From 7ecbb62832b3fc6910a4b2bde2d6474d021e373e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "(quasar) nebula" Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2023 13:59:22 -0300 Subject: more commentary annotations --- album/lofam4.yaml | 106 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------------- 1 file changed, 53 insertions(+), 53 deletions(-) (limited to 'album/lofam4.yaml') diff --git a/album/lofam4.yaml b/album/lofam4.yaml index d3843c25..8dddc31e 100644 --- a/album/lofam4.yaml +++ b/album/lofam4.yaml @@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ Commentary: |- I'm, uh, actually not really much of a musician. I'm mostly just good at recognizing melodies. We didn't have anyone lined up to do the disc jingles (though I assumed maybe Veri would do then, as on LoFaM2+3) so I mentioned to Cait that I had the idea of making each disc a song representative of each prior LoFaM. I sent her files of myself vocalizing the melodies and she transcribed them. You might be tyinking, "wait, but there's not a song on LoFaM1 called Homestuck Title Screen". This is correct. Its composer was unable to be contacted during its production for whatever reason, so it was arranged into both the first and last songs on the album. So, this is sort of like a reprise of the first song on the first LoFaM. Initially I wanted to do Emissary of Wind but Cait's idea was better. - Sozzay: + Sozzay: (album cover artist) This piece was a very unique experience for me because it involved drawing something I was rather unfamiliar with. Before I started this piece I knew from the beginning I wanted something rather dynamic and fun and I feel the result stayed true to the image I had in mind. This piece was certainly difficult, but after some trial and error things eventually started coming together nicely. I ended up having a lot of fun trying out new brushes and mixing my favourite colors together to get a final result I was very pleased with. --- Track: Merge @@ -127,11 +127,11 @@ Art Tags: Commentary: |- cookiefonster: Similarly to several other songs on this album, this started as a rescore of [S] Jane: Enter for this collaborative project where people would come up with new music for all the flashes in Homestuck. The goal here was to make a song similar in style to Another Jungle (a very underappreciated song) without actually quoting it other than the way that song quotes Sburban Jungle. It was quite a challenge not borrowing anything else from other songs except for when I used a part of Oppa Toby Style towards the end, but this song was fun to make and I'm happy enough with the end result even if it's not as punchy as the original. - Lambda Bledsoe: + Lambda Bledsoe: (album organizer) a fair number of songs didn't have commentary from their musicians and/or artists, so i asked a few people, mostly mspafans managers to write some filler commentary for those. they'll be prefaced by bold names. Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor) - (ive gone and updated the old LoFaM commentaries to follow the same style!) - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + For the wiki, this commentary is marked with annotations (in parentheses) instead. Check [[album:lofam4|the album page]] for the original booklet PDF if you'd like to check out the commentary as it was first presented! + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) This art is a lovely rendition of Fitzwibble of that bit in [S] Dirk: Unite where Dirk takes Roxy and Jane along for a ride. Unfortunately, due to her foolish boorishness, Jane does not appreciate the joy of flying through the air as a bird would in spring. It is a shame, that such an enlightening experience must go ignored. --- Track: Frost and Clockwork @@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Adamantist: the Blind Pilot is leading what is left of his people through unknown lengths to a new home, albeit despite his own will. lonely encaged flighting spirit with a glimmer of hope. digital whispers of draining life. that is what I felt the Blind Pilot is. - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) Right after Pax Condesca, the theme of a fuchsia empress' intergalactic conquest, Blind Pilot shifts the focus to the hidden lowblood driving her flagship. Where Condesca was a light tune with unsettling undertones, Blind Pilot goes in full force with its cinematic and emotive atmosphere, a mix of dramatic orchestra, electronic sounds and ambience. It's all in a breathtaking and impressive final result, especially considering just how silly and tongue in cheek the original The Blind Prophet was. Kudos to Kurt for recontextualizing it so well! Additional note: this is the first of four Gold Pilot arranges to appear on the album, and boy does it start off the trend well. I hope you enjoy all their unique spins on the original! --- @@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ Commentary: |- Catboss: holy shiiiit it's uh that third track I made for the Homestuck music contest. wow. remember that? that was so long ago. anyway this was a track for Kanaya, at that part where she comes back as a rainbow drinker and slaughteres everyone. it's super great. I redid this track from the ground up for lofam 4, updated the flute playing and everything. Is it better? Is it worse? who knows, really - Kal-la-kal-la: + Kal-la-kal-la: (UMSPAF manager) This image has three Kanaya Maryams in it. Having two more Kanaya Maryams than Homestuck itself had is a bold creative decision, one which, in my opinion, works out rather well. I very much like the 'Naya in the foreground's halo, illuminating her face, while the Maryam furthest from the front of the scene is relatively shrouded in darkness. Consequently, her bright yellow eyes shine like a wild animal in the dead of night. Cool as hell all around, this image. --- Track: Savior of the Waking World (Cement City Remix) @@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ Art Tags: Referenced Tracks: - Savior of the Waking World Commentary: |- - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) It's a remix of Savior of the Waking World. That's something you couldn't possibly have found out unless you read this very commentary. Aren't you doing youreslf a favor by looking through this? For this track, Chalaite rendered a portrait of John staring down at his deathplace, after