Similarities and Differences of Wizard Rock & Pony Music

[Freewave]

I was kind of curious how many mlp music fans were aware of a genre of music that came several years ago called Wizard Rock? Just as ponycore (or whatever you wanna call mlp music) is centered around ..well My Little Pony, Wizard Rock actually was a similar movement of enthusiastic fans who made music about...Harry Potter (another all ages, both sexes , massively popular fiction that also had a huge fan fiction/art fanbase)

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/TheScient ... ck__wrock_

Just as the current MLP scene is blowing up so did Wizard Rock with hundreds of bands that eventually came out with tracks. And it too was a scene that had a huge community if you looked for it but could be invisible if you weren't in the know (a couple of forums i go to have either been infiltrated by mlp or are eerily silent w/o a mention). To a degree its almost history repeating but in different ways.

One thing I've noticed (being a huge fan of music genres and the history of their development) is that Ponycore is predominantly electronic (like 90% of it) so whether it's dubstep, trance, house, electro, or even orchestral, it's almost always a person on a pc making it. That really different from something like Wizard Rock (the closest genre as its dedicated to people making music about Harry Potter) which was almost entirely DIY ROCK bands and rarely electronic. It was also very lyrical, with songs about the thoughts of key characters in song form and with bands often devoted to those characters. But the same youthful passion is very much in there in the same way.

I'd have to think a big reason for Ponycore being electronic is the digital need, being able to use show samples in the music, using the existing themes in the show, not having to rely on several people for a band, and most importantly to combine this with youtube videos which are an integral part of the scene. It's kind of a no-brainer why it works that way and remixing is a huge part of that.

So I guess my point is to say first off congrats on this existing scene and this site (just stunning how quickly its taken off and the quality of the music is great). I was never deep in the Wizard Rock scene (more just into checking out weird genres and their histories) but had the pleasure of checking it out and I thought it was pretty cool that such a thing even existed and its even cooler to see Ponycore taking off now while I'm actually aware of it (for a change). It's really cool to see music genres pop out of cultural phenomenas and I was just curious how many of you were even aware of Wizard Rock?

[Icky]

I dont make ponycore, I just make hardstyle about ponies.

[penguindf12]

I'm pretty aware of Wizard Rock, I used to have an album by The Remus Lupins (hell, I saw them live once), I've listened to some tunes by Harry and the Potters, and I've read some stuff.

I'm not really a huge fan of it, since I'm not a huge fan of lyrical pop-punk. Some tunes are nice, but overall I took the idea as a fun novelty more than anything else.

Anecdote! I tried to START a Wizard Rock band last summer -- my friends and I decided that since the last movie has come out, interest in Harry Potter would inevitably decline, so we wanted to be horribly out of fashion from square one. I had a couple of friends over, borrowed a drum kit, and wrote a few songs (A sample: "There was this guy named Snape / He was a sour grape / There was this guy named Dumbledore / He was a total bore." The title of the song was inevitably SPOILER: "Snape Kills Dumbledore"). It didn't ever go anywhere, and I still have the borrowed drum kit.

[Freewave]

nice glad someone heard of it.

yeah I think MLP electronic has such a hoof up on Wizard Rock in that it can sound much more professional due to the tools involved and being so more centered around youtube and using footage. Thats said if Habsro and The Hub ever start coming down on people on youtube it could crush the movement. Still I guess it would be cool to see a few mlp artists combining with its fan fiction writers to write lyrical fare if the vocals were good enough from individual character pov or to see Pony music be played live like Wizard Rock.

[bartekko]

I'm gonna take a guess: Wizard Rock scene started like, before all the computers in the world were able to run ableton live (or other DAWs), and that's why most bands were not-electronic.

Also, Another reason for "ponycore" being mostly electronic might be that the fandom is closely related to Internet, and so, to computers, unlike that of Harry Potter being mostly based around cinema and books.

But "ponycore"? really? It's not any more defining than "pop". I'd call our music "pony <insert genre here>" or "ponyfied <genre>"

[Freewave]

Well i see Ponycore as a really lose term (like electronic) which still applies to a WIDE variety of genres and gives you some idea of what music will be but otherwise isn't a really useful muscial term. The Pony part being the more informative portion. It's a lot better then Broniecore which I also heard being tossed around as genre term but its dismissing that many women make Pony music as well. If there's a better term that has or should be adopted by all means feel free to throw one out there. It's much better than having a single journalist adopt one for you like Shoegazing or Krautrock which stuck.

