recompose, refine

1 files changed, 125 insertions, 36 deletions

diff --git a/album/genesis-frog/album.txt b/album/genesis-frog/album.txt
index 85311858..a1053e53 100644
--- a/album/genesis-frog/album.txt
+++ b/album/genesis-frog/album.txt
@@ -36,34 +36,46 @@ Commentary:
     Email - <a href="mailto:awesomerosetti@gmail.com">awesomerosetti@gmail.com</a><br>Music blog - <a href="https://rosettimusic.tumblr.com/">rosettimusic.tumblr.com</a><br>Personal blog - <a href="https://albatrossthesoup.tumblr.com/">albatrossthesoup.tumblr.com</a><br>Twitter - <a href="https://twitter.com/albatrosssoup">twitter.com/albatrosssoup</a><br>YouTube - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MrAlbatrosssoup">youtube.com/MrAlbatrosssoup</a>
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Prelude
-References: Pondsquatter
 Track Art: Marina
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/prelude
+Duration: 2:03
+References: Pondsquatter
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/prelude
+- https://youtu.be/MEFq6t5hpxY?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     This is an album about growth, so I wanted it to start very quiet and exposed. The piece opens with a quartal chord in the harp, and after the atmosphere is established a solo clarinet introduces the main theme of the album.  A portion of the orchestra comes in after that and there’s a small swell before tapering off into a cello solo. The ensemble is pretty scarce in this one due to its subdued nature. There’s not a lot going on in this track overall, but it does its job both as the prelude to Pondsquatter and the album as a whole.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Pondsquatter
 Track Art: Marina
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/pondsquatter
+Duration: 5:11
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/pondsquatter
+- https://youtu.be/tt9EOkbyv64?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     If Genesis Frog were a game, this would play at the title screen. It is a full realization of the album’s main theme, this time with the entire orchestra in tow and plenty of thematic development. I sort of have a love-hate relationship with this track. For one thing, it is the first piece I composed for the album and its melodic material served as its main groundwork, so it’s really important in that respect. But at the same time I had the least experience while initially composing it as compared the album’s other tracks, so I had to spend a lot of extra time fine-tuning it and developing it more (the original was barely under two minutes long). Still, considering the amount of work I had to put into it, it was one of the more rewarding tracks to work on.
     The combination of Prelude and Pondsquatter to open the album with is something I thought about a lot, and in many ways they are one piece split into two parts. Consider this Movement II. Pondsquatter flows right out of Prelude and gradually adds to the orchestration. After a brief celesta interlude, the theme gets going in full. This piece has a sense of emerging, particularly out of the empty space of Prelude. There are plenty of woodwind trills and harp runs; I wanted them to feel like they were bursting out of the texture, and the openness of the quartal harmonies was eventually replaced by more triadic chords. Quartal chords retain some significance through the album, however, though they are certainly not prominent. I aimed to make the climax of this piece very satisfying, with the gong practically screaming “we’ve arrived!” but I was afraid of having too much of a sense of finality so I didn’t give the piece a proper ending. Instead it goes straight into the next track without only a hint at a cadence.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Our Glorious Speaker
-References: Pondsquatter, Sarabande
 Track Art: Rikuru
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/our-glorious-speaker
+Duration: 5:10
+References: Pondsquatter, Sarabande
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/our-glorious-speaker
+- https://youtu.be/Xqf92y6W48M?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     Much like Pondsquatter, the concept for this piece was conceived very early on in the album’s life before it became Genesis Frog. It was supposed to be a theme for the Prospitians, and it still mostly is, but now the piece focuses more on their devotion to the Speaker than the citizens themselves. The chess-people of Prospit are referenced a few times in Homestuck as worshipping the Genesis Frog, and it is through perusing their lore in various updates (mostly Seer: Descend) that I got inspiration for several tracks on the album, including this one.
     The music was representing devotion, so I wanted it to have the warmest, most tranquil tone it could. There are two chorale-like sections, the first being the passage the strings play in the beginning, and then later in the brass when the rest of the orchestra drops out for a while. The style of this piece was inspired by Taku Iwasaki’s scores, which often feature very beautiful and lush string textures. I actually don’t think I captured that very well, and in fact strayed from that idea as the piece went on. But the core of the inspiration remains and I think one can tell if they are familiar with his style. Of note is the last third of the piece which is a self-indulgent, overly-romanticized arrangement of Erik Scheele’s Sarabande. It’s such a beautiful piece and I knew from the day I started working on this that I wanted to include it, no matter how schmaltzy I made it sound. Give me a break, it was fun, okay?