being revived by the inscrutable mechanics of sburb. Despite being killed by Bec Noir, her retains his life, and is now more powerful than ever, having attained god tier. --- @@ -380,9 +380,9 @@ Art Tags: Referenced Tracks: - Darling Kanaya Commentary: |- - Wheals: + Wheals: (album help) Of all the main characters in Homestuck, Kanaya is perhaps the most suited to a soft orchestral/piano piece like this. The song pulls off some great production orchestra-wise while putting a lovely 3/4 twist on Darling Kanaya. - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) A little known power held by the clearly very fictional and not at all real troll folklore creatures known as "Rainbow Drinkers" is to create flashing green silhouettes of themselves whenever they dance. This of course, holds no practical purpose whatsoever, except for the theoretical seduction of aliens who happen to resemble flighty broads. --- Track: Intermission @@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ Commentary: |- Joe Ouellet: John exploring the Land of Mounds and Xenon searching for his friends evoked some melancholy feels for me. This track was composed entirely backwards; That meant I was constantly exporting WAVs seeing if the "forward" track I was making was sounding good backwards. It was a fun and interesting way to make music. - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) You think they'd set up a bench by the road, but nooooooooooo. John has to sit on the grass, thanks to those inconsiderate jerks. The salamander probably had a hand in it. Damn that salamander. --- Track: Retconjuration @@ -510,7 +510,7 @@ Art Tags: Commentary: |- psithurist: Limelight was made for the unfinished Act 8 fan continuation of Homestuck, and was used in the flash [S] Resolve. It's a theme for alt-Calliope, as she merges her soul with Davepeta's and the other half of Gamzee's, hence the meows and the high-pitched Secret Honks in the middle section. The working title was Miss America, because it's like, the opposite of Lord English? Shoutout to whoever came up with that one on the Act 8 team. This one was suepr fun to make since I got to use a lot of wacky sampling techniques and also I just love Calliope a whole god damn lot okay. - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) Like the song, this fantastic art was originally used for [[album:act-8-volume-1|Act 8 Volume 1]]. It's a pretty stark contrast to the carefree art for Glide immediately before it; Alternate Calliope has now taken off her hood, with a look that indicates that she means business. --- Track: Bonehead Destiny (LoFaM Cut) @@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ Commentary: |- Shandy: Some ships may come and go, but Rosemary is forever. A mashup of the traditional "Greensleeves", which I've always loved, with "Endless Climb" and hits of "Black Rose / Green Sun". - SplitSuns: + SplitSuns: (album help) This is a solemn artwork that captures a snapshot of Rose and Kanaya in a tender embrace. The piece manages to render the two lovers at their closest, while also highlighting the extremes of both of their characters. Rose's skin is tainted black to indicate her status as Grimdark, while Kanaya is glowing white as rainbow drinkers often do. Although the addition of the titular "greensleeves" to Kanaya's outfit is subtle, it helps tie the artwork even further to its song and turns it into an excellent companion. --- Track: Highland Thunder @@ -591,7 +591,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Elanor Pam: This was very much a test-bed for photoshop brushes and adjustment layers I had yet to touch on, all while putting the speed in speedpaint. - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) At one point I described this as something along the lines of "electric Scottish war music", and that still stands. The melody in this song is absolutely iconic, if you ask me, and it gets INCREDIBLY ampled. Maybe enough to see what lies under that voltaic fault. (Spoiler: It's just a lot of xenon.) Also, the lyrics to this song are "DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE". That is all. --- Track: Ghosts @@ -654,7 +654,7 @@ Art Tags: Commentary: |- olegoleg123: Aura of Colour is one of my older tracks, originally completely unrelated to Homestuck and only then adapted as a theme for Rose and submitted as such. It is the piece that marked my transition form straightup EDM to more VGM-styled music. - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) This art by insecureIllustrator was actually one of two made for this track! iI sent us both this version and a different one of Rose with just as much incredible detail, and allowed us to choose which one suited the track better. This version won out primarily due to fitting the bright tone of the song more, and the general feeling of an "aura of colour". insecureIllustrator: (alternate artwork) @@ -676,7 +676,7 @@ Commentary: |- Seth Massey: This was supposed to be a fill in track for a finished trackart for LOFAM2 about Calmasis and I liked it and pianos Imagine the plot to Complacency of the Learned and that's what's happening here - Wheals: + Wheals: (album help) Likely the oldest art on the album, this dates all the way back to LOFAM2 days. The song never did get finished for that era but stuck around until the song got made and finished in time for LOFAM4. It turns out that in the end, playing beyond the death of the king was a metaphor for the art's living past the end of the comic... I must confess to loving this art style, with mostly aliased lines and two-tone shading, especially in its similarity to some of Andrew Hussie's own art in Homestuck. It's none too common to see fanart of Calmasis, so it's nice to see them rendered in a more dynamic pose than the only canon one, while still clearly recognizable as that same antihero. --- @@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- The Great Anansi: En Masse is actually a remastering of sorts of the very first Homestuck remix (and just generally one of the first songs ever) that I made about five or six years ago, because this was conceptualized around when Homestuck was ending last year to be a commemoration of the webcomic that sparked so much creative energy in me and catalyzed about 99% of my current friendships. I was keen on having it be grand and sweepking—essentially, doing