I'm not sure if Wizard Rock would have been more electronic with better software available. i think part of the reason IT turned out the way it did was that its very much centered around reading/writing, and libraries (where a lot of the bands actually performed). When the first bands got started they were rock bands, centered on performing live first, and for the music being very much lyrical and original. That's just a huge difference with Pony music whereas there's kind of some similarities otherwise (music revolving around a book/show, youthful & enthusiastic, expanding virally).

I really haven't seen much Ponytronic (better? lol?) gone the vocal route (besides show vocal samples which are plentiful) although Eurobeat Brony - Luna (Dream Mode), Swagberg, and The Living Tombstone - Summer do it actually very well. The few that I heard outside that were more cringeworthy (although there may be more quality tracks out there now that I know about). Autotune and vocoder type programs are better and used more than ever so manybe we'll see Pony music go that route. You're absolutely right that all of it overall centers around the internet. Absolutely every possibility of MLP fan involvement has exploded on the net.

[Senator Myth]

But "ponycore"? really? It's not any more defining than "pop". I'd call our music "pony <insert genre here>" or "ponyfied <genre>"

For once in my life I wholeheartedly, unreservedly, and even lovingly agree with something Bartekko said. I haven't heard anyone refer to our music as ponycore. It's pony music, simple as that. It may /seem/ to be 90% electronic music, but it may be something closer to a 50-50 split or so. There's plenty of orchestral, quite a bit of rock, and representatives of almost every genre imaginable. Including elevator music.

I'm going to float the boat of pony music because it's a really incredible phenomenon. How long did it take for a My Little Pony musician to gain prominence in our fandom after the premiere of the show it's based on? Less than sixth months. How long did it take for the Harry Potter fandom to gain a musical scene? Several years. Probably an unfair comparison given the state of the internet between the two, but it's still pretty incredible. Wizard rock is based on the most popular series of books in the world. Pony music is based on a relatively niche show, albeit with the most incredible community in the world.

As I already mentioned, we have an incredibly diverse music scene. It's funny you should mention us combining fanfiction with music, because members of our community have taken shitty fanfiction and turned them into art. See Something Broke by Tarby, although be warned that it has some extremely dark subject matter. It is, nonetheless, an extremely remarkable piece, which itself contains several different genres of music.

One extremely important difference is that pony music is a community, and I don't think wizard rock is. Every brony musician knows one another more or less, and I would count some people in this community as some of my best friends, while others are mentors and teachers, and still others are students. Everyone bears these roles at different times though, really. Our music community is far more diverse and close-knit than wizard rock.

Not trying to put down wizard rock, of course. I'm an avid Vlogbrothers follower, and of course I've heard of it before and pretty much respect what I've heard. But I am wholeheartedly convinced that our community is far more exceptional that wizard rock. You should check us out more.

And of all the things in the world that could have spawned such an incredible community, it was My Little Pony. That makes it even more incredible in my eyes.

[Senator Myth]

Well i see Ponycore

Where are you hearing this term? I have not heard this term, and I've been in this community for more than six months, and I don't like it. It sounds almost silly, and it creates an expectation in the minds of those who hear it that all pony music must be electronic or hardcore or something. I don't want people to think that they wouldn't be appreciated in our community just because they don't make "-core" music.

Also, "brony" is a gender neutral term. Always has been, always will be. Pegasister is literally the worst neologism my eyes and mind have had the distinct displeasure of experiencing. It sounds like a forced, cringeworthy joke. Just accept that girls and women can be bronies too alright?

(Sorry if I'm coming off as harsh or rude or something, I might just be getting a bit defensive cause I love what this community is so much.)

[Freewave]

Thank you very for that post Seantor_Myth I appreciate your input on this. Your absolutely right in that Pony Music seems to be so much a 2.0 version of WR in that it's much more organized community, faster, more youtube successful, but even more niche too. The artwork side of it I've seen is also remarkable and a joy to see. WR seemed to have a bit more a cookie cutter approach to how everyone followed what came before (and slowly developed from Harry and the Potters band) and had somewhat of a goofy/nerdy image to it as well as not really using the net to its advantage. Eventually the press picked up on WR but I'm assuming that there hasn't been any hi-profile attention that's occurred yet with Pony culture has there (magazines, newspapers that is)?

