#the strings and the piano???? INSANE.

[murdrdocs]

I just know that Hazel can do wonders with her fingers like-🤭

I just want her fingers knuckles-deep inside me pls

random headcannon that’s mrs. callahan had hazel put into some sort of music lessons as a kid. so she played (likely) piano, maybe guitar for fun or another string instrument like the fucking viola. she played for a while, just enough to get sufficiently decent and gather the finger strength, but she eventually gave it up.

but muscle memory is a crazy thing because her finger work is insane ?? like of course she’s insanely nervous when she first fingers you, and she takes your direction with loads of “sorry”’s and “like that?”’s. but when she gets to the point where she knows you, she really knows you.

she knows where to reach and where to focus her attention on. she knows what tempo to use and how long she should use it. she knows what will have your head reeling and your nails digging into the skin of her shoulders. all while she holds onto your waist with her freehand and stares at you with big, almost adorable, eyes as she asks you: “does that feel good?” when she knows good and well that you’re fucking losing your mind from her fingers alone.

[nogenderbee]

♡˗ˏ✎*ೃ˚ 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔 𝕘𝕦𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕣 𝕡𝕣𝕠 ₊˚ˑ༄

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ @wabatle request: ASK FOR OBEY ME REQUESTS AND I SHALL DELIVER!!!!

anywayssss can I req the brothers (but if all of the brothers are too much just Lucifer, Satan, and Asmo pls!) + Diavolo with an mc that's INSANELY GOOD at playing the electric guitar please?

Thank you pookie you're the best 🤭🥰😍💗

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ THANK YOUUU I choosed the option with less chars hope you don't mind -w-"

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ fluff

✧ Lucifer plays on piano and you play on electric guitar... he listens to classic music, you most likely listen to something harder, you're literally opposites!

✧ the only thing you share is most likely that you're good with hands...

✧ your instruments don't match tho so unfortunely you have no way of playing together...

✧ as for different tastes... it never hurts to try, right? As long as you won't insult his taste, he won't insult yours. And who knows? Maybe the two of you will find some nice songs that you normally wouldn't even reach for?

✧ he's definitely a bit surprised when you tell him you do it professionally, but he's also interested second after...

✧ maybe he never considered playing on electric guitar but now he certainly thinks about at least trying... especially with you as his teacher

"You want me to try this badly? Maybe later... I'd like to see you on piano as well, are you aware, my dear? So do we got each other a deal~?"

✧ he's not really the best player... he may not want to admit it, but you can see his fingerprints aren't really used to strings

✧ as for you... if you won't success at playing piano either, he'll tease you just a little bit

✧ tho if you are... he'll be proud of you, but also his pride is slightly hurt that you had no problem playing on his instrument...

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@wabatle - come get your scary brother!

✧ Satan definitely has some electric guitar solos and songs on his playlists... I mean he's literally avatar of wrath! It just kinda goes along that he'd let it out in way of stronger music... plus it's opposite taste of Lucifer's which adds onto it...

✧ he doesn't play himself but he still knows a lot about it

✧ he asked you quite straightforward to just play something for him, expecting to catch something he may correct but... it was harder than he imagined...

"Well... Maybe you should learn more advanced chords- You were just warming up? Alright, I'm listening..."

✧ surprised that you're actually professional with electric guitar but after a day he's already used

✧ will say stuff like "my lover's better at playing electric guitar than you're at playing piano" to Lucifer just to piss him off

✧ if you actually win in the little competition he made against eldest brother tho... he's gonna have the time of his life by rubbing it into his face whenever he gets the chance

✧ other than that, he actually likes hearing you play! Especially if you're playing more aggressive songs, he finds it a bit calming!

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@miya-akane @wabatle - come get your cat lover!

✧ you can't tell me Asmo doesn't find it hot whenever you play electric guitar for him

✧ he'll shamelessly beg you to play a song for him, while he watches you or does his make up

✧ but you'll always get the best and loudest applause from him, followed by big hug and wave of kisses!

✧ he loves the most the finger play you do during complicated solos

"Well that's quite an experienced~ I dare say even better than mine! Hehe~ Oh c'mon, it was a compliment, darling!"

✧ he wanted to learn how to play guitar untill you told him he can't have long nails whole doing so

✧ now he sees playing on guitar as a curse... so! He does his best to plan aesthetic short nails design for you, so they'll fit your style and guitar design!

✧ whenever you come over, he'll make you sit down so he can do or fix your nails first and only later he'll let you play on guitar

✧ he gushes a lot to everyone he meets about you whenever the topic drops even slightly to music. He's just such a proud boyfriend!!

✧ you never have to worry about not knowing what to play or learn around him too... he goes to so many parties, he usually gives you few ideas, be it for songs that already exist or for your own songs

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@vodka-glrl @wabatle - come get your pretty princess~

✧ Diavolo is the type to appreciate any talent, especially if you're so dedicated towards it

✧ maybe Barbatos sent you annoyed glare when you payed such a hard songs in the middle of castle but... if it doesn't disturbs Diavolo, than what can he do?

✧ I feel like he'd actually enjoy how electric guitar sounds and may even get so into it he tries finding some songs dedicated for that instrument

✧ definitely asked you if you could teach him how to play electric guitar out of pure curiosity

✧ he's actually pretty good at it! He may not get it first time but he's definitely a fast learner

✧ if he was as dedicated as you, you two could probably play together, but he has slightly different interests too...

✧ tho he mostly still enjoys listening to you play! He won't even mind it if you play a song or two while he's doing his work

"Oh no, no need to leave! Your music helps me concertate. But if you're bored, I have few ideas what we can do during my quick break!"

✧ he'll definitely get you into few concerts if that's your dream and you bet he'll be there cheering for you!

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@wabatle - come get your childish ruler!

[makismei]

❝ INVISIBLE STRING

♡ gn!reader x fushiguro toji

cw: established relationships, fluff fluff fluff!, piano playing reader, toji is annoying but you love him anyway, HE IS LOVESICK ! I BELIEVE HE IS A MAN WHO LOVES VERY DEEPLY FIGHT WITH THE WALL IF YOU DISAGREE

synopsis: he thinks he was always meant to find you

wc: 600+

notes from mei!

had fun with this one <333 it's been a min since i've written smth im so happy to be here rn! <3

you feel him nudge the keyboard. you understand that playing on the bed isn't ideal, but your stool broke and you don't have the energy to fix it.

so you're here, taking up a good chunk of the bed, leg dangling over the side so you can use the pedal.

"babe, stop." you sigh, rolling your eyes as you restart the same bar for the third time. adjusting your headphones, you mess around with the headphone cord that is way too short, trying to put it in a spot that doesn't interrupt your playing.

