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Album reviews 11/4/15
10 years ago
General
Remember that time I said I'd do a thing and then didn't do the thing hahahaha me neither
Bronies for Good
Faithful and Strong: Bronies for Good are at it again, with a 36-track album dedicated to helping build an orphanage in Uganda. I watch a lot of these artists now, and I have been DYING to get my hands on this and finally I have! So let's see what we've got. Warbalist opens this up with a pretty solid rock tune and Joplinesque vocals. ISMBOF's entry, Painting Pegasi, is some of his best work to date. Dr. Dissonance's Ice Tribes is placed very oddly, a strange orchestral piece after a bunch of rock songs. I like Kryptage's Breakthrough as light, poppy electronica. Woodwind by Joshua Mononoetoe is a nice meandering instrumental track with a really great backing banjo. And then at track 15, we get to the stuff I've been waiting for: Forest Rain's driving march Raise the Sun, a military song with really damned powerful vocals. Again, it's probably his best effort to date. There's a good So Great and Powerful Track on here,
about The Last Roundup. This is followed by a cool chiptune called Arcade Attitude by Senjan. There's a track by Matthew Mosier, which is always a good thing. I very much like Aoshi's indie acoustic Warning Sign. In all, another great collection of music, worth checking out and of course it's for charity! 6.5/10
Ministry of Brony: Think Ministry of Sound, not religion. This is the newest project from Bronies for Good, taking donations to a Ugandan medical clinic in exchange for 12 bits of electronic pony music. It starts off with something akin to Cave Story music, honestly, but I'm quickly dismayed to find that this is the fandom's first mix disc, by which I mean all the songs run into each other. I hate that. Also, these aren't mixed terribly well; it's more like whoever did this just blended the songs together instead of pulling out the beats like normal DJ mixes do, not to mention a lot of lead-ins are extremely long given the song's length. It ends up with a lot of song endings sounding really bad. That's not to say there aren't any good songs on here, because there are. I like the tracks by DJ TACTM, DitzyRhythm, Azerty and Baradoros, and Sonic Rainboom's track is fantastic and actually the one that led me to the album. But whoever mixed this did a terrible job and I wish there was an unmixed version. Once again, I find myself panning a charity album, so I have to stress: the charity is really the focus here, not the music. You can follow that link, donate a few Euros, and then completely ignore the download link if you wanted. In fact, doing so will make you more altruistic than myself. So do that, and maybe check out the artists' Youtube channels if you want to hear the music without the mixing. (Though only some of them are on Youtube.) 4.5/10
A Beautiful Heart: Funding numerous charity projects in Africa, Bronies for Good are at it again with their newest mega-collaborative album, featuring 38 songs and some of the biggest names in brony music, A Beautiful Heart! It starts off with a short classical instrumental, then becomes instantly awesome with an 80s hair metal song by Warbalist. Like, this is straight off a Van Halen album, that's how perfectly he's got the style down. It's a really amazing way to start this album off. Another early track to take note of is by Tecolotl, a collaboration between And the Rainfall and Le Soldat Pony, a very smooth indie post-rock tune that I really like. Track 7 is a collab between six artists, including Feather, Forest Rain and Cyril the Wolf, and the cool thing is they're doing ska! There's a good deal of electronica on this, some classical, more or less the usual assortment for this fandom. Michael Pallante's got a very Phil Collins-esque track called Shining Armor that is not a cover of MandoPony's song, not that I would have minded that. I like Josh Mononoetoe, or Josh Mono's, track, which is really great acoustic folk. I dare say this is the best album out of the three, though of course the music isn't the entire point. If you skipped any of the other Seeds of Kindness albums, definitely check this one out.
