Lurker > Fluttershy_Pony

Woo! Top 5 is *way* beyond what I was expecting. I actually had a pre-typed apology ready for this topic, expecting this to hit last place (or somewhere close to the bottom at best). You wanted music without a focus on lyrics & I gave you the most lyric heavy album that I love.

I actually spent quite a bit of time trying to find anything I thought you might enjoy, but eventually ran out of time and just went with what my favorite album was that particular day. So while I wish I could take credit for finding something you enjoyed, it was ultimately a very selfish nomination that just got really lucky. But... well... I shared something I loved with someone who appreciated it, so all's well that ends well? Thanks for taking the time to listen to it!

[Fortunately, I was unable to find all the songs from "ROM Cassette Disc in JALECO Remix" on YouTube or I likely would have nominated it instead, even though every song on that album loops too many times before changing tracks.]

Oh, on an unrelated note, I did listen to that circle album... three times in a row. So, I discovered something I loved and that's neat. Thank you for selecting one of the best parts to showcase in this topic & thanks to sergio for nominating it.

Kazuya
Horney
Skull
Geralt
Spawn
Heihachi
RoboCop
Xenomorph
Richter

Whoops, could have at least forced TMNT into a tiebreaker if I didn't forget about this yesterday. Ah well.

Bump.

Zero Gravity Area
X vs. Zero

Some very late catching up:

I was not prepared for how dark "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" is... turns out I'm not really into strangulation. A mildly interesting data point and a fairly catchy song that I'll definitely remember, but I think their funnier songs are more my speed. (Though I do like dark music, so it could grow on me after I adjust to what the song is doing).

"Frou-frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires" is also something I need a few more listens of to properly define my reaction. The early part of the song sets me on edge for currently unexplained reasons, but the richer parts where all the instruments come in are fairly nice. And I didn't make out a single lyric (or look any up yet), so... I don't know what this was or what I thought about it.

I really enjoyed American Idiot and kinda love "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", though I've played it so many times that it's rather lost its magic. I've never liked pairing the song with "Holiday"; I like Holiday too, I just don't think the songs work together as a cohesive whole & both tracks are worse for the combination.

I *think* I'd say that I really liked The Dear Hunter's Act IV? I spent quite a while listening to six songs from that album on an endless loop, but I can't recall most of the other tracks... and it also falls into the "I loved this so much I played it on an endless loop and now I don't have much reaction to it" category. Still, the album had several songs I loved and I actually had to go listen to a few more songs after revisiting "The Bitter Suite IV and V", so that feels rather top tier... even if I can't recall more than half of it?

Oh hey, "Basket Case" is a big enough single that I actually recognize it. That's kinda neat.

"More Data" is... likely to be highly memorable, but I don't know that I'd want to hear it again. It"s a very "ask me again in two months" type of song where I need more time to process it.

"Rough Steez" is intriguing enough that I may check out a second song sometime.

"Dance of the Volcano" was pretty neat, I liked hearing a bit of a different song featuring Phil Collins.

I like the linked song from "STAFFcirc vol. 8 - circle" so much that I'm immediately dropping everything to go listen to the whole thing now & OMG I love what "Trapped in a Dream" is doing, this is exactly the type of thing I need with its low tones and ambient tranquil soundscapes.

-

More catching up on songs later, more circle to listen to.

Knight

Great Battlers
Epilogue

1: Pearls
2: Lightning
3: Hello Love
4: That! Feels Good!
5: Freak Me Now
6: Free Yourself
7: These Lips
8: Begin Again
9: Beautiful People
10: Shake the Bottle

dEUS - In a Bar, Under the Sea > Arcade Fire - The Suburbs > Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

Apprentice
Zero
RyuSmash
Jason
Rash
SephEhrg
SephSmash
Vader
Terry

Jakob
Metal Man

Down

Zero Stage 2
Departure

Terminator
Ori
Simon
Baiken
Predator
TerryEX
Sion
TerrySmash
RoboCop

Revealing
Staff Roll MM8

Zhivago

Never watched the film, so I really don't get that one.

Sub-Zero
Mega
Pepsiman
Snake
Ryo
Freddy
Akuma
Michael

Smith

Final Transmission
Pharaoh Man

I don't even recall Final Transmission from noms, but I like it tonight

Gongsun
Shaq
Heihachi
Raiden
RoboCop
2B
Xenomorph
Mega

Haven't really caught up yet, but I want to talk about Has Been for a minute. I actually bought the album back when it first came out without knowing anything about it; I enjoy laughing at terrible things and have a soft spot for novelty albums, so I was actually listening to a lot of earlier work at the time & was actually looking forward to something horrible like his attempts at music before & after "Has Been".

I was not prepared for how emotional and powerful some of the tracks were. "It Hasn't Happened Yet" blew me away at the time & "That's Me Trying" has become unexpectedly relevant to me for personal reasons I won't get into. Pretty neat we have the same top two, though I also find "Together" to be oddly compelling. The spoken word seemingly stream of consciousness intro is strangely fascinating and the music feels... odd, somehow, in ways I've never quite placed. It feels kinda like being in a rewinding tape, somehow? It's not really a favorite song, but an interesting experience that I enjoy revisiting occasionally.

Very pleased to see the album get nominated and get some positive attention.

Dog

...I have no idea how or why.

Skyway
Anata no Kaze ga Fuku Kara

Match 1 is brutal, both songs are better than I remember them being back during noms.

