diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'album')
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-1.yaml | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml | 9 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml | 32 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml | 5 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml | 9 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido.yaml | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | album/squiddles.yaml | 11 |
9 files changed, 79 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-1.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-1.yaml index f5577831..4a2cee55 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-1.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-1.yaml @@ -112,6 +112,9 @@ MIDI Project Files: - Title: MIDI by Unknown Files: - 'Sburban Jungle (Brief Mix) - Unknown.mid' +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + At this point I was just giddy about the release of "Sburban Jungle", although the version that appears here is deliberately truncated. The full version later released on [[album:homestuck-vol-4|Volume 4]] was already fully written at this point, although we figured that it would be best to give only a taste and otherwise save it for later. --- Track: Aggrieve (Violin Refrain) Artists: diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml index 07a76dc5..de83fb4c 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-2.yaml @@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ URLs: - https://youtu.be/g5TDTcMEL_c Referenced Tracks: - track: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. --- Track: Skaian Dreams (Remix) Artists: @@ -110,6 +113,9 @@ MIDI Project Files: Commentary: |- <i>Buzinkai:</i> I tried towill write something a little more thought provoking this time without too much drummage in the background. It came out smoothly, and I do think it's quite the haunting melody. I was unaware that Andrew wanted me to finish the original loop, and someone else remixed a longer ending for it, doing quite a fantastic job. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + "Explore" was one of Buzinkai's distinctive snippets that I arranged - the melodies he writes are always strong, and the only appropriate scale to work on with that kind of material is grand. --- Track: Guardian Artists: diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml index 29e7fca1..6f120725 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-3.yaml @@ -135,6 +135,9 @@ MIDI Project Files: - Title: MIDI by Unknown 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. --- Track: Rediscover Fusion Artists: @@ -180,6 +183,9 @@ Sheet Music Files: - Title: Sheet music by Zephyr 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. --- Track: Pony Chorale Artists: @@ -201,3 +207,6 @@ MIDI Project Files: - Title: MIDI by Unknown (piano solo) Files: - 'Pony Chorale - Unknown (piano solo).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. diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml index 3bdc03a3..f2105aee 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-4.yaml @@ -193,6 +193,9 @@ MIDI Project Files: - Title: MIDI by MrCheeze Files: - 'Sburban Jungle - MrCheeze.mid' +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + "Sburban Jungle" finally comes into its own with its full reveal after being on the shelf for months. That we didn't delay the thing further amazes me considering the scale of the story, although I'm still indebted to [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] for making the animated sequence which the song accompanied especially iconic. Who doesn't love the picture of Rose making her incredibly stylized jump to catch the bottle during the piano break? --- Track: Three in the Morning (RJ's I Can Barely Sleep In This Casino Remix) Directory: three-in-the-morning-rj diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml index f0f38aeb..05ecd78b 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-5.yaml @@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ Additional Files: Files: - vol5.jpg Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + This Volume is a little bit of an oddity in that it's hyper-long and is consisted overwhelmingly of tracks that have not appeared in the comic whatsoever, so you might not be quite so initially motivated to purchase it as you would for one of the soundtracks proper, however, I assure you, there is some really great material on there. The album hits the tip of the creative iceberg that has been the MSPA music project (which I guess is now formally What Pumpkin records) and shows only a fraction of the endless piles upon piles of "other" music that exists on the not-so-secret music forums. + + [[artist:andrew-hussie|Andrew]] has been definitely at a crossroads with the music - the response to his open casting call for the music project over a year ago almost immediately exploded with music, initially with the pretense that we were going to be creating short loops (as in the strife themes such as [[track:showtime-original-mix|Showtime]]). However, when the comic started to operate more cinematically and less like an adventure game, more and more the concentration became on how our music could be used to create the numerous extensive flash-animated cutscenes, some of which fans have awaited and anticipated for days on end. + + 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 [[track:sburban-jungle|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>Quasar Nebula:</i> Track art on these tracks has been uploaded from the <a href="https://sollay-b.tumblr.com/post/188094230423/hello-a-couple-of-years-ago-allyssinian">Homestuck Vol. 5 Anthology</a>! The official release of Vol. 5 didn't come with track art; this collaborative project organized artists to submit their own original art for the album. The art was originally shared in a huge colection on tumblr on 4/13/17 and has now been collected here for viewing convenience and discoverability! (Check out the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyxgBfhPEG8">Vol. 