Seeking Solace Volume 1: This is apparently a charity album to help out a brony musician. I don't know the story behind it, but I can't say no to that. Let's see what there is to offer. It starts out with a three-way collab between artists I've never heard of, a soft intro with a spoken word bit about birth or something that cuts right into sort of a harsh drum and bass track with a bizarre counterpoint of the same light ambience that backs the spoken word intro. Next is And the Rainfall with a soft rock piece that has a nice rainy intro, then an 8-bit cover of somesongIcan'trememberwhat by a guy named Alycs. Freewave brings a really wonderful acoustic instrumental track, followed by a bit of experimental something or other with a really harsh ending by topitmunkeydog. This is followed by a really striking instrumental piece from Lying Pink, who was part of the first track. It's one part rock ballad, one part somber R&B. And despite this album being for their benefit, Acsiident contributes track 7, a light techno piece with heavily filtered vocals. Lastly, we end with an entry from Ponyvisation, who's always a joy to listen to. This isn't the best collection of music I've heard, and again I don't know what the story is here, but there are at least a couple of tracks worth checking out. I liked Fixing Futashy and And Every Fist an Open Hand. 5.5/10
Derpy's Wings
II: Not Derpy Swings, sadly, but worthwhile as a charity album donating to autism research. Like a lot of compilations, it's not exactly a grand showcasing of the best of the best. In fact, aside from a fairly lackluster remix of Awoken, it took 9 tracks to really catch my attention. Seventh Element's contribution is pretty decent and trips all my psytrance alerts, though it isn't quite. Honestly, whether you spend money on this comes down to whether you feel willing to give to charity in return for some fairly blah music. 5.5/10
III: This is the third installment of a charity album series that seems focused on experimental music and features some well-known artists like Aoshi, Among the Herd, Flaofei and Viricide Filly. Being experimental, it's full of a lot of stuff I can't classify, though truth be told, most of it just sounds amateurish and not very well made, though there are a lot of different styles represented. The first standout is Dekzalus's Vociferous Pursuit, a really rousing orchestral soundtrack piece that mixes in some electronic parts. I also like Scrapyard by Neurophonic, a nice industrial piece, and Viricide Filly's track which is another orchestral/electronic comination. Honestly, I wish there was a way to find out how these songs were made, because the description suggests they were prompted somehow and I can only imagine the particulars are fascinating. Anyway, again, this is a charity album, so the quality of the music isn't what's in question. I do wish these were just a little more enjoyable than they tend to be. 5.5/10
Now I'm going to talk about one of the fandom's most important musicians:
Jeff Burgess!
Born to Trot/The Jeff Burgess Master Collection: This album opens with a very lovely piano instrumental, something I've not heard him do before now, and goes into a parody of "Set Fire to the Rain", about the great Bronycon fire of 2012. This is the first parody-style song in this fandom that has actually made me laugh. Good job, Mr. Burgess. This is followed by a filk, of "Rocky Mountain Way" by Joe Walsh, which I have never heard in my life, and thus bores me to tears, because it's not funny. But that doesn't matter much, because the next song, "Where My Bronies At", is completely ridiculous and hilarious. He's really got a penchant for the wacky and ridiculous. See also "To the Moon" and "Big-Ass Hat". Not that that's all he does, mind. "Manehattan Nights" has a very "One Night in Bangkok" sound. "With Only a Glance", a love song to Fluttershy, is heartfelt and a real standout. "Aphelion" is absolutely amazing, however. I really have no words for it. I'm kind of disappointed that the link he gives for physical copies doesn't work anymore, because I would definitely get one. And in fact, I can't even download this from Bandcamp. What the hell? Argh! Not fair. This is more a compilation than a full album, but it's a great compilation nonetheless and really shows off what Burgess can do.