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Prospitian Folklore
-References: Pondsquatter
 Track Art: Rikuru
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/prospitian-folklore
+Duration: 3:38
+References: Pondsquatter
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/prospitian-folklore
+- https://youtu.be/QLEJynNmhpM?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     “Though we adore Him we shall never enjoy His beauteous Croak. We spill our blood on acres of black and white so they may cross the yellow yard. At last in Skaia’s reflection through broken glass He may find the pond in which He’s meant to squat.” – Book in Prospit Library (from Seer: Descend)
@@ -71,9 +83,16 @@ Commentary:
     After the main section is over, the piece shifts into a short woodwind chorale, and then into what I can only call a cadenza made up of tense suspended figures in the strings with an out-of-meter pulse underneath. I kind of wrote this last section accidentally, since it somehow started flowing out of the chorale and I just went with it. It seemed to have an air of urgency and importance to me, so I kept it in to represent “Skaia’s reflection through broken glass”, which is such a fascinating image. Broken glass has been a recurring motif in Homestuck and seems to hold important consequences every time it occurs, and the text implies it will be significant in the Genesis Frog’s final destination. So the atmosphere of this final section felt significant and fitting to me.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Consorts' Intermezzo
-References: Buy NAK Sell DOOF, Pink Shells, Entrance of the Salamanders, Thip of the Tongue
 Track Art: Marina
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/consorts-intermezzo
+Duration: 0:28
+References:
+- Buy NAK Sell DOOF
+- Pink Shells
+- Entrance of the Salamanders
+- Thip of the Tongue
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/consorts-intermezzo
+- https://youtu.be/kV5rl3XTgAE?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     Part 2 covers all the Consort themes!
@@ -82,22 +101,43 @@ Commentary:
     The character of the music during this section is a bit different than the rest of the album due to the inherent silliness of the creatures it is representing. The Consorts are all also, for lack of a better word, dumb. The music reflects that too. This intermezzo transitions from the serious tone of the first section of the album into the absurd rom that is about to follow. The idea of including two intermezzos in this album came from the Actraiser Symphonic Suite, a collection of orchestrations from the SNES game Actraiser that used this classic "in between" sort of music as a way to reiterate a recurring theme. I use these little movements in a slightly different manner, but the spirit is the same. Musically, this is a simple interlude that states all the Consort themes that are to come in a solo viola accompanied by pizzicato strings.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Buy NAK Sell DOOF
-References: Atomyk Ebonpyre
 Track Art: Marina
+Duration: 3:50
+References: Atomyk Ebonpyre
 Directory: buy-NAK-sell-DOOF
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/buy-nak-sell-doof
+Contributors:
+- Kat
+- Tawa
+- Rachel Rose Mitchell
+- Marcy Nabors
+- Max Wright
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/buy-nak-sell-doof
+- https://youtu.be/ar66fitxQRs?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     Where do I even start? This is one of my favorite tracks that I’ve made, and by that I mean to say I’m really amused I was able to come up with this in the first place. It originally wasn’t part of this album at all—it was supposed to be a short jingle for the LOHAC Stock Exchange! But it was too much fun to let go of and soon it morphed into a full-fledged character theme for everyone’s beloved, excitable consorts. The general idea behind the music was this: Jit may have made a silly arrangement of Atomyk Ebonpyre, but what could I do to put it in an even more ridiculous context? And so it was that it became the manic violin and xylophone old-timey television music-inspired (this was my only frame of reference for what I thought stock exchange music should sound like) tune that it is now. And wouldn’t you know it, this type of music turned out to fit the personality of the Crocodiles like a crocodile-fitted glove.
     In terms of pacing, I thought it was crucial to place this as the first Consort track. The first four tracks of the album all range from relatively slow to moderately less slow, so I really needed something to break out. This is the most energetic and fast-paced of the four Consort themes, so for my money it was the best choice to introduce this section of the album and keep interest instead of having too many low-energy tracks in a row. However, this isn’t to say I was able to resist the temptation to put a slow middle section into this piece, which provides a little break from all the pandemonium. But more importantly, it set the stage for an incredibly silly idea I had to record a bunch of people nakking like maniacs to sound like the Crocodiles, and then have that gradually crescendo into the last section of the piece.
