Lurker > kaonashi1

Passing through the Forest

The Lost City

Passing through the Forest

Tachi

Aquatic Ambiance

Passing through the Forest

Tachi
The Lost City

Move Me
Aquatic Ambiance
Passing through the Forest

An Endless Desert
Passing through the Forest

The Lost City
Prophecy

Land's End - Island Awake (Todd Baker)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4vdNxLed6c

Here's something that showcases something slightly different from Todd Baker. He weaves warm analog synths with a slow, staticky beat to create a dreamlike soundscape that's reminiscent of watching old films, an aesthetic that's somewhat similar to Impossible Worlds but more downtempo. It's more purely atmospheric and less melodic than the entries that have shown up in this contest, but has its own beauty and charm. I love his measured, thoughtful approach to the sounds he uses, a craftsmanship that always shines through.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Flip-Swap Galaxy (Mahito Yokota)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9__oBoracQ

Mahito Yokota is an excellent orchestrator, but he's also not afraid to try some adventurous compositions that aren't as immediately appealing but really cool in their own way. This is a very short track, and it's probably not the first thing one might think of when considering music from this series, but it's such a mesmerizing piece-- 0:40 is as rewarding to me as any segment of any track I posted. Part of why I picked this is to highlight that Nintendo composers have, in fact, always written tracks with some really unique sounds and progressions, were never afraid to feature them in their biggest games, and I'm just extremely grateful for that-- that among their more catchy, melodic stuff they also make room for this, or for Salmon Run music in the Splatoon series, or for the musical risks they take in Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild and so many other games.

Secret of Mana (2018) - Mystic Invasion (Hiroki Kikuta arr. Noriyuki Kamikura)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fGH7sG5lvU

While the remake soundtrack got a decidedly mixed reception, and not all of the tracks click with me, I'm thrilled that they tried what they did-- that they took some musical risks when they had the opportunity to. Mystic Invasion actually isn't a dramatic departure from the original, but it adds a very pretty bridge that I think elevates the track, that resolves a bit of the tension of the main chord progression before returning it-- the track is more approachable but doesn't lose its overall spirit.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Remix & Arrange Album -The Branched- - Mornin', Sunshine! -Branched- (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT6HjHvgm5w

I can think of no better way to end this set of round 4 writeups than with this beautiful arrangement by Kaneda, one of my favourite VGM composers. I love how he recognizes the musical ambiguity that made the original so intriguing and amplifies it just a bit with chords that express the track's melody in a much more wistful way, lowering its cheerful energy and giving it an idyllic sepia tint without feeling saccharine or dull. It's wonderfully understated in its approach and shows a composer who really knows what he wants to do, and how to do it.

And that's the last of Round 4! If you've been following along with these writeups even a bit, thanks so much and I hope you found something worth listening to, something to check out even further later. It's been an exciting retirement round and I appreciate the music that made it this far.

Tachi
Theme of D4

Senko no Ronde DUO - CUCU (Cuilan Phase 4) (Yasuhisa Watanabe)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZMgg8gylnw

You could probably pick any Yack track out of a hat and I'd find something good to say about it. This is a very light, floaty track-- the synths sound fairly muted, soft pads, main melody synths focused on the higher frequencies. The unusual vocals also lend it an ethereal feeling. As in a lot of Yack tracks, I love the chord choices here-- calm-inducing, a little wistful, a little uncertain. (I strongly considered Senko no Ronde - assemble here, possibly my favourite Yack track, and one of the tracks I would nominate if I decide to start nominating returners.)

Neotokyo - Footprint (Ed Harrison)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm0EYd4rRoY

I've talked before about how much I love this soundtrack, and how my favourite tracks let me imagine the world such tracks would inhabit. Footprint is my longtime second-favourite Neotokyo track (after Imbrium); this track paints an incredibly vivid picture in my head of a cyberpunk noir detective story. A lot of this track is very deliberate in its pace, very measured in feel. 1:04, the detective carefully studying clues, trying to connect the dots. When the drums kick back in they're back on the streets, trying to gather more information. When those wonderful Neotokyo voice samples come in, you know they're getting closer to the answer. This has maybe the most dramatic payoff moment in the soundtrack, and it's just so rewarding-- a real confrontation moment. All the while, the whole track is drenched in sort of a dark mood, an underlying sadness befitting any noir story. I really never do get tired of listening to this track-- it's so much of what I look for in this OST.