And it turns out, after talking with the artist, that he's remastered everything and released it on the Jeff Burgess Master Collection, along with a whole bunch of other stuff: new songs, karaoke tracks, promo spots, the total works. So! The remastering is immediately obvious. Honestly, a few of the songs from Born to Trot could have used a touchup, so I'm feeling positive about this. New songs include "Beyond the Rainbow", which I think is about Scootaloo, and "Berry Punch", which is actually pretty awesome. "I'd Wait a Lifetime for You" is kind of a loping ballad with a very particular late 70's sound, while "Roselucky" is a bubbling tune with beautifully lilting vocal work. He's rearranged the order of tracks on this album as well; instead of having all the funny stuff together, it's spread out, and I think it works better altogether. "The Shrine to the Two Sisters" is another great instrumental like "A Funeral at Twilight", the opener from Born to Trot. I think, all things considered, this is a tremendous improvement over an already great album, and absolutely worth the 7 dollar asking price. No physical copies, but I'll be downloading this one, at least! 8.5/10
Jeff Burgess and the Bad Mares- Autumn Nights: I did something with this album that I've never done before: prior to listening to it, I primed myself by reading the lyrics. I got chills. This is INTENSE. It's a look at Vinyl Scratch's life: her quest for fame, success, relationship with Octavia, and fall. The lyrics are emotional and sometimes brutal, like a slice across the wrist. Occasionally, they're surprising, like in the song "Spiderbite" where she laments that she envies the fame Fluttershy found, and also that Fluttershy was able to walk away from it. Or in "Makeout Spots", which is jaunty and high-spirited in tune despite being entirely about regrets. Most of the album is like that, in fact, high energy tunes with fairly depressing lyrics. Burgess's vocals are sometimes oddly off key, but that has the effect of adding a raw edge that complements the mood more than the melody. He's assembled quite the all-star roster of collaborators, too: Griffinilla, Steven AD, Feather, MEMJ, Rina-chan and more. Through it all, Burgess proves he's one of the fandom's most dedicated rockers. This is a true odyssey, conjuring up shades of Janis Joplin and Elton John while continually reinventing itself; note the 8-bit background of "Everything's Staged". If this isn't the brony fandom's best album to date, it is without a doubt the most ambitious, and every one of those ambitions is met. This is a raw, bold and uncompromising vision and absolutely worth the time to listen to. (It was one of my top three albums of 2014.) 9/10
The Cats Millionaire Million Dollar Mixtape!: This starts off with a slow, bayou jazzy piece from Le Soldat Pony and then moves into the Mountains Mares version of "Exclusive Royal Canterlot Wedding Playset", a favorite of mine. Adam the Walker does a neat piece that sounds like it's about Twilight at her low point, or maybe Fluttershy. It's got a really weird indie feel that I dig. This is followed by a couple tracks of weird post-rock and Cherax Destructor's awesome remix of "Black Snooty". Unfortunately, and this is gonna sound bad, I've never been that interested in Cats Millionaire's music, and the songs that are closest to her originals are the ones I like the least. Still, there's a lot of variety here, from rock to electronic to indie to really experimental, and it's a good tribute. Along with the songs I mentioned, I liked "Next Level Gripe" by RainSnowHail and Adam the Walker, "No Wi-Fi" by Yellow Bile, and the acoustic version of "Yellow Horse". 6.5/10
General Tso's Chicken- Forever Friendzoned: You can't find this anymore, but I got confirmation somewhere down the line that it was actually be Jeff Burgess, so HERE WE ARE. Yeah. The first track is the MLP theme song played on the word "Some" which starts off "All Star" by Smash Mouth. Then we have "All Star" set to Eurobeat Brony's song "Discord", and I'm dying. This whole album is hysterical. "All Star" gets a little old after a while, but seeing the range of songs it can be mashed up with, just... I can't. I can't even. Also some of this is excellent commentary on how fucking awful pony parody songs can be. 7/10
And finally we're going to finish with a really big, non-pony release:
zircon- Identity Sequence: There's a very rich sound to this, not overproduced but full, and of course the lovely voice of Jillian Aversa only adds to that. Oddly, it's the third track, with a male vocalist, that really kicks this album up a notch. It's pure vocal trance of a quality I've only ever heard from big-name published artists. Like, Zedd "Spectrum" quality. This is amazing! The title track is unspeakably amazing. I can't even put it into words. I can't even identify the styles being used in it! According to the blurb, this is the culmination of five years of work. I think it shows. I have listened to a lot of albums this year, and frankly, I can't remember the last time I heard a trance record, or even electronica in general, that was this perfect. Album of the year 2012. 10/10, and probably only the sixth or so 10 I have given out in over six years of music reviewing.
