Song of the Week - WEEK 195 Voting/WEEK 196 Nominating
 

Song of the Week. 175 Weeks and counting.
Week 195 Voting is open.
Week 196 Nominating is open.

CHRISTMAS WEEK

Tracks:
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Alone in the Dark 2 (PC Game Rip) - Intro
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Ape Escape 2 (Game Rip) - Snowball Mountain
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Canvas2 Original Sound Tracks - Jingle Jingle Nadesiko!
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Daze Before Christmas (SNES Game Rip) - Santa's Workshop
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Hanakisou Orchestra Arrange Album "Hanakisou Symphony" - The Town's Breath ~ Market Scenery
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: KANON arrange best album "recollections" - pure snows
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Sam & Max Season Two Soundtrack - Unholy Workshop
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: The Original Sound Track Album Of Giant Egg ~ Music Popped Out Of The Egg - Lullaby of Snow Mountain

Voting Rules:
Voters must distribute 6 points among the 8 nominees, giving points to at least 3 songs, giving no song more than 3 points, and giving no more than one of their choices 3 points. Possible ways of voting include:

Notes:
Week 197 is 60 Seconds of Heaven 2: Electric Boogaloo! Nominations now open.

Please remember to upload your nominations to the SotW server! Uploaded noms mean a faster, smoother SotW experience for everyone. Server information:

Week 196 Nominating:
The Nominations Queue can be found here.
The rules for nominating can be found here.

Part of me wanted to nominate a different track so very much, but I couldn't do it since it's really just an arrangement of a classic composition by Johann Sebastian Bach. It's an excellent arrangement but not an original composition by any means.

Nonetheless, I'd like to share it since it truly is that good, and it's Christmas. Please enjoy this piece by the awesome pairing of Bach and Huelsbeck.

Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:

Chris Huelsbeck - X-Mas Theme

Pretty nice track, though the tags list Huelsbeck as the artist and composer. =/

Additional Spam:
Is that Lullaby of Snow Mountain track edited? I'm pretty sure that ending segment wasn't on that specific track of the OST.

This has never happened before, but I'm familiar with a majority of the tracks this week (6). Let's see how they stack up with their respective Christmassy sounds!

Alone in the Dark 2 (PC Game Rip) - Intro is a delicate, slightly creepy piece that's subdued almost to the point of tedium. I think for the most part it escapes dullville and ultimately has a nice chilly ambiance, but as far as Yuletide tunes go it's not that great.

Ape Escape 2 (Game Rip) - Snowball Mountain is a perennial favourite of mine, and my favourite Christmas VGM tune ever. In addition to the wickedly absurd, Koji Hayama can cook up some delightful, bright melodic tunes such as this with great touch and finesse. It shines from start to finish, makes me want to play Ape Escape 2 again, and never fails to put me in the Christmas spirit!

Canvas2 Original Sound Tracks - Jingle Jingle Nadesiko! is similarly joyous and cheerful. It's a sweet jingle that fits this time of year particularly well. A great go-to Christmas tune (if only the violin was more punctuated!).

Along with the "Intro" track, Daze Before Christmas (SNES Game Rip) - Santa's Workshop is one of two tracks this week that I'm not familiar with. It's definitely an odd track, and really hard to describe and evaluate. The mix of "Jingle Bells" with some more mature jazzy bits ends up piquing my interest however. Solid!

The whole Hanakisou... album has a wonderful sense of Winter, which is conveyed impeccably through the orchestration. Hanakisou Orchestra Arrange Album "Hanakisou Symphony" - The Town's Breath ~ Market Scenery is a lovely, warm track that happens to have one of my favourite pieces from the score in it, "Market Scenery". The transition between the two songs is a tad crude, but that's a minor blemish on an otherwise spectacular and Christmassy performance.

Speaking of Wintery scores, the score to Kanon is just made for the (north hemisphere...) Christmas time of year. I find the music to Kanon to be more appropriate as background music, and this definitely rings true with KANON arrange best album "recollections" - pure snows. It's a very icy yet warm piece of synth ambiance that's enhanced well by reverb and chimes. Though for me, it lacks that bit of punch that makes it truly engaging and memorable.

Sam & Max Season Two Soundtrack - Unholy Workshop isn't one of my favourite Sam & Max pieces, though it's still an entertaining listen to some extent. My problem with it is that, while it conjures a slick and bumbling atmosphere and tone, it's too disjointed and sparse to really get into.