Fate/Grand Order Waltz in the Moonlight/Lostroom - Prove (Luca ft. Noa)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoJL43Kchxk

This was probably the toughest pick for me-- FG/O Waltz's soundtrack isn't really up my alley, and Ryota Kikuchi doesn't have a large selection to choose from. Prove's verses express themselves very clearly in Dorian mode, and I really like that scale! I'm not as big on the chorus, which doesn't feel as impactful as I'd want it to be, and I wish it attempted something a bit more adventurous-- a modulation in the bridge, maybe. It's still a fairly pleasant listen overall.

CollarMalice - Thought Experiment (MANYO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aep2wigKTw

I was debating between this and Kara no Shoujo - Days; the latter is much more in the style of D4, but I felt like showcasing a different side of this composer's style. MANYO's quite prolific in the visual novel sphere; his work shows up in a lot of places. (He was the composer for noted VGMC entrant Aka - To the West.) He's good at very pleasant acoustic guitar-backed tracks but also swirling atmosphere-building tracks like the one above. One of the synth effects here sounds so much like Dispensary from Virtue's Last Reward that I wonder if it's the same thing. This whole track kinda sounds like it would fit in that series, actually-- a fitting place for a track titled 'Thought Experiment'. It also serves as an easy explanation for why I like it-- it's one of those tracks with a 'thinking' mood featuring very cool synths and rhythms. I love moments like 0:48-- such a fun direction after the first part of the track.

-
The Wind Calls to Shevat in the Blue Sky

The Silver Case - YUME [Morishima Tokio Remix] (Masafumi Takada arr. Erika Ito)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utmKE0LF31o

Getting a bit more into the weeds here. Takada's capable of big, bold tracks (like the one in today's match) but also of more subdued, mood-setting ones. The original Silver Case was one of Takada's earlier soundtracks, and had more of the latter, though Morishima Tokio is among its more prominently melody-driven tracks. This is a remix from the 2016 remaster by Erika Ito; it's a pretty cool take. Some people might be thrown off by the vocal samples used here, but I think it adds a certain charm. (I was very tempted to use Kid Icarus: Uprising - Into the Labyrinth here-- for obvious reasons but also because I think it's one of the coolest tracks on that soundtrack.)

Kid Icarus: Uprising - Aurum Island (Yuzo Koshiro)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy_Hi4f63Jg

Kinda 3DS Etrian Odyssey labyrinth vibes. I really dig the different effects and envelopes Koshiro puts the opening sounds through. His production here feels very sharp. The big band comes in and it's slightly spy movie vibes. It's a very catchy track; the bombast feels almost tongue-in-cheek and the whole thing just feels like it's having a blast. Really fun stuff. (Was strongly tempted to use something from Beyond the Labyrinth here, especially if I used Into the Labyrinth as my previous choice, but also because Beyond the Labyrinth is almost certainly my favourite Sakuraba soundtrack; check it out if you're interested in Sakuraba-style minimalism.)

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair - Factory Fright (David Wise)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgPRmh1pfew

'Factory Fright?' The gall. This is, of course, very DKC in style, right down to those echo-y percussive sound effects and similarly rhythmic, fairly reverb-heavy pluck synths. It's a pretty straightforward track by those standards, but those standards are something that can still click, even now.

Arc Rise Fantasia - A Grand Existence (Yasunori Mitsuda)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SSjiDh-7Ok

Tension-driven 6/8 by Mitsuda; You've heard it before in something like Undersea Palace, complete with metallic clangs. I like the intensity of the track; the electronic elements are welcome and some of the chord choices, like in 0:12 and the progression from 0:32 to 0:47, are very nice. Harp ostinatos as 'mysterious locale' mood-setter, also a Mitsuda staple! He knows his tools, and he uses them well.

The Spirit of the Mountain
In Hell We Live, Lament

Alto's Adventure - Alto's Theme (Brian Crawford)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOIFNQNEiOo

This was the first Alto series track I heard, during a KCF game back in 2019; Toxtricity linked An Endless Desert in that same conversation, I realized the latter was by Todd Baker and checked it out, then got hooked shortly afterward. Again, Endless Desert draws away a lot of my attention for music in this series, but I enjoyed this a lot when I heard it and think it's a very nice track. It's one of those constantly nonresolving tracks that I like; it has these waves of repeating clarinet notes that show up in Endless Desert as well! It's fun to see that sort of subtle musical continuity, even when the music is handled by different composers.

