Song of the Week - WEEK 58 Voting/WEEK 59 Nominating

Week 58 Voting is closed.
Week 59 Nominating is restricted.

Week 58 Voting
The rules for voting can be found here.

Final Result:
1st: Schrodinger's Cat - Die Katze von Schrodinger Game Soundtrack - GOLDARROW ~In a bar~ [Western]
2nd: Narcissu (Game Rip) - I'm Right Here (vocal ver.)
3rd: Crusader: No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu

Notes:
If you are a member at more than one of the forums which this event is being held at, please nominate and vote in only ONE of the forums. You may, however, comment in the threads at any of the other forums.

Week 59 Nominating
The Nominations Queue can be found here.
The rules for nominating can be found here.

Here are the links to the corresponding threads at the other forums:
- Chudah's Corner
- Soundtrack Central

----

Song of the Year is coming to a close; make sure to get your votes in for the final rounds.

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EDIT: Links are working now!

Body Harvest (Game Rip) - bh04 This piece is wavering on the edge of being atmospheric; some interesting stuff is being done in the background at times, but the main melody line is repetitive to a fault and a bit dull. Felt like it was leading somewhere but never got there.

Crusader: No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu Heh, I remember this song and the game it accompanied. Good times. The beginning promises a lot, and the guitar seems to be on the verge of getting a real melody going, but the most melodic material remains in the intro and interlude. The pull of nostalgia is strong, but I have to admit that for someone who's never seen the cool spalsh screen with the glowering Silencer, the music may fall a little flat.

Diddy Kong Racing Original Soundtrack - Star City I've often found Blanky Kong music to be rather overrated, frequently taking down far superior tracks in the BSC. This track is a lot catchier than the dreadful "Water Music," though the nice melody does take a major holiday for large portions of the track, leaving only an uninteresting bass/percussion line to carry things.

DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track: Integral - Five Years Before The biggest problem with this track is that it wastes nealy a minute getting up any kind of steam, meaning that a third of its running time is effectively thrown away. Once more layers get added and a melody appears over the tekno, it's quite nice. Of course, since the track is looped, another minute is wasted immidiately afterwards.

Highly Responsive to Prayers Special Kakiden Arrange - Now, die for the debt you have accumulated Weird title. A very øldskülen-Mega-Man-type track, which is fine by me. The synth is a little flat, but what's there is a nice bit of synthy melody and rhythm.

Kameo: Elements of Power Original Soundtrack - Enchanted Kingdom My nomination. I'm a sucker for this kind of track--what can I say? Ethereal pseudo-vocals form a mystical lullaby that's soothing and innocent. The singer is excellent, and the entire track is tinged with sadness and regret despite its childlike sound. Definitely my favorite track from the OST, which I heartilly reccommend.

Narcissu (Game Rip) - I'm Right Here (vocal ver.) This is as good a time as any to set forth what my vocal tastes are. I love choral stuff, wordless vocals, and well-done English or Celtic singing. Anything in Japanese, with unintentionally cheesy lyrics, or of a poppish nature usually merits an instant fail from me.

Schrodinger's Cat - Die Katze von Schrodinger Game Soundtrack - GOLDARROW ~In a bar~ [Western] Ah, good old Western cliches. I don't think we've had such a track in SoTW before. Very Morricone and charming, even if it is incredibly stereotypical.

Pretty good week! Very interesting contrast between the tracks, and some Western composers to boot.

The Point Spread
3 pts. - Kameo: Home Field Advantage
2 pts. - Highly Responsive to Prayers
1 pts. - Morricone's Cat In A Bar

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The links all worked when I created the thread, and they all work now, so I dunno. Perhaps you caught a transient server outage or something. :\

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Are the tracks still not working for you? I'm testing some User Agent blocking in an attempt to curb the streaming of tracks, but I don't know if I'm doing it right.

