January 1st 2024

Check these songs out while you read:

Read previous blogs via the FP Blog Directory:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E_Itge20LGn7v4FnX4ldW1sBl7rZgloLd4WVHN2WHHA/edit?usp=sharing

Da Intro

Howdy and hello, folks, and welcome to the eighth monthly blog post.

It’s a new year! This blog is going to be a bit of a departure from the usual shebang, but hopefully y’all will get a kick out of it regardless!

Just as a disclaimer: I’ll only be showcasing submissions rated E or rated T. I have the M and A ratings turned off for my account, so if a user I showcase here has submissions with those ratings on their account, I may not know about it. Viewer discretion is advised and all that!

Da Recap

This segment will have me going over my 2023 on Newgrounds. This was the year that I “hit the scene,” so to say, so it my 2023 on NG is very important to me.

JANUARY was my first Jamuary, and I managed to finish a song every single day!! This was the crash course that taught me firstly how to use FL Studio, and secondly how to be a proper NG community member.

Days 27 and 31 were also my very first frontpages, and I remember the sheer excitement I felt. It was like being a kid on Christmas; I can only compare the feeling of your first frontpage to seeing something you made broadcast on live TV. It was an overwhelming mix of pride, joy, and humility, and I’ll never forget it.

FEBRUARY I joined the NGAP Center Discord, was a bit of a quiet month for me while I worked on stuff behind the scenes for…

MARCH saw the NGAP Anniversary collab! While for some this collab may be haunted by the memory of a malicious former user, this collab was still my first ever music Newgrounds collab, and I got to work with two awesome folks (@NickSenny and @OctoBlitz) in my segment to pay tribute to ShrimpOS in a fun, quirky way. Nothing will ever strip those achievements from me.

APRIL saw my third frontpage with “u’d nvr lie 2 me,” which looking back on now isn’t my best work, but it still stands as something I’m proud of. It’s also the second (the first was an FNF song from march lol) of many, many MH4 music / @duimaurisfootball art combo tracks, which is something I’m proud of and thankful for. Having such a surreal and visceral artist as a friend is never something I take for granted, and I’m always grateful for both dui’s friendship and assistance alike.

April also marked the VERY FIRST FRONTPAGE BLOG. Utilizing my frontpage newspost powers for good rather than evil, I decided to start a monthly blog series that eventually evolved into a community showcase. The rest is history!

https://masterhand4444.newgrounds.com/news/post/1349367

MAY saw my first AIM participation! “rocks and rocks and rocks” is angsty, angry, and therapeutic, and I’m still proud of the work I did for this one. It represents a lot of anger I used to hold, and that song exploded the anger out of me and into my DAW. Even if I “lost” AIM, I think I still came out ahead with less resentment in my heart and a cool track to boot.

I also set a world record for “world’s crappiest Pico Day music submission”

May was ALSO also the Intergalactic Radio Collab with @AhWham, who has become one of my good NG friends over the course of the year. If you haven’t followed Wham yet, you’re missing out of many fantastic collabs because of this error in your judgment.

JUNE was another quiet month while I cracked away at stuff behind the scenes!

JULY was the debut of the @Diesywx fan remix album I was a part of! I still love the track I did for this; it’s so fun and energetic.

I also lent my voice to @Tritnew, another NG buddy I made this year, for an FNF track based on the Flipnote frog! I still love what I did for that chromatic, and the song still gets stuck in my head from time to time hehe.

Now we all know what REALLY happened in July. My first ever big Newgrounds collab - the Christmas in July collab album. A project that made it on the frontpage banner for a day (thank you Tom hehe), that won weekly 2nd, and made it onto the freaking NG history page for 2023. At the time of writing it almost has 7,000 listens. This was my magnum opus for the year, and I am still honored and humbled to be the host for this album. Thank you sincerely to everyone who has made this project a success. Y’all are awesome and I love y’all.

AUGUST I posted one song lol. It’s still a good one!

SEPTEMBER was my 21st birthday, and I celebrated with a melancholy cover of the birthday song. Thank you for frontpaging this :,)

I also posted a pretty cruddy cover of Pico - I don’t think this one deserved the FP tbh lol

I also posted the first track of the FNF mod I’m composing!

OCTOBER, I posted one song on Halloween. I’m still really happy with this, it’s so goofy! It’s also the first track I posted using an idea I came up with alongside my girlfriend @confetticuddles (whom I started dating in September), and she’s working on artwork for the track! So for those reasons, I’m proud of it.

NOVEMBER saw the demo for the FNF mod I’m composing drop, alongside all the tracks I made for the demo! This project’s OST is like my current musical baby, so I’d appreciate it if you gave the tracks a listen and looked forward to the proper full release of VS. 9090.

The NG Fishing Collab also dropped after being dead in the water (heh) for so long! I drew Kanye West.

DECEMBER I took part in @Aalasteir’s (another awesome NG buddy I made this year; one of the first people to join the now defunct MHForecast) Tankmas Audio Message collab! This was a fun one to record, and I’m thankful to have been a part of it.

I also posted a few miscellaneous tracks, the best of which being “Failed Experiment.” This song is me at my most experimental, and it was so fun to work on.

Oh and a little something called “Newgrounds VS. Boyfriend” dropped in December?? Only one of my most ambitious ideas to date, brought to life by almost 40 different people? Wanna give yet another extra special thank you to @Rinniran for composition help and @SplatterDash for mixing, mastering, composing, etc. Thanks to both of them, NGVBF was a success.

