Fine Tuning – Co-Geeking

Most Famousest of The Hobbit Soundtrack Covers

May 15, 2019April 28, 2019EppuLeave a comment

Recently we rewatched The Hobbit trilogy, which made me—again—root around looking for Dwarf-ish music. This time, though, I went wider and also included cover versions of melodies from all of the six Peter Jackson movie soundtracks.

Taylor Davis is one of the fabulous violinists out there doing YouTube covers. Here is her “Misty Mountains”:

The Hobbit – Misty Mountains (Dwarven Song) Violins Cover – Taylor Davis on YouTube

Nathan Mills aka Beyond the Guitar’s version of “Misty Mountains” by classical guitar is so lovely:

THE HOBBIT: Misty Mountains – Classical Guitar Cover by BeyondTheGuitar on YouTube

Guitar at its best, hands down.

This orchestral cover medley/remix by Parademics has an impressive range of instruments—I think we spotted an electric guitar in the background in the Ring Wraiths melody towards the end:

The Hobbit | Epic Orchestral Cover by Parademics on YouTube

Albert Chang’s arrangement of “Misty Mountains” incorporates 6 violins, 6 cellos, and a cajon, and shows why underappreciating cellos is a bad idea:

The Hobbit – Misty Mountains Orchestral Cover by sleightlymusical on YouTube

So much depth comes from the deeper-voiced string instruments!

Scott Sutherland’s tuba version is really solemn and somber:

Misty Mountains Cold – The Hobbit (Euphonium and Tuba Cover) by Scott Sutherland Music on YouTube

I have an impression that the tuba family is typically considered a bit silly, at least in the mainstream culture, but it shouldn’t.

The following Lord of the Rings medley also has an incredible cello part:

Lord of The Rings – The Hobbit (Piano/Cello Cover) – ThePianoGuys on YouTube

By ThePianoGuys aka Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al van der Beek, with van der Beek’s arrangement.

Jasmine Thompson’s cover of “I See Fire” from The Desolation of Smaug is as good if not better than the original:

“I See Fire” Ed Sheeran The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – cover by Jasmine Thompson on YouTube

Guitar for Thompson’s cover is by Seye Adelekan.

This gender-flipped version of “Into the West” from The Return of the King is awesome:

Into the West (Cover) – Josh Sahunta & Nicholas Yee on YouTube

Josh Sahunta singing and playing the piano, with Nicholas Yee on the cello.

Finally, being a Finn, I would be remiss not to include this instrumental metal version of the Lord of the Rings theme by Doug Anderson:

Lord of the Rings Theme – Epic Metal Rendition by Doug Anderson on YouTube

Do you have a favorite cover from either The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings? Please share!

An occasional feature on music and sound-related notions.

2-Hour Fan-Made Pokémon Musical Online

February 27, 2019April 21, 2019EppuLeave a comment

Any Pokémon fans here? This might be of interest.

In 2016, a group of dedicated fans in Finland created a musical based on Pokémon games, toured the country, and uploaded a two-hour video of the live performance online:

“Valitsen sinut! -musikaali (I Choose You! The Musical) is an entirely fan-made musical based on Pokémon games Red, Blue and Yellow, as well as the first season of the anime. Behind the project there is a volunteer team of 50 people, and the musical toured Finland in 2016, the 20th anniversary of Pokémon.

“We’re not affiliated with Nintendo or Pokémon Company in any way. No one was paid for the project, and our crowdfunding was used fully for creating the musical.”

Valitsen sinut! -musikaali on YouTube

The performance is entirely in Finnish, but English subtitles are available on YouTube.

So far, I haven’t seen more than a few minutes from the beginning. Looks like the performers were really motivated, though, and enjoyed themselves. Really cool. I’ll have to carve time to see the whole. Mahtavaa!

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

Joy to the World (of Warcraft) 14

January 4, 2019April 21, 2019Eppu5 Comments

Alunaria, over at Alunaria’s Avenue, has proposed a holiday challenge: stay away from the griping, grousing, and general grinchiness about World of Warcraft that’s all to easy to find these days and post something positive instead.