Additional Post:
Here's a little report from April 2006:

Top 10 of 453 Total URLs By KBytes

#   Hits          KBytes           URL
1   4360  1.32%   9921265  9.02%   /music/week0038/Mario & Zelda Big Band Live CD - Theme of Dragon Roost Island (Nintendo Gamecube - "The Legend of Zelda - Takt of Wind").mp3
2   2191  0.67%   5403139  4.91%   /music/week0046/Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - The Movie (SNES Game Rip) - Energy Generator Lab (Stage 5).mp3
3    911  0.28%   3627899  3.30%   /music/week0043/Dance Dance Revolution Party Collection Original Soundtrack - Can Be Real (Soul House Extended).mp3
4   1817  0.55%   3189920  2.90%   /music/week0003/SimCity 4 (Game Rip) - Oasis.mp3
5   1508  0.46%   2568417  2.33%   /music/week0012/Gradius Fantasia - Gradius Fantasia.mp3
6   1179  0.36%   2386735  2.17%   /music/week0003/Katamari Damacy (Game Rip) - The Moon & The Prince.mp3
7   1472  0.45%   1844382  1.68%   /music/week0027/Need for Speed High Stakes (PlayStation Game Rip) - Main Menu 2 - Paradigm Shifter.mp3
8   1031  0.31%   1836664  1.67%   /music/week0041/Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Game Music - Arctic Circle D Point.mp3
9   2604  0.79%   1825335  1.66%   /music/week0046/Starcraft (Game Rip) - Terran 2.mp3
10  1893  0.58%   1657460  1.51%   /music/week0008/Soul Calibur II Original Soundtrack - Brave Sword, Braver Soul.mp3

That's over 30 GB of transfer per month for these ten tracks alone. 9% of the bandwidth used for the entire month was for the Zelda track. WTF?

Additional Post:
I took the User Agent blocking code down. It didn't seem to work anyway.

I think I'll just start zipping the offending bandwidth stealing tracks. Beginning now.

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For the record, I'm having no trouble downloading the offending tracks.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Kaleb.G

9% of the bandwidth used for the entire month was for the Zelda track. WTF?

I know, man. Energy Generator Lab is a MUCH better track.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by TCK

For the record, I'm having no trouble downloading the offending tracks.

Well, I removed the htaccess stuff, so that may be why. For now I have just zipped six of the most downloaded files over the past two months. Let me know if you have any problems downloading them.

http://songoftheweek.info/music/week...e%20Prince.zip
http://songoftheweek.info/music/week...0-%20Oasis.zip
http://songoftheweek.info/music/week...%20Shifter.zip
http://songoftheweek.info/music/week...Wind%27%29.zip
http://songoftheweek.info/music/week...0D%20Point.zip
http://songoftheweek.info/music/week...age%205%29.zip

Let's see you MySpace fuckers try to stream this stuff now.

FELIPE NO

Body Harvest (Game Rip) - bh04 - This track is far too atmospheric to earn favor with me. It's just not that interesting. Great background music for a suspense game but it fails to display any life of its own, outside the game.

Crusader: No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu - I agree with orion; the intro is rather deceptive. It's good and caused me to think the meat of the track would contain a lot more innovation. But it was a little formulaic, actually. The intro faded into what I can only describe as a "mood" and didn't try to escape from it. It had all the right pieces but they weren't assembled to their full potential.

Diddy Kong Racing Original Soundtrack - Star City - This track's hit and miss. The melody doesn't live up to the expectations set by the frenetic percussion. And the choice of sound samples is pretty uninteresting to me.

DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track: Integral - Five Years Before - This one takes too long to get where it's going, and once it's there, I wish it weren't. Way, way too much discord in the whole piece for my liking.

Highly Responsive to Prayers Special Kakiden Arrange - Now, die for the debt you have accumulated - The last thing I expected from this was a chiptune. (I thought it was gonna be another boring military march.) The melody's acceptable although the synth is underdeveloped. This is arranged? Weird. Just weird, man.

Kameo: Elements of Power Original Soundtrack - Enchanted Kingdom - Unless the track has little else to feature (i.e. When You Met Her), words aren't something I easily accept in SotW. The voices in this track aren't really offensive, but they're kind of...I don't know. The whole thing is just a little bit of a downer for me. It's not a sad track but it's not a happy one either. I can say that it's tranquil, but in this case, that translates over into a bit of a dull experience.

Narcissu (Game Rip) - I'm Right Here (vocal ver.) - A rather nice opening and light jazzy track that was immediately ruined by the presence of unintelligible Japanese lyrics. A shame, really.

