Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 120: Night Verses - From the Gallery of Sleep (+G-Darius result)

(+) Yeah! (+)

MaxGalactica week:
Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION (Deluxe Expanded Edition)
vs.
Porter Robinson - Nurture (Japanese Edition)
vs.
Jessie Ware - Whats Your Pleasure?

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, June 25 at 4:00 PM Central Time; the future week poll will close earlier, when I am putting up the next topic
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.
9. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

Night Verses - From the Gallery of Sleep track list:
1. Copper Wasp
2. Trading Shadows
3. Vice Wave
4. Vantablonde
5. Lira
6. No Moon
7. Glitch in the You I Thought I Knew
8. No.0
9. Balboa
10. Earthless
11. Harmonic Sleep Engine
12. Phoenix IV: Levitation
13. Infinity Beach

Current cycle:
6/25: firefdr's bonus (The Who - Tommy)
7/2: StifledSilence (Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder)
7/9: MaxGalactica

Future cycle:
7/16: MetalmindStats
7/23: HBJDubs
7/30: Raetsel_Lapin
8/6: competitive week
8/13: Steiner
8/20: Snake5555555555
8/27: Jesse_Custer
9/3: competitive week
9/10: ZaziGuado
9/17: firefdr
9/24: Johnbobb
10/1: competitive week
10/8: VeryInsane
10/15: FoolFantastic
10/22: Seanchan
10/29: competitive week
11/5: Giggsalot
11/12: RyoCaliente
11/19: darkx
11/26: competitive week
12/3: neonreaper
12/10: Great_Paul
12/17: jcgamer107
12/24: competitive week
12/31: ChichiriMuyo
1/7: BlueCrystalTear
1/14: rwlh
1/21: NFUN

Jessie Ware - Whats Your Pleasure? > Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION (Deluxe Expanded Edition) > Porter Robinson - Nurture (Japanese Edition)

Alright, for this set of album nominations, I chose three of my favorite pop-adjacent albums to try to keep it somewhat themed. Emotion is probably my favorite pop album of all time. It has elite 80s inspired synth-pop production on every single track and is really what Carly Rae Jepsen should be remembered for rather than as the Call Me Maybe girl. There are three main versions of this album, the regular edition (12 tracks), then the deluxe edition which adds three extra tracks, and the expanded deluxe edition which I nommed that has an additional two tracks to bring the total to 17. A few of the bonus tracks are amongst the best in the album, so I felt they were necessary to include here. Sample tracks: Run Away With Me (https://youtu.be/N7aq7xxvm78), Warm Blood (https://youtu.be/9WuV8AXofSM), Never Get to Hold You (https://youtu.be/QE27wHWAa0o)

Nurture is a significantly more mature and well-rounded album than Robinsons previous album Worlds (although I think Worlds highs are higher). Full of catchy melodies and a unique blend of western EDM/electropop with J-pop influences, its definitely an album worth checking out. I also chose the Japanese edition specifically because that version includes a bonus track, Fullmoon Lullaby, which is one of my favorites in the album. The track is only on JP streaming services, so youll have to just use a YouTube link for that one if youre not using a VPN. Sample tracks: Look at the Sky (https://youtu.be/8diNtEqmKhE), Musician (https://youtu.be/WWjIth0kBBw), Fullmoon Lullaby (https://youtu.be/nx-qpEMUzes)

Whats Your Pleasure? is a more recent discovery for me that I listened to alongside Jessie Wares most recent album release from a couple of months ago (which is also a really good album). Incredibly produced disco/synth-pop album, and Wares vocals are outstanding. Nearly every song is a hit for me. Sample tracks: Spotlight (https://youtu.be/Rgy-eAzARNE), Save a Kiss (https://youtu.be/Xcho7LnM8D4), Adore You (https://youtu.be/ZdVAD2xMRf0)

Id be happy with any of these winning, so hopefully you guys will enjoy whatever comes out on top. Also, if you only have time to listen to one sample track from each album, listen to Warm Blood, Look at the Sky, and Spotlight.

Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION (Deluxe Expanded Edition) >
Porter Robinson - Nurture (Japanese Edition) > Jessie Ware - Whats Your Pleasure?

Ooh, I'm very happy with two of those options! "Run Away With Me" is one of my favorite songs ever & "Look at the Sky" was an amazing discovery I haven't listened to in a while. And I'll probably like Jessie's album as well, it just doesn't have the "oh my god, someone's actually nominating this AND including our favorite songs as examples?!" wow factor since I don't know any of its songs as well.

Porter > Carly > Jessie

Jessie Ware - Whats Your Pleasure? > Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION (Deluxe Expanded Edition) > Porter Robinson - Nurture (Japanese Edition)

3rd times the charm for Jessie? I actually just listened to that album again the other day, trying to figure out if it's better than That Feels Good. Answer...it's close. What's Your Pleasure is a much chiller album, and probably a better fit for an album ranking since it's a little more varied overall. That's Feels Good is more of a "crowd pleaser". At any rate, if she loses again (which wouldn't be a huge surprise) it just means I'll find a way to nominate That Feels Good in a few months.