So it was six months after the show premiered that the first Pony artist emerged? Can I ask who it was? I'm just curious as someone who's only just now getting into the music how Pony Music actually emerged and which artists kickstarted or were first in emerging. As you said WR took forever to get going so its an easy chronology but I was wondering since Pony music exploded so rapidly that anyone can really attest to how IT started... would love to know

[Freewave]

Responding to your second post: I came across ponycore and broniecore after seeing some people using that term (on the music forum i frequent and as a tag on bandcamp and soundcloud). Google

A lot of music just gets -core tag when getting a genre name although that generally refers to hardcore music as you said (not Slowcore of course). If no MLP fans use that term I'll ditch using it myself as I don't wanna propogate bad terms (although being hardcore about ponies could fit). I thought Bronie was a term indicating guys (bro's) who liked MLP so I apologize if that's gender neutral. Glad to know.

[Senator Myth]

No need to apologize! Again, I apologize if I was coming off as too harsh or mean!

My estimate of six months was actually kind of wrong. It was actually just a little more than three months! Eurobeat Brony is the name of the artist who achieved a lot of attention for his music when our fandom was still very young. I'm going to link you to what is actually the very first pony song, a remix of the Evil Enchantress song from the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atnSTtiWU5E

January 27th 2011 was when this was posted, and the show itself premiered on October 10th, 2010. Pretty incredible that the community grew so fast, if you asked me. Eurobeat Brony's reception with the fandom really got a lot of other people into the idea of making pony musics, so we owe a lot to him being a pretty damn great musician.

But yeah, there it is!

[Freewave]

ok so it WAS Eurobeat Brony!! Glad to know as he's the most visible pony artist I've seen and I suspected he came early but wasn't sure. Don't apologize you certainly didn't come off mean, you've been EXTREMELY HELPFULL

Incidentally those FluttershyElisa remixes that came of his work I saw weren't ever on the 2 official albums or the Alternative takes. Were these just fan remixes (taking accapellas and adding them to his original) as it looked like they were never official remixes? Is he still making pony music?

[Navron]

Personally, I despise the huge range of genre-labeling within the music community. Hearing stuff like "ponycore," just sickens me. I mean seriously, just take 1 genre (I'll use metal), and now you have 50+ sub-genres of metal, and then sub-sub-genres.

It seems people are desperate to label literally anything, and when a song comes out that's slightly different than the others, it gets a new label.

I mean seriously, this list is ludicrous: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_subgenres

I say forget the genres, forget the labels. Make music from your own inspiration of what sounds good. Trying to reconfigure a drum beat or melody to better fit a certain genre or audience is a fast way to put a track on the backburner. None of my songs so far really have a genre, and I like to keep it that way.

[Freewave]

That's fine, I know plenty of people operate that way and hate genre terms and I know people like myself love them and find them extremely useful when they are used correctly as they also show how music develops over time (musical evolution). Having too many subgenres is completely useless but many subgenres do show commonality and often bursts of popularity and innovation. I certainly believe in their usefulness.

I've personally been involved in a 2 year process of seeking out what genres really mean and putting forth that information publically as part of my main forum's group project the Rym Box Set and systematically really shows just about every major genre from big to small from old to new. It's meant to turn people onto the variety of music out there while systematically showing how a lot of it has commonality and why it developed as it did (and sometimes died out).

But I'm with you Ponycore isn't a good label and I'm fine for its quelching. As you guys say there's a wide range of sounds of MLP Music and its hard to argue its really a genre when it doesn't have a united sound (other than its united subject matter). That said anyone would be a fool if they didn't see it as showing all the realities of a thriving musical scene. Regarding your point navybrony, as someone who also makes music I don't believe that people should be carbon copies of each other and should be able to vary what they want to put out or do and should be different from the herd. Just because someone falls under a genre doesn't mean you know what they sound exactly like. There's certainly plenty of people out there who don't fit conventions or easy labels and that's good.

[Triple_B]

EDIT: It occurs to me that several paragraphs below are irrelevant; feel free to skip them.

Before anypony reads this at all, I just want to say; Hii!

And also; I understand that this could be interpreted as my thinking somepony here is insinuating that Wizard Rock and Pony Music are alike, while in truth I am merely stressing that they are different...

In retrospect, it is horribly stupid to but that there, given that the topic is Similarities and Differences....

I'll leave it there; fuck it. Onward with babble!