"just take the damn headphones off, lady." you hear, although it's slightly muffled and the sound of the keys drown him out.

you suck in a breath, trying to maintain the rhythm. "can't."

a hand slithers its way to the power button and you can see his shit-eating grin. "toji."

he puts his hands up, grin widening when he sees you pull your hands from the keyboard, sliding your headphones off. "m'not doing anything, baby."

"seriously though, babe," you can't see it because your sheet music is covering it, but you know he's fidgeting with the headphone plug. "why d'ya need this?"

"so i can't hear you." you deadpan.

toji rolls his eyes. you sigh.

"i don't want you to hear it when it sounds bad." you say, sliding your headphones back on. "you can hear it when it's finished and memorized."

you continue on and all he hears are the plastic keys clacking, he watches your eyebrows furrow and your eyes move across the page.

eventually, a hand lifts to flip the page as the other continues dancing across the keys, and he thinks that he could do it for you if only he could hear what you're playing, it can't be that hard to flip a page.

but he watches, silently, because if he listens hard enough he can hear the music bleeding from your headphones. he can also hear the sound of you pressing the pedal too hard and your quiet breathing.

he thinks you're beautiful. he also thinks your playing is perfect.

every time he looks at you he thinks that everything he endured was worth it, because the further he traveled down that dark tunnel, the more he went wild and lost himself in bloodlust and greed, he found you.

he's still not sure how you both ended up in the same place at the same time, but he thinks it was fate and toji never believed in "outrageous shit like that," until he met you—his darling angel that he'd do anything for.

and now he's here—in your apartment that's too posh and neat for a rugged man like him, in a room with an open window, sunlight painting the white walls and he can hear children laughing—breathing in your scent and engraving your image into his memory because he absolutely can't and will never forget you.

toji likes to lie and says that he's a changed man now that he's met you. but he's still the same, rough edged, foul-mouth bastard and he knows it when he sees the pained look on your face when he's gone too far, listening to you cry and hating that he's on the other side of the door instead of being there next to you.

(he ends up there anyway, because he'd never want you to believe his words when he gets mad, cursing himself for not biting his tongue sooner).

but he knows, where he is right now is where he was always meant to be.

he can feel it and he wonders if he's going insane.

but he meets your gaze when you look up from your keyboard, a bashful smile slowly stretching on your lips and he couldn't care less if he was going crazy.

❝ and isn't it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me?

[who-dat-homeless]

It's a very small detail but I'm actually going insane over it.

In the second season of tos they added a really fucking fat bass to the sound track and I was screaming crying because of how good it was, and now, watching the third season, they left the bass, but they wrote a new riff AND ADDED AN EPIC PIANO AND SOME STRINGS AND IT SOUND ABSOLUTELY INSANE

And If I'm not wrong and remember everything correctly, both in the second and third seasons those bass riffs first appeared in the scenes of Spock's emotional distress. And just how cool it is that he keeps trying to hide his emotions BUT A FUCKNING MUSIC MAKES IT CLEAR THAT HE'S EITHER ABOUT TO EXPLODE, KILL GOD, KISS KIRK OR EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME

[swordheld]

hello! do u have any new music recommendations?

of course!!! going to throw some general pop/indie/rock/instrumental all over vibes at you? these are some of the ones that i've been having on repeat a lot lately because they bring something bright and fun into my days - hope you enjoy them !! 💛

if i'm honest (trousdale) – oh the absolute vibes of this one. the harmonies. the beat. the slow downs and build ups? that ending? it's like easy, slow, growing ease and joy. that point 3/4 of the ways through the song, that building of things? the payoff? those background horns? the drums? i cannot sit through it without some kind of air guitar / drums / chair dance type beat. it's too good that you cannot help it, it just goes so hard.

close one (fizz) – i have been writing so much love poetry to this song. it is soft and slow and serene like light, all golden hour, the soft golden hues of almost, of here, like this, with me? that little 'fuck it' before the chorus is so fun. this group is made of insanely popular individuals (dodie/orla gartland/greta isaac/martin luke brown???) and together .... they are so powerful. cannot wait to see what they create next !!

run (maisie peters) – there is such a fun vibe to this song. that line of the chorus, that 'i've been lied to / i've been cut and deleted / i've heard some things i will leave unrepeated' is sooooo good, that rhyme scheme that syllable count balance? it immediately went onto my writing playlist w/ that fun beat, that synth, that catchy repetition? the whole album this comes off of is so very good too, esp. 'the band and i'? i really enjoy her sound!!

like a brother (hey, nothing) – this song feels like a lullaby, in the way of being swung in a hammock? all late summer, early winter winds? but there is such a lyricism that gets stuck in my brain, the whole layout of the chorus and is just so soft. i feel so many things. another easy one for the poetry playlist.

margo (sally boy) – oh the orchestral, string opening? the easy flow of it, instrumental and light, before hitting that small bit of silence before the guitar and lyrics come in? and then the absolute hit that is the beat of the chorus hitting? obsessed. phenomenal. i love the balance of gentle, light instruments and the slow instruction of the drumbeat, it feels like a whole story that you can experience, the flow of it!

eightball girl (maddie zahm) – i can leave this song for a few days and then out of nowhere it'll just be in my head again, the vibes of it, that beat of the chorus? the layered voice effects? sometimes songs have this balance to them that my brain just sucks up like a sponge and this is one of them. soooo good. i'll be in the supermarket and my brain will just go eightball girllll, tell me how you feel about meeee and it's perfect.

snow angel (reneé rapp) – this was one of the first ones i found on my daylist that was just like, how did i go so long without you. how did i not know about you. and since then it's been a daily listen. the slow, gentle breeze of that beginning? there is such a rising and falling to this song, like seasons, like the breeze? all tide, all here and there and back again, all resilience and ferocity, softness and violence? that electric guitar and the piano and the feedback just makes me want to just. aaaaaaa. this whole album is just banger after banger too!!

grace (henrik) – it's so fun!!! it brings me so much joy and energy, the easy breezy pop vibes, it's so hopeful and gentle and loving. i have it set as my alarm rn because i really do think it'll last through the sisyphean task of getting me out of bed in the mornings, it just feels like sunlight.

[atlitudes]

I'm Cataloging Every Occurrence of the Piano in Malevolent in a Spreadsheet for Leitmotif Analysis. No, I'm Not Kidding.

