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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

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

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

< P0's Top 16 >
9.1 (1 left): Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital / Im Back (to Rise!)
8.9 (2 left):
8.8 (2 left):
8.7 (0 left): The Wind's Blooming Mountain
8.5 (1 left):
8.4 (1 left):
8.3 (1 left): Don't speak her name! / Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
8.2 (3 left):

Bracket A be wild, son! Back to Rise was my #1 last year at 9.2, and I still love it but 9.1 felt like it was more accurate. I'll just continue from where I left off in R1 last year and highlight the multiple rhymes in that legendary first verse. Not only do the vowel sounds have to match, but the general downbeats follow English word stress! I still can't get over how good it is:

I used to be the flashiest star
Chilling with cash and cars
But somewhere lost my passion's heart
Now at the Combo Gym, getting my back my art
With the fury inside you can't match my spark

So, pull up your guard before I shatter your chest
I got the instinct to do it in this battle of death
This is my time to rise you can't rattle my steps
I'm gonna win, and it don't matter who challenge me next

So, I can power through you with no risk
Leaving your soul twisted up in my closed fist
Take notice, I stand as the coldest
Baddest, erratic fighter you could face on a foes list

The knockout king to all my opponents
I'm taking every moment to win, baby I own it
Yeah, I start to zone in with flurries and combinations
And end you with haymakers, my skills are way greater => CUE HYPE-AS-HELL HOOK

Supper / Dragon / Cadence

Supper Woods: Journeys begin here, young adventurers taking their first trek between the trees, ready for dangers and excitement.

The Road: On a long car ride, hundreds of miles down the highway, you fiddle with the dial until you hear a familiar song coming past the static.

Atolm Dragon: The kingdom's fleet rises as one into the air, each unit following their lead pilots as they move onward into battle.

Snow in Summer: Glaciers melt slowly and tragically as the heat of the sun beats down upon them, loosening them and dropping each one into the ocean.

JFK Cadence: Air traffic control watches closely as flights embark and touch down on the ground, a lattice of planes reforming and shifting every second.

I'm Back (to Rise!): Stepping into the ring for the first time in years, he basks in the glory: bright lights beating down, crowd cheering, music blaring.

Atolm Dragon = JFK >= I'm Back > Supper > Snow >>> Road

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

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

I'm back to...change my vote in the third match.

Can I just pre-vote for the winner until they lose?

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

Just some stray comments today!
-I like Snow in Summer-- I nominated the original back in VGMC5, I think-- but I feel like this version loses a bit of the original's spirit. there's something haunting and desperate about the original, the children's choir combined with a somewhat sparse accompaniment and the section that closes the track at 4:18 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QosUFfFXK0A which is probably my favourite part, like will o' wisps acting out a tragedy, and that combined with the imagery of the track title is part of what drove me to play the game. what this newer version gains in grandeur, it seems to lose in mood.
-I first heard JFK Cadence (and Airport CEO as a whole) from chillphysics's indie list, and thought it was a big highlight then, too
-WHEN I BREAK THROUGH I SHAKE FOOLS WITH GREAT MOVES
(this is probably my favourite section in the track)

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

hello atolm dragon the first of TWO 10/10s that are in this contest for me..... (and the lower of the two at that...!!) this is like. literally perfect old console sequenced sample quality that is low enough and yet crisp enough to just make me feel the OOZE of sound with every single new note strike it's just next level... it is probably DEAD here but god i'm so glad it made it to contest lol i love this song to bits and have for a long time and thats why i recently decided its actually just a straight up 10 which despite me loving way too many songs, does not happen often!! (i think theres about 21 songs total, 17 of them vgm, that i'd give a 10)

(out of 62)
(1st) Panzer Dragoon Saga - Atolm Dragon
(31st) Chicory: A Colorful Tale - Supper Woods
(34th) Airport CEO - JFK Cadence
(48th) NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... - Snow in Summer
(56th) Killer Instinct (2013) - I'm Back (to Rise!)
(59th) Road 96 - The Road

From Toxtricity:

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

Smeargle core

96, also known as Daisuke Kurosawa, was a composer for the GuitarFreaks & DrumMania series best known for his hard rock songs since his 2006 debut in GuitarFreaks V3 & DrumMania V3

I LOVE SAORI KOBAYASHI

This song sounds like a thunder storm

Jfk cadence is one of the most steve reich archetype tunes this contest, more than a lot i might say that about. Probably because of the guitar reminding me a lot of lines right out of Electric Counterpoint for electric guitar or amplified acoustic guitar and tape (1987, for Pat Metheny)

I fell asleep some time in the middle of supper woods or mightve been phenylalanine even (i do not even think those songs are boring in the slightest i was just very sleepy..) and im back to rise woke me up ha ha. Pretty shockingly. Well back to relisten to all those i slept thru somehow i guess [commentary is transported back in time, NONLINEAR]

The Road
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

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

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

Yeah, The Road is much catchier, so it gets my vote.

Vote:
The Road

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

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

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

--
Supper Woods [8.5]
The Road [7.3]

Like a few others here, I don't really care too much for the vocals in The Road, as fitting as they feel for a chill, acoustic song like it. Supper Woods is probably my 2nd-3rd favorite Chicory song, it's really grown on me a fair bit since noms from last VGMC I believe.

