expand on that, with, uh, non-animation, non-interactive element contributions. + + And, the first big thing that we did with that was the Midnight Crew album, where we took the Midnight Crew characters and said, well, they're actually a band, and this is their album, containing video-game-style jazz music on it. [...] + + This was one of Andrew's initial ideas, which was like, there were going to be many many bands within the comic. He wanted to do something like, Gorillaz, but, different sets of characters. So, the Midnight Crew would be a band. And the Felt would be a band, and they made orchestral stuff for that - I wasn't a participant on that one, I was a little busy. And, I think we drifted away from the band concept... there were proposed bands that were never done, there was the two robot rappers who cameod but never really were expanded on, there was an interest in doing, sort of like, a robot hip-hop album, which would have been fun, had those characters gone anywhere... There was also the idea that, of course, each of the kids were going to have their signature instrument, you know, the piano, the violin, the beat maker, and the bass. The culmination of that would have been music that features those four instruments, as if it's like, well, here's the demo the band was making. This is what the four beta kids were doing in their spare time. I would have loved that one to see the light of day, I think that would have tied the comic together. --- Track: Three in the Morning Artists: @@ -253,6 +261,10 @@ Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (Bowmantown Discord, excerpt, 8/5/2017) I tend to hold on to ideas and use them when they're ready. [[track:forever|Forever]] was an idea I'd been holding on to for about five years. Lunar eclipse I think was 3 or 4 before I arranged it. Lots of my stuff bakes for months or years. Sometimes the first drafts suck but I find myself humming it later. That's how I know. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=919), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + My contribution on the Midnight Crew album was an original called Lunar Eclipse, featuring sax by someone named Fenris, who we've never heard from again! We don't know what happened to them. --- Track: Hauntjam Artists: @@ -272,7 +284,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- <i>Andrew Huo:</i> - Hauntjam and Hauntjelly are interesting things. They were actually made based on a short fruity loop that The Big Man Andrew did, called haunt.wav or haunt.mp3 or something like that. A jam on his theme, logically, would therefore be called "hauntjam," with the opportunity for naming puns including "hauntjelly." His theme appears mostly unchanged as the bassline for the first part of the pieces. At this point in terms of instrumentation, we were still mostly striving for faithfulness to the canon Midnight Crew "band," as can be seen in [the Extras page](http://www.mspaintadventures.com/extras/ps000018.html) wherein the MC fill 'em with midnight (bottom), so Hauntjam employs trombone, string bass, piano, clarinet, and sax (I forget which because I've lost the file and am not a band person, but I think it was alto). From there on, it was fairly straightforward to write a haunting refrain and then solos for each instrument. I will admit I got a little writerblock'd for the second part, which was sort of a brief modulation to the dominant, so it sounds a little strange. But it still has its own little charm, with the almost annoying trill put in for a spooky ghost-like effect. In Hauntjam, Bowman did some good stuff with bringing out moving parts in the first refrain. In Hauntjelly, [[artist:ian-taylor|Xerxes]] emphasizes the spookiness by changing instruments for more electric organ. + Hauntjam and Hauntjelly are interesting things. They were actually made based on [[track:haunt-andrew-hussie|a short fruity loop]] that The Big Man Andrew did, called haunt.wav or haunt.mp3 or something like that. A jam on his theme, logically, would therefore be called "hauntjam," with the opportunity for naming puns including [[track:hauntjelly|"hauntjelly."]] His theme appears mostly unchanged as the bassline for the first part of the pieces. At this point in terms of instrumentation, we were still mostly striving for faithfulness to the canon Midnight Crew "band," as can be seen in [the Extras page](http://www.mspaintadventures.com/extras/ps000018.html) wherein the MC fill 'em with midnight (bottom), so Hauntjam employs trombone, string bass, piano, clarinet, and sax (I forget which because I've lost the file and am not a band person, but I think it was alto). From there on, it was fairly straightforward to write a