Music and Colo(u)rs and Mayhem
Listen up, everyone, because I'm only gonna say this once: if you ever get the chance to go on a tour of a radio station, for the love of God, DO IT. I won a tour of the Minnesota Public Radio studios that took place this past Tuesday, and it. was. awesome. Partly in the "this is how your sausage is made" way, and partly because it was basically Oprah's Favorite Things; they just kept giving us stuff. First they had coffee and bagels out when we showed up. Then at one point our guide told us that the studio receives four mail crates of sample CDs every week, indicated a pile of said crates behind her, then reached in and started pulling out handfuls of CDs to distribute to everyone. Then a bit later she brought us to a bookcase of nonfiction ARCs that the news station had been given to review and told us to go ahead and pick out a couple. At the end, there was a basket of pamphlets and window stickers. I went back to work afterwards and listened to all my new promo CDs - nine of them, four singles and five full albums - and they were all pretty decent. I didn't discover a new favorite artist or anything, but I quite liked some of them. It was almost enough to make me less impatient for the new Homestuck album.
Almost.
Luckily, the album came out that day. The download page was all, "Please don't lick your screen." Bullshit, Radiation! Don't tell me what to do. Anyway, I have some thoughts on it.
I'm just going to go down the list.
Rust Servant: Way too damn long (honestly, a lot of them are), but so perfect as background music for all those badass entrances you just know she made, stepping out of the shadows and making people's faces fall as they realized that nothing good would come of her presence.
Bronze Rebel: The acoustic guitars (or "acoustic guitars," more likely) are so great for that Spanish flair everyone gives Tavros and the Summoner. I still prefer aN UNHOLY RITUAL, but then I prefer that to most things, so. The track art for this, though...so adorable! I am such a sucker for that kind of thing.
Gold Pilot: So pretty but, again, so long! I can imagine this song playing as he warps the Battleship Condescension through space just as well as I can imagine it in his life before that, defending the Sufferer and their party from outside threats with his optiic bla2t2, as I assume he did.
Iron Infidel: GUYS DID YOU KNOW...THE SUFFERER IS TROLL JEGUS? WELL HE IS.
Olive Scribe: I have an embarrassing weakness for intense new-agey stuff like this. It couldn't be more different from pawnce!, but together I think they paint an interesting picture of who the Disciple might have been. This captures her troll side, while pawnce! captures her feline side. (Also, if you listen to pawnce! and Walls Covered in Blood together, that's an interesting contrast as well: Nepeta, the kitten, versus the Disciple, the adult cat.)
Jade Mother: GUYS DID YOU KNOW...THE DOLOROSA IS TROLL MARY? WELL SHE IS.
Teal Hunter: I like this song a lot, but it seems like an odd choice for Redglare for two reasons: first, it sounds like a remix of Doctor, which doesn't really make sense. Second, it's a bit...upbeat? Very epic and cinematic, not how I see Redglare at all. I wonder whether it was written for someone else. For Redglare, I'd go with something more like Trial and Execution (which, yes, I know is technically about Terezi and Vriska) or the part of Terezi Owns where she captures Mindfang.
Cobalt Corsair: The very beginning reminds me of the Battlerock Galaxy theme from Super Mario Galaxy, which I believe is based on Mars from Holst's The Planets, and then it segues into something that kind of reminds me of music from Zelda, and then gets kind of cinematic and piratey. All highly appropriate for Mindfang, but unfortunately the song is only half over at this point. Then it goes and does some other stuff for the other half. I don't know. This one is too damn long. It's 4:13, we get it. Maybe spend less time on arc numbers and more time on making Mindfang's theme song more bombastic and cohesive.
Violet Mariner: Didn't stand out for me (man, I feel bad for saying that about any of these songs; they really are all very good, but I'm here to critique and chew gum and I'm all out of gum), but seems to be appropriate for Dualscar. I realized while listening to this song, though, that I don't really feel that I know as much about Dualscar as I do about other troll ancestors. It seems preposterous, given Dualscar's prominence in Mindfang's journal, but I feel as though we haven't truly seen him the way we've seen most of the others.
