Noticed no one said anything about this, so I want to check if no one else had a problem with it, or just that it got lost in the shuffle.

I've heard 2nd Movement of the Odyssey and the rest of the album.

Double Post:
Also, I'd say that, if Halo 2 is ineligible, Grandia 3 should be as well.

Ok. See, that's what I'm wondering - whether people here are familiar with the Incubus songs from the soundtrack. I know full well that the game was insanely popular, but that shouldn't matter in this case, because these aren't songs that were in the game. And yeah, the soundtrack was popular too, but people got it for Marty O'Donnell, not Incubus. I'd like to know how many people here have heard them, because really, that matters more than what the perceived exposure is.

Frankly, I'd say Halo 2 is much more popular than Grandia 3. I've no problem with Grandia (aside from the fact that I don't really like Iwadare).

I've definitely heard the Incubus songs from the soundtrack, and I believe that they also got some airtime on the radio as well.

Regular stations play ~7 minute progressive rock instrumentals by Incubus?

As for Grandia III, I wouldn't say that's an automatic no. Were there Grandia III tracks in BSC?

I don't listen to the radio. :(

Two, although one (A HOT CRASH!!) didn't make it out of the prelims and the other (Attack with conviction!!) didn't make it out of the first round (:().

It could be Grandia III is fair game; I was just under the impression that its music was pretty well established out there. That's why we have discussions.

Voting for SOTW later, but voting yes on Grandia 3...Think I saw one discussion about it when it was leaked originally and then I haven't heard squat about it since.

I'm familiar with Grandia III soundtrack, but for the purposes of this contest, I think it should be allowed.

Most people aren't that familiar with Grandia anyway. It's better than any Yasunori Mitsuda track...

First up, I just remembered that I forgot to convert my .ogg nomination to mp3. Sorry for the slip!

Secondly, I would think material from Grandia I, II and perhaps Extreme should not be eligible for SotW. Grandia I and II had quite a lot of exposure in previous BSCs if I remember correctly, so would imagine the two game soundtracks to be fairly well known within GFF (and the VGM community in general). I'm quite ambivalent about Grandia 3 and Halo 2.

I suppose I probably ought to vote sometime this week.

Armored Core 3 Silent Line Soundtrack - Lapse of Time Definitely got a Metal Gear/Media Ventures sound to it. While the basic instrument set is intriguing, the endless repetition of loops gets old after a minute or so, and the syncopated synth hits that form the only real variation annoy the hell out of me. By the end, the track is just a mess.

Divine Divinity (PC Game Rip) - Whispers From A Council Past There's not enough content in this one to justify its length; the first 2/3 are the same measures over and over again, while the very last part introduces some interesting string figures that, frankly, should have been there from the beginning.

FOR BRIGHTER DAY ~ Phantasy Star Universe Original Sound Track - The Last Story In a way, this is almost unfair to the other nominations in the same way Mitsuda's unfair. It doesn't hold a candle to IDOLA The Strange Fruits (or any of the other IDOLAS for that matter), but the trademark Phantasy Star sound is here in spades. I wouldn't say that this is any more hard-edged than Strange Fruits (the backbeat is much more subdued, for example); it's just got a different role for the heavy electronics that backgrounds the rest of the song to an extent. Good stuff, though, and this week's likely runaway winner.

Gungrave O.S.T. - An Ulterior Motive This is the sort of jazziness that I can get into--more upbeat, more sulty, with a slight Bondian lit. Love the piano and the brass, though the drummer seems like he's having a seizure at times.

Lost Passage Perfect Arrange Album - Ruined Heart Interesting, impressionistic, almost improvised piano music. It doesn't stand up the the best piano-only tracks out there, and is a tad long, but I can't deny that it's got its charms.

Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete - Field To Tomorrow I've said it before and I'll say it again; when Iwadare ditches his crazy disco act, he can make some good music. This piece has a nice melody and rhythm to it, even if it does have "map theme" writ large across its face in black Sharpie.

MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage Another jazzy track, this one with a synthier edge to it. Not bad, but I had a hard time remembering it afterwards.

Space Channel 5 Original Soundtrack - Mororina - The Elegant Coward This is a weird one, all right. Sort of a techno/choral fusion, with the voices comeing out of nowhere and belting choral bits from Star Ocean (or maybe they just used the same production library, I dunno).