haunting refrain and then solos for each instrument. I will admit I got a little writerblock'd for the second part, which was sort of a brief modulation to the dominant, so it sounds a little strange. But it still has its own little charm, with the almost annoying trill put in for a spooky ghost-like effect. In Hauntjam, Bowman did some good stuff with bringing out moving parts in the first refrain. In Hauntjelly, [[artist:ian-taylor|Xerxes]] emphasizes the spookiness by changing instruments for more electric organ. <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> @@ -289,6 +301,10 @@ Commentary: |- I think drums, more than any other instrument, define the genre of the music. Even very minor choices can change the character of a whole song. At the very least there's been only two songs with no drums on them on the billboard number one slot in the last 50 years. I still do it by spreading of the parts across different instruments. Just in logic now. [[album:electric-daydreams|Electric daydreams]] is deliberately simple, and a couple of the songs just have a normal exs24 on there with all the drums going to the same channel. I wanted to imitate what I would be able to achieve if I were just a guy taping himself playing in a room. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=929), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + And, the other thing was an arrangement of Hauntjam, which I just added drums on and synthesized out and did the bounces[?] for. The original on that one is by Andrew Huo, and supposedly it's based around a track that Andrew Hussie himself wrote, that was just called [[track:haunt-andrew-hussie|"haunt"]]. --- Track: Carbon Nadsat / Cuestick Genius Artists: diff --git a/album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido.yaml b/album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido.yaml index eaa1674d..24fad708 100644 --- a/album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido.yaml +++ b/album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido.yaml @@ -85,6 +85,22 @@ Commentary: |- That's all I can remember at the moment. Bowman might remember more. + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1359), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Mobius Trip & Hadron Kaleido, now there's something! When the fake band idea was being proposed, I think partly because of all the guitar and drum stuff I had been writing out on some of these, [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] was really into the idea of, hey, you know, you should produce a rock album. And that's what he actually told me - it was just, produce a rock and roll album! That's what I'd always wanted to do, is produce original songs and do rock music. + + *(Continued in [[track:lies-with-the-sea]])* + + More broadly, what we ended up doing with that - I wanted to do, like, a prophetic work, where I wasn't tied to concrete storytelling episodes within Homestuck, because ultimately I didn't have authorship over the comic, Andrew did. And I wanted to create something that would be able to be interpreted freely, so that he could use it however he wanted to use it. So he never really... gave me characters, or anything, that he wanted there to be. I was just like, you know, let's come up with some loose characters, and we'll just see whether or not Andrew wants to use them. Because he never had a real, like, hard idea for that one. I think he was just too busy with other stuff. + + The characters were a collaboration of myself and [[artist:tavia-morra|Tavia Morra]], and we based their images on ourselves, and we came up with these citizens of Prospit and Derse who were generals, who were on opposite sides of a battle. And of course, knowing the comic, the battle is futile, and really the answer lies somewhere in the eternal, and they are prophets of peace who express that prophecy through cryptic art. (laughs) They are telling you something that's kind of, a psychedelic truth, which is that, you know, the universe is bigger than we know. + + And I always respected that about Andrew's ideas with the cosmology of Homestuck, even with Problem Sleuth, with the Godhead Pickle Inspector and stuff, and staring into the lotus, and like, the microscopic becoming the macroscopic. He was always playing with the idea of, what's our eternal purpose? in a universe where time may be cyclical and where individual lives may not amount to much, in the face of cosmic destiny. I think thematically, that's what I wanted to play with. + + *(Continued in [[track:dawn-of-man]] and [[track:chain-of-prospit]])* + + I was really encouraged by Mobius Trip & Hadron Kaleido, even if it wasn't ever incorporated in the