Why I love Balrog's Theme (Cave Story)

I was thinking about this sometime after I woke up this morning. Balrog's Theme is honestly a great example of representing a character through music. Let me explain why.

First thing's first: Who is Balrog?

This is Balrog. He is an antagonist character from the classic indie game Cave Story.

Most people think he's a toaster, but apparently he's actually a bar of soap.

Now, let's get down his personality. He's described as "Misery's punching bag" and portrayed as "an all-around fun loving dude with a generally pleasant and lax attitude, who takes to his every action with a lot of enthusiasm." (as pasted from TV Tropes xD) He's usually used for comic relief in the game, too, but that doesn't mean he isn't a dangerous enemy.

Now, I believe his theme song reflects that perfectly. And I'm not kidding. Here it is:

Here's how it starts off:

• Kinda clumsy, gives off a sense of stupidity
• Like someone's really TRYING their best to be threatening but it's not exactly working
• You can't take this threat seriously

AND THEN Part two:

• BOOM
• This character means business
• You're in real trouble, now!

And then it loops! That's literally the best way I can describe it xD And that's all I really got left to say.

I think I *really* like double harmonic major now

I think double harmonic major is next to dorian in my list of favourite scales! I've already described it in an earlier post, but if I've got to sum it up in one word somehow, from my perspective, it sounds really "sour". And I love it.

I think it really hit the spot when I was listening to this hard rock & heavy metal radio station and a song that played this one riff (am I using the term correctly? xD) gave off this double harmonic major sort of feel. (I didn't check to see if it actually was in that scale, but it still got me to really notice its greatness, nonetheless) Plus, the song really reminds me of this one character I'm writing (Eyn), so that's a bonus, too!

Here's the song: Ruthless - Nonpoint

I discovered a genre: Cybergrind

It's an interesting genre of music! I would've definitely listened to this a lot in year 12. Also, I'm doing some homework right now and I find that it's something I can use to help me focus when I'm doing my readings. I also find it to be quite cathartic!

Here's where I found out about it. Warning: It's very LOUD

UPDATE: This is now also added onto my list of music genres to help me stay awake while I work. I'm so flippin' tired right now and this helps my mind stay awake xD

Re-learning an old piano piece

I've wanted to get back to playing pieces again, but the damper pedal of my upright piano's broken at the moment. So, I guess that means the best approach to this situation is to learn some pieces that don't require the pedal, and lots of classical, baroque or basically harpsichord-era (or whatever) music doesn't need the pedal. Right now I'm re-learning Sonata K 545/Andante by Mozart. It's a comfortable enough piece to get back into.

A breakcore mix I listened to

It's not for everyone, but getting back into breakcore helped me get through 3 readings! Here's one of the mixes I listened to:

My hands will be forever small

I flip the birdie at my piano at 4 AM

I've got a piano log notebook!