Fuchsia Ruler: Dear god. I hardly even care about the length of this one; it's just so perfect otherwise. Both for the character and in general. This song IS the ruthless, immortal aquatic alien empress, just as Crustacean IS Karkat. This is one for the Homestuck Favorites Favorites playlist.
Rust Maid: This song makes me realize that Homestuck is sorely lacking in songs that are just a little bit cheesily Halloweenish. Aradia is kind of a tough character to portray as a whole, so I prefer it when people pick one Aradia and stick with her, as in this case, where the composer has chosen to portray her as a ghost.
Bronze Page: Oh come on, was this seriously the best they could do for Tavros? It is sort of cute and not annoyingly long, at least.
Gold Mage: I love songs like this; so much energy. Sollux gets such energetic music, and this one's got some pretty chord structures on top of that. I will definitely be adding this one to my Homestuck Workout playlist. (Yes, I have a Homestuck Workout playlist.)
Iron Knight: Everybody seems to be falling all over themselves in love with this one, but I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it'll grow on me, like the character themes from the Strife album all did eventually. I will say that this definitely sounds like a song that Karkat would pick to be his theme, as opposed to one that I would pick for him. (Because I would always pick Crustacean. Crustacean IS Karkat.)
Olive Rogue: Oh man, I'm gettin' my jam on over here! There's so much jam all over the place, I'm gonna have to get some bread and peanut butter and make myself a sandwich! Why is all of Nepeta's music so inexplicably catchy? Hers and the Disciple's; I swear. I almost don't care that it's so friggin' long. ALMOST.
Jade Sylph: Finally, a Kanaya theme with some energy. Luckily, it keeps the beauty and mellowness I've come to expect from her music. Lovely track art as well.
Teal Seer: FINALLY! A Terezi theme that I love wholeheartedly on its own merits, and not just because I love her! Awesome and nicely representative of Terezi's sneakiness and badassery. It reminds me of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, but more cinematic.
Cobalt Thief: So I guess they decided to try to portray a different side of Vriska this time around? That's cool, but I still don't really get it. What about her is it that this represents? Her regrets? The love for her friends she is capable of feeling but has always tried to suppress? It's not really clear.
Indigo Heir: I have developed a puzzling fixation on Equius in recent months, and I can't figure out exactly why. Is it because I enjoyed playing his Sim? Because I've been shipping him with Dirk ever since Dirk was introduced? Because the track art for Havoc to be Wrought got me thinking that Darkleer was probably pretty attractive? Because of songs like this? And don't get me started on this track art. I am weirdly fascinated by it. Every time it comes on my iPod, I click the button just to stare at it for a few seconds. In apparent contradiction to everything I just said, though, I kind of wonder about this song as a fit for the character. Mostly because of the Morse code SOS at the end (which gave me chills when I noticed it on my first listen, by the way). Since the SOS is the last audible part of the song and fades out at the end, it makes sense for a dead character, but given the drama, mournfulness, and adventurous quality [Edit: "Remixes Explore" ∈ "adventurous quality." Assuming people understand everything I say without clarification, as usual] of the music, I would have thought it would be a better fit for Tavros, or maybe Vriska.
Purple Bard: I can never even remember what this song sounds like. I had high expectations for it, since I usually love Gamzee music (mIrAcLeS and Joker Strife in particular come to mind), but eh.
Violet Prince: Whenever I listen to this song, I wonder whether the composer of Eridan's Theme (Radiation?) is getting royalties for it. Regardless, I think it's pretty cool how seamlessly those six notes are woven into the main melody.
Fuchsia Witch: This song is nice! I dunno. That's all.
Your Universe: So, this song is pretty good (if long), but I've got a number of pretty strong auditory memory associations for this particular style of jazz, all of which make me feel stifled and restless, so I can't get into it.
Superego: The song reminds me of KILLED BY 8RK SPIDER!!!!!!!!, which I'm meh on. But holy damn, the track art. Holy damn.
Made of Time: Aradia is getting so much love on this album, and I am so all over it.