comic, I was more motivated to say - you know, I care about my own songwriting and want to continue with it. That meant that I ended up pivoting that year to making more solo music - those of you who follow this channel and know my personal work, it's probably not the biggest history lesson for you, but, that was the beginning of me doing [[group:michael-guy-bowman|a series of solo albums]] that I'm continuing to work on [[album:your-majesty|to this day]]. Of course, I didn't stop making music for the rest of the comic. We worked on more volumes and compilations. + <i>Homestuck:</i> ([Bandcamp credits blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20110603145529/https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido)) Album art by [[artist:tavia-morra]] and [[artist:richard-gung]] @@ -180,6 +196,14 @@ Lyrics: |- They fly right by Who were they, and next to them Who the hell am I? +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1517), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + *(Continued from [[album:mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido|album commentary]])* + + I did that on Dawn of Man, which was this piece that wove, you know, near-death experience, atrocity, and the survival instinct, and it's kind of like... 2001-style, oh, you know, pre-history and history and the future are all connected. + + *(Continued in [[track:chain-of-prospit]])* --- Track: Beta Version Duration: '4:35' @@ -394,6 +418,10 @@ Commentary: |- The thing that most strongly made me feel comfortable using this track on Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido was its inspiration from dreams and the sense that it generally echoed the thought of being swept away in a wave as mentioned in "Dawn of Man" earlier on the album. Originally I even recorded an alternate lyric to the melody of "Sburban Jungle" to open the second verse which I ditched that went as follows: "Down, down far below, somewhere safe/ Lost in the wave once again." + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1386), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Originally, I think partly inspired by Plastic Beach, I was kind of interested in an underwater theme, characters like Eridan and Feferi and the sea kingdom thing... like, one of the first ideas I worked on that was Lies With The Sea. --- Track: Chain Of Prospit Duration: '4:37' @@ -482,6 +510,18 @@ Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (Bowmantown Discord, excerpt, 8/11/2017) the outpouring of people who told me that song got them through a rough patch was incredible. it definitely makes me think twice about what the effect of my work on an audience will be, esp. compared to the stuff i was working on when i was way younger + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1537), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + *(Continued from [[track:dawn-of-man]])* + + And, taking that journey toward, you know, a culmination on Chain of Prospit, which says that our reasons for living are personal, and not refutable simply because the universe is giant and possibly indifferent. We have our own right to live for ourselves. + + To some extent, that album was a turning point for me, because, you know, when you compare it to how stupid it was to do these... silly songs, you know, I think *so* much of the stuff I did for Homestuck ended up being funny, and it was like, I managed to get my way back into the comic again and again by being, you know, a comedian, that - pivoting so hard, to this, y'know, big serious thing that was more about "what does life mean?" (laughs) And doing that while decorating it with the elements of this comic, which are... sometimes just stupid and shocking. + + I don't know, I think it hit right in the weirdest way, by reaching people that weren't expecting it. When people tell me that Chain of Prospit, for instance, really connected with them, and made them feel like they're not alone, or it made them feel like, that it... that it is personally true that they have a reason to live and that they shouldn't doubt their own struggle to keep going... I think it made me change, quite a bit. How cynical can I be about the world, when there's this other side of myself that... does honestly believe that, what you do with art, even if it's for some crazy thing like Homestuck, um, could actually touch somebody, in some real way? + + *(Continued back in [[album:mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido|album commentary]])* --- Track: Pumpkin Tide Duration: '3:31' diff --git a/album/sburb.yaml b/album/sburb.yaml index fd2b98da..5a1642d8 100644 --- a/album/sburb.yaml +++ b/album/sburb.yaml @@ -81,6 +81,12 @@ Commentary: |- While I have long lost track with MSPA, I still am good friends with my fellow musicians from the Homestuck Music team including [[artist:erik-scheele|Erik "Jit" Steele]], who performed on these recordings. Looking back on it now, I love how obvious my early inspirations are but I do love the work I was able to create during one of the most tumultuous times in my life. Thanks for listening. