Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 15! Keeper/Fire Wire, Museum of Agony/INARI 1st, Epicentre/Scream

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 17, 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=477304
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SAJKYJmYhccLvbf_H-5uSA7-eMwXfW8k1q74Qho1bLU
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80433657
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0wlcxj-kHQRU1yHo-kpMxGe
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_IU5iCFTM_4WEx8ZWKwznMz5v2tarCKh1Ag0mxIgAes
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

Nymph's Tower - Keeper
Composer: Marek Poliks (Muxer)
Loop Point: 4:40
https://youtube.com/watch?v=55EOPYPpf0A

Soukaigi - Fire Wire
Composer: H

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Nymph's Tower - Keeper
Stretch Panic - Museum of Agony
SimCity 4 - Epicentre

Keeper [ ]
Fire Wire []
Museum of Agony [ ]
INARI 1st []
Epicentre [ ]
Scream [X X]

in contrast, today was ABSOLUTELY my day

Keeper
Museum of Agony
Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre but wow this match is fuckin brutal for me personally

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Keeper
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Holy guacamole, Match 1 is hard. Keeper has this really strambotic design that somehow, someway captures me through the whole thing; Fire Wire has some great strings and piano and it's killer as well. Tough decision, but this gotta be one of my favorite matches on the competition so far. Hope whoever wins does great.

The other matches were easier. Okay-a-day, all considered.

Keeper
Museum of Agony
Scream

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Fire Wire
Museum of Agony
Scream

Soukaigi - Fire Wire
Tekken 7: Fated Retribution - INARI 1st
SimCity 4 - Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

incredibly good set of three im voting for today

From TunnelScene:

Keeper (Nymph's Tower)
Museum of Agony (Stretch Panic)
Epicentre (SimCity 4)

oneohtrix point never for Steve reich fans, or is it the other way around!? I looked into this guy's work beyond this game and oh man this guy is ridiculously my kinda guy. this is my fav from what I've heard so far from him, at least the most---still able to evoke a setting I can picture, while still exploring my fav music traits like layered ambiguous meter and all that

ilikethe parts where u can tell it is hiroki kikuta

why e-mu is my favorite synth company. I love NON and this soundtrack. but this is the one that sets the tone I want from it best (well either it or ex-rooftop/zako room 4) the ridiculously shiny plastic drums and these insanely dense chords

jazz : ) world

Sim city 4 songs always feel so ridiculously dense and full and I respect that

I wish I could vote for the edgy tracks more often. I really do like that

Nymph's Tower - Keeper
-
SimCity 4 - Epicentre

Keeper
Museum of Agony
Epicentre

The ethos of the composer of Keeper (http://www.anothertimbre.com/marekpoliks.html):

I want my music to invite people into material experiences of alien environments. It's a trick, it's a heuristic for embodiment. When I allow a sensation to belong to a self-sustaining world outside of my own - my world, the world I am responsible for maintaining - I can relax the more stubborn corners of my attention into my body. The more realistic the alien world, the greater the effect.

I just think Nymph's Tower has a very cool ambient noise soundtrack :)

Mitsuhiro Kitadani is a neat composer, but I like NON more unfortunately

Keeper
Museum of Agony

Soukaigi - Fire Wire
Tekken 7 - Vermilion Gates - Round 1 (Kunimitsu's Theme 1st)
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Endwalker - Scream

Scream >> EPICENTRE > Vermilion Gates - Round 1 (Kunimitsu's Theme 1st) >> Fire Wire > Museum of Agony >>>> Keeper

Those first three songs sucked ass. Keeper in particular hurt to listen to at points. Thank fuck Scream is there to save the night, loved this song ever since I first heard it in a Supra contest.

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Scream

not my favorite day but the fox thingy was neat

FiWi
Vermy Gates
Screm

again, no monologues today.

Fire Wire
Inari
Scream

Soukaigi - Fire Wire
Tekken 7: Fated Retribution - INARI 1st
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker - Scream

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Scream

Interesting that Scream just got one upped by a new patch Tuesday and is significantly less edgy/more sinister than it was before. Alas, perhaps Tireless One will get a chance next year.