Kazuya
Rent
Hornet
Kula
Drifter
Skullomania
Link
Geralt

Apologies if this double posts. Very bad internet tonight.

Guitar

Bump

Surge of Power!
Farewell to Ballade

Daddy
Iori
Norimaro
Mega
Bean
Noctis
Akira
Cloud

Pac-Man
TMNT
Kratos
Gon
Richter
Chun-Li
Fencer
Juan

MaxGalactica posted...

Definitely would be interested in seeing Dawn FM

Ooh, I definitely like hearing some praise for Dawn FM. I've definitely toyed with nominating it myself, but I've only done a few passive listens; I really like his voice, so I occasionally throw the album on when I want to listen to something different but I've never really paid attention to the lyrics or tried learning what the songs are about. I just kinda tune out and enjoy the musical vibes.

practice

Infinity Mijinion
Dark Man Mix

Decatur: Perhaps the song that best illustrates my point, as I have a very strong reaction to it which I need more time to reflect on. On a surface level, I find this to be probably the catchiest song on the album. Lyrically, I can barely even start to get all of the references to Decatur, but it seems impressively detailed. Emotionally, this song is stirring up some very strong flashbacks and feelings about my own mother--while the song is about a stepmother and our circumstances are not remotely similar, I feel a very strong resonance here and I need a lot more time to come to terms with how I feel. Which is great, but it limits my ability to focus on any of the other tracks. It's a 10/10 song that I needed to hear, but it takes basically all of my mental energy and I have nothing left for the rest of the album.

-

There Are Night Zombies!!: I typically dislike songs with lyrics that spell out words and this track is no exception. While I do like the verses, the choir gets the song off on the wrong foot and it never fully recovers for me.

The Weeknd - House of Balloons > FKA twigs - Magdalene > Frank Ocean - Blonde

I listened to House of Balloons a few years ago as part of Trilogy for one of my music projects and basically hated it... but I've wanted to revisit some of this music for quite a while now and see how I feel now that I've mellowed a bit & am *probably" more receptive to what the album is doing.

1: Decatur
2: Casimir Pulaski Day
3: John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
4: Chicago
5: The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades
6: Concerning the UFO
7: The Seer's Tower
8: The Tallest Man
9: The Man of Metropolis
10: Jacksonville
11: Come On! Feel the Illinoise!
12: Prairie Fire That Wanders About
13: They Are Night Zombies!!
14: To The Workers of
15: The Black Hawk War
16: Out of Egypt

This might be the album I most dreaded covering. I tried listening to it once years ago during one of my music projects and honestly couldn't make it all the way through the album. It's not that I don't like Sufjan Stevens, but his work is a bit... exhausting. There's so much to analyze in his music, lyrically and emotionally, that they tend to demand a high amount of focus & a long period of quiet reflection afterwards. I feel that after I've experienced one of his songs in full that it'll be a few months before I'm ready to tackle another one. Last time I tried this album, I got completely burned out after a couple songs and gave up.

I've done my best to listen to it this time. I've listened to each song five times and made at least a cursory glance at Genius to see what people were saying about the music. And yet, I still feel rather hollow. There's just so much here that, mentally and emotionally, I can't fully process everything. I feel like properly ranking and processing this album would be a year long endeavor & rushing through it in a week is doing a disservice. I've *listened* to the music repeatedly, but I can't say that I've properly experienced it.

Though I'm being far too negative, I should clarify that these are personal problems and not a critique of the album (or the nomination itself). The music itself is fantastic, powerful, unlike anything else we've covered, and I get why it's so popular. It's just... more than I can deal with in any reasonable timeframe, leaving me to rank rather surface level impressions of the music.

stupid

Opening Stage X3 Mix
Opening Stage X

Be

Splash Blue (Arranged)
Tundra Man (Instrumental)

Apprentice
Sakura
Zero
Scorpion
Lloyd
Ryu
*abstain*
Spawn

I love the MK version of Jason, but I also love Hibiki so... I'll just pass on that one.

fa

Kawaki wo Ameku
Flyers


Kawaki wo Ameku grows on me each time I listen to it; might be my favorite entrant from the entire tournament these days.

Boomer Kuwanger
Duff McWhalen

Deal

X vs. Zero
Wonder Panorama

Seanchan posted...

...Of course this data can be skewed by 1 ranker selecting many 5-6 songs from an individual album, so take that with a grain of salt!

<./<

PIayer_0 posted...

I was the nominator of Art Angels for Raetsel's big song ranking, so this was fun to follow until the end haha

It is pretty neat how many of us share responsibility for that album being included.

If you hadn't given it to me at that topic, I wouldn't have known that I liked it enough to renominate it after it lost its first week.

If Zazi hadn't nominated it originally, I don't know that I would have thought about nominating it myself.

If FoolFantastic (and I think some other people?) weren't so disappointed by the album losing its first week, I wouldn't have known just how popular it was here.

So.. that's kinda fun. I also feel a bit vindicated that my plan to renominate some albums that failed to get selected finally paid off; my first attempt at that, The Ataris album, got last place at its Rank the Albums topic (IIRC). So it's certainly interesting and unexpected that it turned out so much better this time (even if, as mentioned, there was certainly some discussion about Art Angels' popularity before hand).

-

Anyway, fun topic! Thanks for running it, SeanChan.

Rumours > Art Angels > American Idiot > Master of Puppets > Silent Shout

Though it's been a while since I listened to Rumours, so I could see myself flipping the top two potentially.

together