Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 11! SupWoods/The Road, AtolmDrg/SnowInSummer, JFKCadence/ImBackToRise

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 16, an annual celebration of the best of the best video game music according to the voters!

Important Links:
Bracket: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=475935
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_IU5iCFTM_4WEx8ZWKwznMz5v2tarCKh1Ag0mxIgAes
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80027411
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0xxfgkmGKvEyWfHvNZ53Kbn
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XAaBMDuUnQ4c5AxQNL9ZhvD7VG5kQyrXWWZxnkrn-o
VGMC total stats sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1XdLWiUKB2kX99qYBgnRbLU_sCz4dvZSByKKJHCT6o
Discord: https://discord.gg/WDvMS4a

Rules:
- Listen to both songs in a given match, at least through the loop time provided (to make sure you don't skip before you've heard the whole thing!)
- Please consider the loop point listed when judging the song; if a video loops one minute 5 times, don't treat it as if it's a repetitive 5 minute song
- If it's a match between your favorite song ever and a song you despise, still LISTEN TO BOTH! Votes can and will be disqualified if there is suspicion songs are not being listened to, and you may be discounted for the rest of the contest for repeat offenses.
- No alt accounts, no rallying or begging, etc., etc.... You only get one vote! Swapping votes is alright, just make clear that you've already made a vote and are swapping.
- Make clear what your voting options are! Please keep votes separate from any comments, and use the titles given in the topic post.
- Voting in all matches is not mandatory, feel free to skip matches you do not wish to vote in.
- Vote based on the links provided, and not other sources of audio. Links are specifically chosen for best quality and the like.
- Don't discuss vote tallies in this thread, or in other threads, as they may influence votes. Likewise, please refrain from looking at the running tally before voting.

Voting Period:
- Today's matches will last 24 hours from the time of posting, or 24 hours from 10pm Eastern, whichever is the later time.
- Please note this may mean that two topics will be active at the same time!
- If you anticipate being unable to vote in a given day, please send an absentee vote to @banshiryuu, or post your absentee vote in the discussion thread!

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Match 1

Chicory: A Colorful Tale - Supper Woods
Composer: Lena Raine
Loop Point: 3:30
Genre: SKETCH FOREST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfkBOsXcugo

Road 96 - The Road
Composer: Cocoon
Loop Point: 2:38
Genre: FM RADIO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=430iW1U9H7E

Match 2

Panzer Dragoon Saga - Atolm Dragon
Composer: Saori Kobayashi
Loop Point: 3:58
Genre: AIMED TRIBAL
https://www.youtube.com

Supper
rawr >:3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl1apDfQmUs

8.5
2
9
8.5
9
2.5

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
I'm Back (to Rise!)

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
I'm Back (to Rise!)

Match 2 is extremely close for me.

SKETCH FOREST
GESTALTISM
IDLEWILD FLIGHT

the road is just Vance Joy - Riptide
yeah
So, uh, I'm not a fan of Mick Gordon music, which makes this ultimately easy.

The Road
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

The Road
--------
Im Back to Rise

Match 2 is a glorified piss break match. Neither aren't offensive, but it's a lot of nothing and I don't feel much motivation to back either right now. Maybe later or not. Don't know yet.

The Road [9]
Supper Woods [6]
Atolm Dragon [5.5]
Snow In Summer [5.5]
JFK [8.5]
Rise [9]

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

Atolm Dragon's primitive, yet gentle, drums and flutes, and the soft synths doing those planing sus2 chords... it's one of my favorite backdrops you can find in a battle(?) theme anywhere! It's basically Altered Genos, but not quite as good!

Supper Woods (7.8 - 40th place) / The Road (7.3 - 50th place)
Atolm Dragon (9.1 - 7th place) / Snow in Summer (6.2 - 58th place)
JFK Cadence (8.4 - 21st place) / I'm Back (to Rise!) (5.6 - 59th place)

Chicory: A Colorful Tale - Supper Woods
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... - Snow in Summer
Killer Instinct (2013) - I'm Back (to Rise!)

the road to getting blown out
i miss snow already ;_;
i'm back (to cry when this loses)

...well i'm just being a real negative nancy today sorry

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
I'm Back (to Rise!)