As the title of this post reads, I've spent the last few weeks listening to every episode of Malevolent and logging every time the piano is heard (both within the story and as background score), to analyze the data for leitmotif/music based theory-crafting. I originally was planning on getting through the entire series before posting anything, but I am very quickly realizing that this is going to take me a while, and I start a new semester in two weeks, so there is a high likelihood I will not finish before I get too busy to chug through as many episodes a day as I am now. I'm on episode 16/44 and I've already logged 137 instances of piano music. I'm not even halfway done. And this is all I've been doing for the past multiple days. For this reason, I've decided to post the link to the spreadsheet before finishing.

If you're familiar with Malevolent, and just how much music is in it, you might be asking, "OP, are you utterly fucking insane?" And well, dear reader, the answer to that is probably yes, but while you might call it madness, I call it love. So, before getting into the meat of things, I wanted to explain why I even decided to do this. Spoilers ahead for Malevolent (obvious, but yeah). If you don't give a single shit about why I did this and want to get straight to the sheet, scroll to the bottom for the link.

So. About 2 weeks ago I finished my first listen-through of Malevolent. One thing about the most recent episodes struck me as very very significant: John and Arthur's "collective force" being titled as the Dies Irae.

Now, a full-bodied explanation of why I find this so important and the possible implications will come at a later date, but long story short, the Dies Irae is a very significant piece of musical literature-- it is, perhaps, the most commonly quoted leitmotif of the past 800 years, and it symbolizes death. So, understandably, the Themes of this kinda sent me down a spiral.

But the Dies Irae being mentioned in such a way also got me thinking: music is a pretty integral part of Malevolent. So, is the Dies Irae quoted anywhere in its soundtrack? I suddenly got very very excited at this prospect, particularly if it might be in Faroe's Song, because well... god that would hurt lol. I scoured the available songs on the bandcamp aaaaand... no luck (as far as I can tell). Regardless, even if the Dies Irae wasn't a part of the soundtrack, I became curious about what kind of leitmotifs were in the podcast, and what they might mean. And so, the spreadsheet was born.

I explain this in the User Guide part of the sheet (please read it before going through the rest btw), but I only track the piano parts of the podcast. The reason for this is two-fold:

First, score wise, piano is very easy for me to pick apart, and I don't see a lot of significance in the suspenseful string music for horror moments (though I don't deny there might be something to it, I simply won't be able to find it.) To me, the piano is also significantly more important than the strings because it's a notable part of the story-- Arthur and his relation to the instrument is a key part of the plot, and multiple of the piano compositions are made by him. For this reason, I found tracking the piano in the podcast worthwhile.

Second, I also don't touch any of the non-original radio tracks in the podcast (i.e. You Call It Madness (I Call It Love)) because this video by The Final Fantasmagorie already does an excellent job of covering them (please check it out!!), and I felt it would be redundant, especially considering the astronomical amount of ground I already have to cover. If these tracks start being featured as leitmotifs in the piano music then... well, I might change my mind, but so far, no dice.

If I noticed a non-piano piece of music (such as the wraith humming in Ep3) that I haven't found any analysis of whatsoever, I also noted it just so there was some record. Other than that, just piano tracks.

Explanations and disclaimers out of the way, here is the link to the spreadsheet. I might open it up to comments and/or editors at some point, but for now, it's just available to viewers. Once again, please read the disclaimer and user guide before the rest of the sheets.

Thanks for reading, I know this was a very long post, and I appreciate it if you've beared with me! Enjoy!

[d0g0r0t]

Random Band!Mizu hc

Her Bass

This bitch plays bass change my mind

She played acoustic guitar first but liked the way electric bass sounded more

Her bass was a hammy down from Eiji

He taught her a little but told her "if you do not learn from your mistakes, you have learned nothing" and left her to it

She started when she was 14 and the first day she played after 15 minutes she yelled "I GIVE UP!"

Then the next day she played again

Then did the same thing

Over time she got really good at it but she played differently then others because she had no help involved and learned what was best for her

She snapped one of her strings once and thought she broke the whole thing. She didn't even know they COULD break

She ran to Eiji having a whole break down and he just laugh

She got it fixed and felt like a dumbass

Her bass is this matt navy blue color and has a Japanese wave design strap.

Reference ⬇️⬇️⬇️

The Band

She joined after meeting Ringo. He saw her bass in the corner of her room and bombarded her with questions and if she would join his band. She was anxious but said sure

But her first practice when she saw Taigen she wanted to break her bass over his fat ass forehead

Taigen is lead guitar

Ringo is lead drummer and side singer

Akemi is lead singer and plays the piano in some songs

First practice she spent it learning from Taigen which was super fun to watch

"So then it's a E string-" "Taigen for the last fucking time I play bass you idiot" "WELL I DONT OK GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!"

Akemi record so many fights between them its insane. She could ruin both their careers if she wanted to

She HATES being in the spotlight and thank God Akemi and Taigen take it.

She never liked being seen and normal stands near Ringo, away from the light.

And yet people still make edits of her

First time they played was for one of Akemis friends, birthday

Taigen got drunk before hand and almost ruined everything but some how it went well

Mizu dragged his shit after

Band members

Ringo

He has special prosthetics for his drum sticks so he can easily snap them in. He uses thicker drum sticks so they fit better

His drums are a mix of things friends gave him and his first drum kit. He likes the different colors of his drums, he uses the symbols from his first kit because he likes the sound more then new symbols

Akemi

She plays a shit ton of things that her father wanted her to play, but when she was alone she learned she could sing

Her dad HATES that she's in a band that isn't basic. But Suki always supports her

She has a more higher pitch voice a bit like younger Billie Eilish but she sings like Lacey Sturm from flyleaf ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Taigen

He learned on acoustic first like mizu but he stuck to it

He started playing when he was 12 after finding his grandpa's old guitar in his garage and kept it ever since

Although he prefers acoustic, he plays electric for the band

His acoustic is this basic beaten tan colored guitar with old strings and a basic strap

His electric is this gorgeous shiny sage green color with a dark green strap

Reference ⬇️⬇️⬇️

I disappeared again guys mb

Also if you guys want a bass player! Mizu x reader just ask and we'll see what happens 👍

[raconteur-wanpi]

Has anyone talked about how "Vinsmoke Sanji" (The song. The sad piano and strings OST track that plays during his iron mask childhood flashback, the only song to call him that) is literally just an arrangement of his regular fight theme ("Shinkenshoubu"). It's a subtle version of his regular theme. It's the same contour for the first 6 notes of both.

That song always drove me absolutely insane the moment I reached WCI and heard it for the first time. It's so simple yet gut-wrechingly effective. It's mind boggling to me there hasn't been more leitmotific analysis of it, and the One Piece OST in general. Kohei Tanaka is a genius at what he does.