Schrodinger's Cat - Die Katze von Schrodinger Game Soundtrack - GOLDARROW ~In a bar~ [Western] - This is a nice change of pace. Has there ever been a western nomination before? Something that I find interesting in my musical preferences is that I strongly dislike country music but this style of western is happily accepted. While it's not as up-tempo as I'd like it to be, it's got a warmth that I find pleasing. A nice song to lay back in front of a fan and fall asleep to.



Points...points...hmm. This is hard. My favorite is clear but beyond that, it all gets kinda muddled. I don't feel this was a strong week at all.

3 Points - Schrodinger's Cat - Die Katze von Schrodinger Game Soundtrack - GOLDARROW ~In a bar~ [Western]

2 Points - Highly Responsive to Prayers Special Kakiden Arrange - Now, die for the debt you have accumulated

1 Point - Kameo: Elements of Power Original Soundtrack - Enchanted Kingdom

Oh well. Every week can't be gangbusters.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

Highly Responsive to Prayers Special Kakiden Arrange - Now, die for the debt you have accumulated - The last thing I expected from this was a chiptune. (I thought it was gonna be another boring military march.) The melody's acceptable although the synth is underdeveloped. This is arranged? Weird. Just weird, man.

Yep, definitely arranged. The original's from a PC Engine game, and the sound quality is even lower! =O

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Hey, I just obtained the OST version of the Children of Mana track that won last week. This version is higher quality bitrate, and official. The music itself is the same, of course. Do you think a replacement is warranted?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

This was another terrible week.

(3 points) Crusader: No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu
This sounded like a backing track without the main melody. The synth elements lay down the groundwork for what may have been a decent track had there been a more pronounced melody. It's still enjoyable to listen to but could have been much better. A track like this would normally have placed 3rd or off the podium for me in a good week but there isn't much to choose from this week.

(2 points) Highly Responsive to Prayers Special Kakiden Arrange - Now, die for the debt you have accumulated
I like upbeat chip tunes with good melodies and this one fits the description to a tee.

(1 point) Diddy Kong Racing Original Soundtrack - Star City
The last of the tracks this week that were somewhat enjoyable. The melody is alright but I didn't care much for the samples used.

As for the rest:
The cat put me to sleep, Bh5yearsb4 were boring atmospheric tracks with little to no melody and Enchanted Kingdom of Narcissu had vocals/singing which equates to instant failure. Next week will be much better...I promise.

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Talk about lacking participation.

(2 points) Crusader: No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu: I believe a shortened version of this track was in the original BSC contest. I kept it then because it was a nice guitar-and-drums package. Nothing much has changed.

(2 points) Body Harvest (Game Rip) - bh04: My nom. I can understand why many people don't like it. Exploration in the track is minimum, but I enjoy the use of piano and strings. It's got a quirky rhythm to it.

(1 point) Diddy Kong Racing Original Soundtrack - Star City: Tough to seperate the rest here. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking (DKR was the fourth N64 game I purchased for the system), but the infectious melody and upbeat pacing makes this track an enjoyable one, at the very least.

(1 point) Narcissu (Game Rip) - I'm Right Here (vocal ver.): Could have gone to Schrodinger, or Five Years Before. I'm not the biggest VGM vocal fan, but the light jazz is plinking my soul right now.

How ya doing, buddy?

3 points: Narcissu (Game Rip) - I'm Right Here (vocal ver.)
2 points: Schrodinger's Cat - Die Katze von Schrodinger Game Soundtrack - GOLDARROW ~In a bar~ [Western]
1 point: Crusader: No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu

Felt kind of bleh on this week. I loved my first place pick, didn't care for (but respected) my second pick, and felt the third pick was the best of the rest, i.e. bleh.
Body Harvest track was fairly boring. ZUN and Diddy Kong Racing suck per their usual, sorry.

I was speaking idiomatically.

So-so week. Too many average entries devalue the competition and evidently don't invite to make much comments. I don't have anything interesting to comment, therefore there goes my point distribution:

<2 points> Crusader - No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu
<2 points> Schrodinger's Cat - Die Katze von Schrodinger Game Soundtrack - GOLDARROW ~In a bar~ [Western]
<2 points> DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track - Integral - Five Years Before

How ya doing, buddy?

Week 58:

Body Harvest (Game Rip) - bh04
This would se... I think I try to look for something that's not meant to be in the track, such as development or a memorable melody. The piano and strings are just made for things like this, or they produce this. A constant track, that didn't grab me so much.