Da Scraps

As we both know, I attempted a blog in November. That did not work out. Here is everything I already had written for that ill-fated November FP Blog.

Da Spotlight

Da first spotlight goes to “Springtrap” by @HushPuppE! This piece captures the horror and creepiness of Springtrap perfectly, an anguished soul trapped behind a monster of his own creation, vowing to return and finish what he started. The colors, shading, and shot composition are all perfect and convey exactly what they need to - the burning desire of that corpse to get up and kill you.

Da second spotlight belongs to @infinitebrians’ Pokemonth artwork! I’m particularly fond of the Sawsbuck, Vivillon, and Snom pieces. These wonderful works of pixel art are packed with personality, and infinitebrians’ unique shading style is absolutely on point in these pieces.

Da third and final spotlight goes to “fnaf cool” by @SomeApe. This made me laugh. cool fnaf

Da News

@Notakin shared a new dev log for Project NG!

https://notakin.newgrounds.com/news/post/1391992

@Luis found Pizza Steve in Bolivia!

https://luis.newgrounds.com/news/post/1393173

@Tritnew shared a recap of what he was up to in September!

https://tritnew.newgrounds.com/news/post/1393293

@ADR3-N wants to give you legit reviews on your work!

https://adr3-n.newgrounds.com/news/post/1394605

@REDIALBEAT shared a remix of Guns from FNF (made for the “Downtown Philly” mod) on YouTube!

https://redialbeat.newgrounds.com/news/post/1394801

Da People

This month, I interviewed  @Tritnew!

[Content warning: This interview contains uncensored profanity. Viewer discretion is advised.]

What are the main inspirations you draw from in your work?

All sorts but probably Gorillaz. Not in the sound department but all of my tracks are so different, you're not gonna get a very consistent sound from me unless I limit myself.

I just make whatever comes to mind, and Gorillaz/Damon Albarn's work inspired me to go that route. Does it mean every track is gonna be a hit on NG? No, but I did have fun making it!

How did you discover Newgrounds?

This was 2007 I believe? I had my very first laptop, a HP one with Windows Vista, long before the days of Windows 7.

I didn't really know how to type so I had my mom type in "Mario and Sonic games" and a lot of the time I would go through the Google links for this one site, I forget the name right now but I emailed the admin thanking them for providing those games.

But a lot of the time, it was Newgrounds I visited. I still have the 2007 design burnt on my psyche.

Five year old me used to watch Mario and Sonic sprite cartoons and flash games all the damn time, and my cousin would show me Madness eventually.

Then I'd visit the site on and off 'till 2021 when I started to visit regularly!

What’s your favorite thing you’ve submitted to Newgrounds?

That's a tough one... as much as I love BLIMBO, I gotta go with the Slumberland Collab Album.

Everyone did such a good job and it was a fun process, and it's a really fun listen!

What’s your favorite color?

Gotta go with blue.

What’s your LEAST favorite color?

Bright lime green. Most awful color you could put on a car, too.

Give a shoutout to one Newgrounds user!

Gotta go with my boy @midgetsausage, he scouted me for the Audio Portal in the first place and he's been following me since the beginning.

Go and play, watch, listen to his shit, he's a real one.

What’s your message to the NG community?

Keep being real, don't let clout cloud your mind, don't let the number of your followers be the reason to keep on creating, stay true to your homies, and follow the rhythm, not the algorithm.

NEWGROUNDS FOREVER!

Da Rest

This month’s blog was plagued by my IRL business and I think it shows. Oh well, though, I’m still happy to highlight the goings-on around here despite my ongoing school and work and etc. So yeah - sorry if the blog sucked this month ROFL!

This past month I also put my YouTube channel on an indefinite hiatus, and that’s been fun - no more looming deadline to get a monthly video finished, no more self obligation to having something ready…it feels nice. When I go back, I may do away with my schedule altogether. Still thinking it over!

Also the FNAF movie was pretty good. Not perfect by any stretch, and its biggest strength - that it’s tailored specifically to FNAF fans - is also its biggest weakness. But it was a lot of fun! As a huge fan of FNAF, I very much enjoyed it despite its flaws. A solid 6.5/10 movie for me.

Also, my girlfriend and I’s Halloween costumes got featured on the POPGOES official Twitter/X account. So that was pretty cool!

That’s it for this month’s frontpage blog! Thank you for reading! And sorry again for a lackluster blog this month :,)

Da Future

So now that we’ve talked so much about the past, what’s next for ‘ol MH4?

First and foremost, your regularly scheduled Frontpage Blogs will be resuming in February. Yippee!

Second, keep an eye out for submissions opening real soon for this year’s Christmas in July collab album! I have plans to make it bigger and better than last year! I’m super hyped!

Third, I’m also working on hosting my very first Newgrounds music competition!! It’ll be low-stakes and mostly just for fun, but I will be ponying up some of my own money to fund prizes for first, second, and third place, so hopefully you’ll look forward to it! (It will also not be an annual competition - just one and done, for fun!)

Fourth, you can expect the usual barrage of tracks and whatnot from me. I have unfortunately decided that I'm not going to try Jamuary again (got enough on my plate as-is) but I am working on music! And hopefully I can get some good use out of that drawing tablet I won (thank you again, Tom, I’m still floored by that).

And that’s about it for this blog! 2023 was such an incredible year for me looking back - so many opportunities, so many friends and connections made, so many awesome tracks, so many collabs…thank you, everyone, for making 2023 so special.

Here’s to an even more special 2024!!! Happy New Year, Newgrounds!!!