Song of the Week - WEEK 205 Voting/WEEK 206 Nominating
 

Song of the Week. 200 Weeks and counting.
Week 205 Voting is discombobulated.
Week 206 Nominating is rejected.

THEME WEEK
We have a theme week this week: Instrument Discussion International of the Season (IDIotS) - piano aka Piano Theme Week, where all nominated tracks must either be solely piano tracks or at least feature the piano as the lead instrument!

Results:
1). [24] Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos
2). [18] SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village
3). [14] Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage
4). [13] Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains
5). [10] Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1
6). [8] Beyond Good & Evil - Thoughtful reflections
7). [5] Friends ~The Radiance of Youth~ Acoustic Arrange Version - Momoko's Theme
8). [4] Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos (Game Rip) - Special Ending Theme

Tracks:
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Beyond Good and Evil - Thoughtful reflections
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Friends ~The Radiance of Youth~ Acoustic Arrange Version - Momoko's Theme
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Gabriel Knight 3 - Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: Queen's Blade - Spiral Chaos (Game Rip) - Special Ending Theme
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village

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

Week 206 Nominating:
The Nominations Queue can be found here.
The rules for nominating can be found here.

Sorry for my seeming lack of participation in the past few weeks. I've been extremely busy/sick so I am not always motivated to visit every site I normally frequent. That should change this week though!

Regular Nomination:

Album: Impetuth Original Sound Tracks
Composer: Shoichiro Sakamoto
Disc: 1 (of 1)
Track: 3 (of 13)
Track Title: Crystal cave (stage2)
Catalog Number: OGST-0001
Year: 2009
Source: http://vgmdb.net/album/13113

I know exactly how you feel, man. Good to see you around again!

Beyond Good and Evil - Thoughtful reflections There's a bit of synth padding here, but it's 97% piano by volume. BG&E excels musically in every area, and piano is no exception. This is one of the relatively few suites from the official soundtrack where the edits make sense, too.

Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos Starts off soft before mutating into an enjoyable gypsy dance with nice drive and melody.

Friends ~The Radiance of Youth~ Acoustic Arrange Version - Momoko's Theme A little more minimalist than the last selection. Good as atmosphere but not cohesive enough.

Gabriel Knight 3 - Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage Nice classical feel; the ascending runs are particularly neat.

Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1 Belies its franchise's cutesy reputation with a very nice atmospheric tune.

Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains Not being a big fan of the original Okami musics, I didn't expect to like this either. I guess the piano arrangement stripped away a lot of the things I didn't like about it, though, since it's not bad (if a bit restrained).

Queen's Blade - Spiral Chaos (Game Rip) - Special Ending Theme The first thing this week to have actual supporting instruments. Frankly I think they detract from it (especially the 1970's strings); a solo piano version would have been something to cherish.

SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village I generally like Mitsuda's sparse contributions to SH better than Hirota's weird-ass ones. As you might expect from someone who learned to play on the piano (and as you might expect from someone whose name is Mitsuda) it's lovely, and has a lot more depth than most of the other selections.

Point allocation was tough; Piano Week was everything I hoped it would be. Let's have another one real soon, okay?

The Point Spread
Thoughtful Reflections - 3 pts.
Caravan 2 - 1 pt.
Secret Passage - 1 pt.
Inugami Village - 1 pt.

Beyond Good and Evil - Thoughtful reflections is a nice reflective piece, simple on the harmonies and elegant in its expression. The synths add additional warmth and emotion, making this a lovely listen that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos has some of the best piano melodies I've heard, and shows them off in a rousing flamenco style. Dramatic piano runs are there, as are quirky glides during the main section. This one has such distinct and memorable character, which is why I nominated it for the piano week, since too often piano pieces are criticised for being too bland and insipid.

I'm not a fan of the original Friends soundtrack, as I find all the melodies to be rather uninspired for doors. Friends ~The Radiance of Youth~ Acoustic Arrange Version - Momoko's Theme fares much better, with its sparse sound being punctuated by some nice melodic nuance, helping maintain my interest. The final section is a neat change of pace and makes listening to the track particularly worthwhile.