And the part that hits me in the emotions the most, is that this exact same leitmotif from these two songs is intentionally sprinkled and woven throughout all of WCI's music. It's in Pudding's theme, it's in the two "reconciliation with Luffy" themes, but it's unmistakably the same motif. Can somebody with a better musical education than me make more content about this. Please. Can anyone hear me. Is it just me who's insane about this.

[the-moth-from-elsewhere]

The Epic Amazing Absolutely Insane TAOCC Song Post

Aka: Elsie assigns random songs to random characters for random reasons, vaguely organized by mod. These are almost entirely vibes and randomness so get ready to be utterly confused. Don’t expect any of these to fit too well, I went more based on the sound and random stuff than the actual accuracy. Also i’m kinda brain-broken from overthinking all this music lol. No, I didn’t add links, just because this took so many hours. Maybe tomorrow, I just wanna get this done.

Feiar’s characters.

Nymn

“Dento takes the Stairs” by Gooseworx

I told you these would make no sense. Idk the amount of nymn just being vibes/silly/lighthearted makes me think of how this song is a break from the chaos of the Elain series.

Jessy

“Metamodernity” by Vansire

Okay, I have a really specific animatic in my head for this song in which we flash between the TAOCC characters as they are in the circus, and then a cool transition, and then it’s them pre-circus. My best example is Dusk and Jessy sitting on a bench. A train passes by, and now it’s human Jessy sitting alone on a bench. Because Dusk is AI. And that very specific part of the animatic in my head tends to stick with me, especially seeing as Jessy is very “just go with stuff” and so I can kinda hear him singing this in my head.

”Apocalypse Now” by PinnoccioP

The first appearance of many of my favorite music artist lol. The song is about enjoying existence even if everything is a violent wreck, and it just kinda fits to me lol.

“World’s Smallest Violin” - AJR

yeah just gonna drop this one here and run

“Sweet Tooth” - Scott Helman

Blame Fei.

Clara

”Drosselmeyer’s theme - Kurumi Wari Ningyo (Nutcracker No. 2 March) - The Princess Tutu Soundtrack

Okay, for starters, you should watch Princess Tutu. Like right now. It’s amazing, and the title does NOT do it Justice. Back on track, it…it’s the nutcracker! Come on, this one was basically handed to me.

Tutu vs Kraehe (Swan Lake Act 1 Op. 20 No. 2)

Fight theme.

Lance

”I Don’t Have a Name For It” - Steam Powered Giraffe

I…I’m sorry I don’t have an explanation for this it just works. Lancia sweep.

Raina

”Nightcall” - Kavinsky

…Once again, very flimsy. But like…switch the gender. I’m sorry but it’s giving “they’re talking about my death but I’m still here.” The miku version works better here in my opinion :3

The pirates

“He’s a pirate” - F-777

“The 7 Seas” - F-777

idk man techno piracy go vrrrrrrrr I unironically blasted these during like the entirety of the pirates plotline frick you this is my rant I do what I want /silly

Star’s Characters

Icia

”Long Live” - Taylor Swift

I swear I have reasons for this just hear me out okay- First off, I can see the voice fitting, second off, I imagine her singing this either for Lance or Starro or both after we finally finally finally throw Hexe off a cliff.

“Santa Salvacion” - Magia Record OST

epic fight theme for fighting the terrifying ice lady. I blasted this while writing the fight scene with The Dark Queen Icia.

Dunite

”Postmeridae” - Madoka Magica OST

Cutesy upbeat theme for making merengues to. No notes.

“Witches Dance” - Magia Record OST

Idk, feels like her fight theme

”Roki” - Mikito P

…Vibes. Entirely vibes. Dunite should start a band /hj.

Starro

“Please Never Fall In Love Again” - Ollie MN

I just…him. Singing this. About Conny. I swear to cheese.

Vaga and Nova

“Class Dance - Rensho Kyoku I” - Princess Tutu OST

…Vibes.

Odette

”Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14” - Madoka Magica OST

Vibes. Piano. Sad string accompaniment. Must I say more?

Achilles

“Doubt #2” - Madoka Magica: Rebellion OST

Starting to notice a pattern with the kingdom characters lol?

Joofie’s Characters

Cardlan

“Main Character” - Will Wood

Ego. So, so much Ego.

“Sayo-Nara” - DDLC OST

I have my reasons.

Minimi

“Not Yet (Epilogue)” - Madoka Magica: Rebellion OST

Accordion and a little bit of ominousness. Vibes.

Xeyshattersiltav1a’s Characters

Sun

“Cowboy Dan” - Modest Mouse

Yee-haw sun. Do not give that woman a truck. Wow, these descriptions are getting terrible lol.

”Popular” - Wicked Soundtrack

Wicked but it’s sun and Dusk lives in my head rent free okay

“Alright” - Mother Mother

please help me I keep making up sun animatics with this song in class

Mix

“Something, Everything is Wrong” - Madoka Magica: Rebellion OST

This song is the reason I associate Mix with the accordion. Also, I imagine Dusk meeting him/his first real introduction in TAOCC’s background music as this song.

“Intertwined” - CMYK, CircusP.

Rip this man’s love life

“Love is War” - Ryo/Supercell feat. Hatsune Miku

Love is still Vehicular Manslaughter /ref

Dialtone

“Cats!” - waterflame

Does the song fit him? Not at all! It is way too techy and upbeat, and would probably better suit someone like Switch. But like….cats. He’d listen to a song called “cats!”. You can’t convince me otherwise.

“Want You Gone” - The Portal OST

Dialtone is GLaDOS coded to me.

“Killer Spider” - PinnoccioP

vibes and vibes alone.

Soup’s Characters

Silhouette

“Scared of you” - Brandon Hesslau

“Whoops, sorry for kinda almost killing you.”

”What Gave It Away” - Riproducer

evil.

”Burial Ground” - Low Roar

sad backstory.mp3.

Clown

“I’m Number One” - Muppets Most Wanted Soundtrack

Look man he’s silly and egotistical and it’s funny. He’s definitely singing this with carbine.

Autumn’s Characters

Pyxel

”Magical Doctor” - MARETU

once again, more vibes than lyrics and the gender’s wrong but, like, the vibes, man

Neb

“Lonely UFO” - PinnoccioP

…it doesn’t fit. The lyrics, as far as I can tell, do NOT fit. BUT LOOK AT THE OUTFIT, THE BLUE HAIR AND VOID SKIN AND MURDER TEETH AND TELL ME THAT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE NEB, OKAY?!

“Finding Sanctuary” - Stellaris OST

Silly space song for silly space person.