everything my initial remix did, except bigger and badder than ever before. To that end, I started tossing in some extra motifs and making the composition even mroe frantic than before, but I was keen on keeping the overall rhythm and classical-esque style of Scratch; it's been a very long time since the cueball-head was directly relevant, but it's important to remember that that's where so much started! The project encountered some severe snags due to various real life troubles and motivation issues, but thanks to the support of the LOFAM team, it's finally been brought to life and I'm back on my feet with bountiful motivation. I might be a bit rocky, but it's only going up from here! - SplitSuns: + SplitSuns: (album help) This art primarily focuses on Doc Scratch, his profile taking up most of the canvas. There's a nice contrast between the organic and textured forms of his suit and the precisely geometric shapes such as his cueball head, the triangle cutting through his chest, and the halo of squares over him. The use of recurring motifs such as pool balls, arrows, and brooms help to connect the piece further to Scratch's roots, with the peacock texturing suggesting the foreboding Felt Manor. An interesting artwork for an enigmatic character. --- Track: '[GRIEF]' @@ -757,7 +757,7 @@ Sampled Tracks: Commentary: |- Noisemaker: An extension of a very, very short segment of a group collaboration (7 GRAND END from the [[group:canmt|Cool and New Music Team]]), it seemed unfitting to leave something like this in its short, unfinished state. - SplitSuns: + SplitSuns: (album help) Buffskull was originally a part of the CANMT song "7 GRAND END," with the music syncing up to the final Act 7 flash in Homestuck. This part of the song played when Vriska and her army prepared to face off against Lord English, and the art reflects this tense moment. Vriska stands in the middle of the chaos, with the house juju towering behind her. All of this is reflected in the eye of Lord English himself, his normally radiating visage forced into the position of eight-balls. The detail on English's eye is both very sharp and a little unsettling. So although this art mirrors previous scenes in the comic, it adds its own interseting twists to the presentation to make it an exciting and engaging image. --- Track: I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew (theh0nestman Version) @@ -774,7 +774,7 @@ Art Tags: Referenced Tracks: - track:im-a-member-of-the-midnight-crew Commentary: |- - ostrichlittledungeon: + ostrichlittledungeon: (album team) After the acapella and post-punk versions of I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew, you may be wondering how there could possibly be a unique version of this song without stooping to What Pumpkin's level and making "I'm a Member of the Midnight Ska." theh0nestman manages to take this early 20th century classic somewhere entirely new. This version of the song has a country rock feel to it, with soft verses leading into harder, crunchier choruses, and the bridges between verses taking us into previously uncharted melodic territory. dodostad: I was asking around for iconic rock album covers to base the art on since it was rather classic rock take on the midnight crew. Someone said Nirvana's Nevermind and I laughed and laughed and went with it @@ -827,7 +827,7 @@ Commentary: |- Lambda Bledsoe: For a lot of people LoFaM2 is the best (released) LoFaM, which is... sort of weird, as someone that did it. Personally, I sort of think of 2 and 3 as parts of one whole because they were so close in proudction and a number of songs were moved from the former to the latter. Also for a lot of people, the most represenative songs of LoFaM2 would be things like [[Alphamatic Replacement]], [[CR1M1N4L, CR1M1N4L]], [[Fighting Spirit]], [[Dance-Stab-Dance]], stuff like that. As the, uh, co-head of Loaf 2 though, I sorta always felt that Jackpot was the "most LoFaM2" song? Not sure exactly what it was. Perhaps that it had like three remixes (two of which never made it to a LoFaM), perhaps that it was my personal #1 "why wasn't this on coloUrs and mayhem" song. But, anyway, yeah, we did Jackpot. It's a neat song. - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) In my opinion, this track art perfectly fits the "calm before the storm" vibe of a middle before an end, like Disc 2 is before the endgame-themed Disc 3. I'll also note it looks incredibly fitting for the cover of a vinyl record, and with those bright colors and jazzy writing I'd check that hypothetical cover out the moment I saw it. --- Track: Hiatus @@ -1105,7 +1105,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Noisemaker: Initially from call and new 2: locomotif under the name Excess Express, I wanted Schrödinger's Harbinger to be Jasprose-themed to compensate for the lack of tracks in that category, as well as to make some additions to the original trakc. - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) I can't believe that Roxy thinks that Rose smothering herself in response to the heinous evils of Jasprose is so "wonderful". What a terrible mother/daughter figure. --- Track: Listless Squiddly Bliss @@ -1145,7 +1145,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Phil Gibson: Vriska is gr8 and thank goodness she saved all of space and time so we could hear this album - Wheals: + Wheals: (album help) Xoro was working on a little 8-song Vriska album concept for the CANMT, to be released on 8/8/2016. Though the idea never came to be, he made a couple songs for it, which then languished on the main tab of our organization sheet. Reading through the list of semi-abandoned songs there, I convinced him to put it on our Volume 8, so it ended up with some 8-related action. At some point, either the LOFAM judges listened to the album and felt it was a standout track, or Xoro submitted it on his own. The latter is possible since right around then was when Lambda put out an open call on /r/homestuck for song submissions. Either way, Xoro felt the song could bei mproved, so the song as presented here is an even more polished version of the v8lume one. Relistening, many of the changes jump out. Right away you can tell some of the instruments have changed. (Enemy Approaching, the Undertale song, is still an obvious compositional inspiration, even though the instrumentation being less electronic makes this