Gabriel Knight 3 - Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage is a really enjoyable 3 minute drama tune. The piano playing is great, and the minor chord melodies are all intriguing. I'll listen to this one again.

I knew I would like Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1 before I even played it. I knew it would have character and melody (I mean, Hello Kitty?), and it indeed has both in spades. But it's not too sickeningly sweet and actually has a nice edge of maturity. Wonderful piece---Elorin, do you think you could upload the rest of the rip for me?

Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains is a cool piece with some great atmospheric qualities, making up for some sporadic dips in melody. Solid track, though at this rate I don't know whether it'll get points!

Queen's Blade - Spiral Chaos (Game Rip) - Special Ending Theme is fairly underwhelming, and is just a typical 'ending theme with cheery piano and romantic strings' track to me. Nah, sorry, nothing strikes me as interesting with this one.

SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village is another gorgeous track with awesome piano touches. I don't really have a bad thing to say about it.

the POINT of SotW is to discriminate quality, right??

2 points: Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos
1 point: Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1
1 point: SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village
1 point: Beyond Good and Evil - Thoughtful reflections
1 point: Gabriel Knight 3 - Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage
6th: Friends ~The Radiance of Youth~ Acoustic Arrange Version - Momoko's Theme
7th: Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains
8th: Queen's Blade - Spiral Chaos (Game Rip) - Special Ending Theme

Excellent week, one of the best I've participated in. This theme week should definitely be repeated, I agree!

Quite tough...

2 Points - Caravan for 2 Pianos
2 Points - Special Ending Theme
1 point - The Secret Passage
1 point - Inugami Village

Good week, but I had hoped there would be some ragtime or jazzy songs, or at least more variety in style (most are classical and reflective).

(3 points) Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos
(2 points) Gabriel Knight 3 - Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage
(1 point) Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1

I'm not a big fan of theme weeks, but this one takes the cake for being the most dull and indistinguishable. Sorry, but no votes from me. =/

3 points ~ Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos
2 points ~ Gabriel Knight 3 - Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage
1 point ~ SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village

3 points: SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village
1 point: Beyond Good and Evil - Thoughtful reflections
1 point: Friends ~The Radiance of Youth~ Acoustic Arrange Version - Momoko's Theme
1 point: Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains

I thought the tracks were generally pretty well distinguishable from each other, even though there were a lot of slow and reflective ones, but I definitely would've liked to have seen a more pronounced variety this week. I held off nominating because I couldn't really think of anything distinctive enough. :(

L O L

3 points: Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos
1 point: Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1
2 Points - Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains

Cheers.

Had thought of nominating a light jazzy number but it had all sorts of other instrumentation going on like a double bass and cymbals that I decided it didn't quite make the cut for a piano track even though the piano was lead. Maybe next time.

Here are my votes for this week. Some really nice pieces and point distribution was rather tough.

(2 points) Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1

(2 points) SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village

(1 point) Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos

(1 point) Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains

Ah, piano. It warms the soul. Though actually I'm surprised more people didn't nominate tracks with fuller arrangements featuring piano. All in all, a decent week for featuring my favorite instrument.

(3 points) Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains
(2 points) Gabriel Knight 3 - Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage
(1 point) Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1

3 points: Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains
2 points: SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village
1 point: Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos

3 points: Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage
2 points: Friends ~The Radiance of Youth~ Acoustic Arrange Version - Momoko's Theme
1 point: Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1

They seem like quality tracks, but nothing really stood out on first listen. I put them into a playlist and almost all of them just ran into each other. I think I'd have to listen to them like 5 times each before I was able to vote.

Like I've said before, piano alone isn't really my thing, but there are a few good tracks here:

3 points - SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village
2 points - Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos
1 point - Gabriel Knight 3 - Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage

2 points: Inugami Village
2 points: Cursed Shinshu Plains
1 point: TokyoChatRoom_v1
1 point: Caravan for 2 Pianos
Just missed: ---

Who is this Mitsuda guy, I need to check out more of his works.