     In what is of some note, I tried to feature each of the Kids’ instruments in their respective Consort theme. Dave’s usual turntable affair was impossible for me to consider for this style of music, though I’m sure some incredibly talented person could have pulled it off. Instead, the piece uses xylophone heavily, since I was operating under the logic that both turntables and xylophones sort of fall under the percussion category? I will admit it’s a bit of a stretch.
     I would like to thank the following contributors for lending their beautiful, sonorous voices to this piece of music:
-    <ul><li>nyanface</li> <li>Hayden Lombard</li> <li>Tawawa</li> <li>Rachel Macwhirter</li> <li>Thom Rosell</li> <li>Marcy Nabors</li> <li>Kyle Chung</li> <li>Ben Sharrin</li> <li>Max Wright</li> <li>Katie Caldwell</li></ul>
+    - nyanface
+    - Hayden Lombard
+    - Tawawa
+    - Rachel Rose Mitchell
+    - Thom Rosell
+    - Marcy Nabors
+    - Kyle Chung
+    - Ben Sharrin
+    - Max Wright
+    - Katie Caldwell
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Pink Shells
-References: Pondsquatter
 Track Art: Rikuru
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/pink-shells
+Duration: 3:22
+References: Pondsquatter
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/pink-shells
+- https://youtu.be/CReFCSa8SFc?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     This was a difficult one to compose. The Turtles in Homestuck haven’t been given much characterization other than the ones quaking in fear of Rose, and even then that characteristic is basically the extent of it. I wondered if it was even worth writing a theme for them, since their importance to the story is minimal; what kind of music would I compose for them, anyway? But in the end I decided if I was going to do a set of Consort pieces I was going to do it right and that meant composing the whole package. There was going to be a cycle of fun, lighthearted pieces on this album regardless of characterization or story relevance.
@@ -105,9 +145,12 @@ Commentary:
     The middle section is a very loosely based on the Pondsquatter theme, and the high register marimba interjection makes it obvious in case you didn’t pick up on it in the first five notes. This eventually leads back into the main melody of the piece, and a couple sequences later it ends. I wonder how much it shows that I was really short on ideas for this piece. Any time it was playing up the comedy in timing or shifting feel, it felt more like I had no idea what to do and desperately stuck something in so the piece could move on. Maybe I’m being hard on it; I still think it is enjoyable to listen to. But from a compositional standpoint, it is probably the weakest on the album.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Entrance of the Salamanders
-References: Our Glorious Speaker
 Track Art: Marina
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/entrance-of-the-salamanders
+Duration: 2:56
+References: Our Glorious Speaker
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/entrance-of-the-salamanders
+- https://youtu.be/kU55FMWbmaQ?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     This piece picks up where Buy NAK Sell DOOF left off, meaning it goes right back into a silly, dimwitted march. This time however, we are joined by John’s signature instrument, the electric organ! I also put some piano in there I guess, but baby, it is all about that organ. Maybe it gives it a bit too much of a “baseball flavor” but that’s okay, the Salamanders are sporting folks. Right off the “bat”, you will notice the opening ostinato bears a strong resemblance to Danny Elfman tomfoolery, which is entirely coincidental; not that I have any problems with Danny Elfman tomfoolery, in fact I enjoy it very much.
@@ -115,9 +158,12 @@ Commentary:
     I sort of envisioned this composition as a dual piano/organ concerto in terms of how I treated the instruments. Both are featured over the orchestra, and play off it with plenty of silly textures and orchestrations. Stylistically, the oom-pah marching characteristics combined with the instrumentation may call to mind images of a circus, which is in fact how the piece got its name. It’s kind of a veiled reference, but if you know what the title is referring to then it’s easy to figure out why it resembles circus music. And of course in the spirit of things, for one last antic I finished it off with a slide whistle; an instrument I thought represented the salamanders’ bubbles pretty well.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Thip of the Tongue
-References: Stoke the Forge
 Track Art: Rikuru
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/thip-of-the-tongue
+Duration: 4:09
+References: Stoke the Forge
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/thip-of-the-tongue
+- https://youtu.be/AFPBfMdqKEU?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     If you asked me what title on this album I am most proud of coming up with, it would be this one. Ever since the Iguanas were introduced I was terrified someone was going to use this pun before I had a chance to put it out in an official capacity. I wanted to be the thip king, and despite being nervous about it for almost two years no one usurped my throne. Even as of this writing, searching for that exact phrase on the internet will yield no results. Obviously if you are reading this, that is no longer true. But I digress.