version less similar in that sense.) Some of the mixing is better and more punchy, a skill that Xoro excels at. Terezi's theme opens the bridge, after which the song contains new composition. Returning to the original motifs of the song after the bridge, it continues to put a new spin on them. I never cease to be impressed by the musical improvements of my friends in the Homestuck fanmusic community. And I'm glad that in a managerial role, I can facilitate others' improvement. Let's all give Xoro a thumbsup for the great work here. --- Track: Wisest Wizord @@ -1164,7 +1164,7 @@ Art Tags: Commentary: |- Trufflemeep: The music reminded me of a disco party, so I tied that in with the name of the song and created the most fabulous fortune-telling session I was able to. It's OOC because Roxy knows that only nerds half-ass their wizard cosplays. In reality it would be a proper tunic, silk closure beard, and 230% more glowsticks. - Wheals: + Wheals: (album help) This track was made a while ago (originally for Colours and Mayhem if I'm not mistaken) but didn't get the attention/nomination to end up on a contemporary LOFAM. Fast forward to 2016, when CHamango releases his third pro as heck guide to homestuck, highlighting this song as his favorite fanmusic of all time. It's not hard to see why if you listen to the track. The publicity brought it to the eyes of the LOFAM team, who were glad to add it. This whole story is basically an excuse to hsill Chamang0's awesome [S] Jade and Calliope: Rumble. and pro as heck guide to homestuck videos, but it also serves as a reminder of how far this fandom has gone, and how much history lies behind this amazing fanmusic project. --- Track: Prospit Towers @@ -1182,7 +1182,7 @@ Art Tags: Commentary: |- SerialSymphony: Prospit Towers took cues from the Genesis Frog album, as well as inspiration from tracks like [[track:moonsetter]]. I wanted something subdued but moving to capture the feel of the moon. Also, I'm on LOFAM, hi mom! - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) In this piece by sonotcanon, Jade looks down on the city of Prospit from one of the... Prospit Towers. I'd say that sitting like that on a window pane is unsafe, but then I remembered that dreamselves can, you know, fly, so whatever. --- Track: Red @@ -1227,7 +1227,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Elanor Pam: For this piece my only goal was to express the same soft dreaminess of the song itself. And to draw Joey, of course. Where's she going in this dream? - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) I was a bit unsure of what to associate this track with at first. Jade is a dead ringer for a daydreamer, but so was Dave before his Derse awakening, implied in the song throuhg Derse Dreamers and Atomyk, but Hiveswap's [[track:old-secret|Old Secret]] is referenced in the song's first few seconds... I'm personally glad Elanor took the Hiveswap route for this song's track art, because I feel it fits the song so well even beyond Old Secret. The song invokes a calm theme for Joey, and speculation on all of the possible misadventuers she'll have that we'll soon get to see. As of this writing, Hiveswap's definitive release date of September 14th was revealed three days ago, and I hold hope it won't be delayed any longer. In the meantime, Daydream is a theme that embodies thoughts of that wait and that hope, and of course, thoughts of the game itself. --- @@ -1248,7 +1248,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Amethyst Barron: A space werewolf with reality warping powers would be terrifying and I wanted to reflect that. Also I really like drawing drooly sharp teeth. - Grace Medley: + Grace Medley: (album help) Okay, okay. Before you start listening to this song, just picture in your head the absolute BEST grimdark Jade theme. Then hit play. If you're not confused as to how Ascenzo managed to read your mind, you did something wrong. --- Track: Upward Meowvement (Davepetasprite^2 Owns) @@ -1268,7 +1268,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: - Upward Movement (Dave Owns) - Nepeta's Theme Commentary: |- - Kal-la-kal-la: + Kal-la-kal-la: (album help) The iconic Upward movement backbeat speaks for itself. In true Davepeta fashion, numerous cat and bird noises appear throughout the track, and a bouncy B-section rounds it off. Davepetasprite^2, Paradox Space's certified #1 cat-bird, shows us their stabs from a vantage point just beyond the Green Sun. The green and orange hues in this piece are particularly lovely. --- @@ -1313,7 +1313,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- yazshu: Now, this art. It's something im proud of in a sense. Great background. Half-decent Becs. Too much going on, maybe, but i think it works well for the vast expanses of space. Space, however, does not have much in it. It might be a bit counterintuitive for that reason. Space is always really fun to draw though, so thats why i went a little bit overboard. Great song, too. Am very glad i did art for it. Yeah, thanks oj for making this fantastic remix. - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) A calmer, somewhat less dramatic remix of Gold Pilot. I'd imagine it gets pretty lonely exploring the EXPANSES OF INTERSTELLAR SPACE. --- Track: Horizontal Headshot @@ -1342,7 +1342,7 @@ Sampled Tracks: Commentary: |- ostrichlittledungeon: Written for the [[group:canmt|Cool and New Music Team's]] Cool and New Homestuck 2, this is an attempt to remix Unite Synchronization in a way that fits better thematically with [S] Dirk: Synchronize and [S] Dirk: Unite. Some of the things I worked in were Orange Hat when Dirk wakes up, for example, Metamorphic Choices when the kernelsprite appears, Hate You for Meenah's cameo... Dirk's scateboard-riding I represented with Moshi Moshi?, a theme that's admittedly been a bit of a stickymotif for me (I've used it in way too many compositions). I like Moshi for an umber of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it goes so well with so many things. What can I say? I like mashing themes together. - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) An illustration of the events of both [S] Dirk: Synchronize and [S] Dirk: Unite. As can clearly be seen, the Red Miles tore up the spacetime continuum, resulting in all the events happening concurrently. This is exactly what happened both here and in the