I think I'm going to go with the 'ol shotgun blast this week.

The Point Spread
1 point for everything except Diving Divinity and Armored Core

This week wasn't great. Ah, well.

Armored Core 3 Silent Line Soundtrack - Lapse of Time - I absolutely hated this song the first time I heard it, though repetition has somewhat dampened the effect. The off-beat percussion failed to be effective in any sense, and the constant looping is painfully obvious.

Divine Divinity (PC Game Rip) - Whispers From A Council Past - I dislike the instrumentation, it's extremely repetitive, and very long for what it contains. That's enough to kill it in my book.

FOR BRIGHTER DAY ~ Phantasy Star Universe Original Sound Track - The Last Story - I've never heard anything else from phantasy star, including the IDOLA series people keep referencing, but this song just doesn't strike me as superior. It's got enough strength to earn it a point from me, but some of the things in the song just seem mediocre. The voice samples in particular sound too synthetic.

Gungrave O.S.T. - An Ulterior Motive - My nom. Imahori's talent with a variety of styles is what makes him noticable as a composer, and this track shows that he's no slouch with jazz, either. The trumpets and the piano are the highlight instruments, but everything else compliments them well. One could wish for a more varied bass line, but when held up to the quality of the rest of the song, that seems rather insignificant.

Lost Passage Perfect Arrange Album - Ruined Heart - Very, very bizarre. I get the feeling that the composer knows what he's doing, but somehow went insane. I like the way it's played at certain points, but listening to it feels uncomfortable.

Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete - Field To Tomorrow - Decent, if slightly boring. Reminds me of the Final Fantasy 2 world map.

MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage - Not bad. Not excellent, but in a week like this, that's enough to earn it some points. The melody is kinda neat, and although the only instrument that sounds really good is the piano, the rest don't detract from the song.

Space Channel 5 Original Soundtrack - Mororina - The Elegant Coward - Just missed getting a point from me. I like how it was composed, I like the instruments used... hmm... I can't exactly pinpoint what I don't like about it. I guess it's just personal taste.

~Point Distribution~
3 points - Gungrave O.S.T. - An Ulterior Motive
2 points - MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage
1 point - FOR BRIGHTER DAY ~ Phantasy Star Universe Original Sound Track - The Last Story

Week 76
 

Lapse of Time <Tsukasa Saitoh>:
The instruments choice is excellent, great song except for the overdose on repetition. The drums/drummer needed to be cleaner I think, the off-beat drums(don't know what it is called) sounds alright, but at times you can only here tons of shuffling and banging noises, not fun to listen to. By the end it seems like nothing really came out of the song. Definantly not a favorite from Tsukasa Saitoh, but not horrible either.

Whispers From A Council Past <Kirill Pokrovsky>:
Took a long time to evolve into a melody, in fact the first half of the song very ambient and slow, with some instrument stroking(spelling) the same notes over and over again, then switching and doing the same thing again. Then after the halfway point the song develops but still harnesses a boring theme.

The Last Story <Hideaki Kobayashi>:
I didn't like the first minute, the transition was alright. Through out the song I think there needed to be a more defined melody rather than 2 (3 at times) being put together. This song had a lot of potential and room to work in but in the end it didn't use it all up. Some parts were great, but the majority of the song was not very good (Even a little bit of crappy notes can screw up a really good song, let alone when most of the song isn't very great).

An Ulterior Motive<Tsuneo Imahori>:
Tsuneo Imahori is certainly good at Jazz songs. His "random" can be great, but sometimes they are a little overkill. I really like the piano is this one, might just earn it some points :P. I don't seem to like most Jazz songs, oh well, sometimes they hit the spot, this one didn't.

Ruined Heart <Twin Magic>:
Hmmm, pretty annoying actually. Didn't like the composition of notes. Might be fun to play, but certainly not fun to listen to. Not much to say about this one, I've never heard of the game I guess, but that doesn't really matter.

Field To Tomorrow <Noriyuki Iwadare>:
Great rhythm in this song, great melody too actually. Never heard any of the Lunar Series' sound track. I like percussion, much better than the ones before it. The ending was a disappointment, but I guess it is probably meant to loop so it's not TOO bad.

