Meant to sound like the music from, well... the final level of a game. Fighting difficult enemies, performing challenging platforming, and defeating the boss. That's what this song is all about. Somehow the longest song on the album even though I did nothing different intentionally. I guess that just shows that a song is really just complete when you're finished expressing the idea you have in your head.

The Final Level

This Demo is from an earlier version before I learned how to use the FM synthesizer on beepbox. I like this version, but the synths are much more expressive than the chips on this track and I think it needed that bump.

Death of the Hero (Demo)

My best 2020 song, love the way this sounds. Again not the most complete song, but it takes you on a journey, just like "Death of the Hero". The fact that I made this back then gave me the confidence I'd be able to make even better songs when I started back up this year.

Leaving the Dungeon

This is the song that got me to keep making music. The lead is actually a key-changed/tweaked version of the bassline from Fred Falke's "808PM At the Beach", and when I changed the key I realized it also matches a section of the bridge from the song "Kitchen Sink" by twenty one pilots, which was neat. I was listening to that song and thought, "I really want to make something that sounds like this" and that gave me enough inspiration to get started and ultimately reminded me of the joy I felt making songs which was truly missing from my life. Maybe a little *too* derivative, but I think I put enough of my own twist on the song to warrant it's placement on the album.

Dance Party

I'm incredibly proud of this song. I did exactly what I set out to do when making it. The goal was to create a reflective victory anthem, which extends beyond the album's narrative and signifies me planting a flag at the top of the mountain. I did it. I made an entire album. This is the last song I made and it took so much work to make it sound as good as it does now. I spent so much time on the details in this track to get it right as a fitting send off to the album as well as a send off to myself for the beepbox era of my music.

At What Cost?

This song to me evokes the feeling of marching into battle. Thematically one of the better songs on the album, but honestly don't have a ton to say about it, just a solid track. With a great theme. Definitely has been one of my favorites to listen to, which is why I released it as a single basically as soon as it was done.

Unified Front

For this track I really wanted crunchy layered leads and a catchy "chorus". Massive fan of the arping sections and the momentum this carries throughout. I actually recycled the chorus line from one of my older songs that didn't make the cut from when I was first learning to build songs around chord progressions vs. the modal work I started off doing such as the previous track.

Exploding With Tranquility

I really wanted to keep this track simple because for the previous couple that I've made I was focused on adding techniques and getting better. I challenged myself to just make something pretty and minimalistic. I think I accomplished that goal, this is probably my 3rd favorite. For most of the songs I used modified versions of beepbox that add features, instruments, mods, better volume control, and panning. For this song I went back to the original version I started on really honed in on what's important, that it sounds good.

Solitude

Music Man (Demo - Bonus Track)

One of my favorite video game songs of all time. I absolutely loved the way the cover turned out as well. 

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Other tracks from cugini