Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 21! FullSteam v Exhaustion, LaMer v Toucan, BalanceSlays v EVENK

(+) Yeah! (+)

Exhaustion 3
Toucan Tarsand
EVENK

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Full Steam Ahead
La Mer
Balance Slays the Demon

"""boring""" vote, third match was pretty close though

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Full Steam Ahead
La Mer
Balance Slays the Demon

I was going to vote earlier, but the Drakengard track just tired me out. *rimshot*

Full Steam Ahead
La Mer
Balance Slays the Demon

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Exhaustion 3
La Mer
EVENK

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Full Steam Ahead
La Mer
Balance Slays the Demon

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Full Steam Ahead
La Mer
Balance Slays the Demon

I also really like EVENK though, probably would vote it over any of the other 4 tracks

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - Full Steam Ahead
Suikoden IV - La Mer
Alan Wakes American Nightmare - Balance Slays the Demon

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Exhaustion 3
La Mer
Balance Slays the Demon

Toucan Tarsand is COOL but not as much as La Mer. Balance Slays the Demon is such a good kind of cheesy.
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The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - Full Steam Ahead
Beasts of Balance - Toucan Tarsand
russell brand for doom ii - EVENK

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Drakengard 3 - Exhaustion 3 [9.0]
Beasts of Balance - Toucan Tarsand [9.0]
russell brand for doom ii - EVENK [9.0]

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - Full Steam Ahead [7.5]
Suikoden IV - La Mer [8.0]
Alan Wakes American Nightmare - Balance Slays the Demon [8.5]

Easily my favorite day of the contest so far, not sure if it can be topped! The selections today really run the gamut of everything I love about VGM despite the insane variety between them. I've said it 3000000000 times now but thank you all again for sharing such awesome music this year, and every year


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Exhaustion 3
Toucan Tarsand
EVENK

If there are no objections, I dub this the 'weird crew' vote.

Exhaustion 3
Toucan Tarsand
EVENK

Full Steam Ahead (8.5v - 19th place) / Exhaustion 3 (9.1 - 13th place)
La Mer (7.5 - 38th place) / Toucan Tarsand (8.2 - 22nd place)
Balance Slays the Demon (7.9v - 26th place) / EVENK (9.6 - 3rd place)


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Exhaustion 3
Toucan Tarsand
EVENK

A really spirited track (HEH) for setting out on a big new ADVENTURE on a TRAIN. The flute is the train's whistle and the low strings are the steam puffing out and the banjo is the wheels going around. It's a great track, almost startlingly so; I don't remember liking it as much as I do. It's got some great movement and the train takes some cool turns at 0:38 and even moreso at 2:19, where it feels like it's coasting along the view of some beautiful vista, like Kiki from Kiki's Delivery service seeing the ocean for the first time.

Exhaustion 3 is probably the track I listened to most during nominations, the one I kept coming back to even as I was telling myself 'you should really be using this time to listen to more nominations'. VGMC15 noms wasn't the first time I heard this track, but at that moment it resonated with me more than any other track. I turned it on one night, during some late-night work, and kinda got lost for a bit in its mood and atmosphere, soaking in it. For a window of time, nothing captured how I felt about, well, about a lot of things, better than this track. It's something I won't forget.

The comparison to the original is inevitable. I think the original is more striking in a few key ways; the vocals in that version are so devoid of emotion, that it's unnerving, almost alien, and the different aspects of the accompaniment-- the strange vocal manipulations and weird distorted string elements at 0:34 and other places really enhance the feeling of darkness in the track. The vocals are mixed to be right in your head, like the song is whispering its emptiness directly into your ears. It's one of the most awesomely cold and empty pieces of vgm I've heard. It's the song of someone with nothing left.

Exhaustion 3 trades that in for something different. The vocals are coloured with a bit more expression, the piano and keyboard elements add a touch of warmth. The intent of the original is scaled back a bit; it feels less empty, more weary, a little sad, a cry of hopelessness, more blue than grey. The transformation is touching, more relatable, even if it loses the ruthlessly effective approach of the original. In the original, the singer is clearly alone, all of the voices in their own head; here, it feels like there's more, commiserating. This version covers a broader spectrum of how I can feel. The way it ends, piano fragments, whispers, the hint of a heartbeat and a clock, seem to say something to me, something that flickers and fades, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

This day really gives me VGMC Throwback Monday vibes-- Full Steam Ahead and now this. They're good throwbacks! It's ironic I talked about the sea in the Full Steam Ahead writeup when this track is here. This gives me more seaside cafe vibes in a small picturesque city. It's such an easy track to like; those surprisingly thick bass hits give the track body at the beginning, the voices in the chorus give it a welcoming feel, and of course it shows off its accordion list eligibility all the way through. It's just a great example of VGM in this style.

Toucan Tarsand is such a weirdly immersing track; it almost throws me off-balance. It really hits the feeling it's going for, like I'm playing a tropical island version of flOw or Flower, wandering around slowly, then growing in scope and excitement, additional stimuli appearing and disappearing, each with their own imagery. It's a track to imagine worlds to-- sunny worlds, teeming with wildlife.

