Song of the Week - WEEK 96 Voting/WEEK 97 Nominating

Hey folks,

First time poster, first time voter, first time nominator, long time VGM listener. I'm not gonna bore you with my life story..just ask if you wanna know. I just discovered this little game a couple days ago, and I think it's a fine idea. Here's my comments and stuff:


Blind Kiss - This song is right outta Level 42..I could swear Mark King is playing the bass line. I'm not a particularly big fan of them, but the added catchiness/cheesiness of this song more than compensates! Great Selection.

Ceilos - Not much to say about this one really..kinda aimless & boring

1st Tide - I liked this one on the first listen, but it lost its lustre after a couple plays. The B section seems to need a bit more "umph" to better contrast the mild A.

Devote for Nature - Nice little tune. I thought it was kinda funny how the intro suggests (to me) some sort of progressive build, but abruptly dives right into the A section after 8 bars. Good, but not a keeper.

LUMINESCENCE - Nah. That drum timbre just kills this one for me. BUT the background piano fills are nice.

Bonds - Cool! I'm always a sucker for noble themes. And I loved the repeat of the theme by the accordion, to give it a dash of "yarrrrrr!".

Jooli's Song - The opening melody reminds me of the SMS version of Rampage! (however irrelevant that may be ). Anyways, I found the pacing of this track to be a tad of a drag after a while. ****How the pacing matches that of the gameplay, I have no idea.

Las Vegas - At first I thought this one was beyond my cheese threshold (the opening arpeggios are a mix of some kid who learned how to execute/abuse sweep picking.. and Philip Glass music ). However, I got to thinking that, in the context of Las Vegas cheese capital of the world, what better? Knowing the context of the track makes it much easier to evaluate a composition IMHO (see below).


*** I know it's kind of a bold move to shake up the system on the first post, but what can ya do. Personally, I think having a decent idea of the context of a composition allows for a much more accurate view of the intent (which is kinda what I'd say it's all about). When people listen to and admire Nobuo's music, I believe a major contribution lies in his great talent for musically illustrating a person/place/etc..
So, for example, if the song is meant to be a theme song for a particular character, one might describe the character when submitting the song. Or, if the song is meant to be more of a mood-setter, maybe describing the atmosphere, perhaps with a screenshot to accompany?
It's a far cry from actually playing through the game, but it would definitely help in evaluation if you ask me. What do y'all think?


Here's my vote (1=best)

1. Bonds
2. Blind Kiss
3. Las Vegas


Ok, almost done, but I have a nomination:

Artist: Katsuhiro Hayashi
Game Title: Black Belt (SMS game rip)
Track Title: Boss (not official..it's the music from the boss sequence)
Year: 1986
Additional Info: The boss theme to the old SMS game Black Belt...my fav SMS track, and I think it's a contender
Source: SMS Power! ..but you can download it here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/7ps8av


One last thing...what exactly constitutes "obscure"? ie does anyone mind listing some fundamental "do not touch" titles?

Ok, i'm done (phew)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

First, welcome to Song of the Week, goldsac. Thanks for participating. Please stick around and try not to fade away after a few weeks.

As for your comments, I definitely understand from where you're coming. Perhaps you're wondering about several track's context, but since the asterisks were placed in your comments for "Jooli's Song", I'll offer up an explanation.

What you need to know first is that our nomination rules are rather expansive. We're not limited to nominating pieces that came from video games or arrangements.

Many of us have interests in particular composers or composing teams, such as Tim Follin, Motoi Sakuraba, Yoko Kanno, Mintjam or ZUNTATA, to name a handful. But occasionally, some composers will produce their own independent works that are just as interesting. Because we like hearing this material too, we allow nominations from non-VGM albums, with one caveat: the composer must have at least one non-doujin VGM composition credit. This gives some interesting leeway as to what can be nominated and has lead to some excellent discoveries.

"Jooli's Song" is one such piece. It's from an album by Bjorn Lynne, called "The Gods Awaken", that I found while researching Lynne's background. What this means is that there is no in-game context. It's just something that was created to evoke a particular mood.

I'd highly recommend you look over the Song of the Week Nomination Rules. You may find that more tracks than you initially believed are eligible for nomination. And if you're unsure, or there's a grey area, just ask. If nobody swats it down, it's good to go.

Hope that clears some stuff up for you.

Hey man, thanks for taking the time. I've looked at the rules, and yeah, they aren't anything short of expansive! (and that's a good thing)
I found out about Jooli's Song after the fact (apparently it's based on a book of the same name?). I guess my comments w/ regard to that song are moot, but i wasn't meaning to single out that particular song..it was just a good springboard for my point.

I guess it's just a lesson learned that I should look up some background info on the tracks before evaluating. When I found out that the 1st tide was from IQ, as in Intelligent Qube, as in a puzzle game, my opinion of the track kinda shifted. Not your typical puzzle game music!

As for sticking around, that's the plan. My only worry is the obscurity factor. I read through the list of past nominations, and damn a lotta those tracks are just foreign to me. Definitely gonna be good for me as far as exposure goes..but I gotta confess that I haven't dug as deep as many of you on here. Not that I plan on nominating Aeris' theme anytime soon, heh. Just be sure to bite my head clean off if I nominate anything obvious

There's nowhere I can't reach.

So.....
I was kinda hoping to d/l that Blind Kiss track, but apparently I missed the boat. And as my luck would have it, it fell just shy of placing in the top 3. Does anyone mind possibly linking it for the new guy?

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

Originally Posted by orion_mk3

Sure, I can hook you up.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/z82wvd

much obliged!

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