LogFAQs > #962356958

85rd
Game: The Technomancer
Title: Canyon to Noctis
Composer: Olivier Deriviere
Nominator: @kaonashi1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw0FAn76yDo

kaonashi1 FINALLY has a nom drop. (interestingly, when i rerank everything; it's actually possible that zigzagoon would also remain with 0 songs to show up around this point, and i'm not even sure which of you two would have your first nom drop first, you're both the only two "all songs are 8.x" in my imagined re-ranking, and this portion of the 8s is pretty stacked tight of things i like near the exact same amount as each other so it's hard to tell who'd go first). but instead in my old 2018 taste all his stuff dropped before you even showed up @_@ | REALLY need to do a re-ranking at the end because it will have SHOCKING results. These two CANADIAN nominators are the only ones to NOT lose a SONG, Are They HOT????

anyway, kao actually told me that this nom was distinctly the one he rated lowest out of his nom set. the only one he only rated around 7.x himself rather than 8-10, and was simply suggesting to me out of thinking i'd like it. While that is true, i obviously like it if it's this high, i'm curious if he'd have performed even better if he limited himself only to noms he'd give an 8+ himself! Mutually, kaonashi1 and i agree this is our least favorite of kaonashi1's noms, apparently! (we agree on a lot of things about music...obviously...so this really should not be surprising)

the appeal to me here is pretty easy to spot for anyone who knows me of course. I love glitchy idm drums, and those are quite prominent in this track! that on top of more 'world' instruments is great for activating multiple Taste Sectors of mine all at the same time. Making this closer to a _Type:Null track than any other _Pokemon playlist it could belong in (closest is _Houndoom, but it'd fit right into _Electrike strangely too. ElectrikeXHoundoom is honestly a pretty rare combo to find! So I appreciate this). it reminds me a lot of "Phantasy Star Online 2 OST - Superior Probe ~ Underworks (Scenery)", which i mentioned a couple writeups ago...the comparisons should be pretty obvious. Similar instrumentation, featuring vaguely dramaticconstant 8th synth lines, looping acoustic loops beneath them, "cool idm production". Fascinating comparison to be able to make now because that pso2 song did not exist yet when i made this ranking topic

oh and of course this song has odd time. it took me a while to grasp (i only comprehened it when i played the song sped up), but i guess the whole thing really fits into a "9" container, a slow, long 9 container, that gets grouped in multiple different ways. Most often felt as 5/4 + 4/4 alternating, but if you focus on certain other things you can feel more like a bunch of 4/4s broken up with intermittent 2/4s. The thing asserting the 9 though is that high click sound...though where beat one is, i can never naturally ascertain, i have to actually go out of my way to find it! and sometimes i'm indecisive about where the best place to place the consistent beat 1 would even be! This is intriguing because on some listens, i'll hear certain layers as almost frustratingly mechanical in their assertion of the odd time. Very straight forward "this is the start of the 5/4 bar" "this is the start of the 4/4 bar" sorta plain-ness. but on other listens i can't follow it at all, and it's because this is so multilayered, every layer approaching this container different. giving different start/end positions within the 9, being grouped differently within the 9. it just makes for a very engaging listen when i choose to focus in on these things (very good "dungeon music" definition based on things i've said recently). it's all "9/4", sometimes quite straightforward and heavy-handed in its presentation of the rhythms even, but it's never clear /how/. It's incredibly rhythmically ambiguous at the same time as being rhythmically obvious, and that paradox is pretty fascinating

now that i think about it more, this feels like.....electronic steve reich. i just comprehended this as i was typing this writeup. this is like the Modern Electronic version of steve reich. There's layers that don't come in on the down beat, but instead lay out an unfollowable pattern atop simpler layers. it's just like, i'm listening to "2x5" by steve reich but the cyberpunk dystopia version of it. this comparison makes 0 sense in terms of the way the music sounds, but i mean this purely in the nature of the rhythms and layers. it's /exactly/ that and i would say it may even have been conscious in intent to use those sorts of techniques but applied to an entirely different aesthetic/instrumentation/tonality

and OMG i love those beautiful piano chords at 2:09, they're incredibly powerful after what's self-expressed as such a consistently tense song for such a long duration out of its runtime.