R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 - Naked Glow (Kohta Takahashi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKn8UWvEraE

Of the tracks I considered for this entry (Lucid Rhythms, Quiet Curves) this was the funkiest to my ears; you might say this was the one that moved me the most, in getting me to bob my head and tap my foot instinctively. R4 tracks are funny in that I'm pretty cool with several of them but most of the time there's like one section of the track that jumps out to me more than the rest of it. This one actually changes up a few times, and I appreciate that. It starts with the funky guitar riff, then goes into a cool sampled brass section, then a different guitar riff I dig even more, then a take on the original chord progression based around a smooth electric piano. 2:29 feels like the track's centrepiece and it's groovy as well. This grew on me considerably while listening to it during this writeup.

Key Ingredient - world.execute(me); (Key Ingredient ver.) (Instrumental) (Cassie Wei & Yamato Kasai arr. Shogo Nomura)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqMNSwN0WyQ

Wildly breaking eligibility rules here I don't care. The point of this entry isn't to highlight Mili, though I enjoy their work well enough-- it's to highlight Shogo goddamn Nomura. This is an utterly wonderful piano arrangement of world.execute(me); (which appears in Arcaea) on Key Ingredient, which is a piano arrangement album of Mili songs-- there's a version of the album with vocals and one without. (You can check out the vocal version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB5gfmWQzSA) I don't have much more to say other than that I just ran into this today and I love it. Shogo Nomura! Check out his work.

Emil Chronicle Online - Under the Pressure (Kenji Hiramatsu)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEI9YcW1jEI

SupraDarky entry #637. Before the Xenoblade series, ACE+ did some cool work on Emil Chronicle Online. I like the really cold, mechanical vibe of this track; you can hear some earlier signs of how Hiramatsu would use various background electronic elements to enhance the mood of his tracks (which he continued to do in the Xenoblade series), and his enjoyment of big guitar payoffs (though they don't sound quite as clean here). This is a track I actually discovered through SD's list-- I originally ran into Song for Battle from the same game (which I maintain has an awesome intro) and traced through his other Emil Chronicle picks.

Jupiter Guns Novel (Long Version)
DESIRE

Raiden V - The Phenomenon (Yoshimi Kudo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4rJfVT3nbo

I don't expect The Phenomenon to rank at or near the top of anyone's Raiden V favourites list except for a small handful of people. I'm one of them! The Phenomenon scratches a particular itch that I'm sure some people have noticed in my vgm taste-- shifting, repeating figures that make interesting musical patterns. This one intrigues me in particular because despite this somewhat minimalistic feel, the track itself feels really big in that sort of epic Kudo way. This is apparently the true final boss theme of the game, and it really does give you a sense that you're facing something enormous and unknowable, a sort of cosmic force of nature.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Illusory Holehills (Keisuke Ito, Yasuhiro Kawagoe)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brtdP3mKm2M

I don't think PMD and Caravan Stories always sound similar, but this one does feel similar to something that might show up on Caravan Stories Vol. 6, especially the intro. This is a wonderfully playful track, dancing about unpredictably; I love little things like the way the tritone feels on 0:09 and succeeding repetitions. The way the descending bells and chords introduce the 'determination' section of this track is really awesome too-- it's an unexpectedly delightful payoff. I promised Toxtricity once that I'd listen through the whole GTI soundtrack; this is another self-reminder to sit down and go through it properly.

Chase Bombers - A Lovely Drive With You (Shuichiro Nakazawa)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFa4-Ilb6cg

What a jaunty track. This sort of 6/8 feel is always a lot of fun for me to groove to. Digging around for this track was pretty interesting as well-- it led me to look at some older ZUNTATA work that I hadn't really explored. I think this is a big part of the experience of looking for new music as a tangent from music you've encountered and liked-- you end up finding entire pockets of music you may not have checked out otherwise.

Mad Rat Dead - If We Could Be Friends, (Camellia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIswYjsnqck

I mentioned this in an earlier writeup, and running into it was one of the things that led me to this r4 approach. The opening melody is very reminiscent of Undertale. Sometimes Camellia likes to throw the kitchen sink at a track, and that can be a lot of fun, but I also like his more subdued approach here in the intro, full of light, bright sounds. 1:43 is extremely 'rhythm game' Camellia and I like it a ton; I like his use of detuning just after this as well.