Lily’s Characters

The bookend siblings, and I mean all of them as a group, Katrina included for brevity’s sake

“Magical Girl and Chocolate” - PinnoccioP

Okay, I have actual reasoning for this one. Each of the siblings is someone’s “magical girl”, whether metaphorically or literally. They’re each fighting to protect and support someone. And they each strain and struggle to cope with a role too demanding for them. This song works for each of them in a different form and context.

Octavia and Steven/Sign

“Isn’t it “A”” - PinnoccioP

The arguments of all time

Honse- I mean Sophro

“Puzzle” - CMYK, CircusP

He’s just here to help. No notes.

Miscellaneous Others/Not big enough for their own section

Lantern

“Lantern” - Undertale OST

…self explanatory. The song’s vibes fit, too, I imagine this plays in his scenes.

“The Other One Left” - VaneLily

Half due to the “I just want a loving father” line. Gender’s wrong, again, but otherwise the lyrics fit.

Seer

“Seer’s Theme” - Cindy

I literally cannot outdo her own theme. It’s just too good. I listen to it randomly just because I like it so much /gen.

Sigil

“I’m Just Ken” - Barbie Movie Soundtrack

this is mostly a joke but come ON you think that guy doesn’t feel a little overshadowed by his GODDESS FIANCÉE?!

“Business Man” - Tom Cardy

Okay so this one takes some explaining because I imagine sigil walking into Dialtone’s place to spy and Insanity ruining everything and shooting everyone. It makes absolutely no sense but it’s funny in my head so here we are.

My Characters, yes this is gonna be last

Dusk

“Ultimate Senpai” - PinocchioP

A song about being overly pressured and stuff? Yeaaaaah.

“Sis Puella Magia!” - Madoka Magica Soundtrack

….Pretty. That’s it.

Aoki

“Decretum” - Madoka Magica Soundtrack

The reason I gave him a violin.

Alpenglow

“Yume Yume” - DECO*27

I have an ENTIRE ANIMATIC for chip and alpen with this song in my head

Lemonade

“Viva La Vida” - Coldplay

lore. Hehe.

Yume

“What are Children Made Of?” - PinnoccioP

This kid’s childhood has been ruined and boy is processing that hard.

”Everything about Animals” - PinocchioP

an absolute fever dream of a song that she would absolutely sing about animals. And how cool they are. And ohhhh look commentary on the state of humanity

Switchboard

“Kom Susser Tod” - Astrophysics

Idk it doesn’t fit all too well but the mix of utter hopelessness and eurobeat techno is just hercore

TAOCC as a whole

“Something Rotten!/Make an Omelette” - Something Rotten Soundtrack

WHEN I TELL YOU I HAVE AN ENTIRE. FREAKING. ANIMATIC-

”Your Silver Garden” - Madoka Magica OST

I do not know the lyrics literally at all but I could see an OP for TAOCC with this song

[westwindy1]

Jack using the wind to speak to non-believers would be so insanely creepy- because imagine, you're alone, you're walking and the hairs on the back of your neck and prickling, because you've just heard something- was it the leaves, behind you? The sound of something else? Trash, an animal? So then you're left wondering, "Is something there?" and yet, when you look back, there's not even a shadow to watch.

Then, suddenly the wind picks up, and maybe it makes you chilly, and so you're holding your arms, and then it gets stronger, but then you have a problem, because you don't know which way to face, and where is it coming from?

There is wind whipping everywhere, things are flying violently, nearly because all in a moment, it's searching for just the right crack, the right slip, the right noise to carry, and they're all in different places, because one vowel could take many noises, depending on the tone, which has to be inconsistant, because there's virtually no way to work speaking over the wind into an art, because the world is always subject to change and unless you want to carry around a whole host of tools, you have to find your sounds, figure out your do-re-mis as you go, so there's not even a full word coming from any one direction, and sounds die, so of course, so if you want to be heard now, the wind has to be stronger than ever, so you're trying to speak, but the person you're speaking to is much too focused on trying to make it out alive to listen.

And maybe Jack's trying say something, to be funny, but it won't carry because talking over the wind is inherently wild and it takes a lot of control.

But also, imagine you're a musician, and when it is calm, and you're at peace with yourself, and you're doing very well, sometimes it feels like your instrument is talking to you. ...And almost, almost it sounds like someone else is singing along, too, like you've got a partner playing to the same tune, with the same notes, and you're not just singing for yourself- it's a voice you can almost make out, but not quite, and some words are missing, and you can't always hear it over those pesky sharps, but it's there, nearly gentle and sometimes not, so it's feels like all the world -the woods, plants, leaves, birds, the spaces betweeen trashcans and through the air under and around the seats in the concert hall, maybe it's even the carried voices of other people, words and phrases selectively carrried- it's all singing and dancing around and sombre and joyful and feeling with you.

And then, when you're putting your instrument away, when you're pressing your bow back into it's case and making sure your reed is sound and you're carefully resting the lid of your piano, you feel better- you're looking around, thinking to yourself, nearly imagining you actually, quite literally had a partner to sing and play with, a partner to dance to your melody, and that it hadn't just been you and the magic of your music that had been stringing your heart along.

You think of fairies and witches and other forest-y, musical, planted creatures, unseeing, unknowingly mussing the solid imprint of a footprint in the dust, dirt or something else that someone nearly there had left by your side.

Also to consider- when you've got a gloved hand knuckle-deep in a shelf of ice way up north, with nothing a pickaxe in hand, a rope and parka to your name and it's just gotten dangerous- when you're alone, more than you've ever been in your life, and it sounds like the wind is screaming and it's stoming and snowling like you've never seen before and you've just heard something almost like a yelll echoing throughout the canyons, all drowned snow-white, and it's frustrated, echoing and devastating, almost reflecting the complete and utter terror broiling in your gut, the feel of frozen flesh thick around your bones and the hope you feel dying, running cold and sharp down your spine, like a weight heavy in your gut, fading by your feet like the ice numbing all sensation there-

[komelrebi-san]

songs without words

was in band practice yesterday daydreaming about inumaki toge and it gave me ideas

synopsis: in which, you! the concert pianist in the school orchestra, caught their eyes... feat.: (my husband)gojo satoru, suguru geto, inumaki toge, itadori yuji, fushiguro toji

don't like, don't read.

when they walk into the room, carrying their music sheets and instrument, their eyes land on you. eh, wait, you're new! they haven't seen you before, have they? are you even supposed to be here?

but you don't take any notice of them as you played transcendental passages on the piano, dextrous fingers dancing over the keys, beautiful melodies resonating from the strings of the piano. smiling bashfully, you stop playing and walk over to talk to the proud-looking conductor, yaga masamichi.

