Dispatches from the Internet

Some sort of blogging quickie, if you will.  Imagine that I have just pulled you into the supply closet of the internet, and we will soon emerge red-faced and panting slightly, trying our hardest to look normal.  You raise a hand to smooth your hair, I walk briskly in the opposite direction and we don’t talk for a week afterwards because things are awkward.

I generally do not do much in the way of musical discussion—my own tastes in music could be best described as ‘eclectic,’ ranging hither and yon through time and space, and while I consider myself someone who enjoys music it is not a subject I feel especially comfortable talking about at length.  I have a weakness, however, and that weakness is ‘things related to Homestuck, which I promise one day to shut the fuck up about.’

I mentioned in the past that Andrew Hussie is ahead of his time, and that he has commissioned the creation of enormous soundtracks for his latest creation in an attempt to make Homestuck even more of a multimedia monster than it already is.  Well, the music team has just released another album which, being the model of self-control that I am, I bought without even listening to.  

It’s an interesting thing that these albums do—they, in some way (Drawing Dead, Homestuck Vol. 5, Alterniabound, and The Felt especially) build the world even more but without pictures and text.  Instead, it’s a sonic landscape of sorts—the music that would be playing if this were a movie or a game.  It sets a tone for the worlds and events (and characters) in a way that is unique to music.  It also occasionally does things like a poorly covered cover of the song from the end of Con Air, which is made even more amusing if you read the story and know the sort of role that Con Air plays.  This too is something I’ve talked about before, though whether it was on here or just in conversation with someone who was probably not interested will have to remain a matter of mystery.

It adds something to the experience of reading Homestuck to have these albums—we begin to associate particular tracks with particular characters, particular events.  In a sense this is the audiobook version of Homestuck.  No dialog, just music.  If you are reading Homestuck, you’ll appreciate the hell out of these albums (I myself purchased every single fucking one except for the Squiddles album).  If you don’t read Homestuck, you might find them good anyway—that’s the beauty of it.  Some of this music is very clearly ‘soundtrack’ music (the Homestuck volumes, for example) which can occasionally stand alone, but Drawing Dead and The Felt are downright solid sonic experiences.  You should listen to them (you can do that for free, because that is how Bandcamp works (and seriously, can I say I fucking love Bandcamp as an entity?)) anyway.  It’s good music to read or write by.  

Okay, quickie over.  You leave, and I’ll wait five minutes and then follow.  Nobody has to know.

Oh, and quick side note:  I went ahead and made comments a thing you can do now.  So comment away and I will try to keep up on this shit, but I make no promises.