5 Anthology Presentation</a> for an awesome animated showing of the anthology art and original tracks!) @@ -218,6 +225,9 @@ Art Tags: - Earth Referenced Tracks: - track:chorale-for-jaspers +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + Radiation, or 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 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 --- Track: Hardchorale Artists: @@ -241,6 +251,9 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- <i>Alex Rosetti:</i> I've always considered the creation of this song a "classic story". It came about in a strange, almost fateful way, and I think the final product reflects that. It was the first thing that Radiation and I worked on together, and it was through Hardchorale that our friendship started. He approached me with a MIDI file he had made, intending it to be a sort of "boss battle" arrangement of Chorale for Jaspers in the style of Harleboss. He asked if I would be interested in producing it, since at the time he was just starting out and had no means to do so. I agreed, Chorale being one of my favorite Homestuck tunes. So I produced it in a DAW to make it sound "good", and relative to the MIDI file it sounded great, and we were both really happy with it. Radiation got Bowman to record some heavy metal meows, which he apparently almost got kicked out of his apartment for recording and claims to have video of, though I have yet to see it. Once I found out it was going to be on Vol. 5, I added a section to it (roughly the last third of the piece) and at the very end sneaked the Squiddles theme just because I could. I realize that was more of a narrative than a commentary, but it's the history behind this piece that I find fun to talk about more than the piece itself. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + Harchorale was another 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. --- Track: An Unbreakable Union Artists: @@ -706,6 +719,11 @@ Lyrics: |- Alright now, let's bring it back here, now<br>I need somethin' with a little soul<br>Casey, take us there, bring it back!<br>Alright, come on now! And tell me now<br>How do I live without you?<br>I wanna know<br>How do I breathe without you?<br>If you ever go<br>How will I ever, ever survive? (Oh, it's- it's done. Oh.) +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + God knows this is the dumbest thing I've ever created (at least for MSPA). But maybe it's also the most awesome thing because of that? In the process of creating this, I ended up learning a lot about the recording process, but let me tell you, if I ever EVER have to perform this song again, I am officially dropping the key signature a few steps - this song stretched my range pretty dangerously and it shows. Fun fact: did you know [[artist:diane-warren|Dianne Warren]] also wrote "[[track:i-dont-wanna-miss-a-thing-aerosmith|Don't Wanna Miss a Thing]]" from Armageddon? She has like the best career ever, writing the cheesiest, most epic love songs ever for some of the most ridiculous action movies of all time. + + I actually put a lot of work into it, retaking the vocals and guitar parts entirely before extending the song an extra verse. Nick's drunken air guitar solo remains intact, of course. --- Track: Dupliblaze COMAGMA Artists: @@ -823,14 +841,21 @@ MIDI Project Files: Commentary: |- <i>Erik Scheele:</i> This one is really hardly me, honest, it’s all Bowman. 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. + (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. + Of course, I really doubt that Ruins would have gotten anywhere if it wasn’t for Bowman, who pretty much surprised me sometime before Volume 5 with an updated version of my recording, which made the piano sound better and added a lot of other instruments to it, really adding a lot of depth and atmosphere to an otherwise-shoddy recording. And then, when Volume 5 came around, it was released as “Ruins (With Strings)”, which is what you just heard in the update! + I know I’ve got a better recording of Ruins kicking around here somewhere, I’ll have to see if something can be done with it.) + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> Really it’s the “(With Strings)” part that is my doing. When Jit was first inducted to the team, he did not have access at the time to a proper recording environment or midi controller that he could apply a high-quality piano sound to, so he had recorded his piano demo for “Ruins” on what I’m guessing is an on-board laptop microphone. I thought the composition was really great but knew that it would sound too unpolished to make the cut onto a Homestuck album, so I resolved to write a string accompaniment around his composition. + By applying an incredibly enormous amount of reverb to the piano part, I hid the low fidelity of the original recording and made it sound as though it was hauntingly played to the listener from the other end of a cave. Given my lack of any truly convincing string samples, I chose instead to use deliberately mechanical strings, gently de-tuning them to sound a bit reminiscent of early string synthesizers, somewhat inspired by “Crystal Japan”, a creepy instrumental by David Bowie. + Some of the other elements of the ambiance (the wind, the really high notes that echo for a long time) I drew from the soundtrack to World of Goo, specifically the track “Jelly” which I noticed bore a strong resemblance tonally to Jit’s composition. To seal the melancholy, I doubled the piano melody on guitar using a very cool, muted sound with a lot of echoes and pitch bends. I signed the tune by adding a cadence from “Sburban Jungle” at the very end. - 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 James’s piano suite Sburb). + + 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]]). --- Track: Ectobiology Artists: @@ -1201,6 +1226,11 @@ Art Tags: - Jade - Squiddles - Earth +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + Greenhouse ended up being an exercise in what I could do with a handful of new pieces of equipment. Having acquired [[artist:tavia-morra|Tavia's]] old, barely used electric guitar