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1892), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + *(Continued from [[track:gust-of-heir]])* + + I was really glad when [James] had that Sburb album come out, you know, he referenced [[Sburban Jungle]] on that, which was, you know, an honor of course, and hearing it [[track:exodus|performed]] by [[artist:erik-scheele|Erik Scheele]] on the piano... And I think that's my favorite piece of Homestuck music, that album, just because regardless of where the themes came from, it was just good listening. You know. Could put that on during breakfast. (laughs) Additional Files: - Title: Commentary PDF Files: diff --git a/album/squiddles.yaml b/album/squiddles.yaml index 174ce0c6..87e8e096 100644 --- a/album/squiddles.yaml +++ b/album/squiddles.yaml @@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ Commentary: |- [Click here for album and animation credits.](https://web.archive.org/web/20110815160049/http://www.whatpumpkin.com/squiddles.html) + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1224), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Lost to the sands of time! The Squiddles album. I'm not familiar with the entire history of how the art team's work went, but I do know a bit about the Squiddles album, and their association with it - which was that they made the Squiddles! cartoon intro, and wanted to do this whole, like, oh, we're going to figure out a way to make a Squiddles spinoff pilot. I wish that it'd really gone somewhere. I think we did a good job establishing the kind of, like, on the surface, you know, show for babies thing - um, that was actually secretly some... satanic eldritch horror thing. But I played it completely straight on all of my pieces for it. + <i>Homestuck:</i> ([Bandcamp download blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20100828115437/https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/squiddles)) COOL BONUSES INCLUDED: Squiddles animation (in .swf format) and PDF booklet with lyrics and credits! @@ -226,7 +230,12 @@ URLs: - https://youtu.be/3KdAsyPq4UM Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + For the Squiddles album, I dropped in a good three tracks of fun for the whole family. "Tangled Waltz" is a little piece that [[artist:tavia-morra|Tavia]] repeatedly insists should be set to the image of a million squiddles building a castle out of little blocks. The waltz gets its name from how it gets "tangled" in the middle, turning into some kind of march in quintuple time. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1275), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + Tangled Waltz, I think it owes itself a little to Yann Tiersen and the Amélie soundtrack, which I was listening to a lot at the time. --- Track: Sun-Speckled Squiddly Afternoon Artists: @@ -348,7 +357,12 @@ URLs: - https://youtu.be/U1H0Q6FjGyc Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + "Squiddle Samba", after a few false starts in the writing process, ended up going this whole latin-fusion direction I rather like, complete with a guitar solo that is delightfully out of tune. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1267), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + I really enjoyed the Squiddle Samba, that's kind of... a pastiche of Chicharia[?] or something. --- Track: Squiddles in Paradise Artists: @@ -363,13 +377,41 @@ Referenced Tracks: Sampled Tracks: - Plumbthroat Gives Chase Lyrics: |- - Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up!<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! - Squiddles down in paradise invite you to play<br>They're tangled up with joy and fun every single day<br>It's a silly kind of life they live, but for them it's nothing new<br>They are friends with everyone and they love you! - 'Cause they're Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! - It's a funny time in paradise with their Squiddle friends and more<br>So let's dive on in and we'll go see what they have in store<br>We'll ride up on sea unicorns into uncharted lands<br>Watch out for Skipper Plumbthroat! And his salty band<br>(Bye Skipper Plumbthroat!) (I'll get you yet!) - They're Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! - It's a lovely time in paradise, see the Squiddles smile with glee<br>We should join them in the fun they made for you and me<br>'Cause soon enough we'll have to leave, and depart for shore<br>But we'll be back another day, on the ocean floor! - Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up!