Because you know you want the musical opinion of an individual who's favourite songs often exit in the first round of VGM contests!
Post links to no more than 3 tracks here, but once I've listened to them feel free to resubmit if you want. I'll try and write at least 2 or 3 sentences about everything.
I'm expecting mainly video game music, but if you want to throw in the odd bit of music from popular culture then I guess I can rate that separately.
Because you know you want the musical opinion of an individual who's favourite songs often exit in the first round of VGM contests! We're on the same camp!
Living Colour - Cult of Personality I was one of (I assume) a fair few people who first heard this song in GH3 (it was a minor hit back in the 80's after all), and it was a pretty stand-out track in arguably the best set in the game. The lyrics are great, but the highlight is clearly the guitar solo during the bridge. So awesome to 'play' yourself. Fun fact: whilst Chris may claim this is his theme tune due to weak minded fools in mafia, back at the beginning of the year when I was doing a bit of marketing and selling, I used to sing this to myself between sales to gee myself up.
Sonic Adventure 2 - A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup Didn't take you long to take the topic title literally did it. I'll do it a favour and largely ignore the lyrics, filing them under cheesy and/or tongue-in-cheek. The piano melody is ok I guess. Nothing to really write home about, but I've heard worse Sonic music!
Dead Rising - Gone Guru This one I've heard before. Rap isn't really my 'thing' but there's definitely exceptions. I think it's better in context than standalone, but that saves it a little for me because it means I get the irony. The beat to this one doesn't wear out as quickly as AGPS.
Illusion of Gaia - Sadness The synth on this one hurts my laptop's speakers. Somehow. It's not offensive or anything, but it just screams 'typical JRPG thoughtful and reflective ballad', like you've heard in every 2D RPG ever. The tunes quite nice all the same though.
Seamus Theme I can't work out if this is supposed to be self-aware parody, someone who thought rock with celtic snippets was a great idea, or something far worse. As a theme song, you'd think they'd come up with something a little less cliched all the same though! Other than that, it's not bad, but I'm not getting any 'epic' or 'cool' vibes from it or anything.
Mercenary - Supremacy v2.0 Death Metal has never really appealed to me. That style of singing just grates with me. I can appreciate the instrument work regardless though. Never heard of Mercenary before, but this sounds alright. Not much of a metal connoisseur as I mentioned though, so you'll have to forgive me if I find it a little samey! Best part for me was around the 6 minute mark, liked the melody of the guitar there.
Illusion of Gaia - Sadness Dead Rising - Gone Guru Sonic Adventure 2 - A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup
Living Colour - Cult of Personality Mercenary - Supremacy v2.0 Seamus Theme
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Will not remove this line of my signature until the Seahawks, Jazz or Rockies win a title (Started 5-16-09) http://www.sporcle.com/games/Kazbar/gfaqscontest
SBell - This broadcast is not available in your country "well then"
cranky - party 4u ''holy nite mix Fun fact: I'm not in a terribly good mood right now, so things I don't like are going to attract my ire even more than usual. This is atrocious. It sounds like some of the dross they had around in the mid-90's. And for the record there is indeed music in this genre that I find listenable.
Emma Bunton - Maybe Huh. I kind of liked this when it came out, which is strange given the artist, but all of her music round then had this kind of 60's, James Bond-y kind of feel to it, which I liked the sound of. I think the other one that was alright was called Free Me or something. But yeah, for a pop song this is alright.
Illusion of Gaia marathon Like the pan pipe sound on the first one, makes it sound very exotic. It's simple, but pleasant on the ears. Second one reminds me of the Hyrule castle theme, which is no bad thing. The high pitched synth sound is kind of Metroid-y too, in a way. Third one didn't really excite me at all, I found it rather generic.
C-Clays - Nine Spirit This wasn't bad or anything, but it never seemed to get going for me. Sounds like it'd make some passable credits music.
Klonoa - The Ring This was alright. Nothing wrong with the guitar but I've heard it all before. Gives off an "epic, but not that epic" sort of vibe.
a-ha - Here I Stand and Face the Rain I like a few a-ha tracks, this wasn't one I'd heard before. Or at least I didn't think I had, but some bits sound familiar, so maybe I just hadn't placed a name to the recognisable bits before. Wasn't bad but the chorus doesn't measure up to their best efforts.