and keyboard, this is the first composition I've really gotten to do a lot of recording for instead of just point and click sequencing. When I listen to this song, I imagine this is what Jade hears every time she starts her computer. Which would be a good song to write! + + "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. --- Track: Space Prankster Artists: diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml index f45e78ba..78739656 100644 --- a/album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml +++ b/album/homestuck-vol-6.yaml @@ -320,6 +320,11 @@ Lyrics: |- The sweetest dream could never do I'd still miss you, babe And I don't wanna miss a thing +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + Yeah yeah yeah, uh, there's not too much to say about this one other than I once again did an over-the-top summer movie song and now I'm starting to turn into some weird irony-laden crooner. If I keep this thing up, I'll end like Bryan Ferry, slowly mutating from a bizarre parody of a lounge lizard into the real deal. When you guys find me in Vegas playing to some bar full of people scratching their heads or playing at some rich guy's wedding, please dose me with some smelling salts so that I can figure out where I am and what the hell is going on. + + Anyway, recording "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" is something that proved especially difficult, as I ended up cobbling the thing together whilst briefly staying at my parents' house (oh, those deadlines!) which wouldn't make things so hard except that they went ahead and painted the place and changed all the floors to wood paneling just before I arrived. What this means is that the rooms I recorded in were live as hell and it took a lot of work to hide the extra noise whilst being unable to pad the freshly-painted walls with anything that could possibly dampen the sound. Enjoy the results! --- Track: MeGaLoVania Directory: MeGaLoVania diff --git a/album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml b/album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml index 6d7c4239..9f9ce3f9 100644 --- a/album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml +++ b/album/midnight-crew-drawing-dead.yaml @@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ Additional Files: - mcwpp_1280x1024.jpg - mcwpp_1440x900.jpg - mcwpp_1920x1080.jpg +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. --- Track: Three in the Morning Artists: @@ -196,6 +199,9 @@ Duration: '2:59' URLs: - https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/lunar-eclipse-2 - https://youtu.be/06SVUSwu8Xk +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + I opted to imitate Weather Report and the sort of spacey, insidious-sounding grooves they put together on Mysterious Traveler to create "Lunar Eclipse". I like the atmospheric nature of the track, plus Fenris' sax solo that I diced up and added a ton of digital reverb to, although Fenris has completely disappeared since recording the solo in 2009. --- Track: Hauntjam Artists: @@ -215,6 +221,9 @@ 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 <a href="http://www.mspaintadventures.com/extras/ps000018.html">the Extras page</a> 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, Xerxes emphasizes the spookiness by changing instruments for more electric organ. + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> + I also went ahead a dropped some good synths and fairly convincing drum part on Andrew Huo's "Hauntjam". --- 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 28e11087..a947b62b 100644 --- a/album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido.yaml +++ b/album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido.yaml @@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ Commentary: |- <i>Are there any intentional song similarities or specific inspirations, musically? Chain of Prospit reminds me a LOT of She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby, in a very good way.</i> None of the songs are supposed to sound intentionally like any other song, but my style is informed by the groups I've listened to that I really enjoy. I can see the resemblance, but when I listen to my own music I always hear a demolition derby of every song I've ever liked. All the things I've seen posted about my music being a mix between groups like Daft Punk, David Bowie, or They Might Be Giants really satisfy me because those are most of the same things I listen to. I think I listened to "She Blinded Me With Science" a lot about five years ago. Thomas Dolby is a cool guy. I really like his soundtrack to Gate to the Mind's Eye. + + (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110630045842/http://www.iambowman.com:80/">Full album Q&A!</a>) <i>Tavia Morra:</i> <i>Also any fun stories you can share from taking the pictures for the graphics?</i> For the portrait of Hadron's face, I cobbled together my little lighting and shooting rig with the following: tripod, camera, music stand, orange extension cord, nightlight, and a chair. It was super guerrilla, if you consider shooting in the comfort of your own home guerrilla. Either way, it was actually a very pleasant photoshoot that didn't require an extensive amount of time to set up. diff --git a/album/squiddles.yaml b/album/squiddles.yaml index f1ceac49..d3617632 100644 --- a/album/squiddles.yaml +++ b/album/squiddles.yaml @@ -148,6 +148,9 @@ Artists: Duration: '4:15' 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. --- Track: Sun-Speckled Squiddly Afternoon Artists: @@ -232,6 +235,9 @@ Artists: Duration: '3:05' 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. --- Track: Squiddles in Paradise Artists: @@ -349,6 +355,8 @@ Lyrics: (Well EXCUSE me, Princess Berryboo!) Track: Mister Bowman Tells You About the Squiddles Artists: - Michael Guy Bowman +Contributors: +- Tavia Morra (additional vocals) Duration: '4:27' URLs: - https://youtu.be/09eVHqwHWYM @@ -369,6 +377,9 @@ Lyrics: |- (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! +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. --- Track: Ocean Stars Artists: |