flashes, and definitely isn't just a clever tactic by dazed-squid to create a pretty neat track art that depicts a lot of the best parts of said flashes. --- Track: One and a Half Midnight @@ -1551,7 +1551,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Marcy Nabors: This song represents a lot of firsts for me. My first piece of Homestuck fan music, my first time composing for an ensemble of orchestral instruments, and the uh... second song I ever wrote in a digital audio workstation. I read Homestuck in a feverish marathon in the Fall of 2010 while taking a class about playing in a rock band and recording music (my high school was very cool). Around that time, I'd also been sequencing MIDI files in Anvil Studio (a program which was also the genesis of Bowman's MIDI experience), and had only recently discovered that Logic also had MIDI sequencing capabilities. After falling madly in love with the Homestuck soundtrack, I had an epiphany to the tune of "holy shit, I know how to make stuff like that!" and Atomyk Clockwyrk was thus the result. I've come a long way since then, but it's a testament to the quality of Logic Pro's stock library that I managed to make it sound this good with minimal knowledge of production. A little volume automation, slap a limiter on top (not even Logic's wonderful Adaptive Limiter? Come ON, 16-year old Marcy...), and blam, what you're hearing today is a time capsule of what I put together in December of 2010. - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) Dave is waiting in his land. For what? We're not quite sure. Perhaps he is simply waiting for one of the countless time loops he has employed as hsi session's time player. In any case, it can't be comfortable wearing that suit in that heat. I guess that's the price of being a c o o l k i d though. Fun fact actually, this piece had a couple other variants before this version, which had Dave wearing different colored suits. One was white, and the other was red. However, after dazed-squid was suggested to try a green one instead, it managed to catch the eye quite very well indeed. As such, the green version stuck. --- @@ -1571,7 +1571,7 @@ Art Tags: Commentary: |- nights: I'm really happy with this piece! The music sets a uniquely nice atmosphere on LOPAN, which I hoped to capture in this art's composition and colors. (Also the glass is just water, I promise I don't condone underage drinking, please don't call the cops) - Grace Medley: + Grace Medley: (album help) During his time as a musician for Homestuck, Thoams Ferkol touched on a wide range of styles, from metal to neoclassical to krautrock, and everywhere in between. One he hadn't done, though, was disco... Until now! Conceived as one of three land themes for the alpha session (LOPAN in particular), this track sadly never saw an official release, but it's here, now, for your listening pleasure. --- Track: Quest Crypt @@ -1646,7 +1646,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- YoItsCro: This was quite an interesting piece to work on; I was trying to do something with perspective though you know, practice will eventually take someone far! Anyway, here's Jade. The green sun is in the corner because outside of paying mind to the spacey environment, it somewhat references her whoel god tiering ordeal, which essentially meant the first guardian bonus pack. - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) i think this song speaks for itself so here are some lyrics. OH LET'S BREAK IT DOWN NOOT NOOTVAPE NAYSH YALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL @@ -1672,7 +1672,7 @@ Art Tags: - LoLaR Commentary: |- SplitSuns: - This track was amde for the [[group:canmt|Cool and New Music Team]]'s [[album:canwave|CANWAVE]], an album entirely of Homestuck vaporwave parodies. This song in particular is a vaporwave edit of Endless Climb, hence the name. I tried to extends the vaporwave feel beyond just slowing the song down, splicing and editing the original song in interesting ways, adding 80's style instruments, and utilizing pitchbend and other distortion effects to provide an uneasy feel. The result is something that transcends meme status and enters "dream status," if you will. Actually that sounds kind of dumb. Forget I said that. + This track was made for the [[group:canmt|Cool and New Music Team]]'s [[album:canwave|CANWAVE]], an album entirely of Homestuck vaporwave parodies. This song in particular is a vaporwave edit of Endless Climb, hence the name. I tried to extends the vaporwave feel beyond just slowing the song down, splicing and editing the original song in interesting ways, adding 80's style instruments, and utilizing pitchbend and other distortion effects to provide an uneasy feel. The result is something that transcends meme status and enters "dream status," if you will. Actually that sounds kind of dumb. Forget I said that. The track art is a parody of the cover of the vaporwave album "Shader Complete" by Sacred Tapestry. --- Track: Beatup (Shutdown) @@ -1691,7 +1691,7 @@ Art Tags: Referenced Tracks: - Beatup Commentary: |- - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) This song gives me vibes of a "prelude" version of the original Beatdown, like one that plays as a character's theme before a boss fight where the boss music is just a more complete and amped up rendition. Or maybe it's like an encore of Beatup where the DJ gives the backing track a little more flair. Either way, the fact that this song uses only the opening arpeggios of Beatdown throught its run works hella well as a lead-in to the next track, [[Airtime Assault]], which dives straight into the main melody. This art reminds me of what could have been. Oh, Bro. You could have had it all. A sweet hipster ninja buddy just like you who had your back at all times, who enjoyed being with you and never fought against the blade. You could have trained him with such bullshit free discipline mixed with such terror free compassion that his genuine confidence would never let him lose again. Not even to you, the teacher, brother and father. Then you two could stand back to back while this badass music of fraternal teamwork played in the distance, complete with a backdrop of blazing sun and raging meteors. But then you just had to throw the kid off a building and make his daily life hell. Thanks for nothing, man. --- @@ -1737,9 +1737,9 