Back (5) > Snow (5) > JFK (4) > Woods (4) > Dragon (3) > Road (1)

Wow, this is quite the wild spread. I really HATE the singer in The Road. He should stop doing that, the singing that is. Dragon is fine upon my relisten but they waste that sick drumming with some pretty dull melodies. But LET'S GET TO THE GOOD STUFF starting with I'M BACK TO RISE, holy shit what a jam. High energy power that absolutely kills me and it goes for nine minutes which is entirely too long but fuck you for agreeing with such a statement. No doubt about it, this song deserves to be played any time you do anything remotely satisfying, in full, which would probably get kind of annoying unless your life sucked. It's nine minutes long!!! Snow in Summer bangs too. Nier music is so good and I really appreciate them adding flourishes into the remake, even if the remake reminded me that Nier itself was kind of shit. Snow in Summer isn't the best Nier song, but the better ones are already retired or never get support when I nominate them so that's okay I guess, I'll take it. Global warming sure sucks though. I didn't want to vote against JFK Cadence because it is quite fun, especially given it's in a game called Airport CEO, which I imagine is incredibly boring. Sounds more like music from a mediocre Metroidvania with above average music, which is cool. I would definitely play this game for this song if the game wasn't called Airport CEO. Supper Woods is the only one I haven't talked about, and I don't really plan to discuss much about it because it is simply a good song and I've been speaking entirely too long. I did not enjoy Chicory as much as I wish I did, but it's fine because other people liked it, and also isn't The Road.

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
abstain

I'm pretty conflicted in Match 3. I feel both songs are excellent on their intent (Alto-core / high voltage main theme), and therefore, the vote relies on "what style you like more", which I can't really decide either. The other matches are okay, I suppose. Odd day.

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Match 1, I like the melody but not the singing in the Road. Argh!
Match 2, I vote for Snow with some trepidation, and more because the Panzer Dragoon song isn't hitting me at all; I literally only bought NieR Gestalt *because* of the soundtrack back on the 360, and it wound up being one of my favorite games of the decade. This version kinda loses some of the impact by trading out some eerieness to put it into the orchestral/brass swelling near the end, which is more in tune with Kingdom Hearts than the emotional impact the opening's supposed to have. Meh.
Match 3: Easy. I didn't like I'm Back, and I don't like I'm back now that it's back proclaiming I'm Back. Airport CEO, meanwhile, is reminding me of LobCorp which I'm on a kick on playing right now. Except with hopefully less horrific crimes against nature and exploding chibi artwork.

The Road
Snow in Summer
I'm Back (to Rise!)

man the vocal songs work even better on a day like this, supper woods contains none of the things i normally like about lena raine stuff and match 2 in general was a mess but at least snow in summer has energy

Atolm Dragon is very intense, actually...in a quiet sort of way. P_P

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

The Road
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

8.1
8.5
7.7
5.2
9
7.9

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
I'm Back (to Rise!)

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

The Road
Snow in Summer
I'm Back (to Rise!)

Killer Instinct (2013) - I'm Back (to Rise!)
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... - Snow in Summer

Road
Dragon
Rise!

The Road
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Supper is a nice background track. I love The Road's chorus and the whole thing is so relaxing, it's not a groundbreaking piece of music but it's right up my alley.
Atolm's melody isn't grabbing me I'm afraid, but I like the instruments. Snow is more subdued than I'm used to with Nier tracks, it's not the most impressive but I like the feeling it evokes.
JFK is one of my fav surprises from the nomination period! I don't know enough about music to articulate what it is about this track that gets me, but it takes me on one heck of a journey. It never gets stale and keeps introducing new things up until the end, without ever feeling disconnected.
I was listening to I'm Back wondering why on earth I noted that I liked it in my bracket, but it gets much better in the back half (starting at the part where the backing drops out about 4 mins in). Still, this is no contest.

Supper: 3/5
Road: 4/5
Atolm: 2/5
Snow: 3.5/5
JFK: 5/5
Back: 3.5/5

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
I'm Back (to Rise!)

Chicory: A Colorful Tale - Supper Woods
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... - Snow in Summer
Airport CEO - JFK Cadence

FM RADIO
AIMED TRIBAL
IDLEWILD FLIGHT

7.35
7.6
8.3
7.45
5.45
6.05

match 1 gives me unusually similar vibes given their different approaches. the road has the advantage due to its almost authenticity though, that totally is easygoing radio music and i'm fine with that today.

difficult to not just antivote snow in summer 1.22 because of how much of a pain it was to make sense of its structure to (hopefully) determine how it looped (maybe). i bet it's actually longer than the video in reality. either way, it's facing a type of music i enjoy a lot, and a fine example of it. also sorry for my totally phoned in genre selection for nier, i didn't really expect it to be picked

i just haven't really been feeling jfk. like it's fine and above average for sure and even does things i like maybe more than all the other songs today but it just doesn't stir super strong emotions for me effectively enough because it's kind of just barely too "normal". i think it's because its instumentation makes it feel like waiting music for some hotline, and it also feels... tv drama soundtrack-ish in some parts. by contrast, that other nominated song like a ceo just demonstrated how unmistakably "videogame music" it was and felt like it could easily be in a different soundtrack despite otherwise carrying over jfk's lounge characteristics. in saying that, it's also difficult for back to rise to exactly win me over. i respect how well it does what it goes for, but it's not my default style and today i'm just not quite as disposed towards it as i was when i last edited my ratings.

