[SotW] Song of the Week - WEEK 181 Voting/WEEK 182 Nominating

There's a lot of gold to be found on the Viorate soundtrack (still kicking myself for having not nominated "The Afternoon of the Supersonic Hydro Catfish" yet), and while I wouldn't put Atelier Viorate Original Soundtrack - The Mudship Sinks at Karotte Village in the top tier, it's still a very nice, more-than-decent tune. Shows that the Gust sound team can have some coherence and direction when they try the slower stuff (which, usually, they're not that great at).

I am not familiar with any of Kanno's Cowboy Bebop works, which is something I should fix. Cowboy Bebop Tank! THE! BEST! - Pearls features the gorgeous vocals of Ilaria Graziano, which manage to galvanise Kanno's melodies every single time they appear, with graceful harmony and pitch-perfect delivery. It's a testament to Kanno's greatness as a composer that while I think this is far from her best, it's still a stunning piece of music.

First and foremost, I must encourage everyone to listen to the entire soundtrack to Crash Twinsanity by Spiralmouth---Dubble did a really great rip. The a capella style of the music, particularly as featured in Crash Twinsanity (Game Rip) - Totem Hokum, Pt II (River Rollerbrawl Area), is just flat-out nonsensical fun, and surely people who don't like it are aliens devoid of spirit and soul. Awesome Fat Albert cameo, too!

Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles (Game Rip) - Theme de Cyprien intrigued me from the start and really never had me lose interest throughout. Nice to see that a track from a game with "Evil" and "Chronicles" in its title isn't predominantly orchestral or oppressive in sound or tone. What we get instead is a really sweet flighty number with an amicable sense of charm and some uplifting developments. Very nice!

I've really struggled in the past to get into the soundtracks to the Magna Carta games, which is exceptionally odd given the composer(s) behind them. Magna Carta Sound Track - Battle theme I, following the unfortunate trend, doesn't do anything for me. It seems to lack character, and substance. This is about as generic and unremarkable as (battle) tracks get for me.

I was willing to give MELT - Nothing Special the benefit of the doubt after the first minute, as even though I don't like these kind of vocals particularly in a down tempo electronica environment, I thought the track would shape up to something in its 6 minute runtime. But nah, I didn't like it in the end. Too much meandering, not enough direction. The shimmering effect of the vocals was an extra turnoff.

I really didn't expect such a cool, chilled track from a THUNDER FORCE game. Thunder Force VI (Game Rip) - BIO FLAME (STAGE02-A) is easy to listen to and makes for nice background music, but I don't think it engages me nor intrigues me enough to consider it in the point distribution.

Wait, a track from Ys V Orchestra Version was allowed? 'K. Ys V Orchestra Version - Lost Kingdom is of course very pretty, very moving stuff. It doesn't enthrall me as much as it used to, but that's kinda expected considering my usual track record with Ys tracks (my interest usually wanes over time). There are exceptions of course (see: The Oath in Felghana soundtrack), but this one just hasn't stood the test of time, despite still having an affecting sound.

and so the WALL OF MINDLESS VGM JUDGING ended with a mere POINT or three

3 points: Crash Twinsanity (Game Rip) - Totem Hokum, Pt II (River Rollerbrawl Area)
2 points: Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles (Game Rip) - Theme de Cyprien
1 point: Cowboy Bebop Tank! THE! BEST! - Pearls
4th: Atelier Viorate Original Soundtrack - The Mudship Sinks at Karotte Village
5th: Thunder Force VI (Game Rip) - BIO FLAME (STAGE02-A)
6th: Ys V Orchestra Version - Lost Kingdom
7th: Magna Carta Sound Track - Battle theme I
8th: MELT - Nothing Special

Pretty good week. Only two which I absolutely couldn't get into. The rest had their own individual highlights which is always good to see/hear.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Nomination #24

Composer: MANYO
Album: Karanoshojo Original Sound Track "Azure"
Track Title: Fairy's dance
Track Number: 1-06
Year: 2008
Catalog Number: GUN-0009
Additional Information: This is arguably the manliest track I've ever nominated, yo.

Frolicking to the FTP

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Folks be silly a capella haters.

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