LogFAQs > #962749488

69rd
Game: Pokmon Sun / Moon
Title: Battle! Ultra Beast
Composer: Go Ichinose
Nominator: @DoctorJimmy133
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4qdUsfuhh0

Ok first off its funny this comes right after maxo because go Ichinose has stated that he's inspired heavily by maxo (this song is so wonderfully painfully bluntly ichinose's style haha)

I suppose me liking this one isn't a surprise. There's some comparisons on my mind at the moment that make this tighter to my tastes than you'd ever think though, even more than I originally thought the first many times i heard it (this is the sort of song that i think benefits a lot from attention to detail; which is naturally how i percieve music, but with this song i think i tended to zone out, maybe even specifically because it sorta represents a similar thing in my mind to the broken realities of World of Nothing that i talked about lengthily how much that's more a "zone out" type of music than anything i ever try to analyze---even though this song is in that category, i get FAR more out of it when i attune to small details which i'm not as inclined to do with stuff representing this setting)

but Ok for one I mentioned hayato matsuo recently, one reason I'm often fond of him is his strange and alien morphing lazer cutting synth leads. Check out the sounds of the lead at :23 here
https://youtu.be/1_GMoXmIre8

Something that sounds like exactly that is pretty rare to find, pretty much every factor of that distinctive crazy synth lead sound hayato matsuo used all over his stuff in the 90s is here. the vibrato when sustained, every disgusting bubbly layer and morph to it

And this pokemon song has not just that, but the bouncy rubbery fake analog synth bass type sounds everywhere too. A more "manic" incarnation of matsuo's style is here:
https://youtu.be/2wnCuHLvlkE

the manic depressive overall is more similar to the mood of the ultra beast track, especially in relation to all the rapid 16ths synths going crazy and stuff

Now I don't actually think it's likely go ichinose was influenced by hayato matsuo at all...I mean it's possible, but this early period of matsuo's style isn't at all what he's most known for. But regardless, I consider it rare to find a song I can actually say genuinely /sounds/ like him. I compare music to him all the time because he's one of my favorite musicians, but its usually a more passive "ah yeah its like that one matsuo song sorta" way. This ultra beast song Actually Sounds Like This Very Specific Style that has barely had a representative since matsuo moved away from this sound after the 90s

Anyways. Beyond just comparison stuff, this also has some cool rhythmically-related tempo changes ("metric modulation") that makes me think of Virgil d(NO COMPARISONS PLEASE) [[O NO I CANR STOP MYSELF]]VIRTIL DOBATI
Yeah sure I will just link this song for no reason
https://youtu.be/xfl2CeQNlNg

(Imo this comparison is a lot more shallow than the matsuo one. But given that hayato matsuo and virgil donati are two of the most influential and important musicians to me, both with the most distinct traits of their style being kinda rare to find, its a big deal when I can find a song that actually seems to call back to elements of BOTH of the two of them at once!)

i really liked the idea of the Ultra Beasts in this game so much, just designs that extremely didn't feel like pokemon, to make it clear that they were from another totally foreign and unsettling world (similar instinctual unnerving feelings that i mentioned in my metroid prime writeup). this music sets their tone pretty well; i think ultrasun/ultramoon does an even better job with some of the new music for that, given that it has a lot more focus on the ultra beasts. and although i haven't gotten there yet, from what i've seen, i'm very fond of the way the arceus game signifies [incomprehensible monster] in a number of ways thru its music. DPP did a good job too with giratina....basically gamefreak is good at this topic. they should make missingno a real pokemon, it would almost certainly have amazing music...