Very nervous about posting this, considering... Hmm... Nothing to consider based on fact; so posting it anyway.

as someone who also makes music I don't believe that people should be carbon copies of each other and should be able to vary what they want to put out or do and should be different from the herd. Just because someone falls under a genre doesn't mean you know what they sound exactly like. There's certainly plenty of people out there who don't fit conventions or easy labels and that's good.

Pardon the particularly short (Nevermind about that!) post, but I feel this has relevancy here; I have actually forgone all genre names in favor of naming specific musical sounds based on artist. A Metallica solo, a Deadmau5 chirp, a Skrillex drop, an Eminem flow, etc. Might even throw the word style in there to make more grammatical sense; A Metallica style solo, a Deadmau5 Style chirp, a Skrillex style drop, an Eminem style flow.

And more toward ponies; a LivingTombstone 'Wob' (?) I don't even know what to call his sound, you know what I mean though. That sound, is just that. HIS sound. He made that, it is his own, nopony else sounds like that, and more than likely, nopony ever will, because that is all, 100%, Tombstone. Everypony has their own sound, somewhere, even if they are new to MAKING music, much like myself, and haven't found theirs yet.

Now more toward the topic of the thread.

While I haven't been a musician for long, I have been an avid member of some music scene or another for the past... I want to say four years, if it isn't that it's pretty close; virtually nothing compared to what someponies here are at, but then again, that is an entire 1/4 of my whole 16 year life thus far, though I like to think music has made up a much larger portion of my life than a mere 25%, I digress.

From the minor amount of research I have put in, (A google search open in the tab to the right) on Wizard Rock, it seems.... not even remotely the same. Pony/Brony Music (I refuse this term 'Ponycore') While yes, both are derived from sensations within a, dare I say, "Nerdy"? fanbase, what Wizard Rock lacks, Pony/Brony Music has. I make another bold step, saying they are opposites almost.

Wizard Rock; Rock, for the most part. (Again, very little research, could be wrong.)
Pony Music; Everything. I've listened in on a total of one of the Toastbeard competitions here at MLR, and it alone had everything, excluding a pony opera, which I am sure is well on the way, frankly.

Wizard Rock;-.... I just found this quote, and totally lost that train of thought in my scatterbrain, sorry.

"There are no BAD Wizard Rock bands. Half of these bands are just kids f*cking around with garage band or whatever free program they can get their hands on. Half of these bands are populated by kids who are just learning to play an instrument and record music. The beauty of Wizard Rock is that for many of the bands, it’s nothing more than a LEARNING EXPERIENCE. We, as the elder statespeople of Wizard Rock, should not be encouraging young people to worry about categorization and public image. We should be encouraging them to HAVE FUN." Source; http://wizardrock.org/?page_id=2

This too, Pony Music and Wizard Rock have in common. While numerous bronies produce absolutely groundbreaking professional music, for many of us this is a stepping stone into a world we'd only barely glimpsed as a precursor. (Again, like myself) While Eurobeat, Tarby, Alex S, and dozens of others have been producing music since long before My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was even the cusp of an idea, (Only one I can actually vouch for there is Alex, but one can only assume considering the quality present that only practice can bring forth) many like myself are barely moving past learning the ropes of their D.A.W. the basic scales of their instrument, or the... Um, whatever it is actual singers do, do you guys do scales? I don't know. My particular lack of knowledge there being only further testament to prove the point.

Ponies have inspired much more than music as well; I've been a writer for years, and Fallout: Equestria (Which has surpassed a length equal to The Lord of the Ring's trilogy) sparked my own creativity there, I have 21,000~ Words (43 Pages Single Spaced) of fanfiction of my own and participate alongside a group of authors 32 strong in a collaborative document where we, as a community, share ideas, edit each other, and offer constructive criticism. Think, MLR only instead of music, Fanfiction of fanfiction, and instead of a whole forum, Gdocs. Yeah. That alone is just ONE fanfiction.

Not to mention the graphic media. Good lord. From mods for Oblivion and Tf2, all the way to full blown murals. From drawings in chalk on a college campus to.... well, you get the idea.

I know very little of Harry Potter and that fandom, however I do know that it sparked, and still sparks, art as well as millions of pages of fanfiction.

