Digging back quite a ways, Steel Chords brings back this beautiful homage to the tireless efforts of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their quest for cutie marks. Never Give Up is upbeat, cheery, and easy to move along to, giving off the vibe of early punk classics – much like the young CMC! Steel re-released the track to coincide with his concert appearance at this year’s St. Louis Crystal Fair where the song first premiered. In many ways this was a perfect way to reintroduce the track as the song itself has a very nostalgic feel knowing what we know now compared to when it was first written.
Original
Jyc Row – Title Screen (Friendship is Epic) | Orchestral
Last year, Jyc released some music that he’d composed for the (possibly now defunct) MLP-themed game Friendship is Epic. This is part of the soundtrack, a simple and slightly more minimal piece fit for the title screen of the game.
BroniKoni – Empty | Rock Ballad
BroniKoni is always exceptional with their work and this deeply emotional track is further proof! Empty is the inner thoughts of a lonely pony who doesn’t know if everything he sees is even real or if everything is a distorted fantasy of his own twisted mind. The track is largely driven by the piano accompaniment with the vocals which set a big stage through the use of only two instruments. The inner torment is further expressed with a guitar solo of pure languish. It’s difficult to emphasize how well written and produced this track is, and really needs to be experienced so go check it out!!!
Vylet Pony – A Dime a Dozen | Jazz
So Vylet does jazz now. To be honest, that shouldn’t be too surprising. Not only is he a man of many talents, but this song seems to have a similar mood and timbre to his chillout indie pop stuff, but just on a different set of instruments.
Silva Hound – Glimmer Time | Future House
NB: This was originally posted on Equestria Daily on 27 May 2018.
I’m always keen to see more of the modern house styles from the fandom, and Silva Hound has obliged here with a sleek Starlight Glimmer-focused future house tune. The break in the middle has some pretty neat vocal stuff going on, with banging drops either side.
Frozen Night – Tears of The Evernight | Orchestral Metal
NB: This was originally posted on Equestria Daily on 30 May 2018.
Frozen Night’s works are always lovely to listen to and this beautiful piece is no different. The instrumentation throughout the track evolves in an especially gratifying way and there’s some pretty epic progressions as well. As is often the case with Frozen’s works, there’s a nice touch of metal guitar meshed together with the powerful strings and percussion.
Lunar Drift – The Illusion of Reality | Piano
Solo piano pieces are always interesting, and they come in so many different styles too! This one from Lunar Drift has some really interesting chords; the sustained notes lingering between changes create some wonderful dissonance and the key seems to be constantly shifting, an ever-changing illusion, if you will…
New Reverian – “Civilizations” | Orchestral / Electronic
Here we have an uplifting song by New Reverian, paying tribute to “Anthropology”; a fanfic by JasonTheHuman this one is about the crossover of the pony and human civilizations and has that “awaiting discovery” feel to it. It’s hard to put into words when describing the atmosphere in this track. The orchestral arrangements are answered by a euphoric assortment of synths and help to paint this picture and I just love how they all come together.
[P@D] Seventh Element – Tetrahedral Memoir | Orchestral / Breakbeat
NB: This was originally posted on Equestria Daily on 14 May 2018.
Seventh Element’s music can get exceptionally deep at times, especially when he forays into combinations of orchestral elements with breakbeat percussion and electronic synths. The result here is a gorgeous meld that tells a story of Twilight’s journey into her own mind to face some inner demons.
Sights Unseen – Ardent Light | Synth Rock
As a long-time fan of Sights Unseen, I just want to say how happy I am to see that not only is he producing brony music again, but also that there are plans for much more to come! Bringing his unique blend of synths and rock music, Sights gives us this brilliant, powerful song about the Princess of Friendship and her struggles in learning how to lead after being thrust into such an important role. The synths in this track are used to great effect as leading riffs as well as background chords that add a level of epicness to each other instrument playing at the time. Sights does an amazing job in keeping the theme of adversity front and center while bringing in “heavenly” musical elements to make the struggle beautiful. If you are unfamiliar with this artist, then make sure to check out this track (and if you are familiar, then you know I don’t have to tell you to)!
Horse Music Herald 