Did a first listen to Night Verses.

I know the nominator mentioned it at the time, but I wasn't expecting a completely instrumental album! Was certainly enjoying this more than last week's (G-Darius soundtrack), though I suspect this will also be another difficult one to rank. I did a little bit of research and this album is a direct result of their vocalist quitting the band. I listened to a few songs from their prior albums and...yeah, the vocals weren't doing their sound much favor (IMO).

1: Balboa
2: Phoenix IV: Levitation
3: Infinity Beach
4: Trading Shadows
5: Glitch in the You I Thought I Knew
6: Copper Wasp
7: Vantablonde
8: Harmonic Sleep Engine
9: Lira
10: Vice Wave
11: No Moon
12: No.0
13: Earthless

bump

Hisayoshi Ogura - G-Darius results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
FoolFantastic (19)
MaxGalactica (25)
rwlh (29)
NFUN (30)
Seanchan (30)
HBJDubs (43)
Johnbobb (46)
Raetsel_Lapin (73)
MarkS2222222222 (75)

General Album Comments

NFUN: Absolutely one of the most unique and evocative albums of all time. It hits two very evocative and sublime moods that you don't get in many other places, often at the same time. You get to experience both the mystery and majesty of space, the wonder of the unknown and the promise of an exciting and unknowable future, and also a terrible sensation of reality falling apart and being corrupted. Both the fear and glory of the unknown are, in my opinion, some of the most powerful feelings there are, and I can't think of anything that exemplifies them better than this.

Kimera II is my favorite song of all time, and it's not particularly close. Everything I described about the album as a whole goes double here. It never fails to take me away to some ethereal, indescribable soundscape. It sounds like the future. It sounds like promise. The album art with its syzygy clearly takes inspiration from 2001, and the song does everything 2001 wanted to do and more--this feels like it's trying to communicate the next stage of intelligent life. I *do* see the creation of new lives. This song is the thesis to the album, to the bio-inorganic atmosphere OGR created that completely complements the aquatic enemy design. I highly recommend his interview, which does a great job explaining the mindspace he was in when making this album and this song. http://www.vgmonline.net/hisayoshiogurainterview/?msclkid=f90aa573bd1f11ecbdd35f2372e428bc

MarkS2222222222: I got 5 tracks into G-Darius without realizing the track changed. Sounds cool though

HBJDubs: This is the kind of trippy stuff that I really like. It also makes me want to play the game but not for $30 like others have said! Good choice for the first VGM soundtrack, it definitely can stand on its own. Most of the songs are close in ranking, but KIMERA II is the clear-cut #1 here, fantastic song.

MaxGalactica: Very unique album. The words I'd use to describe it are "industrial", "futuristic", and "surreal". The top 4 on my list especially stood out to me production-wise. I'd been meaning to listen to this soundtrack for quite a while, but never got around to it until this week. Definitely an album that lived up to the hype (maybe not the NFUN levels of hype, but yeah).

rwlh: Barely a dull moment here. Some of my favorite songs of all time are present on this album, particularly KIMERA II, ranked #3 on my big VGM spreadsheet. The top 7 are all 9/10, biophoton is 8.5, and the others are all still pretty good. This wasn't what I expected to win my poll, but I'm glad you all get to hear some of the finest game music out there.

Seanchan: I'm gonna be the downer here because I just didn't get this one. Trying to rank ambient, literal background music was annoying to me. Like...it's all fine or whatever but it all just blends together in a way that defies close listening.

MarkS2222222222: It turns out when I pay enough attention to differentiate the tracks, I wouldn't say I actually like any of them. Maybe Net Work. I *don't* see the creation of new lives. It was enjoyable as background music the first time through, though.

track ranking

16. Warning (Track #16)
Score: 1 (Average Rank: 15.89/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#15)
Biggest Detractor(s): Everyone Else (#16)

15. EPISODE 0 (Track #3)
Score: 9 (Average Rank: 15/16)
Biggest Fan(s): rwlh (#14)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#16)

14. One Down (Track #8)
Score: 44 (Average Rank: 11.22/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#14)

13. Duplication (Track #14)
Score: 48 (Average Rank: 10.67/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, HBJDubs, MarkS2222222222 (#7)
Biggest Detractor(s): rwlh (#15)

12. Dada (Track #7)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 9.11/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#14)

10 (tie). PHAGE (Track #5)
Score: 66 (Average Rank: 8.67/16)
Biggest Fan(s): MarkS2222222222 (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#14)

10 (tie). nonsensecondon (Track #11)
Score: 66 (Average Rank: 8.67/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, MarkS2222222222 (#12)

9. NET WORK (Track #2)
Score: 75 (Average Rank: 8.56/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, MarkS2222222222 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#13)

8. invivo (Track #10)
Score: 76 (Average Rank: 7.67/16)
Biggest Fan(s): rwlh (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): NFUN, Johnbobb, HBJDubs (#10)