<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up!<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up!<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise<br>Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! + Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise + Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! + Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise + Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! + + Squiddles down in paradise invite you to play + They're tangled up with joy and fun every single day + It's a silly kind of life they live, but for them it's nothing new + They are friends with everyone and they love you! + + 'Cause they're Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise + Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! + + It's a funny time in paradise with their Squiddle friends and more + So let's dive on in and we'll go see what they have in store + We'll ride up on sea unicorns into uncharted lands + Watch out for Skipper Plumbthroat! And his salty band + (Bye Skipper Plumbthroat!) (I'll get you yet!) + + They're Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise + Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! + + It's a lovely time in paradise, see the Squiddles smile with glee + We should join them in the fun they made for you and me + 'Cause soon enough we'll have to leave, and depart for shore + But we'll be back another day, on the ocean floor! + + Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise + Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! + Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise + Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! + Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise + Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! + Squiddles, Squiddles, Squiddles in paradise + Squiddles, Squiddles, let's get tangled up! Commentary: |- <i>Solatrus:</i> (original commentary) @@ -431,19 +473,65 @@ Duration: '4:33' URLs: - https://youtu.be/S3bsomR8W_w Lyrics: |- - They call me Skipper Plumbthroat<br>'Tis a name ye'd best remember (Yar)<br>I'm captain of me ol' boat<br>The Grundy Catchyegrabber (Oh-ho) - I travel the seven seas<br>In search of valuable ink<br>It sparkles like a blessing<br>Of unicorns made from zinc - I'll row, row, row me boat<br>Collect that valuable prize<br>I need the stuff to stay afloat<br>'Tis the apple of me eyes - This ink that I do seek<br>Comes from little Squiddles<br>They swim around and squeak<br>And are full of Squiddle giggles - My fishing nets will grab<br>A tentacle or two<br>And maybe afterwards<br>I'll have some Squiddle Stew! - Row, row, row me boat<br>An' throw out all o' me nets<br>Those squids won't know what hit 'em<br>'Til they're payin' off me debts + They call me Skipper Plumbthroat + 'Tis a name ye'd best remember (Yar) + I'm captain of me ol' boat + The Grundy Catchyegrabber (Oh-ho) + + I travel the seven seas + In search of valuable ink + It sparkles like a blessing + Of unicorns made from zinc + + I'll row, row, row me boat + Collect that valuable prize + I need the stuff to stay afloat + 'Tis the apple of me eyes + + This ink that I do seek + Comes from little Squiddles + They swim around and squeak + And are full of Squiddle giggles + + My fishing nets will grab + A tentacle or two + And maybe afterwards + I'll have some Squiddle Stew! + + Row, row, row me boat + An' throw out all o' me nets + Those squids won't know what hit 'em + 'Til they're payin' off me debts + (Yes... if I... if I ever can pay off me debts, I mean, I... I still have to pay for... school. My... I mean... just- never mind, never mind! Just, well...) - Sometimes I have to ask meself<br>Skipper, where's your life led ya?<br>You dropped right out of law school<br>To sell rutabagas (I need a tangle buddy.) - My poor business flopped<br>I was penniless once more<br>So land for sea I swapped<br>And left my native shore - Strugglin' to stay afloat<br>But it's all right, I guess<br>Just as long as I can gloat<br>An' sail an' fish an' Aggress + + Sometimes I have to ask meself + Skipper, where's your life led ya? + You dropped right out of law school + To sell rutabagas (I need a tangle buddy.) + + My poor business flopped + I was penniless once more + So land for sea I swapped + And left my native shore + + Strugglin' to stay afloat + But it's all right, I guess + Just as long as I can gloat + An' sail an' fish an' Aggress + (Aggress. I love aggressin'. Yar, har. Ah-har. Yar-har!) - I've come far, that's for sure<br>Nanna Plumbthroat would be proud (Yes, she would.)