Balance Slays the Demon is so hammy, in all the right ways. This feels like the kind of track I'd love to belt out the chorus to at some karaoke place with my friends, like it's Livin' on a Prayer or something, and we'd all do the spoken sections in an over-the-top growl.

Man, I miss that feeling.

EVENK has layers upon layers to look at-- well, listen to-- and then try to peel away, to find other layers to examine. zzzv's compositions always feel deceptive in their depth; there's a few things to grab onto right away-- here, it's the 5+4 organ pattern, but it grows in intricate, almost labyrinthine ways that still make sense musically. It's something to revisit, and still find new things to enjoy about it.

What a great day of music.

Drakengard 3 - Exhaustion 3
Suikoden IV - La Mer
Alan Wakes American Nightmare - Balance Slays the Demon

MATCH 1

The intro to Full Steam Ahead is definitely the highlight of the song for me. I like how it sounds like the commencement of an adventure. The rest of the song is pretty nice too, but not quite as good as that intro.

I actually like Exhaustion 3 more that it would seem based on my tastes. It's not too unconventional that it veers into territory that I actively dislike and it does some cool things too.

PabloSmith posted...

I'm guessing the song is supposed to make you feel dread or anxious but it gets these emotions across in such a boring way that it just ends up causing confusion instead.

The "dread or anxious" part of this is actually more along the lines of what I get out of this song than confusion and is why I think I like this song as much as I do. Though the word that I think this song conveys to me is "hopelessness." Those soft pads starting at around 0:36 and the piano starting at 1:00 combined with the vocals is what does this for me. I really like the mood they set for this song. It's also why I like this version considerably more than the Drakengard 1 version of the song. That said, what's probably less surprising than me liking this song is that I would actually take quite a few songs from Drakengard 3 over Exhaustion 3. My favorite songs from the game are some of the boss themes like Raphael and Egregori and other songs like The Final Song and Kuroi Uta. I did have a brief moment of liking this song a little more than I do now which is what partly influenced my reasoning for nomination it, but it was also partially a bit of a strategic pick to see if it'll have some broad appeal (a strategy that's going rather poorly lol, but I guess it's not really surprising). But in any case, it's a pretty cool song that I like quite a bit despite it being a bit outside of my tastes on paper.

MATCH 2

La Mer is a really nice song! Pleasant melody all around with my favorite part being at 0:49. I like how the vocals sound and how it comes together with the rest of the song.

Toucan Tarsand sounds fine throughout, but it's not exactly my thing. Nothing bad about it, but nothing that I take interest in either.

MATCH 3

Balance Slays the Demon is a bit cheesy, but I can appreciate it! It's not as good as Blue Dragon - Eternity, but I feel like it has a similar appeal to me. Speaking of which, I keep thinking the singer for this song sounds like a blend of Ian Gillan and Ozzy Osbourne haha. Pretty good song all around! I think my favorite part is 1:00-1:12. I like the melody the most here with the higher notes. Could probably do without the softer part at 3:50 though.

EVENK has this interesting blend of conventional and unconventional chord progressions. I like the more conventional parts. My favorite part's from around 2:18-3:12. It has the most "full" sound to it with all the instruments playing at once, and it has a lot of nice chords throughout that don't sound too dissonant or whatever in a way that I don't like (they actually sound quite consonant and conventional, in fact).

Exhaustion 3 > La Mer > Balance Slays the Demon > Full Steam Ahead > EVENK > Toucan Tarsand

Exhaustion 3
Toucan Tarsand
EVENK

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3 / IV / ii

really, really, really good day. sad that half of these don't advance

1. Drakengard 3 | Exhaustion 3
2. Monument Valley 2 | Impossible Worlds
3. Civilization VI | Sogno di Volare (The Dream of Flight)
4. Final Fantasy VII Remake | Collapsed Expressway
5. Teito Hiten Daisakusen | Onegonjou
6. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle | It's Kill or Be Killed ~ Destroy Resort
7. The Sims | Now What?
8. russell brand for doom ii | EVENK
9. Rose Gun Days | linkage-alter
10. Suikoden IV | La Mer
11. Phantasy Star Online 2 | Ice-covered Love ~ Kohri
12. Super Void | To the Center of the Supervoid
13. Sigma Harmonics | Hope Given ~ "Dance of the Dog's Howl"
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18. Wheels of Aurelia | Wheels of Aurelia
19. Fire Emblem Awakening | Id (Purpose)
20. Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica | SEN ~ Kono Hana Saku ya
21. Beasts of Balance | Toucan Tarsand
22. Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea | Stella -Part 2-
23. Aurora Memoria - Philosophical Data Session: 2093 | OPTICAL MODE
24. Pokmon X and Y | Anistar City
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28. Hades | Out of Tartarus
29. The Caligula Effect: Overdose | Cradle
30. Coded Soul | Monolith Gate
31. Alan Wakes American Nightmare | Balance Slays the Demon
32. Saira | Baluchons
33. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood | Op. 13
34. Unreal Tournament | Foregone Destruction
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48. 100% Orange Juice | Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
49. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition | Fogbeasts
50. Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star | Class::CIEL_N_PROTECTA;
51. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks | Full Steam Ahead
52. Trauma Team | The Bloody Rose
53. Battle Garegga | Fly to the Leaden Sky
54. Kirby Air Ride | Light
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