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It all started back in 1999 when Ryan was first introduced to the program that is Fruity Loops. Never one to really make use of things like tutorials, he dove in head first and began experimenting. Well, frustration soon settled in and so it would be some time before he really made use of the program but in early 2000 he once again made attempts at it and was mildly successful. The result is the mediocrity that is the original Army Ant Picnic "album". 23 tracks clocking in at just over a half hour, it was in no way a musical master-piece. However, there were subtle flashes of the potential that can be heard in tracks like The Ants Go Marching In and The Quest for Milkshakes. Worth a listen but ultimately falls far short of where other albums would go.
Soon after the "disaster"(?) that was Army Ant Picnic, Ryan was hard at work on Army Ant Picnic 2: The Sequel. This was a project that took a considerably longer amount of time to create (not counting the initial experimentation). The songs were, for the most part, more thought out and better structured. While the original did have some fantastic riffs that at times seemed to go nowhere, this one would improve upon that and the result was a much more well rounded album. The sequel did a good job improving upon the original, tracks like Killing the Spider, Ugly, and Leap of Faith are fine examples of this. The album is in no way, shape, or form fantastic but it is a good sign of what was to come.
At this point a bit of a break seems to have been taken. This time, instead of all the albums being written collectively and in the span of 2 or 3 months, the next "batch" of 20 would take some 6 or 7 to be ready in 2002. Of course this shows in the increased quality of the songs but also it makes for an odd feel when one listens. Not odd in a bad sense, no, but odd because one can feel several different time periods melding together into one. The result is a good summation of the first 2 albums and at the same time a sneak peak of what the next would be like. Now, this may seem to some like a comment that be-littles this album - Taking Flight - but it does not do that in anyway. Listening to almost any track, one can see that there is a bit of an ending to some of the oddities of the first two albums - for example: the guitar sound was beginning to change, a few songs on there hint at the new thicker sound - but at the same time retaining these oddities to make the more mature sound (musically) of the next two albums. Taking Flight is the perfect stepping stone into a new era.
Holy marks that new era. A completely new sound that we saw hints of in Taking Flight but taken to a musically more invigorating level. The songs are more complex and thought out than ever before. The result is a truly fantastic 51 minutes and 48 seconds of music. One can see that the albums that once contained 20 songs were now cut down to 11 (mainly because one of them, Midnight Waltz in 5/4, is over 15 minutes long) and this is a sign of the increased effort put into each. The songs are more complete and worthwhile. The journey is just beginning, and if it continues to follow this pattern there is no telling what will come next.
...To be continued...