<br>I've no time to be demure<br>'Cause I'm scary as a storm cloud (Or scarier!) - Yar-har<br>The fishin' life's for me<br>I love me job, I love me life<br>Catching Squiddles of the sea! + + I've come far, that's for sure + Nanna Plumbthroat would be proud (Yes, she would.) + I've no time to be demure + 'Cause I'm scary as a storm cloud (Or scarier!) + + Yar-har + The fishin' life's for me + I love me job, I love me life + Catching Squiddles of the sea! + (Yar-har-har. I'll get those little Squiddles yet. If I can... if I can just get enough money, and... maybe overcome my crippling depression. But... but I have friends, I have a crew! They... they like me and, but... well... I mean...) --- Track: Plumbthroat Gives Chase @@ -458,10 +546,22 @@ Referenced Tracks: - Catchyegrabber (Skipper Plumbthroat's Song) Lyrics: |- (This might not fit my... rude alter ego, but I really love drinking tea and eating broccoli. But don't tell anyone!) - (Yar-har, time for some Squiddle Stew!)<br>(Come here, Squiddles! Little Squiddles! Ha, ha, har!) - (Come back here, you Squiddles!)<br>(I'll show you tangle buddles! I'll show you tangle... hoo-)<br>(Darn those Squiddles, come back with my pants!) - (Darn those Squiddles, where are my pants?)<br>(I am embarrassed that you Squiddles have had to see my naked body.) - (I'll get you yet, you Squiddles!)<br>(Well, EXCUSE me, Squiddles!)<br>(Squiddles! Curse you, Squiddles!)<br>(You have yet to see the power of the Catchyegrabber!) + + (Yar-har, time for some Squiddle Stew!) + (Come here, Squiddles! Little Squiddles! Ha, ha, har!) + + (Come back here, you Squiddles!) + (I'll show you tangle buddles! I'll show you tangle... hoo-) + (Darn those Squiddles, come back with my pants!) + + (Darn those Squiddles, where are my pants?) + (I am embarrassed that you Squiddles have had to see my naked body.) + + (I'll get you yet, you Squiddles!) + (Well, EXCUSE me, Squiddles!) + (Squiddles! Curse you, Squiddles!) + (You have yet to see the power of the Catchyegrabber!) + (I wish I had a job! I wish I wasn't such a- [unintelligible] this! [unintelligible] Skipper Plumbthroat!) --- Track: Squiddles the Movie Trailer - The Day the Unicorns Couldn't Play @@ -474,7 +574,9 @@ Referenced Tracks: - Squiddles! Lyrics: |- (But... but where are the unicorns today, Mommy? Where are the unicorns?) + (Someday, when I'm older, I'll— I'll find Santa Claus. He'll bring the unicorns back, won't he Mommy? Mommy? Where are you, Mommy? Are you with the unicorns?) + (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!) --- Track: Carefree Princess Berryboo @@ -485,7 +587,8 @@ URLs: - https://youtu.be/_Z8qT1GBhds Referenced Tracks: - track:carefree-action -Lyrics: (Well EXCUSE me, Princess Berryboo!) +Lyrics: |- + (Well EXCUSE me, Princess Berryboo!) --- Track: Mister Bowman Tells You About the Squiddles Artists: @@ -496,25 +599,83 @@ Duration: '4:27' URLs: - https://youtu.be/09eVHqwHWYM Lyrics: |- - (Mister Bowman, can you tell us about the Squiddles?)<br>(Well of course, child!)<br>(Yay!) - Let me tell you of the Squiddles who live below the sea<br>They love to sing and dance and play just like you and me<br>They're squishy little creatures with tentacles of joy<br>And adorable eyes that bring delight to every girl and boy - Not much is known about the Squiddles, at least on our behalf<br>And many wonder why it is they always seem to laugh<br>Do they know some kind of secret? Well, maybe, just in part<br>But any child knows the real answer deep within their heart! - They laugh because they love<br>They sing because they're free<br>They splash because they're safe and sound<br>Below the deep blue sea - They leap because they like you<br>They swim because they're swell<br>They smile because they have so many<br>Stories they like to tell - The Squiddles live in a magical land<br>Below the waves in castles of sand<br>If you listen close you can hear them make their plans - (What kind of plans?)<br>(Happy Squiddle plans!) - They kiss because they can't help it<br>They wiggle because why not!