I’m incredibly critical when it comes to piano music, having heard too much of it outside the realm of VGM. Inside VGM, apart from some incredibly lazy piano ballads that people can’t seem to get enough of, and the occasional awesome tune (that Lost Passage tune way back when, the Bionic Commando tune more recently in the last BSC), I really don’t know anything about piano music (except that Hamauzu is apparently some kind of piano wizard), and I was hoping that this week would help rectify that. Uhh…. Well I wouldn’t say I fully enjoyed this week, but the two pointers were definite highlights, especially the Okami arrange tune, that was just surprisingly good. I wouldn’t mind having a sequel.

Nomination #37

Composer: soundTeMP
Game: Neosteam Online
Track Title: Castle Lady
Track Number: N/A
Year: 2005
Catalog Number: N/A
Additional Information: ACCORDION. TRIBAL CHANT. GUITAR. MADNESS

Three cheers and a fanfare for soundTeMP! Unfurl the red carpet to the FTP!

This was a quite extraordinary week, I did not dislike any of the tracks which never happened before. The only problem is that voting on this in a fair manner is extremely hard. And I do not say "was extremely hard" because it would be a lie to say that my votes are fair. From my perspective even handing out six points to six different tracks wouldn't do it, so to make my votes less pointless I increase the contrast and will only give points to those three tracks which caught my attention the most.

2 Points: Beyond Good and Evil - Thoughtful reflections
2 Points: Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos
2 Points: Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains
(Order is A-Z)

3 Points: Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos

This one gets the full three for sounding the least like background noise in an upscale Seattle restaurant.

2 Points: Queen's Blade - Spiral Chaos (Game Rip) - Special Ending Theme

Reminded me a bit of a 1980s evening drama, such as Falcon Crest or Dallas on codeine. Not bad.

1 Point: Beyond Good and Evil - Thoughtful reflections

This was chosen purely on an alphabetical basis since the rest of the tracks sound fucking identical.

My next nomination:

Album: Shock Troopers 2nd Squad
Composers: Masahiko Hataya, Masaki Kase
Track: Promise of 505 (Stage 5)
Track #: 10
Catalog #: PCCB-00355
Year: 1999
Source: PCCB-00355 | Shock Troopers 2nd Squad - VGMdb
Additional Info: Man I cannot get over the fact that there is Final Mission sheet music. This track is from the 2nd game, not the first like my previous nomination from this soundtrack. Will upload shortly.

Voting is closed and nominations are restricted!

1). [24] Flyable Sound! -Flyable Heart Original Sound Tracks- - Caravan for 2 Pianos
2). [18] SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks - Inugami Village
3). [14] Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (Game Rip) - The Secret Passage
4). [13] Okami Piano Arrange - Cursed Shinshu Plains
5). [10] Hello Kitty Online (Game Rip) - TokyoChatRoom_v1
6). [8] Beyond Good & Evil - Thoughtful reflections
7). [5] Friends ~The Radiance of Youth~ Acoustic Arrange Version - Momoko's Theme
8). [4] Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos (Game Rip) - Special Ending Theme

I've been rather loath about doing anything about when we start and close voting, because I'm pretty sure that people will still wait until the last minute no matter what, but six people this week voted after I normally would have closed voting on Sunday. Does Monday really work better for you guys? Would moving to Tuesday–Monday or maybe even more in the middle of the week work out better?

Hey wow the first theme week where I haven't been :laughingstock:. Funny how there's pretty much a 50/50 split this week in terms of voter satisfaction! And CHz, personally I usually can vote whenever, but for some reason I usually realise it's Monday and go like 'oh crap sotw'. But it is remarkable, the amount of people who vote on Mondays now. VGM NERD CONSPIRACY

I usually vote as soon as somebody else posts so that my voting won't be auto-merged into the first post, mostly cuz I tend to vote over my lunch break at work. So moving voting won't really affect me one way or the other.

It may be that this week was a bit of a fluke, since a lot of people didn't like the theme and therefore put voting off (I'd like to see anyone pull that when we get to Jap Bitch Can't Sing Weak, though).