Big difference here; 7 Books, 8 Movies compared to.... Not even two seasons (yet) of a little girl's television show. (Okay, not that little, like, 12, but still)

Wizard Rock and Pony Music are... I don't want to call them similar, but that seems like the most appropriate word I can think of. Wizard Rock and Pony Music are, (reluctantly) similar; for lack of a better word.

I don't even know what I'm typing anymore, scatterbrain has screwed me yet again; if you can sift through that mess for something that makes sense and has relevancy, uhh... Good for you.

Okay, I lied.

I think most of the differences don't lie in the music, but rather in the fanbases themselves, which in turn comes around to effecting the music.

I mean, look at us... We have, on this board alone, threads about singing, beginners, electronic music, I think there's metal here somewhere.... Hardware, software, instruments, style, confidence, advice. It's all here.

I just think that My Little Pony has had a much greater impact upon the people involved in it, is all... I suppose I have an example, though harsh and personal as it may be; four weeks prior to finding the Equestria Girls video on Funnyjunk, I was in juvenile hall. I am reluctant to share further.

I was am not a good person.

Since then, ponies and their carefree ways and "Love and Tolerance" mantra have shifted my life in the utmost for the better, and I don't really think I need to go into more detail.

Does that put a little more perspective on why I do not think Wizard Rock and Pony Music are alike?

Wizard Rock just seems so.... Small, where bronies and Pony Music is so.... big.

YouTube search for 'Pony', and 'Music'; About 118,000 results Link; http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pony+music&oq=pony+music&aq=f&aqi=g8g-m2&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2323l3338l0l3529l10l7l0l0l0l0l213l977l3.3.1l7l0
YouTube search for 'Wizard Rock'; About 38,900 results Link; http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Wizard+Rock&oq=Wizard+Rock&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=69820l71092l0l71332l11l11l0l1l1l1l230l1614l0.7.3l10l0

And that is only the things actually listed under 'Pony Music' I know lots of things that aren't.

... Lost the entire train of thought; screwed by scatterbrain.

Enjoy that, ta-ta.

[Freewave]

Thanks for writing Triple, thought this discussion was dying, thanks for reviving it Hi to you too!

I'm in utter agreement in that while there's some similarities to be found with WR that MLP Music just seems to have much more going for it. It evolved faster, it has more professional musicians, its more internet savy more diverse, and is already more popular. It's funny its still as niche as it is, there's still plenty of MLP fans that haven't checked out the music and plenty of people not even aware of the Friendship is Magic phenomenon. As you said its got a real positive approach that's different than most things on the internet and the community is so prolific and tight. I'm just so happy it exists and is doing everything right. For those of you into fan fiction it would be nice to see musical pairings when we see conceptual pov music from characters pov combined with great music, something that WR did well.

Also as you said there's no real sound to this music even if a good chunk of it electronic but then again there's plenty of genres that operate that way, Christian Rock, Comedy Rock, Outsider Music, all have sociological groupings for people looking for this type of music and actively listening to it. Whether you consider it a genre, scene, or a descriptor is kind of a pointless debate when you realize its a movement that is happening and has loads of support.

[Triple_B]

It evolved faster, it has more professional musicians, its more internet savy more diverse, and is already more popular. It's funny its still as niche as it is, there's still plenty of MLP fans that haven't checked out the music and plenty of people not even aware of the Friendship is Magic phenomenon. As you said its got a real positive approach that's different than most things on the internet and the community is so prolific and tight. I'm just so happy it exists and is doing everything right.

Think you just summed up your whole thread right there, bro.

For those of you into fan fiction it would be nice to see musical pairings when we see conceptual pov music from characters pov combined with great music, something that WR did well.

I recommend... Let me find it.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksn91wXHgx8 I also vaguely recall him mentioning offhandedly something about a Fallout: Equestria album after last Saturday's toastbeard. Don't quote me on that, but I also know there are hundreds of other songs out there about Fanfiction. Particularly popular ones are Fallout: Equestria and Alegrreza (Or however you spell it; it's a fic shipping Vinyl and Octavia) that I know of, I'm sure there's more.

Also as you said there's no real sound to this music even if a good chunk of it electronic but then again there's plenty of genres that operate that way, Christian Rock, Comedy Rock, Outsider Music, all have sociological groupings for people looking for this type of music and actively listening to it. Whether you consider it a genre, scene, or a descriptor is kind of a pointless debate when you realize its a movement that is happening and has loads of support.

I'm not religious, but...

Amen.

