What's a "Moral Compass Cricket Thingy"?

[Karo]

So I know I already wishes you a happy bday on discord, but have a happy late birthday on UG too!

Those are all the best birthday wishes.

[Moonface]

Who is a band member who you feel is overlooked/underappreciated in comparison to the other members? If no one like that exists for you, is there someone who is a hidden gem of talent in a band that isn't super big so a lot of people don't know what that person can do?

[Maniakkid25]

For most bands, there is an easy answer: The Bassist. The Bass player is often the most overlooked member of a band, simply because they have a seemingly simple job. They don't usually do melody, and they don't usually do rhythm, so their job is keeping "the groove". That is they maintain a stable foundation for the other instruments to rise on top of. Now, there are easy examples of bass players that are well-known; Sting (The Police), Lemmy (Motorhead), Les Claypool (Primus), and John Myung (Dream Theater) all immediately come to mind. But you may have noticed a pattern with the bass players I mentioned: three of the four are also the lead vocalists. Of the four mentioned, only Myung is noted for his talent alone (Les Claypool is absolutely known for being an exceptionally good bass player, but he's also a lead vocalist, so him being the face is kind of inevitable).

The other obvious mention is, if the band has one, the keyboard player. Often times they are probably the most knowledgeable members of the band as far as music theory goes (more keyboardists are classically trained on piano than guitarists are on guitar), but they only really get noticed if they make a point of being noticeable. Again, finding examples of famed keyboard players isn't hard: Rick Wakeman (Yes), Robert Lamm (Chicago), Edgar Winter, and Jools Holland (Squeeze, though he's more known for reasons other than keyboards). If you know who to look for, you can find the talent, but the average fan cares about three people: the vocalist (because they're the frontman), the guitarist (because they get all the sick solos), and the drummer (because they are "the animal" on stage).

As far as specific people, it's hard to say because I rarely follow bands, so I don't know when people drop out or come in or anything like that, but there is a person that immediately comes to mind: Derek Miller. He's the guitarist for the band Sleigh Bells. He's also the main songwriter, producer, and basically the man that the entire band concept revolves around. But Alexis Krauss, both with her on-stage energy and (let's be honest) being a sexy female vocalist, steals the spotlight away from him. And I have nothing against Krauss. She is a wonderful vocalist, and the band would not be the same without her. But Derek Miller absolutely deserves way more attention than he gets in the duo.

[Moonface]

I know of Sting and Lemmy from the four you listed yet I didn't know either are bass players. I knew Sting played a guitar at least (just didn't really know what) and Lemmy only ever comes to mind as a singer for me and if he was holding a guitar I'd probably just assume he was playing regular guitar like say, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters. As for keyboard players, I wonder if Simon Cowell has contributed to them being overlooked by a lot of people on top of the reasons you already listed because of how he always acts like a keyboard is the worst thing on the planet every time someone brings one onto the stage for any of the X Got Talent shows. I know that his constant bashing of the thing made me start to think keyboards were actually shite instruments and that a proper pianist would play an actual piano back in the day when I thought he knew whatever he was talking about just because of who he is.

I had this question come to mind the other day but I've been too unwell to have the energy to ask it until now, and hopefully I can describe what I'm asking here well. So in music, there's like certain moments in songs where a particular effect gets done like most or all of the instruments stopping while the vocals continue and then the instruments all come back in, or another effect that I think is just called a drop (probably common in electronica style music?), and other such things like those where they're not a thing that can probably get grouped under a singular term, but they create like a highlight of something I guess or feel like an energy shift of sorts like a start/stop/start type feeling? If I've managed to get across what I'm talking about in any decent way, my question is what is your favourite type of thing that is like that in music?

[Maniakkid25]

I think I know what you are talking about, and -- if I do -- TV Tropes has your back: the Subdued Section. That's definitely not a drop, though. A drop is to electronic music what the chorus is to a normal song: it's what everything is building up to. While the term really didn't come into its own until Skrillex-style Dubstep became popular, the term transcends that into really most modern instrumentals, though most would still call it the "climax". An example is illuminating. Flux Pavillion's I Can't Stop hits its drop at about 54 seconds in (and yes, that is the same sample used by Kanye and Jay-Z).

