Song of the Week - WEEK 73 Voting/WEEK 74 Nominating

There's an Addam's Family track?!

OMG BIAS ALERT

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Tulla: It's nice to have a string quartet solo as a nomination. Unfortunately, Tulla winds up being too drab and melancholy for my tastes. The strings are nicely performed, and it's a serviceably somber piece. But it's rare that music of this mood captures my interest.

Artificial Line: Generic and mostly forgettable. The introduction of the strings at 1:23 improved the track slightly, but not enough to save it from being a completely textbook military theme.

Gyakutan Saiban 3 Courtroom Suite: HOLD IT! Well, not really. This piece is adequate, and it may well befit the scene in which it's played. On it's own, it works but it doesn't possess a whole lot of "spark". I found that the movements were too disconnected; it switches from one instrument to the next with very little transition to smooth the piece out. If I were more into heavily dramatic music, I could rate this track higher.

Water Ruins: Another slow, oppressive track. This is the same musical team that does Timesplitters, and I like a lot of the work in that series, so I was hopeful for a nice, aquatic feeling. This track isn't quite so watery as I'd imagined it'd be, but it's not unlistenable. The sound of pipes being struck is a clever touch and punctuates the track well. Still a bit heavy-handed for my sensibilities, but it's different enough to keep me interested.

Stay Out of the Moonlight: Who sucked the life out of this piece? If not for the intermittent harmonica usage, I'd label it a Dirge Noir. God, this one is dull. Oh, I'm sure it's great mood music in-game, but here, it's pretty much like stabbing my ears with a rusty sickle. Christ, if you're gonna use a steel guitar, at least make it interesting.

Alex and Ken Stage: Well, it's not slow and depressing. That's something. Boooooooo for repitition, though. It has some nice elements but is desperately in need of greater variation between them. It's good enough for a point, but I can't justify anything more than that.

Bathroom ~ Ending: BIAS ALERT Even if this weren't an Addams Family track, I'd think it was pretty bubbly (pun intended). It's still got that SNES "tin" quality, but the melody and sound effects diminish this flaw. This is the kind of track that would lose during stronger weeks but will probably do well here for lack of much competition.

Fake Time: A little short, a little derivative, but otherwise decent. I can endure guitar mashing and electronica a lot longer than other SotW participants. I guess my real complaint with this track is that once it finally gets some chops, it's pretty much wrapping itself up.


Point Spread

3 Points: The Addams Family Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt (SNES Game Rip) - Bathroom ~ Ending
1 Point: Jet Force Gemini (Game Rip) - Water Ruins
1 Point: beatmania IIDX 11 IIDX RED Original Soundtrack - Fake Time
1 Point: Street Fighter III 3rd Strike 'Fight for the Future' Original Soundtrack (JPN) - Alex & Ken Stage -JAZZY NYC '99-

Talk about the week that went *CLUNK*. Even if "Bathroom ~ Ending" had been from a different game, it still would've received my full support here.

Originally Posted by CHz

Yeah, I was going to throw out the same idea. I'm fine with Tsugunai (Suikoden 1 etc. etc. etc.), but maybe there are other folks out there who aren't.

I'm okay with Tsugunai, even if Mitsuda's name is probably dropped more than any other VGM composer. There's no restrictions on composers and we've let in stuff that's more known than Tsugunai.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Considering some of the stuff we've allowed, despite a mantra of obscurity, I doubt anything from the Lunar series would be turned away.

Also, yay for Iwadare!

How ya doing, buddy?

And that's mostly fine by me, as I value quality more than obscurity.

It's just nice to have some sort of loose code that prevents the ubiquitous influx of new members nominating "Aerith's Theme" once every other month.

Though there are other games/series that I'd personally consider taboo for nomination besides the ones you mentioned. Castlevania, Kirby, Guilty Gear, Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear tracks are curiously exempt), and Mega Man (classic and X titles anyhow).

That's just me, however.

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