Song of the Week - WEEK 194 Voting/WEEK 196 Nominating
 

Song of the Week. 175 Weeks and counting.
Week 194 Voting is closed at last.
Week 196 Nominating is finally closed after like a month.

Results:
1). [18] .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona
2). [17] EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver]
3). [16] Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale
4). [13] WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur
5). [9] Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music
6). [4/3] pop'n music 13 Carnival AC ♥ CS pop'n music 11 - POP'N CARNIVAL MARCH
7). [4/2.5] Tunnel B1 Soundtrack - Oceanos
8). [3] EA Playground - Buggin' NB

Tracks:
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: EA Playground - Buggin' NB
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver]
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: pop'n music 13 Carnival AC ♥ CS pop'n music 11 - POP'N CARNIVAL MARCH
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Tunnel B1 Soundtrack - Oceanos
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur

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 195 is Yuletide Week! All nominations made this week will be for Week 196 or later. 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.

ORDERS OF BUSINESS

Okay well first off here is a nom:

• Album: Irozuki Tingle no Koi no Balloon Trip (Game Rip)
• Artist: Masanori Adachi
• Track Title: Tinliner
• Year: 2009 (Aug. 6)
• Additional Info: This is Masanori Adachi's recommended track in this interview with the sound team. I have absolutely no idea at all what track this is on the soundtrack, which I don't even have a rip of in the first place, so I'm just using the displayed name of the track on the site (which I've probably got wrong, but that reading's as good a guess as any).
• Sources: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0908/sound/index.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irozuki...o_Balloon_Trip

Also, I am scheduling the sequel to One Minute of Heaven for Week 197. We have three overflow tracks from the last time (Drakken, Chuckster, and Elorin), so there are currently five slots open. At the moment, I'm going to open up noms for people who didn't have a nomination the first time we did it. If there are still openings remaining, I'll open them up to everyone next week. Sound fair?

Finally, I've got a tag update, this one from way, way, way, way back (no, futher than that, keep going). The Week 17 third place track was composed solely by Hiroyuki Iwatsuki. N. Tate only composed one track in the game, and that was not it.

(if this last bit of information intrigues you, see this page for more information)

Speaking about tags, the guy who composed Annul is named Edward Harrison, not Ed Harris; "Ed Harrison" would be fine, which also was written by the nominator in the nomination post; noticed that the tag of the mp3 was off last week when looking for the complete soundtrack: [Link]

Man how did I do that, I even added that album to VGMdb. :(

Sadly, I am unable to make comments this week. It's a minor upset I didn't pick the Hulsbeck track, but Oceanos' lengthy run time and endless repetition prevented it from placing.

(3 points) .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona
(2 points) Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale
(1 point) Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music

.hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona Sounds almost like something out of Okami. Decent.

Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale Love both the melody and the synthy sound of this one--like Vangelis meets NES. VangelNES, if you will.

EA Playground - Buggin' NB I really like the vibe of this album, with trance-like tracks that nevertheless have a great, energetic sound with really fun synths.

EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver] Nice combination of elements on this one, with good guitar work, synths, and a decent melodic line.

Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music Far Cray was a neat game, but I don't remember much of its music.Maybe there wasn't much to remember; this is a decent but not really engaging power anthem, the kind that's a dime a dozen in games and movies these days.

pop'n music 13 Carnival AC ♥ CS pop'n music 11 - POP'N CARNIVAL MARCH Well, no one can accuse this track of misrepresenting itself: a carnival march was promised and it was delivered. It's all right as far as that sort of thing goes.

Tunnel B1 Soundtrack - Oceanos Sort of a counterpart to Far Cry, like the suspense music that precedes the power anthem that plays when Nic Cage fights the terrorist on top of the Red Cross jet.

WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur Cute synthiness, but I was expecting something...I dunno, something wackier.

Another soild week. Everything was nice and listenable with its own singular merits.