Anyway, back to the question you are actually asking. Hmm...favorite time this happens? That's actually very difficult to say. I'd honestly have to go through my music library to say, but the two I can immediately think of are Operation Ground and Pound (right before the key change), and Surfing on a Sine Wave (at 3:03 in the vid, which is the moment where it feels like its building up to a drop, and then the Subdued Section hits). Both of these have very different points, but the effect is the same: the sudden dynamic change "wakes you up", and gets you paying attention.

[Moonface]

Oh I wasn't trying to claim that a subdued section and a drop are the same thing; rather that both are notable build up style moments in songs. A solo section would maybe be another thing I'd consider a thing that songs can use as a stand out aspect that can act as an extra hook too. I just don't really know what blanket term all of those things can be categorized under if any but was trying to point out things like those to try and give an idea of the sort of things I had in mind overall.

I guess a way to think of them is like how movies have tropes, music can have things like drops, subdued sections, solos, etc. as things that a lot of songs will make use of to create a highlight on something.

hopes I'm making some degree of sense...

[Maniakkid25]

Okay, I think I understand what you are asking about now, and there isn't really a term for a section that stands out on it's own; it's scattered about into all sorts of terms. Codas, Solos, Subdued Sections, Hooks, AABA Verses (not to be confused with Pop Verses) and stuff like that don't really have an umbrella term, mainly because each of those is doing something MUCH different from each other. For instance, Codas are meant to end a piece, while AABA Verses a preludes to one. You can't really classify those two under the same umbrella, unless you use the term "section", which is so vague that it's not exactly helpful.

[Moonface]

If you were something other than a cricket what would you be?

[Maniakkid25]

A Guilmon, hence the red coloration. Next question!

No, but seriously, you can actually blame Karo for the idea. When I thought I wanted a character to represent myself, I originally wanted to go with Guilmon, but she recommended I maybe use something that won't get me sued lol. So, given she was already calling me Cricket, I leaned in.

AH, GOD, I HAVE A FURSONA, DON'T I?! NOOOOOOO!

[Moonface]

A Guilmon, hence the red coloration. Next question!

I feel really dumb for never realizing that's why the cricket is red...
If it had to be a real life species though for the answer, what would the answer be then?

AH, GOD, I HAVE A FURSONA, DON'T I?! NOOOOOOO!

Guilmon has fur? I thought he was scaly or something like a dinosaur so if I'm not wrong on that wouldn't it be a different -ursona term for that?

[Maniakkid25]

Fursona is the general term for any anthropomorphic animal-type user persona. So both a Guilmon me would be a Fursona, as would the Cricket me. Though, yes, "Scaly" is used to describe specifically reptilian and other scaly Fursonas.

And as far as real-life species, I have absolutely no idea. Dolphins are assholes, so that's out, and I got nothing else.

[Moonface]

So are fursona and furry mutually exclusive in a sense or are they similar really in name only but don't have to go hand in hand?

[Maniakkid25]

I know it's an innocent question, but the answer translates in my mind to "UUUUUUUUGH!"

It's...complicated. "Furry" is a term that is used to describe a person or their Fursona, and they are used interchangibly. Furry, like so many words in the English language, has several different definitions, even when you filter the topic to the one at hand; it can be used to describe a person, a piece of art, and a character all at once. It's difficult to simply translate that to someone on the outside.

It's here where I would like to point out that, while I tick several boxes on the "furry" checklist, I've flip flopped on whether or not to call myself one. This is just because, to be blunt, SOME OF THESE PEOPLE ARE FUCKING WEIRDOS, MAN!

[Moonface]

Oh I'm fully aware of most if not all of the things the term furry can refer to, so don't worry about having to tip toe around trying to explain how it ranges from the SFW to the NSFW.
I just hadn't really seen the term fursona used so wasn't sure if someone calling themselves that is different to a furry. XD

And yeah, I used to associate the term furry with just a lot of the weird stuff that gets associated with it, but in recent years I've seen stuff about how that same community can have a lot of people who are super protective and understanding of things. I guess it just depends on what side garners more attention on the Internet at any given moment.

[Moonface]

I just saw an article reporting on the announcement of a 25th Anniversary Digivice - Color Evolution from Bandai Namco and immediately thought you might find it neat to look at.

I also went looking at the Premium Bandai website to see what else they have and although I'm sure the price is way too high for it to be appealing to you (it's certainly too high for me lol), if the price wasn't a factor would you get this Takato D-Arc or nah? I was curious what it actually does (such as whether it might feature a digital Guilmon on it or something like those Digivices in the first link in this post) but the website doesn't bother to describe anything about it that can't be gleaned from the pictures.