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Mathias Ramalho: This track is a joke. It doesn't have a serious purpose. But it is, in fact, an 8-bit track I worked quite hard to make sound good. If you love 8-bit and RJ, then this is the track just for you! - Jaspy: + koba: so i worked on this art way back in the beginning of the year just to see if i could contribute to the album and made a piece of art i'm pretty happy about, i don't really do art stuff so this was a first for me but im glad i could have worked on the album in some way still. it was pretty fun working on the art in general, coming up with the idea was pretty quick after i heard the song, but the hard part was trying to draw lil rj for the art (with a trackpad, dont use trackpds), and after a few revisions i think i got it to a pretty close style to the original. anyway glad i could help work on the album, and hope you dudes all enjoy the rest of it - Robert J! Lake: + Robert J! Lake: (probably not associated) What W h At W ho Did This @@ -1864,7 +1864,7 @@ Commentary: |- You know, it's pretty funny that some [[group:canmt|Cool and New Webcomic]] songs (such as this one) are being re-released on this album, but at the same time it's kind of fitting, since after Volume 10 was released, the CaNWC soundtrack helped reignite the notion of Homestuck fan music. I made this song before I knew I'd be making a whole album full of songs like this, just as a Sollux song for the hell of it. Even though this was the first one I made, it pretty clearly turned out to be one of the best, and I recently figured out why: the vibrato feature in Famitracker adds magic to everything and this one uses that feature pretty heavily. I'm not even joking, that functionality makes chiptune songs so much better. Title is a reference to Tavros and Fairie: A Love Story, a trollfic that starts off funny but eventually becomes truly painful to read. - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) Sollux is about to get down. Gotta give out some FRESH BEATS. Gotta JAM YOUR EYEBALLS AND EARHOLES WITH SOME SWEET ASS TUNES. CHECK IT OUT YO. --- Track: Reconciled @@ -1890,7 +1890,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Shandy: A track to celebrate the Striders finally talking and hashing out their differences! Because it's a Stirders song, I couldn't help adding a little breakdown. Sharp-eared listeners may also note that in the call-and-response main melody, the first synth is in 4/4 time and the second synth is in triplets—just as Dave and Dirk aren't quite in perfect lockstep. I left the ending open ended and hopeful, because I feel like the final chapter on their relationship has yet to be written. - SplitSuns: + SplitSuns: (album help) Dave and Dirk's reuinion on the spires of LOTAK was serious and poignant, but not without its sillier moments. This art is a mashup and showcase of the most ironic bullshit the Striders had to offer throughout the story. Smuppets galore, their plush rumps and jutting probosices laid alongside such gems as a Game Bro magazine, an artifacted Statue of Liberty, the lovable Squarewave and Sawtooth, and SBaHJ icons including the Big Man himself. And who could forget Guy Fieri's surprise appearance, his scream frozen in place as he prepares to assume the title of the next Antichrist? But that's a story for another time. --- Track: The End of Something Really Excellent @@ -2068,7 +2068,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- tti: dont do drugs - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) From the co-creator of smash hits Crystalmethequins and Beatup, and the composer of classics like Skaian Starstorm and Starblaze, comes an all-new drug fueled adventure! (Note: Don't do drugs, kids. Note 2: Don't even THINK of doing meth, trust on this one, please. Note 3: This isn't actually all-new, it's been around since 2013, but BOY is it still a doozy. Note 4: This is a remix of a remix of a remix. Are you a bad enough dude (or any casual moniker of your choice) to continue the chain? Note 5: I've run out of ntoes, so I guess... enjoy the song?!?!?) --- @@ -2121,7 +2121,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Hadron: Rise of the Conductor's baton is probably my most ambitious song I've made; I pulled all the stops for this song for [S] Finale of CANH. I knew from the start that I wanted to do an upbeat EDM-styled track, and I thought a remix of Beatfox's original Creata would be spectacular. - Makin: + Makin: (album help) This track was made way back in November for the [S] Finale animation, a culmination of [[group:canmt|Cool and New Web Comic]] lore Hadron had been working on for a long time. The track features a bunch of obscure little refefernces like Skaian Voyages and Celestial Fantasia, both amazing Beatfox songs you should probably look up, and Formation, the Hadron song you've already listened to. Beatfox is a music god, and Hadron knew just how to combine all the good leitmotifs in order to make the song feel as grand and epic as humanly possible. I actually named this track, as I feel cool Homestuck quotes like "Raise of the Conductor's Baton" ought to be used when they fit the content (and indeed, Rose raises her wand... conductorly... in the animation mentioned above. Seriously, go watch [S] Finale when you're done with this album). --- Track: Radness from Concentrate @@ -2206,7 +2206,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- ostrichlittledungeon: This is the song on LOFAM 4 that I'm most proud of, and was the most fun to make. Yes, it's Gold Pilot. Yes there are like seven other songs on LOFAM 4 that use Gold Pilot. But I do think I did a lot with it, and this piece showcases a bunch of different things. It starts with pretty standard Gold Pilot, and then slowly grows into the subversion that is the Gunshow 2 Theme, followed by a drop. Then there's a section inspired by Of Gods and Witches, then whatever the fuck happens at 1:42. Bring back the Gold Pilot with a new beat, and then end with Formation. Dumb weird fadeout that I definitely could've improved somehow but I was lazy. I wrote -Omega- Timeline with the Game Over timeline in mind—the dark feel and the choirs peppered throughout reflect the devastation to the A2 session, the Of Gods and Witches section is somewhat of a tribute to... dead kids? And the next section is a tribute to... uh, the happiness