<br>They prance because they're oh so proud<br>Of all the friends they've got (Hey guys, how's it going?) - They jump because they're joyful<br>They giggle because they're glad<br>They Squiddle because in Squiddle Land<br>No one's ever sad! + (Mister Bowman, can you tell us about the Squiddles?) + (Well of course, child!) + (Yay!) + + Let me tell you of the Squiddles who live below the sea + They love to sing and dance and play just like you and me + They're squishy little creatures with tentacles of joy + And adorable eyes that bring delight to every girl and boy + + Not much is known about the Squiddles, at least on our behalf + And many wonder why it is they always seem to laugh + Do they know some kind of secret? Well, maybe, just in part + But any child knows the real answer deep within their heart! + + They laugh because they love + They sing because they're free + They splash because they're safe and sound + Below the deep blue sea + + They leap because they like you + They swim because they're swell + They smile because they have so many + Stories they like to tell + + The Squiddles live in a magical land + Below the waves in castles of sand + If you listen close you can hear them make their plans + + (What kind of plans?) + (Happy Squiddle plans!) + + They kiss because they can't help it + They wiggle because why not! + They prance because they're oh so proud + Of all the friends they've got (Hey guys, how's it going?) + + They jump because they're joyful + They giggle because they're glad + They Squiddle because in Squiddle Land + No one's ever sad! + (All right, now we're going to do the whole song one more time, and this time I want everybody to join in. Parents, that means you too. If you don't know the words just look them up online, I'm sure they're there somewhere. Otherwise, sit real close to your television set and follow the bouncing ball and you're sure to be a winner! Are you ready, kids? All right, here it comes again. And a-one, and a-two, and a-one two three!) - They laugh because they love<br>They sing because they're free<br>They splash because they're safe and sound<br>Below the deep blue sea - They leap because they like you<br>They swim because they're swell<br>They smile because they have so many<br>Stories they like to tell - The Squiddles live in a magical land<br>Below the waves in castles of sand<br>If you listen close you can hear them make their plans - (What sort of plans?)<br>(Happy Squiddle plans!) - They kiss because they can't help it<br>They wiggle because why not<br>They prance because they're oh so proud<br>Of all the friends they've got - They jump because they're joyful<br>They giggle because they're glad<br>They Squiddle because in Squiddle Land<br>No one's ever sad! + + They laugh because they love + They sing because they're free + They splash because they're safe and sound + Below the deep blue sea + + They leap because they like you + They swim because they're swell + They smile because they have so many + Stories they like to tell + + The Squiddles live in a magical land + Below the waves in castles of sand + If you listen close you can hear them make their plans + + (What sort of plans?) + (Happy Squiddle plans!) + + They kiss because they can't help it + They wiggle because why not + They prance because they're oh so proud + Of all the friends they've got + + They jump because they're joyful + They giggle because they're glad + They Squiddle because in Squiddle Land + No one's ever sad! Commentary: |- <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + "Mister Bowman Tells You About the Squiddles" is maybe 50% Donovan and 50% pure evil, although you wouldn't know it considering I ended up cutting a set of alternate lyrics that would have been more sadistic than the album's bizarre conclusion. Tavia gets her cameo as the little girl and some of the backup Squiddle voices. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1282), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + There's also Mister Bowman Tells You About the Squiddles, where I dared self-insert into the comic, as myself, doing vocals *again.* I wanted there to be, like, some creepy verses that were, um, "they laugh because they love, they swim because they're swell, they smile because they have no sense of heaven or of hell." I think that direction might have been funny, but... I was just playing it completely straight, I turned it into something I could take to conventions and like, just perform and have people actually sing along to. And you know, just, Captain Kangaroo style or whatever, everyone just becomes little kids singing along, y'know! --- Track: Ocean Stars Artists: @@ -613,5 +774,8 @@ Duration: 0:19 URLs: - https://youtu.be/w6RNFIXfiyY Lyrics: |- - (I love you, Squiddle Ruby!)<br>(I love you too, Squiddle Sapphire!)