@@ -125,9 +171,12 @@ Commentary:
     The second part is where things get interesting. It is the only section of the album where I drop the orchestra shtick completely and use an ensemble of recorders, crumhorns, pipes, and an unconventional rhythm section featuring a dulcimer. I thought about what kind of music the Iguanas would make if given the opportunity. I figured they would have a lot of primitive instruments at hand and would produce simple, joyous music. This whole section is unabashedly a tribute to Kumi Tanioka’s work in Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. It’s a sort of re-imagining of this world of ancient instruments that she created, and it was one of my earliest influences. There are also seeds of Yasunori Mitsuda in here; it is such a fun piece that I don’t mind citing very strong influences here if people want to hear similar music to this.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Frogs' Intermezzo
-References: Pondsquatter
 Track Art: Marina
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/frogs-intermezzo
+Duration: 0:14
+References: Pondsquatter
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/frogs-intermezzo
+- https://youtu.be/lDGQ_3qgByU?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     This covers the Frog act of the album. One more Part to go after this!
@@ -136,9 +185,12 @@ Commentary:
     This intermezzo changes the tone from the lighthearted Consort music to something more full of wonder to suit the story to come. It is a simple swell based on the Pondsquatter theme, and once it settles down, the texture becomes very sparse so as to lead into Breeding Duties.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Breeding Duties
-References: Pondsquatter, Prospitian Folklore
 Track Art: Marina
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/breeding-duties
+Duration: 5:09
+References: Pondsquatter, Prospitian Folklore
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/breeding-duties
+- https://youtu.be/-BPCS9eHWFg?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     <code style="color: #008141">GA: But Regardless I Think Our Roles Are Approximately The Same Since We Are Both Stokers Of The Forge<br>GA: As Well As Holders Of Breeding Duties<br>GA: However I Should Clarify That My Earlier Counsel Was Mostly Academic<br>GA: It Takes Weeks To Do All Of It Properly<br>GA: You Wont Have Time</code><br><code style="color: #4ac925">GG: breeding duties?????</code>
@@ -149,16 +201,22 @@ Commentary:
 Track: Stoke the Forge
 References: Prospitian Folklore
 Track Art: Marina
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/stoke-the-forge
+Duration: 3:43
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/stoke-the-forge
+- https://youtu.be/6jLZLPJE_Qc?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     Why did I compose this piece? Well, mainly because I wanted something bombastic to use an anvil as percussion in. But I also wrote it because of its importance in the role of each Space player’s planet and their frog breeding duties. Not only that, but it acts as a transition from the darker Breeding Duties to the lighter, more energetic Great LOFAF Expedition of 2009. More specifically, it extends the idea behind Thip of the Tongue to three tracks instead of one; it is a progression from the planet’s frosty beginnings to a sudden and beautiful spring, and this piece heralds that moment. In any case, I ended up with a pretty fun piece that may not be the most impressive on the album, but it definitely serves a purpose and keeps the flow intact.
     The piece opens with a brass fanfare based off the Folklore theme interspersed with anvil and bass drum hits. The decision to feature the anvil came from Dave’s denizen, Hephaestus, who is referred to as “Lord of the Forge” with little explanation other than he desired access to Jade’s Forge to repair the Caledfwlch. In fact, the entire piece has the feeling of hammering, since harsh gestures in the brass and strings are common in combination with liberal usage of timpani and bass drum. The entire piece is in Dorian, which is a mode I can rarely resist composing in, and it lends a big sense of adventure to it. Formally there is not a lot going on, other than a melody being repeated several times with different orchestration and transposition. An interesting moment occurs when the entire ensemble drops out and a flute solo comes in playing a lighter, more humorous version of the tune before heading towards the climax. All in all, it is a pretty standard theme with a solid tune despite the fact that nothing extraordinary happens for its duration. But hey, we wouldn’t want overkill would we? I was saving that for the next track.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Great LOFAF Expedition of 2009
-References: Pondsquatter, Our Glorious Speaker
 Track Art: Marina
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/great-lofaf-expedition-of-2009
+Duration: 4:55
+References: Pondsquatter, Our Glorious Speaker
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/great-lofaf-expedition-of-2009
+- https://youtu.be/J161hcxSTkg?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
      Ah, frog-hunting music. I had the idea for this track brewing long before Homestuck Volume 8 was in the works, so you can imagine my horror when not one, but two tracks with this subject were on it. I have to give props to Jit and Bowman, those are a couple of great pieces and they both explore the idea in unique ways. I lamented however, worrying my track would be extraneous. How many times could we repeat the same, specific idea, after all? So I had to think outside the box a little bit. I would try to capture the entire experience of not just the hunt, but exploring LOFAF after the Forge had been stoked. This piece is programmatic in the same sense Breeding Duties is—it is meant to be a collection of musical ideas depicting any number of scenes the listener might imagine. Which isn’t to say the music isn’t thematically grounded; it is essentially based on one theme in addition to the Pondsquatter theme, which also has a large presence.