Nine Lives One Love: Everybody seems so fascinated by the juxtaposition of Nepeta's crush on Karkat on the Sufferer and the Disciple's relationship, and I mean, it's pretty interesting, but geez guys. If it means we get music like this, though, I'm 0kay with it. Oh man, my little-kid self would have loved this song even more than I do, too, with all the reverb and mallet percussion. Calming and lovely and positive (if a bit bittersweet in context)...but FOR GOD'S SAKE WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SIX AND A HALF MINUTES LONG?
Temporal Shenanigans: Great Scott. These vocals are absolutely flawless. Gorgeous. Such an excellent tribute to Aradia, the most underrated troll. I am not exaggerating when I say that this song made me cry. (I may have been a little emotional at the time to begin with.) There's just one thing...agh, I hate to bring it up at all, since they're so great otherwise, but the way the lyrics are written, at times she sounds more like a Seer than a Maid. I think of her as a servant of the voices, trusting them to guide her correctly. The line "I can see the endings that the realms will not permit/I see them over again while building up to this" sounds more like what Terezi does than what Aradia should be able to do. But again, that's just one nitpick in an otherwise fantastic song.
EDIT: Oh, I just found the text file in the album download that lists the tracks' original titles and characters! Both Gold Mage and Indigo Heir were originally written for Dirk; no wonder they're both so awesome! Olive Rogue was for Jade! Cobalt Corsair was originally called "Hussie", which explains why it was 4:13, but I still maintain that that was unnecessary and the song was way too long. Cobalt Thief was for Serenity, which explains why it sounds like it does but not why it was reassigned to Vriska of all people. Teal Hunter was, in fact, written for PM. It makes SO MUCH more sense now. Olive Scribe was also written for PM. You know, as glad as I am that such great music is being written about PM, I wish it could actually stay with her. Based on the call for track art, I don't think the exiles will be featured on the contest albums at all. :( /EDIT
So hey, that reminds me, I developed some new headcanon while reading about fraymotifs in this impossibly amazing fic: if you assume that fraymotifs have a musical component (perhaps by augmenting the attack with a rhythm and melody - timed hits and increasing tempos and that kind of thing, and increasing skill with the fraymotif represented by musical variations), then maybe those musical components are songs we already know...like, say, character themes. In fact, maybe all the character themes form the musical component of different fraymotifs. And not just individual character themes: for example, Keepers could be the fraymotif for Eridan + Feferi, and so on.
What I'm saying is that I think the trolls' Black King battle literally sounded like Rex Duodecim Angelus.
Almost.
Luckily, the album came out that day. The download page was all, "Please don't lick your screen." Bullshit, Radiation! Don't tell me what to do. Anyway, I have some thoughts on it.
I'm just going to go down the list.
Rust Servant: Way too damn long (honestly, a lot of them are), but so perfect as background music for all those badass entrances you just know she made, stepping out of the shadows and making people's faces fall as they realized that nothing good would come of her presence.
Bronze Rebel: The acoustic guitars (or "acoustic guitars," more likely) are so great for that Spanish flair everyone gives Tavros and the Summoner. I still prefer aN UNHOLY RITUAL, but then I prefer that to most things, so. The track art for this, though...so adorable! I am such a sucker for that kind of thing.
Gold Pilot: So pretty but, again, so long! I can imagine this song playing as he warps the Battleship Condescension through space just as well as I can imagine it in his life before that, defending the Sufferer and their party from outside threats with his optiic bla2t2, as I assume he did.
Iron Infidel: GUYS DID YOU KNOW...THE SUFFERER IS TROLL JEGUS? WELL HE IS.
Olive Scribe: I have an embarrassing weakness for intense new-agey stuff like this. It couldn't be more different from pawnce!, but together I think they paint an interesting picture of who the Disciple might have been. This captures her troll side, while pawnce! captures her feline side. (Also, if you listen to pawnce! and Walls Covered in Blood together, that's an interesting contrast as well: Nepeta, the kitten, versus the Disciple, the adult cat.)