that's gone? I don't know, come up with some meaning there yourself. Most of this piece was me going for a specific feel rather than a specific meaning. Also, the dashes in the name are more for my own amusement than anything. -ω- - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) Omega Timeline is a song about the Game Over timeline, which Terezi heavily assists in healing with a plan she formed herself. Naturally, then, it works for the art to show Terezi in the middle of her final journey in this timeline, inches away from finding her true potential. It fits the adventurous and determined nature of the song pretty well! The fact that the letter Omega is associated with Libra helps too, of course. --- Track: Emerald Cinders @@ -2244,10 +2244,10 @@ Art Tags: - Cats - LoLCaT Commentary: |- - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) There's no music or art commentary on this track (which by the way is incredibly catchy and cute), so instead I'll pose a relevant question. How many songs with Mario Paint cat meows do you think are on this album? 2? 3? 4? Just this one? All 105? I'll tell you: there are 6. Six Mario Paint meow songs on the album, including this one. Approximately 5.71% of all Land of Fans and Music 4 tracks have Mario Paint cat meows in them. Now, that might not seem impressive, but let's put this in perspective: that's triple the number of tracks about Vriska. Whether that's good or bad, I'll leave to you. "the more mario paint meows i can cram on this album the better" -lambda 2017 - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) A serene landscape painting by fuchsi. Let's be honest here, that tea is probably so saturated with sugar that drinking it will probably give you diabetes as soon as it enters your bloodstream. --- @@ -2294,7 +2294,7 @@ Commentary: |- I honestly can't believe this got in. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm satisfied with it, but seriously this took ages to get to a publishable state. Prospitian Monody started life as a techno/ambient fusion with acoustic instruments in for fun too, which is a fancy way of saying I have no idea what genres actually mean. It also had a completely different melody. People told me the piano didn't fit so I made it synth, people told me the melody was aimless but couldn't explain why so I just rewrote it and blindly hoped, and they liked it but then production sucked again so I made it orchestral, and then the whole thing became synth instruments, which I kind afound bland but also it works well and I don't know what else to do. ANYWAY ENOUGH RAMBLING ABOUT USELESS FEEDBACK LETS GET TO THE SONG ITSELF A monody is essentially a dirge, except that it's not a dirge? It's dirgeish anyway. (fucking hell ost) This is like a funeral hymn for the White King, but the Dersite army is slaughtering all the Prospitians that try to mourn, so in the end the funeral ends up being held by some Dersites who aren't sympathetic to Prospit, but do respect tradition and politeness and etiquette and so on, so to compensate for it being a funeral for the enemy they make it all imposing and evil. (The Black King is too busy ending the world to notice.) You could sort of view it as a counterpart to [[track:broken-dreams]] on the SBURB OST, but focusing more on Derse's triumph than on Prospit's downfall. - Wheals: + Wheals: (album help) Jas posted a quite different original version of this art, showing a funeral procession of sorts for the king's impaled head, but replaced it with this even more impressive composition featuring a more dynamic posee and focused around a central Dersite. There was some disagreement on the discord server whether it looked better with or without the tree in the top left, which ended with the tree being put in at 8% transparency. Also johndave is a bad ship suck it viko --- @@ -2474,7 +2474,7 @@ Art Tags: Commentary: |- nights: Another very nice track for the Alpha kids' medium, this time for LOTAK. Unlike my other art pieces on LoFaM, I used SAI for this instead of the usual MS Paint. It's a nice change of pace to be working with another art program. - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) This is one of Ferkol's 3 tracks that were created for the planets of the alpha session. (In particular, this was created for Dirk's planet: The Land of Tombs and Krypton.) Although this song never saw an official release, now you can enjoy it here, on Land of Fans and Music 4. Or on Ferkol's soundcloud. You can also listen to this song on Ferkol's soundtrack. Starting off with simple choir alongside plucked strings, this piece builds up slightly, before letting a synthesizer take us deeper, as if we are descending onto the surface of Dirk's planet. As the piece continues, more and more electronic instruments come in, as the landscape becomes harsher and harsher. Yet, throughout it all, the strings remain steadfast. --- @@ -2539,7 +2539,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- dodostad: I was just trying to capture Aradia to the sweet tunes of the song! - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) Chrono Trigger is a great game. Corridors of Time is a great song. Crystalanthemums is also a great song. Any questions? --- Track: Black Hole / White Door @@ -2576,7 +2576,7 @@ Commentary: |- This track was assigned to me after the original artist dropped out. I decided to further extend the image formed of [[Crystalendofgames]]' and [[Ultimate Alchemy]]'s track illustrations after several people expressed assent when I aired the idea on the LoFaM server. While brainstorming illustration concepts, I immediately ot attached to the idea of an image of the victory platform gang silhouetted in the light of the Sburb logo, and went with it. It's a shame that this scene is physically impossible due to the clouds being higher than the victory platform, but the picture looks far too plain without them. - Kal-la-kal-la: + Kal-la-kal-la: (album help) The final boss is beaten. The game is won. The lights fade and the world begins to disappear. A gaping maw drags all into it, even the very fabric of reality. In the distance, a door opens. --- Track: Strife Mayhem @@ -2665,9 +2665,9 @@ Referenced Tracks: - track:moonsetter - Mad About the Boy Commentary: |- - Grace Medley: + Grace Medley: (album help) Cement City doesn't normally do music like this, so hearing Toby