---

gojo satoru - principal flautist

jeez, you cannot, cannot tell me this man is not the principal flautist

bags any and all solos he can, may or may not be competing for attention with a certain principal violinist

quote: 'what do you mean the violin gets to be concert master??? i'm also a principal musician! the flute is a solo instrument too!!!'

always always always be flaunting his skills - insane scales and arpeggios, fingers pressing and releasing the keys faster than one can comprehend - wait, how can he even tongue the notes that fast??

never never tunes to the principal violinist nor the oboist though it's normal orchestral procedure to tune to one of the two

bro skips to the piano to ask you for a tuning note, doesn't forget to add that he doesn't care which note it is because he's that skilled that he can tune to anything

(it's normal orchestral procedure to tune to concert-pitched A, frequency 440 or 442)

refuses to use a tuner/tuner app, bro has perfect pitch

goodness, he's such a menace, he's always belting out high notes

conductor yaga has never regretted anything more than giving satoru the piccolo part

(for those of you that don't know, the piccolo is basically a mini flute, same fingerings but just higher pitched)

i think everyone's ears died, oh god

wait, don't blame him though, he just wanted you to notice him

(oh, the little giggle that came out of your pretty lips when he belched high notes on his piccolo)

suguru geto - the said principal violinist

the said principal violinist satoru tries to take solos from

oof he always looks so good, sitting up straight int he front of his chair, hair swept to the side as he sits his violin on his shoulder

the little smirks he sends you as he plays, god damn

quite literally enchants everyone with his playing, fingers effortlessly reaching across the violin fingerboard

was so so so tempted to ask the principal percussionist to chuck the huge gong mallet at satoru's head

does this thing where he nods at you with a confident smile before rehearsal officially starts, and that's his signal for you to play the concert-pitched A so he can tune, then the rest of the string players will follow, and then the rest of the orchestra

relishes the fact that he's the closest to you in terms of seating and never forgets to rub it in satoru's face

has given your piano part a few tries on his violin just to spend more time with you, ends up laughing at satoru once again because whilst the violin can play multiple notes at the same time, the flute cannot

always brings hand cream with him! he doesn't use it but he makes you use it (trust me playing piano after massaging your hands slightly with hand cream feels infinitely better)

bonus! offers you his jacket if you get cold hands easily

inumaki toge - the principal oboist

somehow always gets dehydrated? like

needs to have water with him at rehearsals

probably started following you around like a lost puppy a little bit after that one time you gave him water and told him very nonchalantly that you aren't saliva conscious when he forgot to bring his bottle

well i mean, in his mind he probably was like 'wait, they understand me!!!'

welllllll, there was supposed to be another oboist but they always skip rehearsals lmfao

have i told you that this boy has the prettiest lips??? they look so kissable

partially the instrument's fault bc the reed is so small, so oboists really have to preserve their lips

loves loves loves loves onigiri, like, you never see him without onigiri during rehearsal breaks

and he look so cute when he eats!! does this thing where he puffs his cheeks out as he chews, bro probably just stuffed his mouth full of onigiri bc of his love for them 😭😭😭

started bringing extra onigiri with him so he can offer you one

actl speaks quite little, so he settles for actions instead

always comes to rehearsal 10 min early just so he can warm up and tune his oboe but in reality is just an excuse to sit with you

itadori yuji - actually supposed to be first trumpet, but ends up substituting as a percussion player a lot of the times

loud

have i told you that he's loud???

i swear, music classrooms are soundproof af but you can hear his laughter down the corridor even as you warmed up on the piano

okay, the principal trumpet is great, but wait, how does itadori's sound always manage to overpower their's???

please, yaga doesn't even know 😭😭😭

okay, itadori is great, but the problem is he always manages to somehow come in at the wrong time or play the wrong note, on top of being really super loud

welp, so he started subbing for the percussion

oh no oh no, everyone's ears

but hey, his crash-cymbal part is done ON POINT, so might as well keep him there

always comes early to set up his percussion stuff, so when you joined as the concert pianist, he also sets the grand piano lid for you, it's so damn heavy

bro's always hungry, so he always carries candy or sweet stuff with him, and he tries super hard to hide them from the sweet-toothed principal flautist

but uses them as on opportunity to start conversations with you and offer you some, and deny satoru in his face

and he's always rushing off to some kind of sports training session afterwards, lmfao

toji fushiguro - guest saxophone player

badboy upperclassman fr 😩😩😩

saxophone is a side job, but bro looks so fucking sexy while playing, and he makes sure he perfects every solo bit he can get his hands on

actl in like a band with his classmates or something, pretty sure you saw him playing drums with his friends at the school concert once

probs knows how to play guitar and bass too, so he helps his friends rearrange the parts and teach them parts they cant play

but! mediocre at the keyboard

so when he saw you?

thought 1: oooof she's so hot, i wanna ask her out

thought 2: hey, she can join my band!

so he used idea number two as an excuse to talk to you lmfao, but wasn't gonna give up when you told him that you were busy so you had to think about it

made a point right then and there to talk to you every single rehearsal he can come to

either to show you videos of them/solo cams of him playing, or to complain they cant find a good keyboardist and they are suffering lmfao

literally almost started fighting satoru for your attention lmfao, and my bro right here actl went ahead to wack satoru's head with a drumstick

oof arm muscles flexing oof so hot

[void-of-unparalled-chaos]

Okay so time for me to dump my thoughts on the Underworld Saga because I am going insane and tbh I'm not sure how coherent this will be because my brain is mostly keyboard smashing.

The Shades: "When does a man become a monster? 558 men who died under your command. CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN! Why would you let the cyclops live when ruthlessness is mercy?"

Okay so the harmonies of the Shades are amazing! But also this whole bit is just so... haunting. The call back to Just a Man and Ruthlessness does something to me. Could you imagine being screamed at by the ghosts of everyone you've failed? Also Jay confirmed that the shades in this song are just repeating their final thoughts in life. They drowned begging for their Captain to help them and died wondering why he failed them. This probably fucked Odysseus UP.

Odysseus: "I keep thinking of the infant from that night. I keep thinking of the infant from that night."

I swear I can hear the PTSD in his voice holy shit. Also Astyanax's music box motif being played in church bells in the back. I never would have noticed it if not for Jay's behind the scenes videos but knowing it's there makes this bit so much better.

Odysseus: "Polities..."

I was not nearly as wrecked at this bit until I saw this post mentioning that Odysseus quiet little "Polities..." is a mirror of Polities strangled "Captain..." when he died and now I will never be the same.

Odysseus' Mom

I am not exaggerating when I say I cried during the watch party. Everything about this is heartbreaking. His mom was thinking about him in her final moments. "Odyssues when you come home I'll be waiting" except she wont be. The shocked defeat in Odysseus' voice with "I took too long...". He's right there in front of her, but her shade just doesn't register him. They are so close physically yet still separated by death. Also the fact that Jay's mom voices her that is so sweet omg.