Izayoi Sakuya Stage <Aki Yamani, NKZ>:
Ha! What a cool song! No catchy melody, well, not an easily caught melody. It'll take a few listen's to remember. It's a little short, it could've looped again and I'd be fine with it. Really fun to listen to, made up for the first few flops. It'd probably get boring after the first few listens, but with some of it's competitors not even getting a second listen I'd say it's not bad.

Mororina: The Elegant Coward <Naofumi Hataya>:
Save the Queen! Oh no wait, lets play tetris instead while jumping on the clouds! Very Awkward song, too bad the themes don't meet very well. WAAA! Platformer time! . . . A.K.A. The Banana Chase.

POINTS

~Izayoi Sakuya Stage: 3 pts.
~Field to Tomorrow: 2 pts.
~An Ulterior Motive: 1 pt.

I'm not so sure about Halo 2 music being in there. That's pretty mainstream stuff.

This week seemed really disappointing from the first few tracks. Ulterior Motive and Ruined Heart were interesting, but nothing really captivating. The last three songs are all thing I can find really enjoyable, so luckily I didn't have to resort to handing out points by default. Izayoi Sakuya Stage was probably my absolute favorite this week, and I'd definitely love to check out the rest of the music from that game if they're all like it.

2 points for each:
Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete - Field To Tomorrow
MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage
Space Channel 5 Original Soundtrack - Mororina - The Elegant Coward

Well, there's a whole bunch of different styles, primarily jazzy synth. Izayoi is my personal fave (hence the nom), but there's a bunch of other pieces that were close. Anyway, I found a MegaUpload link for it here, which still seems like it's working. Enjoy, with compliments.

So I just uploaded the 64th Note version last night. Do I need to convert it myself or is someone else capable of doing it?

Win. Though I do have an equal affinity for Sky Ray from the same album. Knockout choice, though.

As for this week, I liked it a lot more before everyone started panning it.

(3 points) FOR BRIGHTER DAY ~ Phantasy Star Universe Original Sound Track - The Last Story: Not the best Phantasy Star work, but it evokes Juno Reactor's work in the Matrix series nicely: overblown orchestration and breakneck techno beats overlaid in a deliciously enjoyable mish-mash.

(1 point) Armored Core 3 Silent Line Soundtrack - Lapse of Time: I like the jumbled up rhythm. I think it makes it distinctive instead of derivative.

(1 point) Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete - Field To Tomorrow: Not Iwadare at his most inspired, but this song does go down easy.

(1 point) Gungrave O.S.T. - An Ulterior Motive: Jazz that hits all the right spots.

As for the rest, in order:

Hey Folks, Do We Have To Pan Every Mood-Setting Atmosphere Piece?: Divine Divinity (PC Game Rip) - Whispers From A Council Past

If It Weren't For The Lead Instrument: MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage

I Know I Just Praised PSU For Its Techno/Choral Splicing, But Still...:Space Channel 5 Original Soundtrack - Mororina - The Elegant Coward

Okay, I Only Like Some Piano: Lost Passage Perfect Arrange Album - Ruined Heart

A really good week. Each track had some high points.

Armored Core 3 Silent Line Soundtrack - Lapse of Time
This wasn't as bad as some have made it out to be. Distracting shuffling sound notwithstanding, the track progresses nicely and creates a dark, foreboding atmosphere. And I especially liked the synths used during the main theme.

Divine Divinity (PC Game Rip) - Whispers From A Council Past
Another track that was underappreciated. I usually prefer songs such as this, being beautifully morose. The panning effect was excellent and put to good use here. The keyboard melody was just as haunting.

FOR BRIGHTER DAY ~ Phantasy Star Universe Original Sound Track - The Last Story
And I had expectations this was gonna be great, being Phantasy Star and all, but it was a bit of a letdown. The main melody was sweet, though the choirs sounded bland. And the track was repetitive on the whole. I agree, IDOLA is better and more aggressive.

Gungrave O.S.T. - An Ulterior Motive
This is the kind of jazzy groove that I like to listen to from time to time. The percussion line is plain sexy.

Lost Passage Perfect Arrange Album - Ruined Heart
Quite weird, yet at the same time, enjoyable piano piece. 2:20-3:06 is madness.

Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete - Field To Tomorrow
I like mostly everything that Iwadare does, and this was no exception. Great melody, and the castanets were a nice touch.

MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage
I could say that this was my favorite at first, but I could imagine getting bored of it after a while. Still, it has an awesome MegaManesque beat to it, plus the piano groove is just <3.

Space Channel 5 Original Soundtrack - Mororina - The Elegant Coward
Though I do appreciate its upbeat nature, and the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously, it a was tad messy for me.

The Points Spread

2 points: Divine Divinity (PC Game Rip) - Whispers From A Council Past
1 point: Armored Core 3 Silent Line Soundtrack - Lapse of Time
1 point: Gungrave O.S.T. - An Ulterior Motive
1 point: Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete - Field To Tomorrow
1 point: MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage

Armored Core 3 Silent Line Soundtrack - Lapse of Time
This song has an emphasis on crisp tension and uneasiness while waiting for "time out". It's not melodically rich, but the percussion and build up is sleek.

Divine Divinity (PC Game Rip) - Whispers From A Council Past
It needed a bit long before coming to the interesting parts, but even the introduction was not bad. Morose and haunting, reminds me a bit of Compression of Time from FF VIII.

FOR BRIGHTER DAY ~ Phantasy Star Universe Original Sound Track - The Last Story
In my opinion this is an average Phantasy Star, that's being heated up with aggressive atmosphere and such, thus making it a bit better than average. It's really unfair to start comparing them all to IDOLA though.

Gungrave O.S.T. - An Ulterior Motive
It's the only track that did not much for me. Somehow it was slow and I can't remember much about it.

Ruined Heart <Twin Magic>
It was hard to characterize this track. It's interesting on many levels, at the same time sounds like an etude. In my opinion, this song has no sadness, no happiness, thus leaving me feeling exactly what I should feel about it: BLANK.

Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete - Field To Tomorrow
This was a rather good song, but sounds so understated. As with Iwadare, I disagree on some melodic parts, but that's ok.

MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage
I am surprised it actually sounded quite good in this week. Never really a boring moment, but yeah it's a bit short and it is felt when you keep stuck on her stage.

Space Channel 5 Original Soundtrack - Mororina - The Elegant Coward
The title fits perfectly, I suppose, as it's very elegant, almost vain. Musically, I wasn't so fond of the non-melodic parts. The main melody is quite good.

There were a few many interesting tracks this week, that have some little faults here or there, thus it's a

Buck Shot Spread:
1 Point - Lapse of Time
1 Point - Whispers From A Council Past
1 Point - The Last Story
gap..
1 Point - Field To Tomorrow
1 Point - Izayoi Sakuya Stage
1 Point - Mororina - The Elegant Coward

Listening one final time now; will edit with my votes in a bit.

I rather enjoyed this week. Good noms, people. :)

Gah, too hard to do anything other than give out a lot of 1s.

1 pt. - An Ulterior Motive - Very nice groovy feel to it. I particularly like this kind of music.
1 pt. - Ruined Heart - Interesting piano. Certainly never dull or predictable.
1 pt. - Izayoi Sakuya Stage - Good; wish there was more to it, though.
1 pt. - Mororina: The Elegant Coward - Nice mallets feature at 1:45 and on. Liked the strings part that came in briefly at 2:38. Transitioned nicely at around 3:00.
1 pt. - Whispers From a Council Past - I can dig it. Kind of haunting. I imagine it accomplishes its purpose in the game very well. Did anyone else hear what sounded kind of like faint voices at one part?
1 pt. - Field to Tomorrow - Not one of my favorites from Lunar 2, but a solid song nonetheless. Kind of turned off to it since I've heard it a bunch before, unfortunately.

Lapse of Time - K, that off-beat pulse seemed like an odd choice the first one or two times I listened to the song. I don't mind it as much now, though. Still, I don't think odd/different automatically makes a song cooler. What does make it cooler though is the drums and additional strings part coming in at around 1:37.

The Last Story - It's ok, I guess. I wasn't a huge fan of Idola in BSC, but that seems like a better song than this.

Ruined Heart is FANTASTIC, and is the only one that deserves to win this week. My point spread will consist of 3 points to Ruined Heart, and one point to whichever other songs are losing. Serious props to whoever nominated that.

