Hi, I'm Rabid Squirrel and welcome to the top 10 Line Rider tracks of 2018, our third
annual installment of this series.
This year, we had a panel of 9 judges and 5 reviewers, all of whom are artists or critics
of some variety.
As always, if you just want to watch the tracks and don't want to listen to us talk over
them, click on the link to the playlist of tracks without commentary up above or down
below.
Alright, let's go!
10. Falling to the Beat by iPi
Falling to the Beat is a technical track featuring
incredibly impressive animation and movement-based musical expression.
This track is notable for the novel and effective usage of isolated frame animation, where the
rider moves so fast that each frame is completely separated from the previous frame, which enables
the track maker to draw in lines that appear to be animated.
This track accomplishes the incredible feat of having the animation actually interacting
with the rider.
This animation has a well-paced introduction, steadily increasing the amount of interaction
until we have the animation appearing to draw track lines.
The animation is focused, restrained, deliberate, and generally in good taste, though the perfect
execution might make it look like post-production, which highlights the limitation of this technique.
Besides the animation, the fluid, expressive, and highly controlled musically synchronized
motion is very satisfying to watch.
More development of this kind of motion with tighter sync would make for a great track
on its own.
The weakness of this track is the middle section, which is intended to demonstrate more techniques,
but ends up breaking the flow and the synchronization to the music.
Overall, while this track has satisfying movement and a great tech demo of animation, it ultimately
lacks cohesion or greater development.
Despite this, I still recommend watching for the sake of marveling at the impressive and
clever animation.
9. Kitchen Sink by gavinroo538
Gavinroo538 matches 21 Pilots' "Kitchen Sink"
on many levels of phrasing and arrangement.
In the beginning, each beat of the clinking percussion is matched with a collision.
Later, every note of the falsetto vocals is seen in Bosh pivoting around the line.
There's a satisfying bounce with each drum hit of the last buildup.
At the same time as these beat-level matches, Bosh is often also in sync with the higher-level
phrase those beats are a part of.
The lines Bosh pivots around during the falsetto are changing under him after each 'go away'.
One level higher, as 21 Pilots mark each section by changes in instrumentation, Gavinroo538
changes the scenery and the character of the ridden lines.
Sustained vocals are seen in long, sweeping line arcs.
A fast rap over sparse instrumentation is Bosh hurling from syllable to syllable in
empty space.
When sections are merged, like the one that puts the falsetto vocals over the drums from
the beginning, Bosh's long, sweeping lines are interspersed with quick drum hits.
At the highest level of arrangement, as sections are revisited in the song with growing intensity,
Gavinroo538 similarly heightens concepts introduced before.
Lyrics are added.
Multiple background lines sweep with Bosh.
A yell joins in.
Clever transitions join the sections, like an intense zoom and a trick fall.
Each choice sounds simple when laid out, but each is a risk, and there are some misses,
too.
The switch from highlighting clinking percussion to drums is confusing, the ending beat-level
line changes convey more energy than the backing track, and why not make Bosh's rotation in
the intro match the pitch slide of the clinking percussion?
But the innumerable hits show Gavinroo538's great artistic instincts and earn his track
"Kitchen Sink" #9 on this list.
8. Shortcuts by OTDE
Shortcuts is a track where the rider travels
through a forest, a shortcut through a cave, and rolling hills to return to a familiar
place.
This track effectively blends together the traditional approach of scenery as landscape
with the modern approach of music sync and choreographed movement.
This track is notable for exploring several ideas with scenery while being grounded in
scenery as landscape.
Throughout the track, the scenery serves as a frame of reference to movement, enhancing
the feeling of motion such that we get a visceral sense of velocity and freefall.
This is especially prominent in the cave section.
In the forest section, the track lines are deliberately drawn to be incorporated into
the landscape.
This makes the rider appear to be guided by free will rather than following an obvious
prescribed path ubiquitous in scenery tracks.
This effect is also used at the end of the track in the hills section.
The slow speed of the forest section enables greater appreciation of the details of the
trees and grass.
The cave section features tight music sync with movement and visuals.
Visuals for music sync are typically abstract, but this track uses natural cave scenery instead.
And, of course, the visual effect of the undulating hills is a real crowd pleaser.
Overall, this is a cohesive, well executed, and beautiful track that demonstrates how
much you can accomplish with sparse scenery and makes the most out of the medium of Line
Rider.
I definitely recommend watching it.
7. Release Me by Andrew Hess
I'm gonna level with you; I love this track
to death because I am an absolute sucker for something called slow burn.