The Point Spread
Buggin' NB - 3 pts.
Monochrome Fairytale - 2 pts.
Ending [Unlimited ver] - 1 pt.

Vive la nomination!
Album: Mother 3 (gamerip)
Artist: Shogo Sakai
Track Title: Let's Ride the Train
Year: 2006
Notes: Looped for your pleasure.

3 points: WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur
1 point: Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale
1 point: EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver]
1 point: Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music

Okay, well expecting something wackier is something I never expected to hear about Yellow Murmur, given how the composition trips and falls over every few measures. Easily in the list of most creativeeccentric things I've ever nominated. This is recorded from the sound test, so I guess I could have manually added the tempo shifts that happen when you actually play the game mode this is the BGM for.

(I had actually considered doing that.)

.hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona sticks to the .hack convention of awesome (town) music. It's lush, memorable and flows exceptionally well. The Asian element is subtle and enhances the atmosphere rather than act as a stereotypical distraction. Chikayo Fukuda needs to get more work.

Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale has a great warm sparkle that illuminates and shines. I enjoy the sound and structure, but for me the melodic lead is pretty weak. Still a nice listen, though.

Uh I can't say I enjoyed EA Playground - Buggin' NB at all, really. The synth backing is what really turns me off. And the melody is completely disguised by it, and isn't strong enough to burst through. The long length is a detriment too. Sorry. :eagletear:

More Umemoto eh? Well in complete contrast to the Contrasta track, I don't like the sound and structure of EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver], but I think that melodically, it's a keeper. Between the two songs there's a fantastic track, though individually they're merely good.

Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music has the 'epic menu music' thing down pat, but really feels like it's trying too hard. It's like all the tricks in the book are just stuck together. The epic vibe is definitely there but the track is overall a bit too cataclysmic for me to appreciate a great deal.

From serious epic to cute epic?? pop'n music 13 Carnival AC ♥ CS pop'n music 11 - POP'N CARNIVAL MARCH fits the title perfectly (comes across as a chipmunk march) and helps create some joyous, vivid imagery through its colourful soundscape of whistles and brass. Points could very well go hear, it's a fun tune.

Oh more epic, this time with snare drums! :D Terrible 'militaristic music' jabs aside, Tunnel B1 Soundtrack - Oceanos is pretty serviceable given the style. This naturally is not my kind of music, though I can appreciate the emotion carried through the instrumentation in this one at least.

WarioWare music is always weird, almost surreal, to hear out of context, without the 'tick tick tick tick' countdown effect to the next minigame. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur doesn't suffer from this lack of 'tick' however because its very rhythmically sound and has a funky vibe which stands well on its own.

?POINT EPIC || EPIC CHIPMUNK!

2 points: .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona
2 points: WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur
1 point: pop'n music 13 Carnival AC ? CS pop'n music 11 - POP'N CARNIVAL MARCH
1 point: EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver]
5th: Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale
6th: Tunnel B1 Soundtrack - Oceanos
7th: Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music
8th: EA Playground - Buggin' NB

An OK week, not much to comment on. I'm still not satisfied with this point spread I've handed out, but it'll have to do.

(3 points) .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona
(2 points) Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale
(1 point) WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur

3 points: Tunnel B1 Soundtrack - Oceanos
2 points: WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur
1 point: Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music


Nomination:

• Album: Mystic Towers (Game Rip)
• Artist: Steven Baker
• Track #: 2
• Track Title: Baldric Fun 1
• Year: 1994
• Source: Game Credits for Mystic Towers

And I'd nominate something for Week 197, but I can't decide yet. :tpg:

Straightforward week.

<<2 Points>> Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music
<<2 Points>> WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur
<<1 Point>> Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale
<<1 Point>> .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona

2 points: Yellow Murmur
2 points: Ending [Unlimited ver]
2 points: Monochrome Fairytale
Just missed: Oceanos, Everything else

Unbelievably good week.