<br>(Let's have serious friendship!) + (I love you, Squiddle Ruby!) + (I love you too, Squiddle Sapphire!) + (Let's have serious friendship!) + (Oh man, I just had a friendship aneurysm.) diff --git a/album/the-wanderers.yaml b/album/the-wanderers.yaml index b64b7820..d8d89da0 100644 --- a/album/the-wanderers.yaml +++ b/album/the-wanderers.yaml @@ -35,6 +35,14 @@ Commentary: |- Are you running out of room on your ipod yet? You might have to start deleting some of that crappy non-HS music soon. + <i>Lauren Ross:</i> ([Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/luzerna/7604385333/andrewfussy-whaoanon), excerpt, 7/14/2011) + + I did the cover and header image for this!! I'VE BEEN WAITING SO DAMN LONG FOR AN EXILE ALBUM AND THEN IT FINALLY CAME AND IT'S REALLY GREAT AND I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE ASKED TO ILLUSTRATE IT DFJSDJFSD I COULD HAVE CRIED TEARS OF JOY. *SO MANY TEARS OF JOY.* + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1766), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + This is something else I didn't get around to recording, but there's actually another lost Homestuck album. It was called The Wanderers. It was a compilation that I had two songs on. One was called [[Aimless Morning Gold]]. The other is [[Ruins Rising]]. [...] I really liked the whole desert-punk vibe of this record. If you feel like tracking this one down, be my guest - it's a really great record and I wish it were still up there. + <i>Homestuck:</i> ([Bandcamp credits blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20110717121349/https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/the-wanderers)) Includes music by:<br> @@ -53,10 +61,6 @@ Commentary: |- [[artist:tensei|Joren "Tensei" de Bruin]] Cover art by [[artist:lauren-ross|Lauren "Sock" Ross]] - - <i>Lauren Ross:</i> ([Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/luzerna/7604385333/andrewfussy-whaoanon), excerpt) - - I did the cover and header image for this!! I'VE BEEN WAITING SO DAMN LONG FOR AN EXILE ALBUM AND THEN IT FINALLY CAME AND IT'S REALLY GREAT AND I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE ASKED TO ILLUSTRATE IT DFJSDJFSD I COULD HAVE CRIED TEARS OF JOY. *SO MANY TEARS OF JOY.* Banner Artists: - Lauren Ross Banner Dimensions: 1463x270 @@ -334,6 +338,10 @@ Commentary: |- doing scratches was fun too<br> i like to think the myst soundtrack was an influence on it too<br> really listened to the uru and myst iii soundtracks to death + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1778), adapted to text, 7/20/2024) + + The other is Ruins Rising, which is, again, another treatment of [[track:ruins|Ruins]] by Erik Scheele. This one, the guitar intro is kind of drawn from the Frippertronics technique of Robert Fripp, and, it actually features a lot of re-re-record scratches and cool textures that I hadn't really experimented with before. *(Caption: "God bless the fruity scratcher")* --- Track: What a Daring Dream Artists: diff --git a/static-page/changelog.yaml b/static-page/changelog.yaml index 02d76a7e..2841539e 100644 --- a/static-page/changelog.yaml +++ b/static-page/changelog.yaml @@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ Content: |- - added [[album:gba-pokemon-unbound-super-music-collection]] by [[group:the-paradox-music-team]]! (thanks, Morris!) - added [[album:dead-maams-chest]] by [[artist:houshou-marine]]! (thanks, Morris!) <h3>other additions</h3> + - added commentary from "Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music" to [[track:sburban-jungle]], [[track:harlequin-rock-version]], [[track:explore]], [[track:ohgodwhat-remix]], [[track:chorale-for-jaspers]], [[track:pony-chorale]], [[album:midnight-crew-drawing-dead]], [[track:lunar-eclipse]], [[track:hauntjam]], [[album:homestuck-vol-5]], [[track:how-do-i-live-bunny-back-in-the-box-version]], [[track:greenhouse]], [[track:ruins-with-strings]], [[track:hardchorale]], [[track:happy-cat-song]], [[album:squiddles]], [[track:squiddle-samba]], [[track:tangled-waltz]], [[track:mister-bowman-tells-you-about-the-squiddles]], [[track:i-dont-want-to-miss-a-thing]], [[album:mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido]], [[track:lies-with-the-sea]], [[track:dawn-of-man]], [[track:chain-of-prospit]], [[album:homestuck-vol-7]], [[track:warhammer-of-zillyhoo]], [[track:maplehoofs-adventure]], [[album:the-wanderers]], [[track:ruins-rising]], [[track:calamity]], [[track:ocean-stars-falling]], [[track:escape-pod]], [[track:frog-hunt]], [[track:gust-of-heir]], [[track:revered-return]], [[track:how-do-i-live-d8-night-version]], [[track:another-jungle]], [[track:gamegrl-original-1993-mix]], [[track:minihoofs-adventure]], [[track:elephant-gun]], [[track:busting-makes-me-feel-good]], [[track:iRRRRRRRRECONCILA8LE]], [[track:im-a-member-of-the-midnight-crew-post-punk-version]], [[track:another-countdown]], [[track:constant-conquest]], [[album:homestuck-vol-10]], and [[track:solar-voyage]] <h3>data fixes</h3> - fixed [[track:fiduspawn-go]] not referencing [[track:title-screen-pokemon-red-blue]] (thanks, Morris!) <h3>directory changes</h3> |