Jade Mother: GUYS DID YOU KNOW...THE DOLOROSA IS TROLL MARY? WELL SHE IS.
Teal Hunter: I like this song a lot, but it seems like an odd choice for Redglare for two reasons: first, it sounds like a remix of Doctor, which doesn't really make sense. Second, it's a bit...upbeat? Very epic and cinematic, not how I see Redglare at all. I wonder whether it was written for someone else. For Redglare, I'd go with something more like Trial and Execution (which, yes, I know is technically about Terezi and Vriska) or the part of Terezi Owns where she captures Mindfang.
Cobalt Corsair: The very beginning reminds me of the Battlerock Galaxy theme from Super Mario Galaxy, which I believe is based on Mars from Holst's The Planets, and then it segues into something that kind of reminds me of music from Zelda, and then gets kind of cinematic and piratey. All highly appropriate for Mindfang, but unfortunately the song is only half over at this point. Then it goes and does some other stuff for the other half. I don't know. This one is too damn long. It's 4:13, we get it. Maybe spend less time on arc numbers and more time on making Mindfang's theme song more bombastic and cohesive.
Violet Mariner: Didn't stand out for me (man, I feel bad for saying that about any of these songs; they really are all very good, but I'm here to critique and chew gum and I'm all out of gum), but seems to be appropriate for Dualscar. I realized while listening to this song, though, that I don't really feel that I know as much about Dualscar as I do about other troll ancestors. It seems preposterous, given Dualscar's prominence in Mindfang's journal, but I feel as though we haven't truly seen him the way we've seen most of the others.
Fuchsia Ruler: Dear god. I hardly even care about the length of this one; it's just so perfect otherwise. Both for the character and in general. This song IS the ruthless, immortal aquatic alien empress, just as Crustacean IS Karkat. This is one for the Homestuck Favorites Favorites playlist.
Rust Maid: This song makes me realize that Homestuck is sorely lacking in songs that are just a little bit cheesily Halloweenish. Aradia is kind of a tough character to portray as a whole, so I prefer it when people pick one Aradia and stick with her, as in this case, where the composer has chosen to portray her as a ghost.
Bronze Page: Oh come on, was this seriously the best they could do for Tavros? It is sort of cute and not annoyingly long, at least.
Gold Mage: I love songs like this; so much energy. Sollux gets such energetic music, and this one's got some pretty chord structures on top of that. I will definitely be adding this one to my Homestuck Workout playlist. (Yes, I have a Homestuck Workout playlist.)
Iron Knight: Everybody seems to be falling all over themselves in love with this one, but I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it'll grow on me, like the character themes from the Strife album all did eventually. I will say that this definitely sounds like a song that Karkat would pick to be his theme, as opposed to one that I would pick for him. (Because I would always pick Crustacean. Crustacean IS Karkat.)
Olive Rogue: Oh man, I'm gettin' my jam on over here! There's so much jam all over the place, I'm gonna have to get some bread and peanut butter and make myself a sandwich! Why is all of Nepeta's music so inexplicably catchy? Hers and the Disciple's; I swear. I almost don't care that it's so friggin' long. ALMOST.
Jade Sylph: Finally, a Kanaya theme with some energy. Luckily, it keeps the beauty and mellowness I've come to expect from her music. Lovely track art as well.
Teal Seer: FINALLY! A Terezi theme that I love wholeheartedly on its own merits, and not just because I love her! Awesome and nicely representative of Terezi's sneakiness and badassery. It reminds me of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, but more cinematic.
Cobalt Thief: So I guess they decided to try to portray a different side of Vriska this time around? That's cool, but I still don't really get it. What about her is it that this represents? Her regrets? The love for her friends she is capable of feeling but has always tried to suppress? It's not really clear.