My final entry is for the music. Each and every expansion has brought a new twist to the main theme plus a sizeable selection of anthems and tunes for various scenes. Everything is incredibly beautiful, haunting, or exciting; rarely do I disagree with or dislike the game music selections. In fact, I often play WoW music when working or doing house chores. 🙂

The music from vanilla, however, will always have a special place in my heart. I especially love the Nightsong. Here’s an extended version:

Nightsong Extended – HD via shadowsnstuff on YouTube

* * *

As this is my final post for the positivity challenge, here are some concluding thoughts. (Be sure also to read Alunaria’s final experiment post!)

Yay, I made it! 🙂

I don’t think this challenge changed my thoughts of Battle for Azeroth much; since the launch, I’ve had enough other things on my plate to make following negative Nellies impossible. It’s good to know, however, which sites are safe and which I should stay away from.

My playing also hasn’t changed a lot, but a bit. I’m still new enough to the expansion that I have to actually pay attention when I’m questing. I’m starting to remember some of the tricks to particular quests and areas, though, so soon I’ll have to be on my toes to remember to stop and enjoy instead of brainlessly churning through the content.

What has changed for me after compairing the previous epansions to the current iteration is my appreciation of many changes in recent years. I already talked about the Flight Master’s Whistle, the gathering nodes and the landscaping; I also think the world of mass looting and the ease of scrapping. While I’ve never cared for the mission board quests that much, I find the BfA version smoother to operate and slightly more interesting. Most of the armor and weapons in Pandaria and Cataclysm I find too boring to look at, but BfA has a lot to like again. And the quest chaining has also become more interesting along the years, I think. And the cities! I love Suramar from Legion and both Dazar’alor and Boralus in BfA.

As a bonus, here’s my Night Elf druid’s Christmas mog viewable in the Wowhead Dressing Room:

Funnily enough both Erik and I accidentally chose the same staff (here’s Erik’s mog). 🙂

Finally, here are links to my preceding six posts:

Joy to the World (of Warcraft) 3 (Dark Iron Dwarves’ Mole Machine)
Joy to the World (of Warcraft) 5 (Slippery Slopes world quest)
Joy to the World (of Warcraft) 7 (Flight Master’s Whistle)
Joy to the World (of Warcraft) 8 (shared gathering nodes)
Joy to the World (of Warcraft) 10 (terrain design)
Joy to the World (of Warcraft) 13 (Caravan Brutosaurs)

Image: World of Warcraft screencap

Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.

A Couple of My Favorite Sea Shanties

November 26, 2018April 21, 2019ErikLeave a comment

The nautical theme and music of Battle for Azeroth has put me in mind of sea shanties, traditional work songs used on large sailing vessels to coordinate sailors doing big jobs like hauling up the anchor or pumping out the bilge.

Shanties, like other work songs, tend to be rhythmic, repetitive, and easy to sing, which makes them great for singing in the car on long drives or while pottering around doing housework. As the songs of folks who had to live together in cramped quarters for months or years on end, they also often have a sly bit of humor to them to ease the tensions.

Here are a couple of personal favorites:

Roll the Old Chariot Along by The Fool via Jiří Šantora

Skipper Jan Rebeck by John Schomburg Shanty Man via John Locke

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A Round of Dwarf-ish Music

October 3, 2018April 21, 2019Eppu3 Comments

We haven’t talked about music lately. Time to fix it!

One of the new allied races in Battle for Azeroth, the latest World of Warcraft expansion, is Dark Iron Dwarves. (Note: I don’t think there’s much actual info as of yet, but people have been gathering mentions at a Wowhead thread.)

As I’ve mentioned before, female Dwarves are my absolute favorite race / gender combo to play in WoW, so I’m going to want at least one. 🙂 Consequently, my WoW thoughts have revolved heavily enough around Dwarves to push into the real life in the form of music befitting these mountain-dwellers.

Below are some of my current most favorite Dwarf-ish pieces, whether originally something quite different or composed specifically with Dwarves in mind.