Bronies for Good
Faithful and Strong: Bronies for Good are at it again, with a 36-track album dedicated to helping build an orphanage in Uganda. I watch a lot of these artists now, and I have been DYING to get my hands on this and finally I have! So let's see what we've got. Warbalist opens this up with a pretty solid rock tune and Joplinesque vocals. ISMBOF's entry, Painting Pegasi, is some of his best work to date. Dr. Dissonance's Ice Tribes is placed very oddly, a strange orchestral piece after a bunch of rock songs. I like Kryptage's Breakthrough as light, poppy electronica. Woodwind by Joshua Mononoetoe is a nice meandering instrumental track with a really great backing banjo. And then at track 15, we get to the stuff I've been waiting for: Forest Rain's driving march Raise the Sun, a military song with really damned powerful vocals. Again, it's probably his best effort to date. There's a good So Great and Powerful Track on here,
about The Last Roundup. This is followed by a cool chiptune called Arcade Attitude by Senjan. There's a track by Matthew Mosier, which is always a good thing. I very much like Aoshi's indie acoustic Warning Sign. In all, another great collection of music, worth checking out and of course it's for charity! 6.5/10
Ministry of Brony: Think Ministry of Sound, not religion. This is the newest project from Bronies for Good, taking donations to a Ugandan medical clinic in exchange for 12 bits of electronic pony music. It starts off with something akin to Cave Story music, honestly, but I'm quickly dismayed to find that this is the fandom's first mix disc, by which I mean all the songs run into each other. I hate that. Also, these aren't mixed terribly well; it's more like whoever did this just blended the songs together instead of pulling out the beats like normal DJ mixes do, not to mention a lot of lead-ins are extremely long given the song's length. It ends up with a lot of song endings sounding really bad. That's not to say there aren't any good songs on here, because there are. I like the tracks by DJ TACTM, DitzyRhythm, Azerty and Baradoros, and Sonic Rainboom's track is fantastic and actually the one that led me to the album. But whoever mixed this did a terrible job and I wish there was an unmixed version. Once again, I find myself panning a charity album, so I have to stress: the charity is really the focus here, not the music. You can follow that link, donate a few Euros, and then completely ignore the download link if you wanted. In fact, doing so will make you more altruistic than myself. So do that, and maybe check out the artists' Youtube channels if you want to hear the music without the mixing. (Though only some of them are on Youtube.) 4.5/10
A Beautiful Heart: Funding numerous charity projects in Africa, Bronies for Good are at it again with their newest mega-collaborative album, featuring 38 songs and some of the biggest names in brony music, A Beautiful Heart! It starts off with a short classical instrumental, then becomes instantly awesome with an 80s hair metal song by Warbalist. Like, this is straight off a Van Halen album, that's how perfectly he's got the style down. It's a really amazing way to start this album off. Another early track to take note of is by Tecolotl, a collaboration between And the Rainfall and Le Soldat Pony, a very smooth indie post-rock tune that I really like. Track 7 is a collab between six artists, including Feather, Forest Rain and Cyril the Wolf, and the cool thing is they're doing ska! There's a good deal of electronica on this, some classical, more or less the usual assortment for this fandom. Michael Pallante's got a very Phil Collins-esque track called Shining Armor that is not a cover of MandoPony's song, not that I would have minded that. I like Josh Mononoetoe, or Josh Mono's, track, which is really great acoustic folk. I dare say this is the best album out of the three, though of course the music isn't the entire point. If you skipped any of the other Seeds of Kindness albums, definitely check this one out.