The change from "Here in the Underworld the past seems close behind" to "But in the Underworld your past is always close behind."

STTAGKDUKFUTAATUFOUCOUXGJXG

THE STRINGS!!!!! AND THE PIANO!!!!

Tiresias' voice is so haunting omg

Mason absolutely NAILED prophet who is constantly being shown everything all the time at one I love it sm.

The lyrics in this song are just.... so good. And the foreshadowing is top notch

Jay's voice acting for Odysseus' is also great in this.

The distress and frustration in "We've suffered and sailed through the toughest of hells. Now you tell us ur efforts are for NOTHING?!" and the absolute anger in "WHO!?!?!" (Its you, Ody. See your about to go through a complete change in morals about 5 minutes from now and become a completely different person).

THE DESCENDING ORGAN FOR THE SECOND CHORUS MY JAW DROPPED

Jorge don't think I didn't notice the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hellfire, vibes at the end I see you.

This is my favorite song released in Epic so far and I am not normal about it at all.

The GUITAR! THE ELECTRIC GUITAR!

For those unfamiliar and being dragged along this nonsense post, Odysseues character is associated with the guitar. The acoustic guitar is when he is softer, kinder, and more "human" while the electric guitar represents him at his most brutal, ruthless, and "monsterous". This song is his turning point to which he is done being merciful. He will do ANYHTING to get home.

"Oh Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves..."

Really taking Poseidon's lesson to heart there.

Odysseus: "AND IF I GOTTA DROP ANOTHER INFANT FROM A WALL IN AN INSTANT SO WE ALL DON'T DIE? THEN I'LL BECOME THE MONSTER! I WILL DEAL THE BLOW!... SO WHAT IF I'M THE MONSTER?"

Ayrsgstusigxjgsutaut holy shit holy shit holy shit-

Play this back to back with Just A Man for some psychic damage. What an end for Act 1!

[stone-stars]

Illuminate me on music!, I'm not good at it but I like hearing people talking things I don't know. So idk, start anywhere I wanna learn. Gimme music faces from emily's work

lol there's SO many places i could start. first, let me say that i get so in the weeds with this. you don't need to be me. however, murph and emily are really deliberate with their music placement so even if you don't go super deep, you can start to notice patterns, especially with the super frequently used songs.

when it comes to frequent songs, alli operationslipperypuppet also did a very helpful "hey how concerned should you be" breakdown of some common songs, which i'll link here. i would say if you want to start paying attention, some easy ones to check out and start listening for are the purge, unknown tome, kingshammer, valiant ol' cobb, mee maw's burden, a fate refused, the campaign themes, twinkling lights of galaderon, and a friend for life. all of these are available on spotify, with the exception of kingshammer, and have very consistent uses. (the bahumia theme isn't by emily, but is on spotify). if you want to hear kingshammer, a good use of it is around 50 minutes into c1e80, during hardwon's flashback (ad free, so you might have to go later for ads)

another thing to note is certain songs get very specific meanings when applied to given characters. mee maw's burden and unknown tome are used incredibly consistently throughout bev sr's hell arc. twinkling lights of galaderon and a bastard no more/hardwon takes the wheel (both names have been used) are used throughout hardwon's.

emily also tends to write a lot of location-based music. a lot of cities have their own themes and their own instrumentation. a great example of this is the tsunaire interlude from c3, which has a very unique sound. also for example, the crick tends to have a lot of similar instrumentation. if you listen through the crick album on spotify, you can start to hear it. there's a lot of strings/piano, drums, and a lot of notes are drawn out in a very specific way.

it's very consistent. there are also like 200+ songs written for this podcast at this point, and so knowing every one of them is insane. but if you start to be like "i've heard this song before, where did i hear it" chances are it's in a moment that connects thematically. i can go into a lot more detail about any of this, this kinda became a "hey here's how to start tracking naddpod music" post more than anything and not really about the themes/uses of songs, but! yeah!

some fun little bonus notes of songs that are only used a few times but that i am insane about the repetition of:

a song called "torn apart" is used when moonshine opens the rift to the feywild during the tarrasque fight, and also when the world is breaking apart after the thiala fight and the boobs heal it

"i just want to know you're taken care of" is the song that is played when moonshine tells paw paw to write up her will. it's also played when lydia tells her that she deserves to be heard by her friends and she should tell them about her plans in hell. it's also used in c3 when callie tells foster that she's sorry for not giving him love.

"a memory" is introduced in episode 100 as thiala shows everyone the failed past adventurers and the "wheel of sorrow". it has recently been used in c3 for both references to the boobs and to melora's adventuring party (melora/telaine/aryox)

there is a specific royalty free (i think) choral song that plays when gemma appears at the party, when gemma dies, when jaina almost kills hardwon, and then later when hardwon dies at scarlet montgomery's hands. do with this what you will.

this isn't about a reuse but the song that plays in ep 70 when moonshine and lucanus are talking is called "a miracle child" and i need more people to know that.

i am insane about "a glittering reunion" (from melora and telaine's in 97) on so many levels. telaine is the piano. melora is the strings. i need to lay down.

[littlescaryinternetguy]

He put down the string he was coiling and stood up. Oh no she didn't, he thought. He climbed down the chain in the grandfather clock with practiced ease and slipped out of a very small crack in the back.

Ok, YES, this was stupid, he said to himself. Well then it's stupid. Maybe he's stupid. He looked to the sides, although he knew she was in the kitchen on her phone. Then he darted across the front room, along the wall in the dining room, and into the vinyl-tiled silo of the kitchen.

She sat at the table, finishing up her conversation with whomever. Pleasantries and goodbye. She put the phone on the table. Right. Let's do this.

He hadn't thought of how exactly he was going to hail her. Well, fuck it. He walked up to her shoe. Mercifully it dipped down below her ankle. He rapped upon it, three times.

She ascended into the atmosphere with the speed and sound of a rocket full of screech owls.

He stepped back a couple of paces while she landed on the chair, her feet scrambling against the tiled floor. She looked down with primal terror etched deeply on her face.

He cleared his throat.

She began to open her mouth but he interrupted, a miniscule bellow. He wasn't used to talking to big folk.

"OK, first of all: did you say I 'scurried'?"

She looked at him and slowly shut her mouth.

"You were talking on your phone device there and you said, 'This place has mice, I saw one scurrying this morning.' You said that."

"... did I? Wait. What..."

He cut in, no small feat when you consider that he was two inches tall with a voice to match, but he had righteousness on his side.