THEMEX
The Apex of the World (Rain)

Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0 (Ma-non Ship Day) (Hiroyuki Sawano)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbvB7ks0MNo

Considered League of Legends - Light and Shadow here (which I used as an intermission in my 2019 VGM list; check that out if you're more in a mood for a big dramatic vocal song). I went with a track with a decidedly different flavour: this opens with a pretty tasty guitar and goes on a few different tangents from there. It's another one of those tracks that sets a cool feeling of place, one of somewhat exotic wonder, but also one I just like to bob my head to. Max is running a Sawano list on Supra discord in just over a week-- worth checking out if this kind of thing is your jam.

Tengami - Blossoms Falling (David Wise)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRxES-lUN3Y

I think Wise's strength is heavily in setting a sort of rhythmic atmosphere and ambiance-- it's no surprise that most of my preferred Wise tracks are DKC tracks that I think succeed at doing exactly that, while usually I'm less interested in Wise's more heavily melody-centric tunes. Blossoms Falling splits the difference a bit; this uses some nice sustained pads and synths, panned to the left and right to give it a somewhat wider, enveloping feel, while the drum and pluck bass synth give it its pulse. 1:37 hits a bit harder than it would otherwise because everything up to that point has felt either like an atmospheric effect or something with sharp attack and decay. It's a pretty decent payoff and it grows on me.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Tearing Through Heaven (Rain) (Hiroki Morishita)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kef24Po3pc0

Strongly considered a couple others, including Paths That Will Never Cross and Howling Gears. I used this in my 2019 VGM list; I knew I liked it but wondered at the time if it would stick with me. (It has.) This does a very specific thing that I have a huge soft spot for, which is when the melody is played by instruments of a higher register initially while accompanied by lower instruments, and then on the second iteration it switches-- lower instruments play the melody while higher instruments accompany. I love that! I dunno why. It just feels so dynamic to me. The breakbeat here just clicks for me; it injects just the right kind of urgent energy for me. 2:18 features those classic Morishita thick chords, just for good measure. It's such a fun track, and one I don't get tired of.

Zen Puzzle Garden - Mizuumi no Tera (Module)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NuG8ll4Bac

We end with a non-Shatter Module VGM composition-- there's not a huge amount of it out there. (Shatter - Aurora was considered here, but really if you enjoy Argon Refinery then I think a few different people would tell you to check out the whole Shatter soundtrack.) This has Module's fairly catchy electronic sensibilities but in a much more relaxed, contemplative form; this also grew on me as I listened to it. It feels a lot warmer than the very tech/computer world of Shatter, even if the individual elements don't feel dramatically so; I think it's the absence of the sharper edges of the Shatter synths that drive that home. I noticed that Module recently began to write music again after a long hiatus, which is very welcome news.

Passing through the Forest
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Threads of Fate - Rasdan (Junya Nakano)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdvqC1In6yI

Junya Nakano, one of the coolest. The different layers and fake-polymetric feel make for some really nice melodic and rhythmic patterns; I also love the percussion layers here, including the most aggressive tambourine usage this side of Kikuta and that machine-gun snare that shows up later. It's such a strangely entrancing track, full of mystery and nervous energy.

Napple Tale - Midori no Hane (Yoko Kanno ft. Maaya Sakamoto)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7vicqMBszU

Secretly (now not-so-secretly) my favourite Napple Tale track. I quite like the whimsy of the other two vocal tracks in this soundtrack but this comes the closest to hitting the heights of Kanno and Sakamoto's non-VGM collaborations. This opens with a lot of the quickly-shifting major/minor chords that evoke such a specific wistful/nostalgic feel in me before it goes in for the big emotional climax moment that sounds like it'd show up in one of her anime credits tracks. It really evokes other music Kanno made during that time-- a time I followed her really closely-- and I think that's part of why I love it.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - Hack and Crash (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C-woMl64w8

There were several different tracks I was thinking of using here. Why this one? This comes from Disc 3, whose tracks aren't usually cited-- this disc doesn't have any of the big battle tracks or the more well-known quiet/emotional tracks, after all. I think I wanted to highlight how Kaneda, even in what feels like it should be a straightforward 'tension-building' cutscene-style track, uses chords and rhythmic elements brilliantly. It's full of dissonant moments that still click coherently, chords that refuse to resolve into something predictable or convenient. Little touches like the rhythm of the string hits at 0:37 keep you on your toes. The low synth keeps up a feeling of menace and danger, while the airier synths give it a very 'computer' feel throughout. It's a track that refuses to go about its business generically, and I really respect that.

YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World - Activation (Ryu Umemoto)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_KWnPJvKy4

Here's where I break the the vgmc entrants rule. This was one-and-done in VGMC12, but it remains one of the most notable tracks from that contest to stick with me. A Toxtricity nomination and one of my favourite tracks in that contest, this was the track that got me interested in Umemoto and the YU-NO soundtrack and, well, that's the whole point I'm trying to illustrate with this exercise now, right? This is one of the most intense tracks in this soundtrack; I find it ludicrously catchy, the way it's built around those square waves that ascend in fourths, while the melody line just riffs over that and the drums go ham. The bass does a lot of work too-- I love the effect when it swells harshly. The intro starting from 0:05 is just so cool, how it ascends into its main melody-- like something is really activating at that moment. This is probably my favourite PC-98 track. The oscilloscope view of this track is also incredibly fun to watch.

Kaze no Ne
An Endless Desert
Theme of D4

trying something new this round based on some recent conversations I was thinking about; this will also probably push me to vote a little earlier, since I can't really pull this off on short notice. basically: vgmc is a nice resource to look for more vgm-- tracks that you like might spur you to look more into a soundtrack or composer. to that end I'll take a look at another track in the same soundtrack or by the same composer that I liked for every* round 4 track and briefly talk about it. I'll generally try to avoid previous vgmc entrants (but will probably make at least one exception).

*non-guaranteed, subject to mood and occasional sloth

Legaia 2: Duel Saga - Fight, Then Riot! (Yasunori Mitsuda)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os5HkWALhuA (why are there no regular-length yt uploads of this)

Thought about using Ruined World from Chrono Trigger here (never realized how much of a VLR vibe that track gives to me now; wonderfully atmospheric track that highlights Mitsuda's ability to set mood). Mitsuda's discography is huge and there's a lot of things I could have picked here; this was a relatively early thing I ran into when digging more into Mitsuda stuff back in 2007. This is a very 'intro' track that still showcases Mitsuda's ear for melody and pretty arrangements; I always used to swoon at 0:36, especially the way the guitar interacts with the piano line.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Within the Dark Sorrow (Kumi Tanioka)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdInlV1aHok

Was sorely tempted to use Departure here, though it's been in VGMC8. I really like the moods Kumi Tanioka sets in this soundtrack with her choices in instrumentation; while a lot of it is playful and foresty this is darker, more cave/night-like. The pads and echoing percussion really hammer this home, while the cello plays a somewhat languid tune. When the flute comes in to accompany it's a beautiful contrast. Unlike a lot of 'cave/night' tracks this doesn't aim to be eerie or sinister; it's remarkably relaxing, a leisurely exploration of an unlit space.

Mr. Driller: Drill Land - Caballero Night Area (Go Shiina)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-zIV8RDqEk

I love how eclectic Go Shiina is willing to be. This is another darker-sounding track with cello, but much more energetic-- the opening synth lays out a cool vibe and it goes from there. There's a bunch of stuff he throws at this and it's a lot of fun-- hard panning, stuttering and gating at unexpected times, several different electronic elements, while still maintaining a really enjoyable overall feel.

Alto's Odyssey - A Moment of Tranquility (Torin Borrowdale)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyqOQnQmFrE

Torin Borrowdale worked on both Alto games' Zen Mode tracks. I overlook this a lot-- it's tough when Endless Desert is possibly my favourite track by one of my favourite VGM composers-- but it's a lovely composition in its own right. It really is, well, tranquil. It has its moment of grandeur about halfway through but my favourite part is just after that, when the xylophone shows up and just goes for it, and the piano joins in soon after-- it carries a playfulness and energy that elevates the track.