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
I'm Back (to Rise!)

Road
Snow
Back

All normie votes today!

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

The Road
Atolm Dragon
I'm Back (to Rise!)

Matches of extremes like the third one always amuse me - helps that they're actually both quite good. Not much to say about the first two.

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

The Road is one of those songs I can see myself enjoying after persistent listening, but I'm still not super keen on the singer. Supper Woods is really good though! One of my favourite indie tracks of recent years (like another song I will get to VERY soon).

I respectfully do not understand the opinions that Atolm does not have energy. The tribal, ethic percussions aren't in your face or anything like that, but I'm getting pumped. Psyched up. I find Snow in Summer to be pleasant and good for what it is, but those beats got me mesmerized.

I LOVE JFK Cadence. Airport CEO is one of my favourite indie OSTs for how breezy and smooth and strangely warm it is. It is so comforting. I thought this vote would be extremely easy going in, but I enjoy I'm Back (To Rise!) a LOT more than I remembered. The vote is still on the easy side, but only because of a shit matchup. My only complaint is that it could have ended four minutes earlier, but I really needed this boost today so I can't say I'm mad.

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

The Road
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Road 96 - The Road
Panzer Dragoon Saga - Atolm Dragon
Airport CEO - JFK Cadence

Comparing The Road to Vance Joy - Riptide is especially harsh and not even accurate imo. I like almost everything about the track except (big except) for those plonking vibes in the refrain which really do call back to that really awful corporate pop you hear in car commercials and YouTube ads and the like. Airport CEO is really incredible and probably my favorite discovery of the contest. Today's assortment:

[9.5] JFK Cadence
[8.5] Atolm Dragon
[7.5] Snow in Summer
[6.5] The Road
[6.5] I'm Back (to Rise!)
[5.5] Supper Woods

Supper Woods is a great song. Love the harpsichord-type ostinato. Great melody, mix, and progression in this one. The flutes add a lot as well.

The Road is also really nice. Nice acoustic guitar. Vocalist is fine, though not my favorite. I really like the melody in this one too. Actually not sure how to vote on this match.

Atolm Dragon has a neat atmosphere, though I can't say that it interests me much otherwise. Melody is very much hidden in the background and not particularly memorable. And it does get boring to hear the same drum loop over and over for 4 minutes straight.

Snow in Summer is another song that I like the atmosphere of (particularly the vocals), but it's not really a standout melodically or compositionally. It'll probably still get the edge in this match though.

JFK Cadence is super neat. Love the instrumental choice in this and how it builds on itself. Great mix as well. I really like the bass effects added at 3:14. Just an overall awesome atmosphere. Easy vote for this one.

I'm Back (to Rise!) has pretty solid production. Good synths and percussion throughout. The rap delivery feels rather amateurish however, which pulls this down a bit. Still a very solid song, but it doesn't stand up to JFK. The bit at 4:47 is especially cool.

Pretty solid day today, even though match 2 is weird. Still unsure how to vote on match 1, so I'll abstain for the time being and vote on it later.

Votes:
TBD
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Chicory: A Colorful Tale - Supper Woods
Panzer Dragoon Saga - Atolm Dragon
Airport CEO - JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

Why Supper Woods? It's not bad, but I don't think it's a top 10 Chicory song. Weird choice. The Road is quite nice and hits better for me this time.

Atolm Dragon has a good start. Doesn't go much of anywhere though. Snow in Summer is the good Nier music. <3

JFK's rather better than I remember it being. Very CHILL and GROOVY. I wish I'm Back wasn't the KI song we saw in repeated years. It's solid, but there are others I like way more.

The Road
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Snow in Summer > The Road > JFK Cadence > I'm Back (to Rise!) > Supper Woods > Atolm Dragon

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Hey, I like JFK Cadence. Snow in Summer takes its time but isn't bad, and neither is Supper Woods. Pretty good. I don't really dislike anything here either, Back to Rise is just kind of lengthy, but has its moments.

No top 50s today.

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
I'm Back (to Rise!)

I'm incredibly tired so none of these songs land quite as high as they normally would...except I'm Back, which was the only one that put a smile on my face. Normally JFK Cadence takes that matchup for me. This is why I always relisten!

The Road
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence...sigh.