Yellow Murmur reminds me heavily of the Super Paper Mario soundtrack, only stranger, if that's even possible. Those 8+2 measure phrases are baffling, I love it.

Also I'm really starting to like this Ryu Umemoto guy. Ending in particular reminds me of this guy's midis that are used in a bunch of freeware doujin shmups for some reason (the reason being they're awesome; I'd say if you like Ending this week, you should definitely check out those midis).

Oceanos would've gotten more support from me if it was placed in a lesser week, or if it was replaced with Nemesis from the same soundtrack. God Nemesis is such a good song.

Also there isn't enough slide whistle in VGM.

Here are my votes for this week:

(2 points) dot hack G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona

(2 points) EVE burst error 'THE PERFECT' - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver]

(1 point) Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale

(1 poin) pop'n music 13 Carnival AC and CS pop'n music 11 - POP'N CARNIVAL MARCH

Far Cry was close to getting a point but the second half or so didn't develop as well as I'd have liked it.

Also, a new nomination to replace my old one (Reciting Maple, Dancing Ink) for Week 197's Gone in 60s:

* Album Title: PULSTAR
* Artist: Harumi Fujita & Yasuaki Fujita
* Track Title: MISSION (Title Demo)
* Source: PCCB-00192 | PULSTAR - VGMdb
* File Location: Nominations folder
* Disc Number: 1 (of 1)
* Track Number: 19
* Catalogue Number: PCCB-00192
* Year: 1995

3 points: Monochrome Fairytale
2 points: Ending [Unlimited ver]
1 point: Blue Sky City Dol Dona

Hm, those 3 lines line up pretty well.

Nomination:
Track Title: the Grimoire of Alice
Album: Touhou Hisoutensoku (Game Rip)
Artist: U2 Akiyama (arranger), ZUN (original composer)
Year: 2009 (August)

3 Points: Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music
2 Points: .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona
1 Point: EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver]

We're a bit low on votes, but I don't really want to extend this voting period too far, because of the theme week and all. Therefore, I'm adding one (1) extra day to voting. Voting will close at roughly the same time (midnight PST, so in about 22 hours from now).

1 Point - .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona
1 Point - Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale
2 Points - EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver]
1 Point - Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music
1 Points - Tunnel B1 Soundtrack - Oceanos

Sorry for being real slow in the votes this week. A friend of mine died Saturday night and it's been a bit hectic since.

3 Points: EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver]
2 Points: pop'n music 13 Carnival AC ♥ CS pop'n music 11 - POP'N CARNIVAL MARCH
1 Point: WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur

I enjoyed this week since the choices were quite eclectic. However, there were three definite standouts to me, and since the division was pretty clear in my mind, they got the full array of points.

But still, good week.

Now bring on Christmas Week!

3 pts - .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2
2 pts - EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4
1 pts - Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~

CHANGED MY VOTES CHz, HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS?

Thanks to that magnificent, tie-breaking man, voting is closed!

1). [18] .hack//G.U. GAME MUSIC O.S.T. 2 - Blue Sky City Dol Dona
2). [17] EVE burst error "THE PERFECT" - RYU UMEMOTO RARE TRACKS Vol.4 - Ending [Unlimited ver]
3). [16] Contrasta OriginalSoundTrack ~Monochrome Fairytale~ - Monochrome Fairytale
4). [13] WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Game Rip) - Yellow Murmur
5). [9] Far Cry (Game Rip) - Menu Music
6). [4/3] pop'n music 13 Carnival AC ♥ CS pop'n music 11 - POP'N CARNIVAL MARCH
7). [4/2.5] Tunnel B1 Soundtrack - Oceanos
8). [3] EA Playground - Buggin' NB

I've been having trouble with reliable internet access during my holiday travels, so if some kind soul would like to step forward and start voting this week, I'd be much obliged. I should be back on the air reliably in a day or two.