Fox's Moonsetter remixed into a laid-back, yet high energy neopsychedelic piece is a blast of fresh air, especially for someone like myself, who practically grew up listening to experimental electronic music. Despite the track's simplicity, it somehow succeeds in pulling off an atmosphere all of its own, and makes one of Toby's catchiest tunes even catchier. - WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: + WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES: (album help) Honestly, the head of an ogre doesn't sound like the most comfortable chair to me, but evidently, the Striders disagree. I guess they're too... cool... --- Track: Exsanguinated @@ -2685,7 +2685,7 @@ Art Tags: Commentary: |- Seijen: Time and time again I make a drum and bass song and im never satisfied with the drum mix. Like the time befoe and that time before. The snare is powerful but the kicks are never too prominent without being overtly compressed. Its always the same as the last time. But this track was a little different, instead I said "ooh that was horrible" because like the time before the kicks never seem to be enough. Its just the same as the last time. But those basses though. so ill. I feel sick now. Just like that time I ate at that Chinese place. I got sick there the time before but that was a year before. "Oh that was so gross" I uttered after taking my first bite of that gen. tso chicken. It was just the same as the last time. - Kal-la-kal-la: + Kal-la-kal-la: (album help) The concept of vampires has existed for millennia. There seems to be a split amongst modern depictions between vampires as grotesque being and vampires as alluring and beautiful. Exsanguinated, with its vocal samples describing disgust, expresses this, and the track art displays the dichotomy well, depicting a very beautiful Kanaya Maryam with blood in all the colours of the rainbow dripping from her mouth. Were it that Homestuck neurofunk should have a particular aesthetic sensibility, it would be bloodied rainbow-drinkers. --- Track: Premortem @@ -2750,7 +2750,7 @@ Commentary: |- Ok, here's another fun fact then. The title of the song is a play on the FreshJamz player which has the fruits on its interface, the Homestuck song [[Hauntjam]], actual fruit jam, and the fact that it is a song (i.e. "jam") about fruits. Neat! sweetjegus: Open your heart to the fruity embrace of Apple Girlington! I have the fondest memories of Jade's fruit mishaps back in Act 3 and a soft spot for fun and twangy tracks, so Fruitjam was the perfect storm. Her outfit is drawn from cubewatermelon's absolutely adorable APple Girlington design, and I've kept to the Touhou art tradition of contorted angles within a dramatic flying object vortex - but updated, now, for a lurid fever dream ft. the chlorine-headed personification of an apple. - Lambda Bledsoe: + Lambda Bledsoe: (album organizer) she says lofam team but this song is mark's and my fault
References: @@ -2850,7 +2850,7 @@ Art Tags: Commentary: |- ostrichlittledungeon: God, this was so much work. Oh yeah, and I lost the first half of the project file towards the end so I couldn't go back and edit it. Ugh. But all in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The original plan was to go through the CANMT discography and pick the most iconic songs over time. If you're unfamiliar with its discography, I highly recommend you at least [[group:canmt|go give it a glance]]. I roughly settled on using Cascante, Tick/Tock, Fruity Pebbles Redux, Gunshow, Rex Mille Geromius, Doctor and Penumbra Phantasm (cool and new vol V), Contra (from Cool and New Homestuck), Moshi Moshi, Final Confrontation, Unintentional Touhou, In the Beginning/Contact, Formation, Jungle #3, Muse of Nanchos, Flintstones, Gunshow 2, and of course, the RCT theme and Bowman's credit score. Shoutouts to difarem for making the "it's between my buttocks" vocaloid for me. Revisit/Rewind, which is based heavily on Ascend, was released as the Cool and New Homestuck song for [S] Credits. - Wheals: + Wheals: (album help) This art was made in like five hours on Christmas 2016 when i yelled at nights to make some John/Aradia art for Revisit/Rewind (it being based off Ascend, with its iconic John/Aradia art). That's basically the plot of The Christmas Carol and by writing this seven months later I'm now the Ghost of Christmas Future. I'll let Past Nights (the Ghost of Christmas Past) fill you in on the rest: nights: @@ -2924,7 +2924,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- PatManDX: RND and I used to collaborate on projects years ago so we've become very familiar with the other's work. When I first heard this track, back about 3 years ago, I knew I had to do the art for it. The song felt very grand and frenetic, while giving a sense of regality and awe, so I did my best to capture those feelings into the track art. I knew that I had to put in the White King as the main focus on the picture, since the song is a remix to a certain other song. There is a great emphasis on texture and desaturated colors, to help make the piece feel almost ilke a worn tapestry. I added a bloom filter to add to this effect. - Kal-la-kal-la: + Kal-la-kal-la: (album help) Musing upon the king and my brother's wreck, and upon the king my father's death before him. White bodies naked on the low damp ground, and bones cast in a little low dry garret, rattled by the rat's foot only, year to year. A rhythmic, galloping reel brings to mind our lost monarchs. --- @@ -2966,6 +2966,6 @@ Lyrics: >- Commentary: |- Sam Garcia: This song is about the beta kids so i drew them like if they were in a cd/disc. I did it like that because the transitions between different moments of the song reminded me of a movie or song playing. So basically i drew this how i thought a cd for hoemstuck would kind of look like. - keyboard cait: + keyboard cait: (album team) There were a few possible choices for the last track on this truly HUGE album, but none quite felt so conclusive or right as Astartus' contribution. After mood highs and mood lows, thrills and relaxations, we get to cap it all off with a spectacular victory sequence for our original kids and the game they played. And we are all so, so, so proud of them. Bless you, Beta Kids. We'll see you on the flipside. P.S. If you don't know what spectograms are... now would be a useful time to learn. -- cgit 1.3.0-6-gf8a5