Release Me is a beautifully understated minimalist work that isn't afraid to present a simple,
elegant idea and let you sit with it and really absorb it before moving on.
Rather than building to any kind of dramatic climax, this work lulls you into a trance
and washes over you.
Release Me is full of visual ideas so simple and striking I can't believe they're original,
such as a horizontal line appearing below Bosh on a kick drum and then Bosh dropping
onto it on the snare, or restrained zig zags buzzing past Bosh to represent a guitar texture
in the background, or curves drifting in and out of frame as Bosh manuals to a meditative
guitar solo, or cymbal crashes being visualized by shrinking zig zags, or flickering manuals
visualizing a more intense guitar timbre while still keeping Bosh's speed relatively low
and the movement simple, a consistent theme throughout the work.
There's no sudden or sharp movements in Release Me, or any major changes in speed,
and this consistency of movement is what holds all the different sections of the track together.
Release me is an elegant, hypnotic work from one of the newest and most promising Line
Rider artists, and I highly recommend checking it out.
6. The Wonder of You by Josh Hudson
In an extreme departure from much of his previous
work of intense hyper-technical virtuosic quirk, Josh Hudson, AKA Sheldon, has returned
from a long break with what may be the most emotionally heartwarming Line Rider track
of the year.
It is also the first track I am aware of to be created specifically for a marriage proposal,
and it is beautifully done.
The main feature of the work is the illustrated moments from Olivia and Josh's relationship,
which are consistently drawn in a tasteful, minimalist style reminiscent of Commandercoke's
Happily Ever After.
These illustrations never lack clarity but never get chaotic or cluttered, and the result
is stunning.
The track is similarly minimalist and tasteful, utilizing the aesthetic of a single long,
wavy line to hide track lines that manipulate Bosh to dance to the music.
This technique becomes perhaps slightly overused towards the end when Bosh's movement becomes
a bit jarring, but for most of the track it is elegant and effective.
In the uploaded video, Olivia can be seen watching the track on camera and swelling
with emotion as she recognizes various moments of their relationship in the track's illustrations,
and it's incredibly touching.
We can watch The Wonder of You ourselves and appreciate the craft and artistry, but we
are always reminded that this track was created to express one person's love for another,
and that's something truly beautiful.
5. OKAY by Conundrumer
The 10-point cannon is an advanced Line Rider
technique that allows the user to propel Bosh at any speed, in any direction, with any amount
of rotation, at any time.
Like a supercomputer being used to calculate single-digit arithmetic over and over again,
this virtually limitless trick has mostly been used to make Bosh go very fast suddenly.
However, Conundrumer's latest, in OKAY, utilizes 10-point cannons in a way that both
rebukes the speed-centric zeitgeist of the Line Rider community writ large and carves
out a new creative space of its own, offering an alternative to sudden, sharp, unorganized
movement instead of merely critiquing it.
The bouncy, repetitive structure of the track nevertheless manages to hold my attention
because it can effectively play with its own rules.
Like many of Conundrumer's tracks, this one also breaks a lot of long-held assumptions
about how Bosh interacts with the world you've created for them.
Maybe it's just from years of making Line Rider tracks in the same way, but when Bosh
dismounts from the sled around the halfway point, I was shocked.
Outside of a couple noteworthy tracks, like Cruise Control and Beethoven's 5th, it's
really rare to see a creator regard Bosh and their sled as separate elements.
OKAY is funny, carefree, and manages to put an esoteric technique to use in an accessible,
interesting little gem of a track.
4. Beethoven's 5th by DoodleChaos
After his wildly popular 2017 release Mountain King,
DoodleChaos has continued making music-synced tracks in similar simplistic styles.
By far the most innovative and entertaining of these is his most recent Line Rider release,
set to an abridged version of the first movement of Beethoven's 5th symphony.
The second track to feature three distinct riders instead of the standard single rider,
made possible by a closed-beta build developed by David Lu, Beethoven's 5th is packed full
of exciting and creative moments that retain many of the same elements of Mountain King,
such as the musical notation scenery, the focus on simplicity and accessibility, and
the build to a dramatic and hilarious climax, but the addition of two more riders is utilized
in new and innovative ways.
From the simple touch of adding a heart to a romantic motif, to the shock of seeing one
of the riders suddenly crash and fly off into an abyss, to the hilarity of seeing the body
and sled return to fly across the screen at a dramatic moment, to the thrill of seeing
one of the riders jumping over the crashed sleds of their fallen comrades like an obstacle
course, this track is constantly finding new ways to entertain the viewer.
It may not differ much from Mountain King stylistically, but with Beethoven's 5th
DoodleChaos has perfected his characteristic blend of accessible entertainment, drama,
and comedy, and this earns Beethoven's 5th the number 4 spot on this list.
