LogFAQs > #962633692

74nd
Game: La-Mulana
Title: Grand History
Composer: Takumi Naramura
Nominator: @pyresword
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTLjlUIDI_U

a big part of why i like this song is probably basically just because of associating it with my longest time internet friend (kopaz formerly known as "game bop" to many of those around here).

one of my more "embarrassing" moments looking back is this weird assertiveness that MSX's sound format was FM synth... and even arguing with people trying to tell me it wasn't fm. because it's not, it's wavetable (which is where all the sounds are made from very short tiny wave 'samples' that are so short that when looped they sound like buzzes and beeps) lol; which is like, i mean sometimes it can sound indistinguishable from fm but it's not the same thing (note: i STILL sometimes make this mistake, see the recent gradius writeup!!!). La-mulana is really good at handling that limitation set and making it sound way fuller than a lot of things in this style for sure; it feels like a lot of care went into defining a distinct sound pallete that sounds way different from other stuff made with the same limits

the composition of this song is super bouncy and fun; but pretty much immediately evokes the contrasting "grand" and "adventure" to me at the same time. i don't need to know what this game is to start to picture weathered bricks and fancy stone columns in an impressive ancient ruins scenery set in front of me. something about the melody line, and the triplet rhythms, both of those things kinda evoke specific instrumentation that feels like this song WOULD be on "ancient ruins instruments" instead of "wavetable synthesis" if it were not limited (i have no idea what the other version of this sounds like, lets find out if i'm right!!) ((what the fuck this barely even feels like the same song at all to me lol, this is like, rondo of blood 90s funk world, rather than the GRAND song this is. i'm ok with that but for entirely different reasons)) (((anyways there are definitely 'ethnic' instruments in here so i was right about at least that)))

anyway...i know what i picture when i hear these things and it works.

of course if you know me you know i like intricate rhythms usually, this has a lot of subtle instances of that. the whole thing toys with a mixture of some elements that are shuffle feel and others that are straight 16ths, and others that are triplets! :57 or so being a good example of some of rapid alternation between bouncy and rigid. this makes the whole thing a bit loose, but i like how it gives a more impactful significance to the more rigid layers when they come in, i think if the whole thing were as rigid as the triplets moments at like :50 and 1:00 or the stubborn hits on even quarter notes at the start, those parts wouldn't put ancient ruins pictures in my head and i'd instead just think of it as a computer song. it's ironic that, but you need the contrast of the more loose organic stuff for the heavier simple hits to actually "feel" simple. and the simplicity of the simple elements is what makes it feel like GRAND ANCIENT HISTORY; and i like the simple layers of this song (what?!)! but i definitely wouldn't like them if they were the only thing in the song, because then they wouldn't even feel as simple and primal as they feel in this song. they only feel as ANCIENTly simple if they're able to exist with the less simple elements as a backdrop for their comparison

the melody is catchy and sounds like a folk tune in some imaginary lost city some guy would make up and pretend is in africa, all the little trills and flourishes and slight pitch bends and all that make it feel like it's being played by an instrument too, which is very important for coming across as ancient history when the music is clearly computer generated.