Two Planets Approach the Roche Limit
Suite Photoconductivity

Theme of D4
The Lost City
The Merciless Savior

Tenement of the Blue Spirit
Tachi
Tree of Life: Roots

Battle - b2
Aquatic Ambiance
The Wind Calls to Shevat in the Blue Sky

In Hell We Live, Lament
Jungle Joyride (Night)
Indignant Divinity

Para Bellum
Home Sweet Home
Move Me

Jupiter Guns Novel (Long Version)
-
Bunwaii Desert

Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Into the Woods!
Unknown Pollution

-(PHENYLALANINE)-
Different World 1
Halo

An Endless Desert
The Glittering City of Yusnaan
Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope

Secret of the Forest
Kaze no Ne
IroniA

-[PROTEASE]-
Suite Photoconductivity

Gusty Garden Galaxy
-
Prophecy

-I think I abstained in both round 1 matches for match 2's participants! maybe with a few more listens I'd come to some conclusion but I don't have very much time today. listening to each of them did bring a smile to my face-- I appreciate that they were here, and I enjoy them both for fairly different reasons

MI09: Angel
The Merciless Savior
Tree of Life: Roots

-Tenshi hit pretty hard today-- enough to swing what I knew would be a tough choice in its favour
-I didn't really get to talk about tree of life roots in its original round 2 match day; I think it hits a foresty vibe (especially at 1:20) that I'm really fond of that shows up in places like the crystal chronicles soundtrack, though this goes for a bit more grandeur overall

Yoru ~ Sailing
Desert Dunes (Desert)
-

not totally sure about the third match-- may or may not have time to revisit by end of day

-
Tree of Life: Roots
Secret Cave

Limitless Cinderella
Healthy Unicorn Girl
Tachi

this is a really solid round 2 set, though I feel the absence of Renata Glasc here

Daredevil
Secret Cave
Tenement of the Blue Spirit

whoops I already talked about the two tracks I would've wanted to talk about most in this set. well, let's go over a few of the other tracks:
-early on in my 'starting to look for vgm actively' phase I looked for a lot of Mitsuda (driven partially by having Melody of Aqua shown to me); for a time he was my favourite square composer. then my interest waned a bit as I felt a bit oversaturated with his style and pursued other things. in recent years I began revisiting mitsuda and found that I really liked his work, still, and maybe understood why a little better. the intro to Shevat illustrates pretty well-- very pretty polymetric ostinatos that really set a slightly mysterious mood. (the glockenspiel actually reminds me of Schala's theme, one of my favourite CT tracks.) the instrumentation has that classic mitsuda natural/forest feel-- the bongos+flute+bass is something he consistently deploys, and to lovely effect here
-I think I really like at least 30% of every raiden v track, and a lot of the time it includes the intro. kudo really knows how to make an entrance. the thing that bugs me about secret cave is that the melody that starts at 1:02 always drops me out of the track a little. the more sinister second part is cool, and I especially love the percussion at 3:37. I think part of my problem is that I'm prone to compare my enjoyment of any raiden v track to apostle's maraud or the phenomenon
-chrono trigger is a strange soundtrack for me in that I always think of it as a very good soundtrack, but I have mixed feelings about a lot of the more frequently-cited tracks on it. this includes almost every character theme, including this one; it paints a picture of menacing power that I was never completely sold on. there's still some things I enjoy about it a fair bit-- I think the high wind instrument at 0:38 is a cool touch, and I like the rhythm of the section just before the loop

Chapter 6: Dark Pit
NightL
Chani's Eyes

Indignant Divinity
Time
Battle - b2

kinda short on time today (but not on indignation! or uh b2 I dunno)

Another Winter
CMYK (FM Arrange ver.)
Jungle Joyride (Night)

notes:
-when listening to prospective UF8 mizuno nominations, I said I preferred the FM CMYK version to the original, which isn't the choice I'd typically make for a lot of tracks-- but I think the sharper sound of the FM arrange does this one a lot of good. there's an instrument that plays a wonderfully plaintive melody at 1:08; it doesn't quite feel as remarkable in the non-FM version. here, that plaintiveness hits you like a wave, and it's consistently what I find the most memorable about this track

MAD LAST WORLD
Move Me
Abstract Map

re: Abstract Map
b2

I don't really run into vgm that sounds like Abstract Map! It feels like a style I'm much more likely to encounter outside of that sphere. I enjoy this kind of slightly dark downtempo mood a lot-- the lo-fi feel it has from playing off the SNES soundchip even adds to the charm. The little variations on each repetition are fun-- I like the one at 1:18 in particular.

other notes:
-I let the autoplay go after MAD LAST WORLD, and it dutifully jumped to If We Could Be Friends-- and I enjoyed it quite a bit, maybe more than any of the MRD tracks in the contest

Illusionary Blue Flowers
Home Sweet Home
The Spirit of the Mountain

-Home Sweet Home and City of Tears have several similarities, but it's the differences that stand out to me-- they make me feel substantially different things, and I have a noticeable preference to the way the former feels

Bunwaii Desert
Highland Fields: Grass Ruins
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-

short on time and words today!