3. Ruby Falls by Rabid Squirrel, OTDE, Opal, and Helios
The first major release from Rabid Squirrel after the monumental "This Will Destroy
You," "Ruby Falls" surpasses the expectations set by its predecessor.
With contributions from Opal, OTDE, and Helios, Rabid Squirrel expertly conveys the variety
of moods explored by the titular Guster song with a nuance and attention to detail second
to none.
The track begins with a laidback section that uses manuals and limited quirk to evoke a
sense of playfulness before moving into the guitar solo, with which Rabid popularized
the dashed lines technique.
In this section, line segments appear to grow, shrink, sway, and rotate to match the intensity
of the electric guitar.
After a dramatic section, visualized with high-speed movement and huge, sweeping curves,
there is an abrupt transition into a dramatically different second half of the track.
During this calm, even ethereal second half, the viewer is lulled into a trance by the
rider's effortless movement over smooth, undulating curves.
The song continues with a muted trumpet solo, during which the rider moves with a playfulness
and freedom that gives the impression that the lines themselves are improvising along
with the music, before concluding with an unexpectedly intense ending that'll have
the viewer on the edge of their seat.
Throughout the track, Rabid Squirrel uses technically proficient manuals but always
prioritizes capturing the mood and emotions of the music over showing off tricks and technique.
Though the track reflects a variety of tonal shifts, none of these transitions feel jarring
or out of place.
With its technical proficiency, impeccable syncing, and its ability to evoke the wide
variety of moods presented by the music, "Ruby Falls" has something for everyone to enjoy.
2. Bug Thief by Andrew Hess
A cursory once-over of IGLOOGHOST's discography
will present you with a sonic landscape that is overwhelming, glittery, relentless, and
constantly shifting.
Bug Thief, a mid-year creation from a rising powerhouse of a trackmaker, manages to tastefully
process and pare down hundreds of competing auditory voices into a surprisingly minimal
but effective piece.
Hess finds multiple ways to represent space in Bug Thief, and then somehow bends or contorts
each of them, building on each with neatly executed twists.
Great care is taken to ensure that each visual event in the track matches the texture of
the sounds in the music.
Clicking, low, staccato bass synths make the entire background warp in a stutter-step cadence.
I really appreciate the difference in how Hess visualizes two different kinds of note
sequences.
For the squealing synths, there's this dashed line that rolls smoothly across the camera,
while the lines used to represent guitar licks are jangly, warbled, and move far more uncertainly.
For me, this captures really effectively the difference in human involvement when playing
those melodies, drawing a sharp contrast between programmed note sequences and those played
by hand.
This attention to detail is pervasive throughout the track, and as we watch every moment, Hess
chooses some detail from the song to represent, and represents it cleanly, without extraneous
noise.
It's like I'm watching the most noteworthy moments from the song curated in real time,
and that's a rare and very difficult thing for a Line Rider creator to do.
Bug Thief, simply put, is a masterclass in choice.
1. Selee by Ben Harvey, David Lu, and Sharon Pak
What do you get when you put incredibly advanced scenery techniques from someone who knows
the guts of Line Rider's code base intimately, and the visual direction of a professional
artist, and then put both of those in the hands of someone with the creative chutzpah
to release a track clocking in at almost an hour?
You get Selee, a tightly controlled, geometric jungle of a track, pulsing with life and rhythm.
This piece, commissioned by the German progressive house duo Super Flu, powerfully embodies the
spirit of the progressive house movement, using sterile, tessellating polygons to construct
an organic, dynamically shifting environment, built in parallel to the way Super Flu constructs
the semblance of an acoustic progression through their arrangement of electronic sounds.
The space-time animation applied to the track's background is positively humming with upbeat
energy, creating a unique and striking parallax illusion that somehow still runs natively
in any Line Rider build.
Selee is, in the simplest terms, a lot, and it's because of the consistency in visual
direction that this track can read so effectively.
The usage of just a few simple shapes allows the artists to develop an alphabet of sorts,
a visual grammar that generates implicit expectations in the mind of the viewer.
Selee's masterful use of setup and payoff, combined with its groundbreaking visual effects,
make for an unprecedented moment in Line Rider trackmaking history.
Thanks so much for watching our picks for the Top 10 Line Rider tracks of 2018!
Go check all of these tracks out in the playlist in the description.
While you're there, feel free to check out the documentation of the judging process to
determine the top 10, and/or buy us a coffee if you enjoy our video essays.
We'll be back with more videos in 2019, so stay tuned!
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