I don't know!

Ruined Heart is a very interesting arrangement of a very interesting track. The original doesn't seem like it'd lend itself very much to arrangement at all, and in fact the arrangement is quite liberal, but I'm glad they tackled it, because the result is seriously the best piano song I've ever heard in VGM.

There's one other piano-only arrangement on the album, I feel your Hart(Piano Ver.), but it's your typical H-game vocal song piano version that sounds pretty much like every other one. :(

The album as a whole is still freakin' awesome, though. I'd have nominated Lamentation instead of Ruined Heart if it weren't two minutes that feel like only one. >:(

This week was really impressive. I can see how there'd be so many "shotgun" point spreads, there's quality all around and each piece has something different going for it.

2 points - MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage
2 points - Lost Passage Perfect Arrange Album - Ruined Heart
1 point - Space Channel 5 Original Soundtrack - Mororina - The Elegant Coward
1 point - Divine Divinity (PC Game Rip) - Whispers From A Council Past

Wish every week was like this one.

Fine week, but I didn't find anything too explosive. Here go my points:

2 points - MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage
2 points - Lost Passage Perfect Arrange Album - Ruined Heart
2 points - FOR BRIGHTER DAY ~ Phantasy Star Universe Original Sound Track - The Last Story

I don't have any major issues with allowing the Halo 2 track. As Drakken said, I was familiar with some of O'Donnell's compositions for the game, but I had no idea that Incubus performed a progressive rock track for it. Since I haven't heard the song before nor even considered the idea, I don't see why not. Sure, there's more obscure stuff out there, but I don't have any qualms with the Incubus nomination.

Last minute voting here; I hope I'm not too late.

Lapse of Time wasn't too bad, but it's not the type of track that I normally listen to. Sounds like it builds atmosphere pretty nicely, and the ominous melody is enjoyable. There's stuff that I preferred over this in this week's batch, though.

Whispers From A Council Past strikes me as similar to Lapse of Time in that it works well setting up a mood. The atmospheric nature is well-accomplished, but again, not really my thing. I imagine that it would work pretty well as background music in a game's context, but as standalone listening I'm finding it hard to appreciate.

The Last Story is really cool. Very fast-paced, in-your-face, and addictive. I enjoyed listening to it, although I don't think I found it to be as strong of a track as others are claiming it to be.

The sultry jazz of An Ulterior Motive was a welcome change from the first three tracks. This track was thoroughly fun and enjoyable to listen to. I'll probably be keeping it even if it doesn't win the week, as I doubt I'll grow tired of it anytime soon.

Ruined Heart is beautifully unique. It's seemingly so original that I can't help but appreciate it. I might haved enjoyed it more if there was more variety in the instrumentation, but the solo piano work makes for nice enough listening. At first, it sounded really disjointed, but I didn't mind that too much after a few listens.

Field To Tomorrow is that type of RPG fare that gets to me every time, no matter how generic or unordinary. Very easy listening, and although it's not a spectacular track, I certainly enjoyed listening to it.

My favorite track this week was Izayoi Sakuya Stage, easily. I thought it was really easy to get into, and enjoyed the melody a lot. It's a pretty addictive track. Another keeper from this week's offerings.
I'll probably grab more of MegaMari's music later, too. Thanks for the link, SonicPanda!

Mororina: The Elegant Coward wasn't a bad track, but it was hard for me to really appreciate. Draconis hit it on the mark when he said it was a little "messy" in its composition. That's probably why I find it difficult to get into.

3 Points ~ MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage
2 Points ~ Gungrave O.S.T. - An Ulterior Motive
1 Point ~ Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete - Field To Tomorrow

I can't give out one point to whichever other songs are losing because there's a tie down there. And that's a pretty crappy way to assign points anyway, to be honest (even though it's my nom that would benefit).

I'll give DC72 a couple of hours to give a proper point distribution before closing this up (let's say until 7:45 PM Central), but I wonder if he'll even see this before then. I know he got that Wii, so...

In before closing...No commentary this week:

3 points - The Last Story (my nom)
2 points - MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (Game Rip) - Izayoi Sakuya Stage
1 points - Mororina: The Elegant Coward