"That was me. I am not a mouse. No ears." He pantomimed ears, waggling his hand at the sides of the top of his head. "No tail." He turned around and shook his rear end at her. "Not a mouse."

She took in this information. He was undoubtedly right. He was not a mouse.

"What... what are you?"

He hadn't considered that. He tried to keep his stern look. His neck was getting sore from craning it so far back.

"A tenant. Just like yourself. A tenant of long-standing."

"Oh," she said. Well that settled that: everything was completely insane. Now that that was clear, she relaxed a bit.

"You said 'first of all'." "Did I?" he said. He hadn't thought this far ahead. He hadn't thought at all. To be honest, it had already been a long day in a long string of long days. Getting called a rat, well, who could have stood for that? "Well! Yes I did!" He desperately tried to keep his composure. He sensed the power shifting and he wanted to be gone before it went all the way.

"I like the way you play piano."

He turned and started walking back towards the front room. He was just riffing at this point. He was just saying anything, trying to wrong-foot her. Well, really more screaming anything. Keep her confused. Could she even hear him? The truth was he did like the way she played piano. Not infrequently, he would climb into the instrument from the back so he could hear the squeak and rasp of the pedals being used, in a cloud of sound, the wires blurring as they were struck. When he did that he could feel the music more than hear it.

He could only do that every so often because he'd be deaf for hours afterwards. Usually he just sat quietly far up in the clock and listened.

"... thanks?"

"Keep it... uh, keep it up," he yelled at the top of his voice. He reached the door from the kitchen to the dining room. She remained in her chair. He turned around. He suddenly remembered something her heard her say to someone who was leaving.

"SMELL YOU LATER."

He had never run so fast as he did then, but he didn't hear her trompy footsteps coming. He made it into the clock.

What did I just do? he thought.

She remained at the table, glanced around, reached across for a half-full bottle of cabernet.

He likes the piano, she thought as she took out the cork, regarded it for a second, threw it over her shoulder and drank straight from the bottle. She looked down at the sheet music on the table. One page. Vexations, by Eric Satie.

She smiled and put down the bottle. This oughta hold him, she thought.

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 19/08/2024

Apotheosis to Heaven

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More)

Ripped by Neofall

Requested by eg_9371! (Request Form)

A big part of why I opened up the Request Form, and why I continue to use it for ideas for the blog, is to give me inspiration in areas of SiIvaGunner to which I'm less well versed. There are some games and some rips by extension where I feel completely unable to write anything of substance, because I just lack the needed context for the rip to hit for me - but other times, the form opens my eyes to rabbitholes which I'm all too happy to delve into, through rips like Plantasia 2, mlp racism anthem (comix zone arrange), guess what​?​?​?​?​?​?​?​? and more. I've learned to trust eg_9371's judgement on quality as a requestee, and many parts of his massive catalogue of contributions have shown me quality in areas I'd never thought to look, through rips like kris gaming and Plasmaseeker. And so, I said, you know what? Let's give his endorsement one more shake, and approach a rip I'd initially looked past as not being for me. With that, I hit play on Apotheosis to Heaven - and was met with one of the biggest surprise hits I'd yet heard in the season.

Journey is a game that hits home for a lot of people, yet it was just outside of my periphery when it originally released back in 2012 - I was an 11-year old without a PS3. But even without attachment to Journey, Apotheosis as an ending theme to the game hits home to a degree I wasn't expecting, a swelling orchestral piece going through feelings of anticipation, sorrow, bittersweetness, acceptance, all throughout the span of a 7-minute long composition. The overall word to describe it, of course, would be grand. Yet much the same can be said, on the complete opposite end method, for the song with which Apotheosis to Heaven is being mashed up with, Ascension to Heaven by independant artist Xi. Like with the aforementioned Plasmaseeker, this is a song I know damn near nothing about, most prominently being featured in various Japanese rhythm games but seemingly also having a presence within the Geometry Dash community. Yet despite holding even less of an emotional connection to me than Journey did, it cannot be denied just how impressive of a piece Ascension to Heaven truly is, pairing a pounding electronic percussion with mellow strings and absolutely off-the-rails piano rolls - what feels like three entirely different forms of music and speed, mesh together for a piece with a sound I can only describe with the imagery of a lone bird flying toward the sun.

Loneliness, bittersweetness, strife, failure, perseverance - the emotions distilled into me through these two tracks are ones that were no doubt eons stronger for someone with attachment to either of the works from beforehand, and most definitely strong within ripper Neofall upon creating Apotheosis to Heaven. These are two songs that are both pulsing with emotion, yet accomplish it through very sonically different methods, one through swelling orchestral resonance, and the other through a pounding piano-driven rhythm. Yet that emotional core remains, and through some miracle and no doubt tons of love for the pieces featured, Neofall found a way to blend the two pieces into one grand feature - leveraging Apotheosis' atmosphere and grandure in order to use it as background scoring to Ascension to Heaven's insane melody. Even with one piece falling to the background and another to the foreground, however, it never feels as if one is overpowering the other - the two leverage one another's strengths seamlessly for a listen that manages to hit harder than just the sum of both's parts.

Without a thorough understanding of music creation or of either track's true sonic makeup, part of me does still feel uneducated, in a sense, to be writing about a rip of this quality in sound and scale - it's a mashup like many others, yes, yet every part of it feels ironed out and sandpapered to sheer seamless perfection between two tracks that would otherwise feel borderline incompatible. Yet...seeing such quality persist within areas of the channel that I remain uneducated on, feels like part of the magic of the SiIvaGunner channel. We are currently on SiIvaGunner's 8th year in the running, with its rippers having grown all the more able to express their passions and interests than ever before - and Season 7 and Season 8 have, in turn, given us some of the most ambitious, personal rips we've yet seen on the channel. Be it Luna, mi Amor, A Balcony atop the Labyrinth of Lights, The Paragoomba and the Wiggler, or so many more, we've had an onslaught of rips still only made by one to three people that feel creatively driven and magical enough to be justifiably mistaken for months-in-the-making passion projects. And even without a direct tie to its source material, Apotheosis to Heaven gives me that very same vibe: Of one ripper seeing what can be done through utilization of two tracks close to their heart, and going absolutely hog-wild in ensuring the execution be up to the standards raised by so many other parts of the SiIvaGunner team.

It is a blessing that we can be eight years into this channel's life, and still have rips of this caliber slip entirely through the cracks as if they're nothing but everyday, average rips. Today, the hearts of the SiIvaGunner team is on full display at just about every day of its operation - and I am eternally grateful that such seemingly niche pursuits like Apotheosis to Heaven remain part of that.