The second musician of the week is.... @TheDukeofJuke! Now, this post won't be nearly as long as the one I did for Cacola, because I don't know TDoJ nearly as well as I know Cacola.
I don't remember how I came across TheDukeofJuke. I think he listened to my music and always provided feedback. His music is primarily upbeat techno, but his style varies, which I find very appealing. Here are a couple of my favorites from him:
(Hey, I said the post would be shorter, didn't I? What are you still doing here? Go fan @TheDukeofJuke already!)
That's right, I'm starting a new thing called "Musician of the Week"! Just trying to give some exposure to the underdogs that have great music, but don't have as many fans as they should! Once I get the hang of this, I might interview the user as well
I've been meaning to do this for a while now. Cacola is one of the first musicians I met here on Newgrounds. He may not have the most astute EQing ability, but he crafts these beautiful melodies that take me on an emotional journey through every song he releases. And one of the most astonishing things about him? He's only 15!
Let's run down the list of what I consider his best pieces...
Hypersaws of Doom 2 was one of the first songs I think I heard from him. I don't remember exactly how we met, but for months I was his only fan. With pieces of solid amateur music gold like this, I was baffled at why he only had one fan.
About a month later, we decided to band together with another fellow amateur musician and form The Techno Trio. We wanted to make an entire album, but so far we've only released two tracks.
This song is a remix by Cacola of my song "Captive in Darkness". He did an excellent job, salvaging my horrible metal song. I still listen to this song all the time. The part at 1:55 never fails to take my breath away. Great job!
This song was my favorite song in the world for such a long time, and I definitely still think it's one of the greatest songs on NG. It's so damn emotional.
Not much to say, just a great song (after the intro, haha).
2015 was a great year for Cacola's music. Maybe even the best year. Only ten submissions, but each and every one of them a masterpiece. Cacola greately improved his mixing. This was also when we released our second The Techno Trio song. Cacola's contribution in this song is definitely my favorite part. The hardstyle basses are to die for.
This song probably has the best drop I've ever heard. Jesus, Cacola. Were you trying to make me ejaculate and have a heart attack at the same time?
While the intro is a bit cringy, you'd be daft to miss listening to this song. It's a journey through and through.
This one nearly made me shit my pants when I first listened to it. The sheer magnitude of the first hit left me in a trance for the rest of the song.
Here's one I helped him with, heh heh. It doesn't sound the best, but the originality alone is 100/10. You HAVE to listen to the part at 2:56. It's nuts.
This one has a low rating, but it's such a good song! Who ever downvoted it should probably get hit by a bus lel. Please upvote this one, he really deserves it.
Oh god, the melody in this song.... ffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFDAHGafsgajklfjaHTAHAFDHAfdasd
His first submission of 2016. Another splendid composition!
I was gonna make a big outro here, but I just spent 40 minutes typing a damned news post, so I'll refrain from it. Make sure to check out @Cacola's music and give him a 5 and a fan! See you all next week!
Since it's a new year, I thought I'd take on a new challenge. I was thinking of doing Fl Studio tutorials for new/amateur composers, but I don't really know where to start. This is where you guys come in. If there's something you'd like to know how to do, or if you'd just like to see me try something, please let me know in the comments! I'll compile your suggestions into a list and get to work!
I don't think I'm ready to give an update yet, so in the meantime, ask me anything! I want to engage more with my fans, because I don't know how many of you are actual fans (as opposed to people who liked one thing I did and just fanned me for the hell of it). I've always dreamed of having a bunch of fans I can hang out with and talk to. I feel like I haven't talked to anyone on this site for a long time, and I want to fix that.
So what's up? Got any questions for me? It can be about anything! And if you just want to chat, that's fine too. I just want to communicate with the good ol' NG community again!
We made it! 200 fans! Shoutout to @jojo22 for being Mr. 200! I had hit 200 fans briefly on the 8th, but someone unfanned be, so I went back to 199. Now I'm at a safe 204, so that's good :D
Nothing new to report. I haven't worked on anything recently. Just trying to get through school. I have something for Madness day, but I don't know if I'll get it done in time.
Hell yeah, 190 fans! Shoutout to @BlackReborn for being Mr. 190. Only 10 more to 200 hundred! Think we can get there in two weeks (when school starts)? That would make my year :)
I've been enjoying my little break, but I need to get back to work. NGADM round 1 results are tomorrow, I believe, so here's a small little breakdown for my other projects in the meantime:
- Dead Defense 2 ("in development", but not really). Release date: 2016
- Madness Day Game (most of the game mechanics are worked out, just need to design levels and menus). Release date: September 2015.
- Puzzle Jumper v4 is CANCELLED
- Alternate Soundtrack for Codename CURE is on the backburner. I only have 2 or 3 more tracks to do.
- Endgame (album) is on hold because I can't get the vocals done (my friend is too busy doing other things still). I believe @RealFaction was interested in doing some vocals, but I think he has college stuff, so I'm not gonna bother him with it for now. Release Date: 2016.
Woo! 180 fans! 20 more and I'll be at 200! Thanks to @cody104 for being my 180th fan!
Not much to report in terms of content. Endgame is on hold because @xWhitexFlamex is too busy being an adult to sing the vocals. I'm still working on my Madness Day submission, as well as Dead Defense 2. I'm procrastinating my NGADM entry, so that'll probably come back and bite me in the ass pretty soon.
Eyyy, 10 fans in a month! Not bad, not bad at all! Thanks to @deathofsun for being my 170th fan! Also, shoutout to @WarriorHEART (fan 169) and @PinkSapphireKissu (fan 168). Thank you all so much for supporting me and my content (I really appreciate it)! Hey, think we can get to 200 fans by September?
I don't have much of an update for you all today. I'm having a really bad procrastination spell, and I've just been watching Gintama for the last few days (I'm already on the 112th episode ><). I have a lot of cool projects lined up (Dead Defense 2, a secret game for Madness Day, etc), but no motivation to get them done. Ah well, I'll just sit here and hope I get a surge of motivation soon.
Also, I managed to salvage the project file for Dead Defense 2. I'll have to find all of the source images before I can make more progress though (idk where I found the tilesets and stuff).
Oh, and my birthday is on the 5th. I'm turning 17 :D
Yay, 150 fans! Thanks to @DokuChamp and @invictus925 for being followers #149 and #150. There's no prize (I'm flat broke), but you have my sincere thanks!
Now for some bad news: My production laptop died, and the hard drive was almost completely corrupted. I managed to salvage some flp files for my songs, but my video game projects are all gone. That means that Puzzle Jumper and Dead Defense are both cancelled, and I'm giving up game development. Whatever.