Seeking Solace Volume 1: This is apparently a charity album to help out a brony musician. I don't know the story behind it, but I can't say no to that. Let's see what there is to offer. It starts out with a three-way collab between artists I've never heard of, a soft intro with a spoken word bit about birth or something that cuts right into sort of a harsh drum and bass track with a bizarre counterpoint of the same light ambience that backs the spoken word intro. Next is And the Rainfall with a soft rock piece that has a nice rainy intro, then an 8-bit cover of somesongIcan'trememberwhat by a guy named Alycs. Freewave brings a really wonderful acoustic instrumental track, followed by a bit of experimental something or other with a really harsh ending by topitmunkeydog. This is followed by a really striking instrumental piece from Lying Pink, who was part of the first track. It's one part rock ballad, one part somber R&B. And despite this album being for their benefit, Acsiident contributes track 7, a light techno piece with heavily filtered vocals. Lastly, we end with an entry from Ponyvisation, who's always a joy to listen to. This isn't the best collection of music I've heard, and again I don't know what the story is here, but there are at least a couple of tracks worth checking out. I liked Fixing Futashy and And Every Fist an Open Hand. 5.5/10
Derpy's Wings
II: Not Derpy Swings, sadly, but worthwhile as a charity album donating to autism research. Like a lot of compilations, it's not exactly a grand showcasing of the best of the best. In fact, aside from a fairly lackluster remix of Awoken, it took 9 tracks to really catch my attention. Seventh Element's contribution is pretty decent and trips all my psytrance alerts, though it isn't quite. Honestly, whether you spend money on this comes down to whether you feel willing to give to charity in return for some fairly blah music. 5.5/10
III: This is the third installment of a charity album series that seems focused on experimental music and features some well-known artists like Aoshi, Among the Herd, Flaofei and Viricide Filly. Being experimental, it's full of a lot of stuff I can't classify, though truth be told, most of it just sounds amateurish and not very well made, though there are a lot of different styles represented. The first standout is Dekzalus's Vociferous Pursuit, a really rousing orchestral soundtrack piece that mixes in some electronic parts. I also like Scrapyard by Neurophonic, a nice industrial piece, and Viricide Filly's track which is another orchestral/electronic comination. Honestly, I wish there was a way to find out how these songs were made, because the description suggests they were prompted somehow and I can only imagine the particulars are fascinating. Anyway, again, this is a charity album, so the quality of the music isn't what's in question. I do wish these were just a little more enjoyable than they tend to be. 5.5/10
Now I'm going to talk about one of the fandom's most important musicians:
Jeff Burgess!
Born to Trot/The Jeff Burgess Master Collection: This album opens with a very lovely piano instrumental, something I've not heard him do before now, and goes into a parody of "Set Fire to the Rain", about the great Bronycon fire of 2012. This is the first parody-style song in this fandom that has actually made me laugh. Good job, Mr. Burgess. This is followed by a filk, of "Rocky Mountain Way" by Joe Walsh, which I have never heard in my life, and thus bores me to tears, because it's not funny. But that doesn't matter much, because the next song, "Where My Bronies At", is completely ridiculous and hilarious. He's really got a penchant for the wacky and ridiculous. See also "To the Moon" and "Big-Ass Hat". Not that that's all he does, mind. "Manehattan Nights" has a very "One Night in Bangkok" sound. "With Only a Glance", a love song to Fluttershy, is heartfelt and a real standout. "Aphelion" is absolutely amazing, however. I really have no words for it. I'm kind of disappointed that the link he gives for physical copies doesn't work anymore, because I would definitely get one. And in fact, I can't even download this from Bandcamp. What the hell? Argh! Not fair. This is more a compilation than a full album, but it's a great compilation nonetheless and really shows off what Burgess can do.
