Song of the Week - WEEK 61 Voting/WEEK 62 Nominating

Nice week, not exceptional according to my criterion, but good enough to comment on it.

Arc Hound (Game Rip) - Stage 5
In general lines this chiptune doesn't strike me as a strong one. It's not a problem of brevity or limited sounding, just its melody is average at the very least. Too homogeneous and plain.

Beyond Good & Evil (Game Rip) - Fight Part 1
This one has no introduction, straight to the action. Good combination of electronica, orchestra and chorus. The real highlight, imho, is the choral work because is the most distinctive feature of the track. It's a pity that the electronica and orchestral work leave to be desired. Great potential wasted.

Dark Savior (Game Rip) - First Parallel Theme <1 point>
I don't unveil any secret if I say that this one is probably going to win. It seems a _DH_'s nomination, a solid offer. The star here is the guitar which plays a superb melody, the rest of instrumention only plays a role of accompaniment. It's easy-going and a joy to listen to, although I'd prefer a little more of character.

Leisure Suit Larry - Love for Sail! (Red Book Audio) - The Larry Theme <1 point>
Music very appropriate for Larry. This theme is a legend between Sierra's aficionados like the same Larry. Larry's theme is a sexy, cool and charismatic tune and this rendition in key of jazz is simply insuperable. Henry Mancini would be proud.

Princess Banenn (Game Rip) - Music 04 <1 point>
That's Chinese? Well, the piano takes the principal role and the exotic singer remains in a secondary plane. It was hard to get into the vocal performance but once done I can appreciate it. The tone is decidedly melancholy, almost like a lament, and this impression is confirmed with the tragic piano solo in the middle of the song, which is the "brilliant" moment of the entire song. I'm a tragedy-addict.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Master System Game Rip) - Scrambled Egg Zone <3 points>
Yeah, my nom seriously rocks. Modesty apart, this nomination has the purpose of reducing the deficit of nominations from SMS chiptunes on SOTW (only remember a Zillion track). For such purpose, I had recourse to my childhood memory, and my memory brough me till Sonic 2. Then I had to choose between amazing tracks such as: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console...2_AquaLake.mid, http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console...c2_SkyHigh.mid, http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console...nderground.mid

My election was Scrambled Egg Zone cause is the most complete of all of them. Two minutes of pure adrenaline and with an awesome build-up. The beginning puts you on alert, the tension grows and appear different lines in crescendo. All seem a chaos but suddenly a fast phrase makes a stellar appearance and releases all the tension. It's one of the chiptunes with better development, it has sense, direction and action.

Super Monkey Ball 2 (Game Rip) - Staff Roll
Basically it's a pretty decent tune, however it suffers from very little modification of its melodic material. The lack of progression make to repeat excessively the same stuff turning out redundant. The development is an aspect critical for making stand-out compositions, here the composer didn't take into account.

Thunder Force II (Game Rip) - Irrevocable Dream (Stage 5)
Another chiptune, this time better than the first one. The four notes that work as base-line are quite annoying and distract me of the musical flow. Anyway, the evolution of the music is unremarkable, just I can remember a few cool synth sounds. Above-average chiptune.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Contradictoy feelings. On the one hand, Scrambled Egg Zone (my nom) has placed something that I thought impossible, besides the winner song is a favorite of mine. But on the other hand, the lack of participation has tarnished the show this week.

A question: Will SOTW continue during the celebration of BSC06?


PS: Long live SMS music!

There's nowhere I can't reach.