Keeper
Museum of Agony
Epicentre

Keeper
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Keeper
Inari
Epicentre

Nymph's Tower - Keeper
Stretch Panic - Museum of Agony
SimCity 4 - Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

*shrug*

Keeper
Museum of Agony
Scream

Keeper
Museum of Agony
Epicentre

Keeper
Museum of Agony
Scream

After really disliking Scream in the Supra contest, here I am taking it over SimCity 4! Truly VGMC is a cavalcade of surprises.

Keeper: Idk how you'd consider this song painful to listen to tbh. Very ambient song with lots of interesting sounds. Not a song I'd vote for very often unless I were to dislike the opponent, but it's very intriguing and I respect the pick a lot.

Fire Wire: I'd be less surprised to hear someone complain about the high-pitched strings on this one as being painful to listen to. The running piano in the background is probably my favorite part of this. The strings are pretty neat as well, even if I do think they are too bright in the mix. Fun song.

Museum of Agony: This one's another cool soundscape-y song. Reminds me a bit of the Metroid Prime soundtracks. Definitely enjoyed this one, and I probably will vote for this one.

INARI 1st: Idk, conceptually, this one should be grabbing more than it is. It's got neat instrumentation with the piano and shinobue and all that. It's probably the less-than-stellar melody that's making me uninterested. It's a fine song and all, but doesn't really stand out to me.

Epicentre: This one's very cool. Cool underlying ostinato, and the vocal samples combined with the hand percussion really make a very cool soundscape. Also the inclusion of a bouzouki is very welcome. Very good song.

Scream: The vocals are really far back in this mix, which is weird. The vocals themselves really feel like they're singing for a different song than the instrumental seems to call for. I like the e-guitars quite a bit, but yeah, the vocals bring this one down a lot. I think Prod made a comparison a while ago to NEO TWEWY where the instrumental is cool but the vocals are either meh or unfitting (I don't think that's the case for every NEO TWEWY song). Pretty easily the weakest song of the day for me.

Today was a soundscape day.

Votes:
Fire Wire
Museum of Agony
Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Scream

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Scream

Keeper
INARI 1st
Scream

This was such a hard decision overall, all these tracks are amazing
I think I'll have to go with Keeper for my first choice but I'm slightly worried I'll regret it, since Fire Wire is almost as good as it and omfg that bassline.
Match 2 was probably the easiest choice, as much as I loved Museum of Agony, INARI 1st was much better imo
Match 3 was so impossible to choose, especially since they're both so different in style it's very hard to compare, both are totally going into my playlist lol. I think Scream is the better one but I feel bad not voting for Epicentre, amazing track choices this round wow.

Keeper
Museum barely
Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Keeper
Museum of Agony
Epicentre

I've got a bad feeling about this

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Fire Wire
Museum of Agony
Epicentre

wow i love soundscapes that have a sort of dark, otherworldly ambience like this. really leaves me into a trance. i dunno if it is the sort of song id really push for in this contest, but i really enjoyed it for what it is. i haven't really been able to just zone out with music much lately so its definitely appreciated.

fire wire is such a classic. i love the violin just going ham and that little section where the keys (?) shine. its very jaunty!

more??? dark ambience in front of my salad? well okay, this one is less ambient really, but really cool. someone in the comments of the video mentioned metroid and yeah, i deffo get those vibes.

this tekken 7 track didn't really stand out to me when i went through the entire ost a while back. it definitely does some cool things, i love how toe tapping it is, and the fusion of old vs new is nice too.

whoahowhqiahowao it's epicenter this song rips hard man. the percussion is just so head bopping and so fun and the switch ups every so often underlying the beat are a nice touch. holy shit this song is just so fucking good, guys. i almost forget that the state of the franchise sucks now when i listen to this banger.

i liked scream enough to save it back in the supra 2022 contest. kinda cheesy but in a fun way. reminds me of my cringe middle school phase. saying all this really isn't doing this song any favors huh? pretty good, but epicenter is an extremely tough act to follow.

a few good discoveries today and some old favourites!!

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Epicentre

Still prefer INARI on the 2nd match, but I liked Museum of Agony a lot more than I thought I would.

Fire Wire
INARI 1st
Scream

I like the organic sounds in Keeper much more than the whirring. Museum looped just when it was starting to get good. Some of the instruments that Epicentre adds in sound off to me, my favorite parts are the simpler ones like the first minute and around 4:04-53.

Voted Scream again. Its easily my favorite today.

Fire Wire
Museum of Agony
Epicentre