Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 81! Passing Forest/Southern Twilight, -(PHENYLALANINE)-/Diff World 1

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 16, an annual celebration of the best of the best video game music according to the voters!

Important Links:
Bracket: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=475935
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_IU5iCFTM_4WEx8ZWKwznMz5v2tarCKh1Ag0mxIgAes
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80027411
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0xxfgkmGKvEyWfHvNZ53Kbn
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XAaBMDuUnQ4c5AxQNL9ZhvD7VG5kQyrXWWZxnkrn-o
VGMC total stats sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1XdLWiUKB2kX99qYBgnRbLU_sCz4dvZSByKKJHCT6o
Discord: https://discord.gg/WDvMS4a

Rules:
- Listen to both songs in a given match, at least through the loop time provided (to make sure you don't skip before you've heard the whole thing!)
- Please consider the loop point listed when judging the song; if a video loops one minute 5 times, don't treat it as if it's a repetitive 5 minute song
- If it's a match between your favorite song ever and a song you despise, still LISTEN TO BOTH! Votes can and will be disqualified if there is suspicion songs are not being listened to, and you may be discounted for the rest of the contest for repeat offenses.
- No alt accounts, no rallying or begging, etc., etc.... You only get one vote! Swapping votes is alright, just make clear that you've already made a vote and are swapping.
- Make clear what your voting options are! Please keep votes separate from any comments, and use the titles given in the topic post.
- Voting in all matches is not mandatory, feel free to skip matches you do not wish to vote in.
- Vote based on the links provided, and not other sources of audio. Links are specifically chosen for best quality and the like.
- Don't discuss vote tallies in this thread, or in other threads, as they may influence votes. Likewise, please refrain from looking at the running tally before voting.

Voting Period:
- Today's matches will last 24 hours from the time of posting, or 24 hours from 10pm Eastern, whichever is the later time.
- Please note this may mean that two topics will be active at the same time!
- If you anticipate being unable to vote in a given day, please send an absentee vote to @banshiryuu, or post your absentee vote in the discussion thread!

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Match 1

Threads of Fate - Passing through the Forest
Composer: Junya Nakano
Loop Point: 1:46
Genre: DEWPRISM
https://youtu.be/xX4WQouaL7k

Uncharted Waters - Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Composer: Yoko Kanno
Loop Point: 8:52
Genre: LOUNGE ADRIFT
https://youtu.be/HP4pnFsMZ9E

Match 2

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - -(PHENYLAL

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

Passing through the Forest
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Passing through the Forest
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Threads of Fate - Rasdan (Junya Nakano)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdvqC1In6yI

Junya Nakano, one of the coolest. The different layers and fake-polymetric feel make for some really nice melodic and rhythmic patterns; I also love the percussion layers here, including the most aggressive tambourine usage this side of Kikuta and that machine-gun snare that shows up later. It's such a strangely entrancing track, full of mystery and nervous energy.

Napple Tale - Midori no Hane (Yoko Kanno ft. Maaya Sakamoto)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7vicqMBszU

Secretly (now not-so-secretly) my favourite Napple Tale track. I quite like the whimsy of the other two vocal tracks in this soundtrack but this comes the closest to hitting the heights of Kanno and Sakamoto's non-VGM collaborations. This opens with a lot of the quickly-shifting major/minor chords that evoke such a specific wistful/nostalgic feel in me before it goes in for the big emotional climax moment that sounds like it'd show up in one of her anime credits tracks. It really evokes other music Kanno made during that time-- a time I followed her really closely-- and I think that's part of why I love it.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - Hack and Crash (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C-woMl64w8

There were several different tracks I was thinking of using here. Why this one? This comes from Disc 3, whose tracks aren't usually cited-- this disc doesn't have any of the big battle tracks or the more well-known quiet/emotional tracks, after all. I think I wanted to highlight how Kaneda, even in what feels like it should be a straightforward 'tension-building' cutscene-style track, uses chords and rhythmic elements brilliantly. It's full of dissonant moments that still click coherently, chords that refuse to resolve into something predictable or convenient. Little touches like the rhythm of the string hits at 0:37 keep you on your toes. The low synth keeps up a feeling of menace and danger, while the airier synths give it a very 'computer' feel throughout. It's a track that refuses to go about its business generically, and I really respect that.

YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World - Activation (Ryu Umemoto)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_KWnPJvKy4

Here's where I break the the vgmc entrants rule. This was one-and-done in VGMC12, but it remains one of the most notable tracks from that contest to stick with me. A Toxtricity nomination and one of my favourite tracks in that contest, this was the track that got me interested in Umemoto and the YU-NO soundtrack and, well, that's the whole point I'm trying to illustrate with this exercise now, right? This is one of the most intense tracks in this soundtrack; I find it ludicrously catchy, the way it's built around those square waves that ascend in fourths, while the melody line just riffs over that and the drums go ham. The bass does a lot of work too-- I love the effect when it swells harshly. The intro starting from 0:05 is just so cool, how it ascends into its main melody-- like something is really activating at that moment. This is probably my favourite PC-98 track. The oscilloscope view of this track is also incredibly fun to watch.

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Different World 1

Passing through the Forest
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

More conflicted about match 2 than I expected.

Passing Through the Forest
Different World 1

Both matches could go either way. Going with my gut.

Took me a second to realize why Fear of the Heavens would be in the poll. Nice.

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

Different World 1

Threads of Fate - Passing through the Forest
YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World - Different World 1

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Different World 1

Threads of Fate - Passing through the Forest
YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World - Different World 1

Passing through the Forest
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Different World 1

In a better world, Match 1 is our final. Oh well, best of luck to both songs; love them just as much! Also, poll reminds me I should 100% nominate Orca's Theme from Okami in the future.

Threads of Fate - Passing through the Forest
13 Phantasies: Aegis Star - -(PHENYLALONLINE)-

What a day. I'm really, really not sure about match 2. Today's sequence:

[9.0] Passing Through the Forest
[9.0] -(PHENYLALANINE)-
[9.0] Different World 1
[9.0] Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Different World 1

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Different World 1

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

see this would have been a pretty good set of four retirees for bracket A

Uncharted Waters - Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - -(PHENYLALANINE)-

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

Threads of Fate - Passing through the Forest
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - -(PHENYLALANINE)-

Passing
Nine

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Go, Twilight, go! Not bothered about Match 2.

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

Passing Through the Forest
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

me listening to Different World 1, nearly 2 minutes in: "ok this is pretty good but when does the OOMPH kick in"
(the OOMPH kicks in)
"there we go"
sorry DW1 but PHENYLALANINE is just too good.

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

what the fuck i love diff world 1 today like double the usual what the hfuck

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Different World 1

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Different World 1


Passing through the Forest [9]
Southern Twilight ~ Dance of the Cape of Good Hope [9.1]

-(PHENYLALANINE)- [6.8]
Different World 1 [8.6]

Solid songs in Match 1, theyre great in every way. Im slightly preferring Kanno here regardless, but Ill very much take whatever retires here.

PHENYLALANINE is decent at what it is, but its certainly not my favorite 13 Sentinels track. Different World on the other hand is very good with its synths and has enchanted me enough to stick with it thus far. Hoping it pulls it off!

Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Different World 1

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Passing through the Forest
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
Different World 1

Passing through the Forest (1) / Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope (11)
-(PHENYLALANINE)- (22) / Different World 1 (15)

Votes:
Passing through the Forest
Different World 1

through le forest
different world 1

Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Forest
World

Passing through the Forest
-(PHENYLALANINE)-

Uncharted Waters - Southern Twilight ~ Dance on the Cape of Good Hope
YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World - Different World 1