An instrumental Nordic folk-based melody:

Dufwa via Hedningarna – Topic on YouTube

A Dwarven melody from a computer game I know nothing about:

The Dwarven Nobles – Dragon Age: Origins Soundtrack via allaboutVGmusic on YouTube

An Icelandic folk song with something to do with a (or more than one?) bigger bird (maybe crows, jackdaws, ravens, rooks, or the like):

Krummavísur – Voces Thules via hahaigotanidea on YouTube

Performed by the group Voces Thules. Wow! Also this next song is by the same group:

Voces Thules – Varizk ér Ok Varizk ér via Vikingskog on YouTube

Commenter EkErilaz added the Icelandic lyrics and an English translation:

“Beware! Beware! For the wind blows high. Blood will rain down on men’s bared bodies. Point and edge will share all men’s inheritance, now that the sword-age cuts sharply upon us.”

To my mind, the lyrics are very reminiscent of Vikings or Anglo-Saxons, but I could also see them applying to a fantasy race in WoW. (After all, the game is called World of Warcraft.)

Another, a very different type of instrumental:

Dwarf Mining Music – Dwarf Mining Town by Brandon Fiechter on YouTube

You can definitely get the mining vibe!

This version of the old Christmas carol “Masters in This Hall” from the album A Feast of Songs by Barry and Beth Hall also reminds me of Dwarves because of the steady rhythm and low key.

A Feast of Songs – Masters in This Hall via supermusic141 on YouTube

The next is a bit special. A music-heavy version of The Lord of the Rings was produced by the Finnish theater company Ryhmäteatteri in 1988 and 1989. Bilbo’s song “I Sit Beside the Fire and Think” from The Fellowship of the Ring, book 2, chapter III (“The Ring Goes South”) was turned into a song for the play, and it’s wonderfully meditative and solemn.

Tulen ääressä istun via Crypticevangelist on YouTube

The lyrics were originally translated into the Finnish version (Taru sormusten herrasta) by Panu Pekkanen; for the play they were slightly modified. The melody was composed by Toni Edelmann and sung by Timo Torikka.

This next piece was made by Simon Swerwer for the 2012 computer game Dwarf Fortress:

Simon Swerwer – The Tankard Basher by Simon Swerwer on YouTube

Awesome!

Lastly, Neil Finn’s “Song of the Lonely Mountain” (the end credits song for Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) because of the bittersweetness, melancholy, and—just perhaps—glimmer of hope that comes through.

Song of the Lonely Mountain by Neil Finn on YouTube

Anything you’d like to add? Please do!

This post has been edited to correct a typo.

Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.

Finnish Folk Hop Ensemble Tuuletar Lends Wings to Game of Thrones Ad

February 2, 2018April 21, 2019EppuLeave a comment

Alku (‘Beginning’), a piece by the Finnish vocal folk hop ensemble Tuuletar, appears in a Game of Thrones commercial. The band’s website says,

“’Alku’, the opening track from Tuuletar’s debut album “tules maas vedes taivaal” has been sold for the use of one of the most popular tv-series in the whole world, HBO’s Game of Thrones. The song will be heard in the season 7 DVD and Blue-Ray [sic] commercial, which will be broadcasted worldwide. The deal was made together with Finnish record label Bafe’s Factory and ThinkSync Music from London.”

The ThinkSync news page on the sale links to a German-language DVD / Blu-Ray trailer for GoT season 7 on YouTube with Alku in the background:

GAME OF THRONES Staffel 7 – Trailer #2 Deutsch HD German (2017) by Warner Bros. DE

Tuuletar mashes up a cappella, beatboxing and Finnish folk music and poetry into a unique combination. Their debut album, Tules maas vedes taivaal (‘On Fire and Earth, in Water and Sky‘), won the prestigious Emma Award (the Finnish version of a Grammy) for the best ethno album of the year in 2016.

Vocalists Venla Ilona Blom, Sini Koskelainen, Johanna Kyykoski and Piia Säilynoja make up Tuuletar. More videos at YouTube or Tuuletar website.

