Week's End Discussion #6 - Let me tell you... about Homestuck.

Discussion

Hello again, welcome to another Week's End Music Discussion! In case you're just joining us and aren't aware, a Week's End Music Discussion typcially entails one talking anything at all about music that they want to share with others, including genres, bands, styles, instruments, you name it. If you have one in mind and would like to take the chance to do one yourself, don't hesitate to message the mods with your idea!

So, today I'm here to answer a question that I'm sure a lot of you would love to know the answer to: "What is Homestuck? Why do I see it everywhere?" or "Why do you people constantly spam this sub with your Homestuck music!? What even is Homestuck music?" and maybe you think "You know what, I don't even care." But hold on just a second, hear me out. Before we can dive into the music aspect, let's take a step back for a moment and, well, look at it as a whole.

THE STORY

Homestuck is a webcomic series... well, technically, anyway, but there's enough elements to it such as it's constant slew of flash cartoon animations, it's meta-comic Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, and a whole lot more, that I'd say it's something completely different, but I'm not exactly sure what you'd categorize it as. Usually when someone asks me about Homestuck, I sum it up as "4 kids work together to stop the apocalypse of the universe," which I guess is fairly straightforward and not very spoilery. So this kid named John gets invited to play the Beta for a PC game called "Sburb". Sburb starts out in a style very similar to The Sims, but takes a twisted turn when John and his friends Rose, Dave, and Jade, who also have been invited to play the Beta, are transported into another plane in which the game takes a radical turn. I would love to discuss more, but beyond that point, really, anything would be a spoiler. Homestuck has 7 Acts and several 'intermissions'. As of right now, the story is still going strong and is about to enter Act 6 Intermission 3. I'm sure this is already getting confusing for you, so I'll make this as quick and painless as I can; In order, Homestuck goes Act I, Act II, Act III, Intermission, Act IV, Act V (divided into two halves; this is thus far the longest Act in all of Homestuck), Act VI (with at least 6 smaller acts and intermissions making it up), and Act VII, which is to be the epilogue of the series.

"I tried reading Act I and I just couldn't get into it. It was boring/filled with poor humor." This is one of the most common things I hear in regards to Homestuck. While I can appreciate Act I for what it is now, it was a struggle to make it through when I first started due to what I considered "meh" humor and a whole lot of nonsense. Once I made it to the end of Act II, I decided there was no point in stopping. And I'm glad I didn't; The story gets pretty damn deep, dark, and all around suspenseful. The Homestuck I was at by the time I caught up was a completely different story than it was when I first started reading it, more of an "epic sci-fi adventure" than anything. "What are those troll things or whatever they're called I see all over the place?" Well, uh, they're the trolls. Their role in the story would be a pretty big spoiler, so I can't really get into it. "Alright, whatever. I'm still not going to read it." That's fine, it's definitely not for everyone, especially at it's current length. The series is over 7,000 pages long. It took me three weeks to catch up to where it currently was, and over a thousand more pages have been added since. Now some pages are just pictures, minigames, or animated shorts with no text at all. Then some pages are just filled to the brim with text... and I have to make a point here to say DO NOT SKIP THESE! They are almost always important, even if it's not immediately evident.

THE MUSIC

There are currently 24 albums, and that doesn't even begin to include the fanmade, most of which are just as good quality wise. "Why does Homestuck even have music?" Well, there are a few reasons. A good number of the tracks actually set the mood for what you're reading, if you were to listen while doing so. And, There are a lot of flash animations. To those of you who care not for spoilers, I'll link a few animations below to show as an example.

"24 albums? There's no way all of that music is used." Definitely not. A lot of it will never leave the albums or see light of day in the story, but a good portion of it is thematic, or are remixes, or both. The other thing about Homestuck music is... well, due to it's quantity, there is just so many types. There are tons of genres. Rock, metal, electronic, chiptune, acoustic, piano, symphonic, orchestrated, opera, oriental, jazz, I could go on. Here are some examples.

Phantasmic Youngsters - an upbeat acoustic piece
I - Overture - A new piece, actually. An orchestrated medley of several famous Homestuck songs, of which I'll share below in a seperate part.
Song of Skaia - A beautiful Latin choral piece, accompanied by a symphony.
Atomic Bonsai - Oriental rock.
Black Rose, Green Sun - A sad music box opens into a violin set with a choral backdrop, completely appropriate for a dire situtation.
At the Price of Oblivion - A good rock piece.

THE POPULAR SONGS

And of course you have the ones fans like the most or the ones that get remixed the most.

Doctor, a mellow 16-bit sounding piece that has been done dozens of times over. A few of it's popular remixes are Savior of the Dreaming Dead and Savior of the Waking Worldto name a very few.
Upward Movement (Dave Owns) - an orchestra accompanied by a glitched, loud drum beat, this song is one of the most recognizable and has been remixed into Terezi Owns and even the Sitar-heavy Even in Death.
Sburban Jungle - This is actually my ringtone. I love this song. It's got the electronic beats, a piano, a mellow electric guitar, and a very prominent Marimba.The song has even been performed by high school and college ensembles..
English - While not having really been remixed much yet (Aside from the brilliant orchestral piece 'Eternity's Shylock'), this piece is important and stands out to many with it's piano and eerie reversed music.
Showtime, one of the most popular melodies you will hear throughout Homestuck, undoubtedly. My favorite version of it is actually it's original mix, which sounds like a classic RPG battle song from the 16-bit days.

AND SO MUCH MORE... like Derse Dreamers, who could forget that classic strings piece?

THE VIDEOS

Now you can see for yourself just how the music interacts with the animations, and how they sync up. ALL OF THE FOLLOWING CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Descend - The video that ushered in the end of Act IV, and was conisdered a turning point for many in the series. The song played is also called 'Descend'. Before I started reading it, this was the video that piqued my curiosity enough that I wanted to read it. I barely remembered any of it, so it wasn't spoilery to me.
Jack: Ascend - Also a turning point for the series and a favorite to many. The song is an synth andd piano piece called 'Black'.
Prince of Heart: Rise Up, a favorite of mine, which uses 'Time on My Side'.
Cascade - MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS ONE - Considered by almost all to be the pinnacle of Homestuck animation, and the music for some, due to the fact that it is the longest animation in the series, clocking in at 13 minutes long with several tracks mashed together to make a new one, Cascade.
Make Her Pay - My last example for animations, Make Her Pay focuses around the Trolls, so like the last one, there are some BIG spoilers in here. The song used here is called Crystalmanthequins.

I could really keep going, and I'm sure I'll have enough comments to do that for me. I hope this sufficiently explained to you what exactly Homestuck is. So why not jump in and start reading it now?

Oh, and... have one more song. Or another... the Nic Cage song.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me know as that wraps up this edition of Week's End Discussion!

Posted Aug 11, 2012, 6:58 AM UTC · edited

2013