The Original Sound Track Album Of Giant Egg ~ Music Popped Out Of The Egg - Lullaby of Snow Mountain definitely comes from a wacky, 'left field' soundtrack. This particular track has a melodic sense that I, for whatever reason, enjoy---though the appropriateness of this track for the Yuletide week is scarce at best..! Still a fun and mildly absurd track though.

christmas POINTS (or: theme week pun laziness)

2 points: Ape Escape 2 (Game Rip) - Snowball Mountain
2 points: Hanakisou Orchestra Arrange Album "Hanakisou Symphony" - The Town's Breath ~ Market Scenery
1 point: Canvas2 Original Sound Tracks - Jingle Jingle Nadesiko!
1 point: Daze Before Christmas (SNES Game Rip) - Santa's Workshop
5th: The Original Sound Track Album Of Giant Egg ~ Music Popped Out Of The Egg - Lullaby of Snow Mountain
6th: KANON arrange best album "recollections" - pure snows
7th: Sam & Max Season Two Soundtrack - Unholy Workshop
8th: Alone in the Dark 2 (PC Game Rip) - Intro

Very enjoyable week! Merry Christmas to all SotW'ers!

Merry Christmas to all!

(2 points) Ape Escape 2 (Game Rip) - Snowball Mountain
(2 points) Daze Before Christmas (SNES Game Rip) - Santa's Workshop
(1 point) Canvas2 Original Sound Tracks - Jingle Jingle Nadesiko!
(1 point) Sam & Max Season Two Soundtrack - Unholy Workshop

Nomination:

Game: Pac-Man World Rally (PC Game Rip)
Track Title: Arctic Iceberg
Artist: Mike Rubino
Year: 2006

3 points: Sam & Max Season Two Soundtrack - Unholy Workshop
2 points: Daze Before Christmas (SNES Game Rip) - Santa's Workshop
1 point: Alone in the Dark 2 (PC Game Rip) - Intro

Merry (belated) Christmas, fellow SotWers!

Pretty bland week. D:

(2 points) Daze Before Christmas (SNES Game Rip) - Santa's Workshop
(2 points) KANON arrange best album "recollections" - pure snows
(1 point) The Original Sound Track Album Of Giant Egg ~ Music Popped Out Of The Egg - Lullaby of Snow Mountain
(1 point) Canvas2 Original Sound Tracks - Jingle Jingle Nadesiko!

Also, would a song be okay for the One Minute of Heaven 2 if it is 1:05?

Maybe I got the Christmas hangover, but this week really didn't do it for me. Left me "cold," if you will.

(3 points) Hanakisou Orchestra Arrange Album "Hanakisou Symphony" - The Town's Breath ~ Market Scenery
(1 point) The Original Sound Track Album Of Giant Egg ~ Music Popped Out Of The Egg - Lullaby of Snow Mountain
(1 point) KANON arrange best album "recollections" - pure snows
(1 point) Canvas2 Original Sound Tracks - Jingle Jingle Nadesiko!

3 points: Unholy Workshop
2 points: pure snows
1 point: Lullaby of Snow Mountain
Just Missed: Santa's Workshop, Intro
LOOOOOOOOL: Santa's Workshop

Although personally I don't find this week to be too good (and this has nothing to do with the theme, hell, I love good christmas music), it's really cool how even with the theme, the tracks still manage to be well varied. The Unholy Workshop track is awesome, so I can't complain.

Happy holidays, everyone! I'll post both my regular nom and my <60sec nom in a short while.

Additional Spam:
--------

Alright, here is my <60 second week nomination:

Game: Sonic Shuffle
Composers: Yoshitaka Hirota, Ryo Fukuda
Track: Quick Advance
Track #: 50 on this rip I have
Catalog #: n/a
Year: 2000
Source: uhhh... Square Enix Music Online :: Yoshitaka Hirota :: Biography ?


And here is my regular nomination to appear in a regular week:

Album: Sonic Wings 2
Composers: Hoso-Q, Pirowo
Track: America Stage
Track #: 10
Catalog#: PCCB-00158
Year: 1994
Source: PCCB-00158 | Sonic Wings 2 - VGMdb

Will upload both tracks shortly.

Posting from an iPhone because Fate's Christmas gift to me was a dead power supply on my computer. Quick points only.