[MYCUTIEMARKISAGUN]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that demographics have more to do with the "90% electronic" thing than anything else.

Let's keep it real, the vast majority of this fanbase is:

1) teenage/early 20s

2) white

3) male

4) not homophobic enough to be scared off by a pink-saturated children's show about candy colored ponies


These factors kinda ensure that the fan music scene is gonna be skewed to a certain kind of musical taste.

I mean really, every time Mic the Microphone drops some new ish, there's ALWAYS some smug jerk in the comments that sez something like "Well, I hate rap BUT THIS IS AMAZING!". I read these comments and think to myself, "These people have no idea who Ghostface Killah is". Sigh.

[bartekko]

I think you go a bit too far, MCMIAG, and are a bit wrong, especially about argument 3, but :
I know a lot of different people who match at least 3 of these terms, and none of them is clearly biased to electronica, and vast majority of them love metal the most (i think it might be a matter of where I live, though. (synthesizers are soulless machines, all music made with them is made for cash </fanatic metal fan> )
The "male" argument seems a bit misplaced. Sure, most bronies are male, but I think that girls are those who listen to more pop (and now, pop= trance/house + moar vocals) and guys are a bit more biased to rocky stuff.

and I did know who ghostface killah is before you mentioned him.

the main reason is (IMO): when you're a brony, you usually are closer to a PC than to a guitar/decent mic/drum kit.

The real question is: how come there are so many classical composers around?

[Navron]

In this age of modern synthesis, you can add soul to the music, it just takes more effort.

You can vibrato strings/guitar, automate crescendos and decrescendos, and add reverb effects to make it sound like you're playing in a grand concert hall.

I'm a metal head at heart, but I like techno, dubstep, psytrance, etc. Despite Shpongle being mostly electronic, you can't deny there's a lot of passion that goes into its creation. On the flip side you have bands like Nickelback (or more appropriately, the majority of stuff on the radio). I don't think repeating 4 basic power chords and singing about getting laid at parties really has any soul or emotion in the music or vocals.

the main reason is (IMO): when you're a brony, you usually are closer to a PC than to a guitar/decent mic/drum kit.

If by closer you mean 2ft away compared to my 2 amps, guitar, and bass which are 6ft away, I guess you are correct.

Music theory helps simplify and speed up the process. A person wanting a dark ambiance to a soundscape will likely go for a dissonant chord right off the bat, where as a person not familiar with theory will play notes until they reach the sound they want, which takes more time.

There's plenty of musicians and bands, both electronic and instrument based, that create some very powerful and emotional music, who know absolutely nothing about music theory. Then you also have artists that know everything about music theory and their songs sound devoid of life because it sounds more like a technique show rather than something coming from the heart.

[Overkillius]

I have heard of wizard rock before... only as something to cringe at though. This discussion has been really interesting and informative to read!

[Freewave]

Yeah at some point I would be curious to know how many artists are male and how much of the fanbase is too. While there MAY be a majority of males making the music (and there's no indication that really IS the case) I still think the majority of the fanbase is still likely female. I would be curious to see a real poll (maybe on EqD) done to get some % as it would be interesting to see.

[Overkillius]

well stats of who listens to peoples music on youtube videos leads me to believe the fandom is mostly male.

[Freewave]

Got any stats? That would be a decent way to find out to be honest (youtube stats). i think most people wouldn't switch sexes on theoir own or even an anonymous gmail or youtube account and that's where it gets that info from. If there's anyone who has loads of pony only youtube hits i would be curious to know how they stack. Realize that stats would differ between something like Flutterwonder / SimGretina (softer) and ISMBOFepicly / Living Tombstone (harder) by nature.

[Solarsail]

I'm listening to Harry and the Potters now (bandcamp).

What are the accepted "best" bands it is worth listening to within that genre, apart from them?

--

I think people are (or were, for a long time) avoiding the actual musical style of the MLP cartoon because Ingram has them beat, and because electro couldn't be put in the cartoon itself.

There's a good variety of styles now though. The advantage we have over Wizard Rock is Equestria Daily and this site/Toastbeard. EqD is the best thing ever invented for delivering good content to its interested audience, and the slightly-competitive and time constrained nature of Toastbeard means you are all trying your best knowing you will be recognised by other musicians here, and by your audience on EqD/Youtube.

The artists who did it first don't have much of an advantage, one good Toastbeard entry can get you the deserved respect.