@@ -168,7 +226,10 @@ Commentary:
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: The Temple's Withered Bloom
 Track Art: Rikuru
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/the-temples-withered-bloom
+Duration: 2:55
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/the-temples-withered-bloom
+- https://youtu.be/wq6cPhclEsk?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     This is an interesting one, since it has probably undergone the most change in terms of concept and musical ideas before I finally composed it in earnest. It started out as a general Frog Temple theme, and all along I had the idea to explore sweeping chords in the strings and choir, which I did end up doing, albeit in a very different fashion than I expected. I tossed around the idea of including material from Jit’s Ruins, then I thought about adapting an old wind ensemble piece of mine. Conceptually I switched from the idea of the Frog Temple to the hieroglyphics inside, tentatively naming it “Temple Walls”, then “Glyphs”.
@@ -176,9 +237,15 @@ Commentary:
     The piece opens with a major chord in the strings, as if to continue the train of thought left behind by the previous track’s end. However, the chord quickly changes into something more dissonant, and the tone shifts from light to dark. The choir answers the strings, and the piece progresses in this manner with the two sections being featured the most. A gamelan ensemble plays in the background, very out of tune with the rest of the ensemble, lending to the sense of foreboding. There is a musical device in here that represents Jack, a descending line that implies a tritone. It comes in quietly and at irregular intervals, indicative of the murderous asshole lying in wait among the confines of the temple. As the music progresses, this motive comes in more and more until it is an ostinato under the chordal strings and choir. Eventually the piece crescendos and leads into the next track, where Jack is finally the star of the show.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Bilious
-References: Prospitian Folklore, Liquid Negrocity, The Temple's Withered Bloom
 Track Art: Rikuru
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/bilious
+Duration: 4:05
+References:
+- Prospitian Folklore
+- Liquid Negrocity
+- The Temple's Withered Bloom
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/bilious
+- https://youtu.be/wyh3pBZZsaA?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     Poor Bilious Slick. Every iteration of Him we’ve seen in Homestuck has been brutally murdered in one way or another. As if that wasn’t enough, He is primarily known by the spiteful nickname Dersites have given Him. In composing this album, I would have missed a big opportunity if I didn’t take material from those in Derse that oppose creation, most specifically Jack Noir. The title of course came from the name Bilious Slick, but it also has the benefit of adding grotesque imagery to a piece of music about Jack slaughtering a giant universe frog. It is a continuation of The Temple’s Withered Bloom, and it picks up where it left off with Jack exiting the Lotus Capsule, escaping the session and eventually going on to destroy the universe he emerged from.
@@ -187,18 +254,31 @@ Commentary:
     At this point I figured, what the hell, I’ll quote Black. It actually fits quite well with the “Jack” device from The Temple’s Withered Bloom that I bring back here, thanks to the fact that they both emphasise on the tritone. My own Jack motive begins to take over from Radiation’s, and eventually the strings are playing it in canon as it gets more and more chaotic, until everything drops out and the lower piano register begins an ostinato based on it. The orchestra builds again into more chaotic textures, the tension drops briefly, and then the theme is recapped as the climax. All in all it is probably the most exciting piece on the album, and for my first foray into more action-like music, I think it does its job well.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Speaker (Skaia's Reflection)
-References: Pondsquatter
 Track Art: Marina, Rikuru
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/speaker-skaias-reflection
+Duration: 2:57
+References: Pondsquatter
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/speaker-skaias-reflection
+- https://youtu.be/zKpqOvFTvLA?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     Out of destruction comes nothingness, and the only sounds are sparse and atmospheric. The nothingness persists for a bit, a result of the universe’s destruction in the previous track. If I were feeling really dark I could just end the album there, but I wanted there to be a sense of conclusion and returning to what once was. What better way than to have the music rise from the ashes and the solo clarinet come back to play a new version of the Pondsquatter theme? The idea behind the countless Genesis Frogs is that they propagate one another, each frog producing the next, and behind this lies the idea of infinity and repeated processes. So I wanted the album to do a Mobius Double Reacharound as it were, and end as it began. So the pairing of Speaker and The Vast Croak echoes the earlier pairing of Prelude and Pondsquatter.