3 points: Jingle Jingle
1 point: pure snow
1 point: Snowball Mountain
1 point: Market Scenery (I think it's called)

I liked the variety on this theme. Nice surprises. Thanks, guys. Wish I had the technological capacity to say more..

Also no moms from me for a bit. No access to my music right now.

Merry Christmas everyone! Quick votes for the week:

(2 points) The Original Sound Track Album Of Giant Egg ~ Music Popped Out Of The Egg - Lullaby of Snow Mountain

(2 points) KANON arrange best album 'recollections' - pure snows

(1 point) Sam and Max Season Two Soundtrack - Unholy Workshop

(1 point) Hanakisou Orchestra Arrange Album 'Hanakisou Symphony' - The Town's Breath ~ Market Scenery

Wanted to give Sam and Max 2 points but couldn't pass-up Hanakisou.

Yeah, I'm just going to extend this week by a week on account of the holidays and all that.

Four spots remaining for One Minute of Heaven 2: Witty Subtitle Here, by the way.

-_-;;

My votes:

3 points - The Original Sound Track Album Of Giant Egg ~ Music Popped Out Of The Egg - Lullaby of Snow Mountain
2 points - KANON arrange best album "recollections" - pure snows
1 point - Hanakisou Orchestra Arrange Album "Hanakisou Symphony" - The Town's Breath ~ Market Scenery

Well, it wasn't my theme idea, so ultimately that'd be up to Chuckster, but since the whole point is to highlight shorter songs, I'd stick to the minute limit pretty strictly.

I've got one track for the 60 seconds week:

Game: Hotosenaru Uta Chitosenaru Shirushi
Composers: Chihiro Arisaka
Track: BGM05 (from in-game sound menu)
Track #: 6
Catalog #: n/a
Year: 2002
Source: Game Rip

Is this okay?

BGM05
Length: 1:00 (foobar), 0:59 (winamp)

Barely time to squeak in votes what with all the holiday craziness and such.

Market Scenery - 3 pts.
Unholy Workshop - 2 pts.
Lullaby - 1 pt.
Opening - Hon. Mention

EDIT: Market Scenery didn't exactly feel Chistmassy or Wintery but it did have a warm down-home feel. Unholy Workshop was excellent in twisting a few holiday staples, and Lullaby was just plain fun. Opening was sort of a cheat (it's really a better candidate for Pirate Week, assuming that we have one someday), but still really cool even after all these years.

Album Title: eXceed 2nd -VAMPIRE REX- ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK
Artist: Saitama Saisyu Heiki
Composer: Shibayan
Disc Number: 1 (of 1)
Track Number: 5
Track Title: Shock!!
Catalog Number: N/A
Year: 2008
Source: eXceed 2nd -VAMPIRE REX- ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK - VGMdb

I'll see what I can do to come up with a sub-60 sec track to nominate, what happens if there aren't a full eight tracks nominated though?

We'll get eight. Worse comes to worse, I think we can allow the 1:05 track to take one of the spots.

1 point: Ape Escape 2 (Game Rip) - Snowball Mountain
1 point: Daze Before Christmas (SNES Game Rip) - Santa's Workshop
1 Poiny - Egg - Lullaby of Snow Mountain
3 Points - Sam & Max Season Two Soundtrack - Unholy Workshop

Nomination:

Album/Game Title: oblivion
Artist(s): ZTS
Composer(s): NUMBER 201
Track Number: 11
Track Title: Homesickness -reunion
Catalog Number: ZTSL-008
Year: 2002
Info: I think it will be fitting for this season.
Source(s): ZTSL-008 | oblivion - VGMdb
Download: Download ?]?½ -reunion.mp3 from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

<60 second nomination

edit: see next post

New Year, NEW NOMINATIONS

Regular Nomination

• Album Title: The King of Fighters '99 Arrange Sound Trax
• Artist: Shinsekai Gakkyoku Zatsugidan
• Disc Number: 1 (of 1)
• Track Number: 6
• Track Title: Psyco Sonic Trip (Psycho Soldier Team)
• Catalog Number: SCDC-00041
• Year: 1999

Week 197 Nomination

• Game: Astérix and the Secret Mission (Game Rip)
• Artist: Funky K.H. (Katsuhiro Hayashi)
• Track Number: 11
• Track Title: Boss
• Source: SMS Power VGMs