GATE OF STEINER
ICO -You were there-
-

just a brief one today-- You Were There is one of three tracks I'm strongly familiar with from the ICO soundtrack (Heal, Castle in the Mist), and I love each of them for fairly similar reasons-- they seem to combine a feeling of something a bit unfamiliar, a strange place, with the feeling of remembering that place and the things that happened there, a wistfulness. I'm very taken by anything that evokes that slightly contradicting set of emotions, and You Were There really hits that spot. 1:51 is a quietly breathtaking moment-- I can't get enough of that kind of chord change and the feeling accompanying it.

Unknown Pollution
THE CHASE ~Chase~
Jupiter Guns Novel (Long Version)

re: Hollows
b2/b3

Let's talk about musical context. Sometimes I'll associate a context to a track in the contest by having played the game it's from and the feelings I had hearing it in-game, like Collapsed Expressway. Sometimes I'll hear a track I haven't played the game for and reminisce about my personal circumstances and reaction when I first listened to the soundtrack, like Imbrium. Hollows fits a third context category that I didn't really form fully until recently.

Hollows is one of DireKrow's tracks. It reminds me of Dire specifically, because he was the one who introduced it to me during VGM in 2021 guessing game planning and spoke about how much he liked it. Listening to it, I recognize the elements of it that I know he'd like, from the melody to the beat to the overall feel.

It's hard to quantify, but I do know that I'm much more fond of this track than I'd initially expect because of it. Music is the connective tissue of this community, and there aren't a lot of tracks in the contest that remind me of how it brings us together more than Hollows does. I listen to it, and my thoughts go to a person, and hope he's doing okay.

other notes:
-THE CHASE kinda does a similar thing except in this case it's Toxtricity, and how he first pointed this out to me to explain how closely Kanno's music can mirror Pat Metheny; I hope he's doing okay as well

Into the Woods!
-
46-:ri9

re: Into the Woods!
b2?

sergio introduced me to this track during 'VGM in 2021' guessing game discussions back in December and I was immediately charmed by it-- I love the way it moves forward like a brisk stroll, and then the way the refrain drives the verse home with galloping energy (though I actually like the verse more!) The percussion is really fun and so are the sharp piano chords that sometimes accompany them. Miyolophone wrote this in a weekend for a Ludum Dare and that's really incredible to me-- enough for me to check out the rest of their bandcamp discography.

other notes:
-whoops that second match is tough. there's sort of a comfortable familiarity that's settled in with me for Apex-- I always know about how much I'll enjoy it (a fair amount). Psychomeddler is harder for me to gauge; sometimes I feel it, sometimes I don't

Sea of Frozen Crystals
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
SaKuRa

I'll probably get back on the horse at some point writing about the tracks in the match! Probably.

JFK Cadence
THEMEX
46-:ri9

PowerOne
-(PHENYLALANINE)-
Atolm Dragon

I know this was done mostly out of curiosity and fun, but I'm also inclined to agree that it's not a great idea to define voting in these terms. Making a clean separation of the people who voted in XIV vs today feels like a creation of two specific tribes, which isn't really true-- as mentioned earlier XIV voters themselves were something of an amalgamation of different groups, the new voters aren't a uniform voting bloc (they're not even all from Supra), and the two groups aren't impermeable-- there's been plenty of moments where music migrated between different people through this contest and guessing games.

VGMC's competitive aspect is the part of VGMC I like the least. I get that it's baked into the format, and that there are some people who genuinely enjoy that aspect. But I think looking at voting from this angle exacerbates that competitiveness in sort of an ugly way. I don't see voters originally from Supra or Chase or wherever else as 'the other', and I would like it if those people did not see us that way, either. Something like this feels like it would encourage that kind of thinking.

memoryfactory.lzh
Necessary Discrepancy
46-:ri9

An Endless Desert
Time Moves Slow (Home)
The Glittering City of Yusnaan