Congrats, Tuuletar! I first blogged about the band two years ago just before they released their debut record, and am absolutely delighted to see them doing so well. And Alku is so amazing it gives me chills—always a sign of greatness!

Crossposted from the Playfully Grownup Home blog.

Image via Tuuletar

This post has been edited for style.

Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.

Musical Christmas Wishes by Chewbacca & Deep Space Nine

December 22, 2017April 21, 2019Eppu2 Comments

Although the Star Wars and Star Trek fandoms have not always gotten along entirely peacefully, I hope that the two fan videos below show that singing is a pasttime shared across the divide.

Take it away, Chewbacca and the crew of Deep Space Nine.

Silent Night by Chewbacca via How It Should Have Ended

“Merry Wookie Christmas from HISHE and James Covenant! (http://tinyurl.com/jkc9f7l)

The brilliant idea for “Chewbacca Sings Silent Night” was actually created in 1999 by Scott Andersen (story here: http://room34.com/chewbacca/) and since then his audio has been shared many times, often without crediting him. You can download the original at the link above, or better yet support his genius by hiring him for web design at http://room34.com

“With Scott’s “blessing” and in honor of Christmas and Star Wars season, James Covenant (creator of the awesome Star Trek “Make It So” video: https://youtu.be/oiSn2JuDQSc) was inspired to create this new video for our channel to wish you all a very Star Wars Christmas!”

Captain Sisko & the DS9 Ensemble sing “Wonderful Deep Space Nine” by John C. Worsley

“In the grand tradition of Star Trek captains singing holiday standards, for your consideration: ‘Wonderful Deep Space Nine’ sung by Captain Sisko, Major Kira, Constable Odo, Lieutenant Commander Worf, Chief O’Brien, Congenial Barkeep Quark, Plain Simple Garak, and the rest of the Star Trek: DS9 ensemble. Special appearances by Morn, Martok, Moogie, and Vorta Iggy Pop.

Apologies to Berman, Piller, Brooks, Visitor, Farrell, Auberjonois, Siddig, Shimerman, Meaney, Dorn, Robinson, Eisenberg, Lofton, Grodenchik, Alaimo, Biggs, Marshall, Jens, de Boer, Barrett, Sadler, and Combs.”

We’re vacationing for the rest of the year. Until 2018, Happy Merry!

This post has been edited to correct language.

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Star Wars Cantina Music for Piano Four Hands

December 7, 2017April 21, 2019Erik2 Comments

When you’ve been looking forward to something for a long time, the closer it gets, the harder it is to wait. So, to keep you entertained in this last week before The Last Jedi comes out, here’s a father-son duo playing the classic Mos Eisley cantina music on the piano. Enjoy!

Star Wars Cantina Band by Brian Lockard

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.

Folk-ish Steampunk Music: Abney Park

December 7, 2016April 21, 2019Eppu2 Comments

Steampunk is something I only dabble with from time to time, not a steady favorite. That’s why I wasn’t expecting much when I saw someone recommend a steampunk band called Abney Park, but I nevertheless checked out the video the person linked to. Then I listened to another song. And another. Then life intervened. A couple of days later I noticed myself humming something I didn’t immediately recognize. Eventually I figured out it was “Tribal Nomad,” one of the Abney Park videos I’d seen:

Tribal Nomad | Official Video | Abney Park | Steampunk Post-Apocalyptic Music by abneypark

If it sticks so efficiently, I figured there has to be something to it and poked around more. I don’t think I’ll ever be a fan of their visuals, but the combination of folk plus industrial instruments has really grown on me. Also, Abney Park isn’t stuck with one style but has great variety. For example, “The Clone Factories” has more techno / trance overtones:

The Clone Factories | Abney Park | Wasteland by abneypark

They also have a version of a popular Russian folk song “Katyusha”:

Katyusha – Song from Abney Park’s new album, The Circus At The End Of The World by abneypark

No wonder it seems like Abney Park’s got it down: they’ve been around since 1997 and have almost two dozen albums under their belt. Nice going.

I will definitely adding Abney Park to my playlists!

Found via Nörttitytöt. Thanks for the rec, Mikko!

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.