LogFAQs > #974403774

Northeast Frost Street
MNN+@0(Day)
Got more raves?

Good, we're going straight in R2 without being OCD about the tiebreaker match done beforehand.

Did I rank music this year? Yes, I did! I will reveal the rankings (including those that lost R1) as we go through the second round. Oh, and I will only do the top 100. I just didn't have the patience to rank 256 songs...

3) Fire Emblem: Heroes - Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)
9) Kaze no Notam - Menu
21) Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Northeast Frost Street
81) Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0(Day)

Hiroki Morishita is known for making some really unique, quirky stuff (for example, Lost in the Waves). But Vs. Gullveig is 100% the embodiment of Morishita quirkiness, the very definition of why I love Morishita so much. If you just take the vocals and look at that by itself, it might seem rather ordinary... but the "keyboard" stuff... what the heck is that? Cluster chords, and a synth that just runs wild, and that kind of electronic percussion... sheer madness that complements the more predictable vocals (not saying anything's wrong with the vocals - their sheer intensity adds a second layer of madness. And of course the 5/4 meter just makes it all the better. It comes off as super proggy, too, and i love proggy. I love the second half, too... not nearly as frantic, but those chord changes are powerful, man... they follow a simple adjust-by-1/2-step idea, but it works so dang well. And then when it plays again and higher sustained note gets added... this moment makes me want to EXPLODE. And then there are those "glitchy" moments like when the music stops for a split second to be filled with percussive hits.... I wish Toxtricity (TunnelScene) werehere to rank all the music in VGMC and see him gush on how great is (probably in his top 20?) a lot better than I ever could. I really do miss the days when he did that. Vs. Gullveig is probably the most underappreciated participant in this contest, and is more than likely my favorite Fire Emblem track ever.

As far as Menu... when I first heard it, I admit I didn't fully appreciate it. I liked it, but when I was going through BOST6 music this didn't even make it on the list of "BOST6 favorites"... I think the fact that most of my music listening (including music "exploration") is done at work. Since I'm multi-tasking (and plus I can't the play the music as loud as I'd like) sometimes I don't hear and "feel" the music as well as I'd like. Toxtricity helped me to pay closer attention to it during VGMC17 noms. Anyway, Menu is easily on par with music in my top 100 vgm! (that top 100 was compiled shortly before VGMC16). Kirby Triple Deluxe's menu music was my all-time favorite menu music (not formally ranked, but it will likely be officially "ranked" somewhere in my top 500 before long), but that of Kaze no Notam has certainly overtaken it! Anyway, it's easy to be focused on the main melody and stuff, but once you feel everything going on, it's super satisfying. The mix of ambience, industrial, and calmness is great. I just love the soft stacked-fifths chord near the start, and the little machine-like hairpins at e.g. 0:17. The piano countermelody is really nice, too, being in that low register.... And then there's the BIG MOMENT at 0:43... it gives me the chills everytime. That chord (especially the PIANO notes that were so unexpected creating those major 7th intervals)... those sounds..... just gorgeous. The high-frequency stuff is great, but I feel it's more the low frequency-stuff that make it so beautiful. I love Menu... I hear new stuff every time I hear it.