Indigo Heir: I have developed a puzzling fixation on Equius in recent months, and I can't figure out exactly why. Is it because I enjoyed playing his Sim? Because I've been shipping him with Dirk ever since Dirk was introduced? Because the track art for Havoc to be Wrought got me thinking that Darkleer was probably pretty attractive? Because of songs like this? And don't get me started on this track art. I am weirdly fascinated by it. Every time it comes on my iPod, I click the button just to stare at it for a few seconds. In apparent contradiction to everything I just said, though, I kind of wonder about this song as a fit for the character. Mostly because of the Morse code SOS at the end (which gave me chills when I noticed it on my first listen, by the way). Since the SOS is the last audible part of the song and fades out at the end, it makes sense for a dead character, but given the drama, mournfulness, and adventurous quality [Edit: "Remixes Explore" ∈ "adventurous quality." Assuming people understand everything I say without clarification, as usual] of the music, I would have thought it would be a better fit for Tavros, or maybe Vriska.
Purple Bard: I can never even remember what this song sounds like. I had high expectations for it, since I usually love Gamzee music (mIrAcLeS and Joker Strife in particular come to mind), but eh.
Violet Prince: Whenever I listen to this song, I wonder whether the composer of Eridan's Theme (Radiation?) is getting royalties for it. Regardless, I think it's pretty cool how seamlessly those six notes are woven into the main melody.
Fuchsia Witch: This song is nice! I dunno. That's all.
Your Universe: So, this song is pretty good (if long), but I've got a number of pretty strong auditory memory associations for this particular style of jazz, all of which make me feel stifled and restless, so I can't get into it.
Superego: The song reminds me of KILLED BY 8RK SPIDER!!!!!!!!, which I'm meh on. But holy damn, the track art. Holy damn.
Made of Time: Aradia is getting so much love on this album, and I am so all over it.
Nine Lives One Love: Everybody seems so fascinated by the juxtaposition of Nepeta's crush on Karkat on the Sufferer and the Disciple's relationship, and I mean, it's pretty interesting, but geez guys. If it means we get music like this, though, I'm 0kay with it. Oh man, my little-kid self would have loved this song even more than I do, too, with all the reverb and mallet percussion. Calming and lovely and positive (if a bit bittersweet in context)...but FOR GOD'S SAKE WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SIX AND A HALF MINUTES LONG?
Temporal Shenanigans: Great Scott. These vocals are absolutely flawless. Gorgeous. Such an excellent tribute to Aradia, the most underrated troll. I am not exaggerating when I say that this song made me cry. (I may have been a little emotional at the time to begin with.) There's just one thing...agh, I hate to bring it up at all, since they're so great otherwise, but the way the lyrics are written, at times she sounds more like a Seer than a Maid. I think of her as a servant of the voices, trusting them to guide her correctly. The line "I can see the endings that the realms will not permit/I see them over again while building up to this" sounds more like what Terezi does than what Aradia should be able to do. But again, that's just one nitpick in an otherwise fantastic song.
EDIT: Oh, I just found the text file in the album download that lists the tracks' original titles and characters! Both Gold Mage and Indigo Heir were originally written for Dirk; no wonder they're both so awesome! Olive Rogue was for Jade! Cobalt Corsair was originally called "Hussie", which explains why it was 4:13, but I still maintain that that was unnecessary and the song was way too long. Cobalt Thief was for Serenity, which explains why it sounds like it does but not why it was reassigned to Vriska of all people. Teal Hunter was, in fact, written for PM. It makes SO MUCH more sense now. Olive Scribe was also written for PM. You know, as glad as I am that such great music is being written about PM, I wish it could actually stay with her. Based on the call for track art, I don't think the exiles will be featured on the contest albums at all. :( /EDIT
So hey, that reminds me, I developed some new headcanon while reading about fraymotifs in this impossibly amazing fic: if you assume that fraymotifs have a musical component (perhaps by augmenting the attack with a rhythm and melody - timed hits and increasing tempos and that kind of thing, and increasing skill with the fraymotif represented by musical variations), then maybe those musical components are songs we already know...like, say, character themes. In fact, maybe all the character themes form the musical component of different fraymotifs. And not just individual character themes: for example, Keepers could be the fraymotif for Eridan + Feferi, and so on.
What I'm saying is that I think the trolls' Black King battle literally sounded like Rex Duodecim Angelus.