Song of the Week - WEEK 68 Voting/WEEK 69 Nominating

My internet connection is finally (apparently) stable--no more long periods of being offline, no more shuffling to the library for 'net access, and best of all, no more late SoTW thread creation! Sorry about all the inconvenience it caused.

EDIT:
Anarchy Online Original Soundtrack Vol 02 - Shadowland Battle Music (Remix) This piece vacilates between the ever-popular techno-funk genre and pure techno. Despite being essentially tuneless and ambient, it does a good job of conveying a tense mood, sort of like Mark Snow's X-Files underscore. The latter portion, which is louder and faster, is less evocative in this respect. I kept hoping for this to build to something, but that moment never came.

Bakumatsu Roman The Second Act Gekka no Kenshi ~Flowers Blooming on the Moon, Flowers Scattering on the Wind~ Arrange Sound Trax - First Movement "Swordsman of Gekka ~ Decision at Daybreak" (Theme 1) Try as I might, the ridiculously-long parody titles I sometimes invent simply can't compete with the real thing. The string arrangement on display here is typical of most Japanese arrangements, as is the flat orchestration. The resulting mix saps the power from what should be monumental and moving, leaving it sounding tinny and silly to me. Where's Kaoru Wada when you need him?

Drag-on Dragoon Original Soundtrack Vol. 2 - Twelfth Chapter Sky Label me a hater if you must, but I just can't get into DoD's particular brand of chaotic and dissonant orchestral writing. "Sounds like the CD is skipping" just doesn't belong in the same sentance as "music" in my book.

Dreamfall : The Longest Journey Original Soundtrack - The Hospital Room I tend to love wordless vocals, so this tune was naturally right up my alley. It's almost lullaby-like in construction, and the vocalist is well-supported by a small ensemble that lends power and depth to her performance. It verges on the melodramatic at times, but it doesn't bother me.

KUKEIHA CLUB pro-fusion ~TOKIMEKI MEMORIAL~ - The Ambition of Cultman Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-CULTMAN! This be jazz-funk and its lounge-lizard stylings don't intrigue me, nor does the lack of any structure. As I said more eloquently elsewhere, when music gets too impovisational, it just sounds like elevator music to me (at best--sometimes it's chaos that saps lifeforce from listeners).

Rainbows - Chris Hülsbeck Volume 3 - Giana Sisters (Theme) A bit synthier than the other entrants this week, but also more melodic and structured. Bouncy, upbeat, and fun, with a cute melody and slight techno edge.

Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange - THE LABYRINTH The beginning is a little meandering and chaotic, but things pick up later on with impressive percussion and brass but so-so woodwinds. Like the first track this week, I felt as if things were building up to a big payoff, but again it never comes. The meandering would have been forgiven if a poweful statement of theme had come along, but instead the song simply runs out of steam.

Tengai Makyou ~ The Apocalypse IV - Original Soundtrack - The Twelve Apostles Battle This sounds vaguely familiar--was it perhaps in the BSC? There are hints of a badass battle track here--the faint hum of the synthesized guitar melody buried under layers of sound design, the organ-led opening--but the majority of the track is just techno loops. The mixing here is simply unforgivable, as it foregrounds the uninspired trance over everything else. Properly handled, this tune and instrument set could produce a powerhouse, but botched like this, it sounds like those apostles were at a dance-off.

Disappointing week with only a few standouts; I supose that's to be expected coming off of a better-than-average bunch last time.

The Point Spread
Hospital Room - 3 pts.
Giana Sisters - 2 pts.
Shadowland Battle Remix - 1 pt.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Queue's been updated. Keep those nominations coming! Drag your friends and enemies into nominating, bug people on the queue who're behind! Nominate!

There's nowhere I can't reach.