     This piece even has the same structure and general idea as Prelude before going into a full statement of the modified theme. As a result it is difficult to talk about its composition, since it is virtually the same as Prelude only with varying material. The clarinet emerges out of the atmosphere just as before, and a texture-based section builds this time not into a false climax, but into a fuller orchestration of what the clarinet was doing earlier. It ends simply and quietly in the woodwinds, allowing the next and final track to proceed with its exciting start.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: The Vast Croak
-References: Pondsquatter, Prospitian Folklore, Buy NAK Sell DOOF, Pink Shells, Entrance of the Salamanders, Thip of the Tongue, Frogs' Intermezzo
 Track Art: Rikuru
-URLs: https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/the-vast-croak
+Duration: 5:08
+References:
+- Pondsquatter
+- Prospitian Folklore
+- Buy NAK Sell DOOF
+- Pink Shells
+- Entrance of the Salamanders
+- Thip of the Tongue
+- Frogs' Intermezzo
+URLs:
+- https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/track/the-vast-croak
+- https://youtu.be/gW0CGMh6CNg?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     After six notes from the drumset, the grand finale begins. I still don’t have a clear idea what prompted this sort of conclusion to the album. For the longest time I intended to end it the way Speaker did, and that track indeed had a finality of its own. But I wanted something exciting at the end, and I felt like there was still momentum left over from Bilious that I could do something with. So despite only having a vague idea of what the Vast Croak probably was at the time of this composing it, I ran with my assumptions and based the album’s last hurrah around that idea. What little information existed implied the Genesis Frog will Croak once He has matured, and I can only assume it signifies the birth of the new universe in some way. I hope my interpretation does not end up conflicting with canon, and even if it does with any luck the music will still match the tone of it and my thoughts will remain hidden in this commentary.
@@ -207,9 +287,16 @@ Commentary:
     The A section then returns in a transposed form before the piece ends in a very big fashion. When all appears to be said and done and the very last of the reverberation is dying off, the harp comes in. It is followed by clarinet, piano, celesta, and finally the violins playing harmonics; this is the instrumentation the album opened with. This small ensemble plays a subdued arrangement of Pondsquatter, and the album ends as it began in the vastness of paradox space. If you start the album over again, you will find that it flows seamlessly from the ending to beginning. Somewhere in this revelation lies my ultimate artistic intent with Genesis Frog, which probably involves something about infinity’s endless repetition, or life always finding a way forward, or something along those lines depending on how pretentious you want to think of me as.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Pondsquatter (Live Chamber Version)
-References: Prelude, Pondsquatter, Frogs' Intermezzo, Great LOFAF Expedition of 2009, Breeding Duties
 Track Art: none
-URLs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l07w1i-C7hs
+Duration: 6:02
+References:
+- Prelude
+- Pondsquatter
+- Frogs' Intermezzo
+- Great LOFAF Expedition of 2009
+- Breeding Duties
+URLs:
+- https://youtu.be/l07w1i-C7hs?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary:
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     This is the last of the commentary for Genesis Frog. It seems the hype wave has died down since its release by now. I hope people are still enjoying it and continuing to discover little nuances I hid in the music. Thanks so much everyone.
@@ -218,9 +305,11 @@ Commentary:
     In case you are reading this online and are unable to buy the album to obtain this bonus track, you can find it on both my website and my music blog, the URLs of which are provided at the end of this commentary.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Track: Frogsong
-References: Pondsquatter, weird moody horse shit
 Track Art: none
-URLs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xINZv3-S6xU
+Duration: 2:24
+References: Pondsquatter, weird moody horse shit
+URLs:
+- https://youtu.be/xINZv3-S6xU?list=PLia7MqxG6On5M5Z2OtoNgCWzNmCiRcWZo
 Commentary;
     <i>Alexander Rosetti:</i>
     This was originally going to be in the album, but I excluded it because it didn’t fit enough with the orchestral feel and I didn’t really know where to go with it after the first minute. It’s still a very fun piece though, and I thought it was worth including as a little bonus. I may have employed heavy use of certain frog-related sound effects...it’s a bit of a weakness...