Atolm Dragon [8.5]
Snow in Summer [7.6]

Tribal rhythms, I'm recently learning, are a quick way to get me interested in what else a song has going on. The energy in it is pretty fun too. I'm slowly warming up to Nier music as well, but Snow in Summer just isn't hitting me in this matchup, sorry to say.

JFK Cadence [8.7]
I'm Back (to Rise!) [6.5]

A chill and groovy vibe is JFK Cadence in a nutshell, I can easily enjoy it. I'm Back kinda sounds better than what I remembered about it from last year, but it definitely overstays its welcome after the 4:30 mark, I feel very little interest remaining by the end of the song.

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

Supper Woods
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

The Road
Snow in Summer
JFK Cadence

Match 1 is actually really good huh.

Supper Woods
abstain
I'm Back (to Rise!)

Match 2 is definitely the most boring of the contest so far and Match 3 is just cruel

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

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

MATCH 1

Supper Woods is a pretty catchy song with that plucky string (forgive me for not being able to tell what this is lol) melody. Though it's only somewhat above average to me and not a song that's really great, so I probably wouldn't vote for it over a lot of things, but it's good enough here!

I like the coziness of The Road! Nice, relaxing song to listen to. Pretty close match and I'd be happy with either song winning here.

MATCH 2

Don't really care for Atolm Dragon very much. I feel like I could enjoy the song with the instrumentation it has if it had a different composition. I'm struggling to find a way to describe the song's melody, but I guess I find the song's tonality too "unconventional" for me? That might not even make sense, but if you've seen what I've historically liked and didn't like, hopefully you can get the picture of what I'm trying to say here.

Snow In Summer is pretty nice, but there are definitely better Nier songs out there. I like this song the most after 1:47 when that string melody comes in. That's my favorite part of the song, so it's nice to hear it repeat a lot throughout the song.

MATCH 3

I am very happy I was able to think of the name Steve Reich when listening to JFK Cadence before seeing it in Tox's writeup haha. Pretty chill song. I think I like the mallets the most in this song. Not my ideal kind of chill song, but still pretty neat.

I really like the instrumental of I'm Back (to Rise). That and the singing vocals makes this a really cool, powerful song. Feel the power, baby. I had this losing round 1 last year, but I pushed this up to round 4 this year. One of the interesting things about this year's brackets is that I feel like there aren't as many songs in the contest that are just obvious me songs that I'd push to retirement/championship compared to past years. So this ends up allowing me to send some songs that I like farther than I would in the past, which I think gives a slightly deeper look at my VGM tastes than my previous favorites brackets do. I say this because I'm Back (to Rise) is one of those songs that I thought of that would probably lose to something earlier on in past years even though I do like it quite a bit.

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

Supper Woods
Atolm Dragon
JFK Cadence

I'm not the biggest fan of a lot of Lena Raine's stuff for some reason, but Supper Woods is certainly not a track that contributes to that feeling.

Matches 2 and 3 were hard. Match 3 very much ended up coming down to my personal taste :p (I mean Match 1 definitely did too- they all do- but I was more torn on #3 and explicitly fell back on that for the tiebreak)

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

Chicory: A Colorful Tale Supper Woods 7 Oh shoot, this was done by Lena Raine? It felt quite bouncy and whimsical. I liked how all the sounds wove together into a beautiful and alluring piece.

Road 96 The Road 6 Wait the main hook of this song is actually really good. It reminds me of some homey pop country song like old town roads. Fudge.. i don't like this match, both these songs are solid. I guess. . The rest of the song sounds subpar compared to the cheery warm chorus.

Panzer Dragoon Saga Atolm Dragon 3.5 This has a strong otherworldly song, which I bet everyone will like, but like that glittering city whatever song, I don't care for the sound much. I like how the song crescendoed overtime until it reached a big climax at the end. Otherwise, it was pretty stagnant and boring.

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... Snow in Summer 5 Like with many other nier songs, this was mostly vocalizing with sweeping grandiose orchestra rising and falling. There was a faint beeping sound in the background I found annoying, but otherwise this was fine?

Airport CEO JFK Cadence 7 A complex maze of marbles bouncing in perfect synchronicity spirals outward to invite everything in its calming and curious fun factory. It bulges to a peak before settling with meloncholic horns. This song was a contemplative and great journey.

Killer Instinct (2013) I'm Back (to Rise!) 9 The music I like the most is something that pumps me up, no matter what I'm feeling; it makes me bob my head and jam out. I don't typically consider myself like a rap fan, but this song has a perfect combination of rap, rock and hip hop. The flow is simply immaculate. It goes from verse to verse to chorus back to verse without missing a beat. Even the quieter parts halfway hit hard as they provide a nice moment of solace and holy reflection coupled with a nice piano melody. I really like this song.

8.3 - Chicory: A Colorful Tale - Supper Woods
6.8 - Road 96 - The Road
6.0 - Panzer Dragoon Saga - Atolm Dragon
6.9 - NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... - Snow in Summer
7.8 - Airport CEO - JFK Cadence
8.6 - Killer Instinct (2013) - I'm Back (to Rise!)