7. G ZERO (Track #4)
Score: 80 (Average Rank: 7.33/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#14)

6. Future Perfect from 7 (Track #15)
Score: 81 (Average Rank: 7/16)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, MarkS2222222222 (#11)

5. H.G. Virus (Track #9)
Score: 83 (Average Rank: 7.44/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MarkS2222222222 (#14)

4. biophoton (Track #6)
Score: 97 (Average Rank: 5.89/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Marks2222222222 (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#14)

3. A d a m (Track #13)
Score: 103 (Average Rank: 5.22/16)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MarkS2222222222 (#13)

2. B.T. DUTCH (Track #1)
Score: 112 (Average Rank: 4.56/16)
Biggest Fan(s): NFUN, Raetsel_Lapin, FoolFantastic, rwlh (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#11)

1. KIMERA II (Track #12)
Score: 137 (Average Rank: 3.11/16)
Biggest Fan(s): NFUN, FoolFantastic, HBJDubs, rwlh, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#9)

Jessie Ware - Whats Your Pleasure? > Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION (Deluxe Expanded Edition) > Porter Robinson - Nurture (Japanese Edition)

Not going to lie, if Jessie Ware doesn't win this week, What's Your Pleasure? will be back before this week's person has to take another crack at it.

I swear I'm gonna listen to the sample songs even if I don't get around to listening to this week's album.

Bump.

I am ridiculously behind this week. I'm blaming the weather for messing up my normal activities.

I'll do a 2nd listen tonight and hopefully a 3rd tomorrow.

Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION (Deluxe Expanded Edition) > Jessie Ware - Whats Your Pleasure? > Porter Robinson - Nurture (Japanese Edition)

I really dug this one but it's super hard to rank

1. Trading Shadows
2. Phoenix IV: Levitation
3. Vice Wave
4. No Moon
5. Infinity Beach
6. Vantablonde
7. No.0
8. Earthless
9. Copper Wasp
10. Glitch in the You I Thought I Knew
11. Lira
12. Harmonic Sleep Engine
13. Balboa

Porter Robinson > Carly Rae Jepsen > Jessie Ware

Lira
Trading Shadows
Harmonic Sleep Engine
Phoenix IV: Levitation
Copper Wasp
No Moon
Earthless
Infinity Beach
No. 0
Balboa
Vice Wave
Vantablonde
Glitch In The You I Thought I Knew

I enjoyed it, and it piqued my interest in checking out more of the band. No stand-out tracks, but everything is good, and I'll take those kind of albums any week.

Copper Wasp
Infinity Beach
Vice Wave
No Moon
Trading Shadows
Earthless
Lira
Balboa
Vantablonde
Phoenix
0
Glitch
Harmonic Sleep

I love how much character this album has for something instrumental. The scattered vocal samples are a fantastic way to contextualize each song, while still allowing them to be ambiguous. It's a great vibe to have for an album themed around dreams. I also had a ton of trouble ranking it, because almost every song is tied at like an even 9. Incredible consistency and creativity

EMOTION (Deluxe Expanded Edition) > Nurture (Japanese Edition) > What's Your Pleasure?

In case it doesn't get counted from my initial nominations, here's my rankings again for this week's albums.

From the Gallery of Sleep

1. Vice Wave
2. Phoenix IV: Levitation
3. No.0
4. Copper Wasp
5. No Moon
6. Trading Shadows
7. Infinity Beach
8. Harmonic Sleep Engine
9. Earthless
10. Lira
11. Vantablonde
12. Balboa
13. Glitch in the You I Thought I Knew

Yeah, this one was really difficult to rank. I liked pretty much everything here. Fantastic guitar work and rhythms throughout. Vice Wave was especially good. Great album.

I'm not going to get around to ranking this, but I will say I dug it a lot, and am very glad to have heard it thanks to this topic series.

1. Phoenix IV: Levitation
2. No.0
3. Copper Wasp
4. Vice Wave
5. Trading Shadows
6. Lira1
7. Earthless
8. No Moon
9. Vantablonde
10. Infinity Beach
11. Harmonic Sleep Engine
12. Balboa
13. Glitch in the You I Thought I Knew

I cannot stress enough I much I enjoyed this album but hated doing this ranking. This is an enormously arbitrary ranking that could have been very different an hour later.

I'm putting the rest of this in spoilers because it's going to piss some people off...

Like, seriously, what the fuck are we doing here? Is this Rank the Tracks or Listen to an Album? I'm very glad to have listened to this but this is NOT an album worth ranking the tracks on. If anything, I think it actively hurts this album to try to break it down. And I think this has applied to a few albums in the last few(ish) weeks. I'm frustrated, and I think I really need to look personally if I should continue stressing doing this every week when I'm confronted with experiences that defy ranking.

I listened this morning but gave up on trying to rank anything after the first few tracks. I think I liked the album, but it also felt like I was going to just rank them in track order or something after a certain point.

Sorry, been distracted this week