And it turns out, after talking with the artist, that he's remastered everything and released it on the Jeff Burgess Master Collection, along with a whole bunch of other stuff: new songs, karaoke tracks, promo spots, the total works. So! The remastering is immediately obvious. Honestly, a few of the songs from Born to Trot could have used a touchup, so I'm feeling positive about this. New songs include "Beyond the Rainbow", which I think is about Scootaloo, and "Berry Punch", which is actually pretty awesome. "I'd Wait a Lifetime for You" is kind of a loping ballad with a very particular late 70's sound, while "Roselucky" is a bubbling tune with beautifully lilting vocal work. He's rearranged the order of tracks on this album as well; instead of having all the funny stuff together, it's spread out, and I think it works better altogether. "The Shrine to the Two Sisters" is another great instrumental like "A Funeral at Twilight", the opener from Born to Trot. I think, all things considered, this is a tremendous improvement over an already great album, and absolutely worth the 7 dollar asking price. No physical copies, but I'll be downloading this one, at least! 8.5/10
Jeff Burgess and the Bad Mares- Autumn Nights: I did something with this album that I've never done before: prior to listening to it, I primed myself by reading the lyrics. I got chills. This is INTENSE. It's a look at Vinyl Scratch's life: her quest for fame, success, relationship with Octavia, and fall. The lyrics are emotional and sometimes brutal, like a slice across the wrist. Occasionally, they're surprising, like in the song "Spiderbite" where she laments that she envies the fame Fluttershy found, and also that Fluttershy was able to walk away from it. Or in "Makeout Spots", which is jaunty and high-spirited in tune despite being entirely about regrets. Most of the album is like that, in fact, high energy tunes with fairly depressing lyrics. Burgess's vocals are sometimes oddly off key, but that has the effect of adding a raw edge that complements the mood more than the melody. He's assembled quite the all-star roster of collaborators, too: Griffinilla, Steven AD, Feather, MEMJ, Rina-chan and more. Through it all, Burgess proves he's one of the fandom's most dedicated rockers. This is a true odyssey, conjuring up shades of Janis Joplin and Elton John while continually reinventing itself; note the 8-bit background of "Everything's Staged". If this isn't the brony fandom's best album to date, it is without a doubt the most ambitious, and every one of those ambitions is met. This is a raw, bold and uncompromising vision and absolutely worth the time to listen to. (It was one of my top three albums of 2014.) 9/10
The Cats Millionaire Million Dollar Mixtape!: This starts off with a slow, bayou jazzy piece from Le Soldat Pony and then moves into the Mountains Mares version of "Exclusive Royal Canterlot Wedding Playset", a favorite of mine. Adam the Walker does a neat piece that sounds like it's about Twilight at her low point, or maybe Fluttershy. It's got a really weird indie feel that I dig. This is followed by a couple tracks of weird post-rock and Cherax Destructor's awesome remix of "Black Snooty". Unfortunately, and this is gonna sound bad, I've never been that interested in Cats Millionaire's music, and the songs that are closest to her originals are the ones I like the least. Still, there's a lot of variety here, from rock to electronic to indie to really experimental, and it's a good tribute. Along with the songs I mentioned, I liked "Next Level Gripe" by RainSnowHail and Adam the Walker, "No Wi-Fi" by Yellow Bile, and the acoustic version of "Yellow Horse". 6.5/10
General Tso's Chicken- Forever Friendzoned: You can't find this anymore, but I got confirmation somewhere down the line that it was actually be Jeff Burgess, so HERE WE ARE. Yeah. The first track is the MLP theme song played on the word "Some" which starts off "All Star" by Smash Mouth. Then we have "All Star" set to Eurobeat Brony's song "Discord", and I'm dying. This whole album is hysterical. "All Star" gets a little old after a while, but seeing the range of songs it can be mashed up with, just... I can't. I can't even. Also some of this is excellent commentary on how fucking awful pony parody songs can be. 7/10
And finally we're going to finish with a really big, non-pony release:
zircon- Identity Sequence: There's a very rich sound to this, not overproduced but full, and of course the lovely voice of Jillian Aversa only adds to that. Oddly, it's the third track, with a male vocalist, that really kicks this album up a notch. It's pure vocal trance of a quality I've only ever heard from big-name published artists. Like, Zedd "Spectrum" quality. This is amazing! The title track is unspeakably amazing. I can't even put it into words. I can't even identify the styles being used in it! According to the blurb, this is the culmination of five years of work. I think it shows. I have listened to a lot of albums this year, and frankly, I can't remember the last time I heard a trance record, or even electronica in general, that was this perfect. Album of the year 2012. 10/10, and probably only the sixth or so 10 I have given out in over six years of music reviewing.