Crusader: No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu
Until 1:30 this was very promising to develop into something awesome. The more I was disappointed, when it just repeated the theme with variations (except for the end). But the track does provide a somewhat stable listening experience. (close)


Diddy Kong Racing Original Soundtrack - Star City
A marchy track with agreeable melody at some parts. The rest is rather average though, like filler, neither bad nor impressive. It's also unfortunate that these parts are at the end of the loop, forming an anti-climax to the good melody at the beginning.

DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track: Integral - Five Years Before It has some interesting idea, but the very musical incarnation of these kind of tracks have to be exceptional in order to transcend mere functionality (lol). Sounds very sparse and incoherent to me.

Highly Responsive to Prayers Special Kakiden Arrange - Now, die for the debt you have accumulated This track can be very tiring when exposed to often, due to the frantic nature. But what's there is good condensed material in my opinion, just right for its length.(2 Points)

Kameo: Elements of Power Original Soundtrack - Enchanted Kingdom
As a chemistry student I found this track to be somewhat ironic. The amorpth structure of this track is given life by none other than the crystalline sound quality. Otherwise, the “entchanted kingdom” would be quite marred by impurities of foul magic (lol). (1 Point)

Narcissu (Game Rip) - I'm Right Here (vocal ver.)
My favourite track this week. It's a good blend of contrasts, inadvertent or intended. While singing about hope and faith (I assumed so), it rather sounds like lost hope and dwindling faith (probably because of the instrumentation and the particular voice). My enjoyment of this track has little to do with VGM, but rather a somewhat interesting feeling I can relate to by heart. (2 Points)

Schrodinger's Cat - Die Katze von Schrodinger Game Soundtrack - GOLDARROW ~In a bar~ [Western] Admittedly, I was taken by this track at the beginning due to its exclusive representation in SOTW history (the history I know) up to this point. But around 2:00 I feel it's losing steam or it is at this point when the ongoing dreariness becomes more of a burden. (1 Point)

FELIPE NO

3 points.- Narcissu (Game Rip) - I'm Right Here (vocal ver.)

2 points.- Schrodinger's Cat - Die Katze von Schrodinger Game Soundtrack - GOLDARROW ~In a bar~ [Western]

1 point.- Kameo: Elements of Power Original Soundtrack - Enchanted Kingdom

EDIT: I forgot to say that I uploaded my next week's nomination to the FTP server.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I've been a bit out of sorts lately so I'm surprised I managed to pull myself together to participate.

(3 points) Narcissu (Game Rip) - I'm Right Here (vocal ver.)
I like this track a great deal. I have absolutely no idea what's wrong with the vocals; I think they're very well done. Terrifically laid back and easy-going, this easily comes up tops for me.

(2 points) Body Harvest (Game Rip) - bh04
Wow, very neat track. While it might not be the strongest in the melody department, "bh04" has very good chording and an interesting accompaniment. Would have been even more enjoyable if it was more developed.

(1 point) Crusader - No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu
Hey, this sounds very, very familiar. Very agreeable synth and rock elements that typified a lot of computer game music from the early 90s or so. And if that weren't enough, it has a nice pace and develops pretty well.

And the rest...

Schrodinger's Cat - Die Katze von Schrodinger Game Soundtrack - GOLDARROW ~In a bar~ [Western]
Admittedly, I'm not very fond of traditional bayou/Western type tracks. Maybe because they're too lazy for my liking. This certainly captures the mood admirably and I trust it must work well in context. But it does not really resonate with me. I'm thinking it's a cultural thing, like how some are averse to traditional oriental music and scales.

Highly Responsive to Prayers Special Kakiden Arrange - Now, die for the debt you have accumulated
The organ-like intro was pretty nifty. The frantic synth appears to be very characteristic of ZUN. In this case, I actually preferred the slightly slower segments. But the track still holds up well in the end.

Kameo - Elements of Power Original Soundtrack - Enchanted Kingdom
"Enchanted Kingdom" is something I might actually nominate myself. The song is almost like a restful lullaby, the type that whisks you away to misty dream worlds. But I can see how it might also put some to sleep for a totally different reason. :P Would have liked to give it points but I was enraptured by the Body Harvest track.

DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track - Integral - Five Years Before
Though it takes a while to develop, the song has some enjoyable electronica, with a strong sense of urgency and dread. A bit more development would have been welcome.

Diddy Kong Racing Original Soundtrack - Star City
It first coems across as a fun and bouncy track but it's a bit more sophisticated than most, which makes it more enjoyable. Nicely done percussion work there. Just missed out on points.

And I've just uploaded my nomination, "Music 04." Considering the cold reception for vocals, it'll probably tank. Hoho. Oh well, one must accept one's Fayte.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

3 points - DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track: Integral - Five Years Before

I've always been a sucker for the ultra repetitive, slow building, slightly changing throughout, atmosphere tracks. This works for me much in the same way "Terror in the Depths of the Fog" from Silent Hill 2 does for me. I find them pretty captivating despite the lack of actual content. I was completely prepared for everyone to hate it.

2 points - Kameo: Elements of Power Original Soundtrack - Enchanted Kingdom

1 point - Body Harvest (Game Rip) - bh04

Also:

Game - Thunder Force II
Artist - Tomomi Ootani
Title - Irrevocable Dream (Stage 5)
Track Number - .vgz file, no track number
Year - 1989
Notes - Could somebody do me the favor of converting this? Cause I don't know what I'm doing over here.

Spoiler:

Stealing your gig, DC

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(3 points) Crusader - No Regret (Game Rip) - Menu
(2 points) Body Harvest (Game Rip) - bh04
(1 point) DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track: Integral - Five Years Before

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Dr. Uzuki

Game - Thunder Force II
Artist - Tomomi Ootani
Title - Irrevocable Dream (Stage 5)
Track Number - .vgz file, no track number
Year - 1989
Notes - Could somebody do me the favor of converting this? Cause I don't know what I'm doing over here.

Got it covered.

Also,

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Body Harvest's had a nice little late run. Saved my nomination from being totally trashed.

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My third consecutive winner? Don't think with this nomination.

Composer(s): Tomozou*/Simaghan/Ray
Album/Game Title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Master System/Game Gear version)
Track Title: Scrambled Egg Zone
Track Number: 6
Year: 1992
Source(s):http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache...ient=firefox-a
*Tomozou is the alias of Makoto Tomozawa.

BTW, this nomination is obscure enough?

How ya doing, buddy?

I am just now noticing that we're giving things another go at Chudah's Corner and the thread is two pages long! Capital stuff. Also, someone there stole my David Lynch avatar that I sported about a month or so ago.

Meanwhile, things at STC aren't looking too hot, hopefully only because of no gangbusters to borrow from Crash.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by isdapi

My third consecutive winner? Don't think with this nomination.

Composer(s): Tomozou*/Simaghan/Ray
Album/Game Title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Master System/Game Gear version)
Track Title: Scrambled Egg Zone
Track Number: 6
Year: 1992
Source(s):http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache...ient=firefox-a
*Tomozou is the alias of Makoto Tomozawa.

BTW, this nomination is obscure enough?

I might be wrong, but I think this might have been nominated before. Or maybe it's just that I know the track already.

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Originally Posted by isdapi

Album/Game Title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Master System/Game Gear version)
Track Title: Scrambled Egg Zone

BTW, this nomination is obscure enough?

Hahaha, Scrambled Egg Zone is AWESOME. Not sure on the eligibility, but I'd say that, since this is the SMS version of Sonic 2, it's probably fine, unless anyone disagrees.

Originally Posted by Dr. Uzuki

I am just now noticing that we're giving things another go at Chudah's Corner and the thread is two pages long! Capital stuff.

TCK received a PM from Chudah on the day after SotW left CC asking for a second chance, but he didn't realize it until some time after (more details at the wiki). Hopefully it'll continue to work out as well as it has this week.

Originally Posted by Dr. Uzuki

Meanwhile, things at STC aren't looking too hot, hopefully only because of no gangbusters to borrow from Crash.

Yeah, normally there's at least one or two more voters there. I'm feeling lonely.

Double Post:

Originally Posted by TCK

I might be wrong, but I think this might have been nominated before. Or maybe it's just that I know the track already.

No Sonic track has ever been nominated before, as far as I know.

Jam it back in, in the dark.