Zombi - Legacy Ugh, 9 minutes. I just want to post this dammit. Well, anyway, this reminds me of the backing soundtrack to any action movie of the 80's. It's got that "cool, yeeeeaaaah" thing going for it, but ultimately it's just the same thing repeating over and over. It sets a mood nicely, but that's it. Picks up a bit around 8 mins in, but doesn't change spectacularly.
Illusion of Gaia - Great Wall of China Illusion of Gaia - Signs of the Past Klonoa - The Ring Illusion of Gaia - Sadness C-Clays - Nine Spirit Illusion of Gaia - Sky Garden Dead Rising - Gone Guru Sonic Adventure 2 - A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup cranky - party 4u ''holy nite mix
Living Colour - Cult of Personality Emma Bunton - Maybe a-ha - Here I Stand and Face the Rain Zombi - Legacy Mercenary - Supremacy v2.0 Seamus Theme
Meet Uncle Hussain - Lagu Untukmu Well, uh, I can't really make any judgment on the lyrics, but the music isn't bad at all or anything. I get the impression this is one of those occasions where their native country loves them, but to Western tastes it isn't anything special.
WLIIA - Irish Drinking Song Not sure this strictly counts, but whatever. It's fairly funny. What else can I judge it on >_>
Anhken - Always Look Back I rarely listen to dance music out of context. Generally because when you're drunk in a club you don't care what they have playing unless it's something immediately recognisable and you feel the need to make an even bigger tit of yourself. I think a lot of Trance and Rave sound very samey, and this doesn't leap out at me sounding terribly different from what they play towards the end of a night at any nightclub after the popular stuff has already been on.
Emporer_Kazbar's choice Inferior to the song that never ends imo
Leonardo Leo - Heu Nos Miseros I generally prefer my classical music instrument heavy rather than choir heavy, but this is all very pleasant all the same. I always feel like you need some kind of qualification in music to adequately review pieces of music like this, there's always more to it than just Latin being sung (it's usually Latin anyway, I've not looked up whether or not this is).
Itsumo Nando Demo I'm getting the distinct feeling you guys are trying to make this difficult for me with this stretch of songs >_> I've seen Spirited Away, but it's more the story than the music that I remember it for. It's a very pretty piece though, and I think the Japanese adds to that.
God Eater - An Approaching Nightmare I was watching my brother and his friend finish FF:CC recently (only took them 7 years), and this reminds me of the musical style to that game. It's kind of a blend of folky music with an Asian twist, which is kind of cool. The vocals don't really do anything for me, but they don't ruin it.
Tarzan - You'll Be in My Heart (malay) Disney songs in Malay, huh. I never watched Tarzan though, so it's all new to me anyway. It's rare to come across one that can stand up on it's own merit on a purely musical basis though, I feel the lyrics are very important in most Disney songs. So here I think the 'message' is lost on me. It's just a poppy song sung in a different language!
Strawberry Jam - Kibouhou (Cape of Good Hope) You get some very obnoxious sounding Japanese vocalists (almost always female) from time to time. This is one of those occasions! Luckily though, if you ignore that I like the music itself. That isn't a bad bit of guitar and drum work.
Well, this was a very multicultural post today. Although really I should be getting a little more vg tracks!
God Eater - An Approaching Nightmare Illusion of Gaia - Great Wall of China Illusion of Gaia - Signs of the Past Klonoa - The Ring Illusion of Gaia - Sadness C-Clays - Nine Spirit Illusion of Gaia - Sky Garden Dead Rising - Gone Guru Sonic Adventure 2 - A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup cranky - party 4u ''holy nite mix
Living Colour - Cult of Personality Emma Bunton - Maybe Strawberry Jam - Kibouhou (Cape of Good Hope) Leonardo Leo - Heu Nos Miseros Itsumo Nando Demo a-ha - Here I Stand and Face the Rain Anhken - Always Look Back Zombi - Legacy Meet Uncle Hussain - Lagu Untukmu Mercenary - Supremacy v2.0 Seamus Theme Tarzan - You'll Be in My Heart (malay) WLIIA - Irish Drinking Song Emporer_Kazbar's choice
From: Luis_Sera89 | Posted: 9/5/2011 1:36:35 PM | #040 Leonardo Leo - Heu Nos Miseros I generally prefer my classical music instrument heavy rather than choir heavy, but this is all very pleasant all the same. I always feel like you need some kind of qualification in music to adequately review pieces of music like this, there's always more to it than just Latin being sung (it's usually Latin anyway, I've not looked up whether or not this is).
There is a lot going on - two choirs in pretty much constant dissonance coming together at the end. And yeah, it's Latin.