Magic and Music: Azorius (White-Blue)

http://www.lala.com/#memberplaylist/47893P81260/

Going around the color wheel, our first stop is at the highly legalist Azorius. Because the Azorius weren't that well-designed (only 9 Forecast cards and most of them bad), their true flavor is somewhat obscured. This is the beauty of going off dual lands for initial inspiration; they give the barest, bonesiest info you can find. And in this case, it helps a lot. Hallowed Fountain was not the flavor I got from cards like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV or Overrule, but it implies that this lawmaking and rules lawyering is somewhat about serving a higher purpose.

To that end, the Azorius compilation is about a few main ideas:

- Maintaining order (everything's measured, especially on the beat - too many frills and it's red, the shared enemy color)
- Clean and pristine production (a white value combined with blue's technology)
- High strings (as opposed to deep bass, which blue likes okay but is more of a black tendency)

So most of the Azorius will be the ethereal/chilly end of trance, with some room for ambient tracks that advance that cold feeling. There may be some warmth on the hallowed end of it, but as the Azorius were generally cold and distant, so should the album feel the same way.

Before listing the album, a few notes about presentation of songs. Artists in parentheses are actually OCRemix-submitted arrangements of the video game listed in parentheses. Many of the names are weird, long, and altogether unhelpful, so the video game is more instructive, with the caveat that I'm not lifting the game versions themselves. Also, if the same artist has consecutive songs on the album, I'll list both songs on one line separated by a --> . Many times, the songs go together on their initial album in the first place. It's just easier to post it that way.

Last, but not least, the most archetypal songs of the guild/wedge/shard will be in bold. If you're truly interested in the album, YouTubing these will give you the best encapsulation of the concept.

Here it is - the Azorius album:

Orbital - One Perfect Sunrise
Sasha - Mr. Tiddles --> Magnetic North
Electric Skychurch - Creation
BT - Giving Up the Ghost
Black Dog - UV Sine
BT - Rose of Jericho
Chicane - Andromeda
Blu Mar Ten - Brother
Gus Gus - Detention
C&M - Dream Universe (16B Still Waters Symphony Mix)
Sasha - Wavy Gravy

If you know any others that you think might fit, feel free to list them. Depending on if I agree, I might buy them just to make the compilations better.