LogFAQs > #937415143

Idola Phantasy Star Saga - Endeavour
War of Brains - FEEL the POWER in YOUR SOUL
Beatmania IIDX 21 Spada - Dark Legacy

MATCH 1

I was really hoping to see Endeavor in the contest this year ever since kaonashi used it in a list that one time. I love the super powerful melody and all the harmonizing going on with the brass and the strings. The piano backing starting at 2:58 is a nice touch as well. It's like you're rushing into the final battle but we know we're going to win so everyone's full of hope and vigor. I 100% would've supported this if it didn't make it in as quickly as it did. I like to think about where my music taste intersects with others, so I guess this song is the lem-kaonashi intersection (I would lump Toxtricity in here too since their tastes have a lot of overlap but I view this song as more kaonashi than tox, and I think there are better examples of lem-tox intersect). What an awesome song and a great discovery!

B2 Battle is another really cool discovery! This was one of the strong considerations of mine for my wildcard pick, but honestly, it might actually be what my preference is in the end. At least the main considerations were between two songs so if my memory's correct and there's a maximum of 3 points allocated towards a song with 6 points in total, I can devote all my points to my top two preferences. This song has a slightly edgy feel to it, but it's the cool kind and not the cheesy kind, so I like it. The use of tubular bells for the lead instrument is a really cool choice and I like how it sounds here! I like the melody a lot and I'm really digging the guitar solo too at 0:46. This is definitely a really strong match and I wish this didn't have to be a round 1 match. I'd vote this song over every song today besides Endeavor. I hope putting this match as the first match in B2 was intentional haha.

MATCH 2

There's a lot of really cool stuff from Hideki "Peter Griffin" Naganuma. Being a part of the siiva community for a while gave me a lot of exposure to stuff like Jet Set Radio music which is a big favorite there. He just does a lot of cool sample-based music like this song. Some of it can be a little hit or miss, but FEEL the POWER in YOUR SOUL (the caps feel so necessary here lol) appeals to the side of me that likes general EDM stuff. I definitely feel the power from this song! Favorite part is 1:10-1:25.

Central Park is a good example of a song I can highlight for being a song from an older console that I can enjoy. C64 rock tunes from the likes of Tim Follin or Jeroren Tel are a lot of times enjoyable stuff for me, and while this song's definitely distinct from the works of those two composers, I get a similar sense of enjoyment from it. Not a whole lot to say about it, it's just a cool sounding song from start to finish, with the exception of 3:16-3:27-ish. That part just leaves a slight ringing in my ears and I don't like it lol.

MATCH 3

I really like the piano and violin combination from Dark Legacy. My only complaint is those wub-wub sounds like at 0:52 and 0:56. I think it's actually the worst during the 1:19-1:39 part because it really feels like it interferes with the melody for me. But other than, yeah, I love how pretty this song sounds. Nekomata Master putting out some good music as usual.

Here's another chance at highlighting a type of song I like that I don't always get to: soft, emotional Japanese music. Stuff like this with sad piano and vocals is hard to go wrong for me! That said, there are some things that make it not as good as it could be. For one thing, I don't really care much for the beat of this song. Feels kind of R&B-ish in a sense and that's not really what I'm looking for in a song like this. I think I'd like this song a lot more if it was different. I guess I wish the vocalist was a little less breathy but that's a more minor issue. This is actually a pretty close match! Like I said, I think there are some changes that could theoretically be made to push this song over the top for me, but as it is now, I don't think I can vote for it. Just to throw out an example of something I do like a lot in this song is the vocal harmonizing at around 1:18 right before the key change. I feel like fast-paced stuff tends to take precedence over slower, emotional songs like this which kinda sucks because sometimes it isn't as easy to express that I do like both types of songs a lot in the right context!

Endeavor > B2 Battle > Dark Legacy > Whereabouts of Light > FEEL the POWER in YOUR SOUL > Central Park

Pretty good day today!