Board 8 > [VGMC] d17: Machi ni Mukatte vs Desire Blue Sky, RFTM;IS vs Kaze no Ne (EN)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Desire Blue Sky
Sound of the Wind
Rivers in the Desert

Heading Back to Town vs Desire Blue Sky: Wtf cool chanting then a cool violin and then a cool guitar. Looks like I hit the jackpot today with this track. Its a shame because the piano that plays here had to ruin this songs streak of having instruments doing cool things. Regardless, still a pretty solid track. Desire Blue Sky is the usual vn music I've found myself voting against a lot this contest... except I can actually vibe to this track. The general vibe to it and the moments at 1:41 and 2:05 are really nice. And that sax in the background MMMMMMM good stuff. All in all its a very cool track. A bit of a strangely hard match up but I guess I'm gonna be going with Desire Blue Sky out of all things. It has a lot more consistency to it while Town has varying levels of quality.

Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke vs Sound of the Wind: Immortal Smoke is actually one of my least favorite touhou songs so yeah this doesn't bode well for this match up already. To me its always been a bit too dry compared to other ZUN tracks. Its got that one cool moment at 1:15 and thats really it for me. Not even the eventual trumpets can bring this track back. Sound of the Wind is not very good either. The vocals kinda drone on a bit but the instrumental to this is a bit spicy, so I can appreciate that. Looks like we're going for the lesser of two evils this match so I guess I'll have to give it to Sound of the Wind. Despite the vocals I can at least vibe to everything else about this track a bit.

Terraria Calamity Mod - 1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon) vs Rivers in the Desert: Crab. Crab has its moments. Crab is kinda good at around 0:50. Crab breakdown at 2:00 is also very spicy but its too short. Crab is overall a fun track but I can't vibe to it in anyway. Crab is around a solid 5.5/10. Scuttling away from Crab we got Rivers in the Desert, which is the probably the one of the best Persona 5 tracks. Not sure whether I like this more than Whims of Fate or Price but they aren't in this contest so I guess I don't need to worry about that. Just everything about Rivers in the Desert is near perfect. Good vocals, good instrumental, everything here is golden and I really don't know what to say the best part of this track is. Extremely easy match up here for me.

---

Machi ni Mukatte
Kaze no Ne
abstain because I don't know either of these songs in Japanese

---

Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

---

Heading Back to Town
Sound of the Wind
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

-this changes things up a lot, which is definitely a go shiina thing; here it kinda bugs me because it feels a bit perfunctory. I'm pretty lukewarm about the main violin melody and even as it toggles through different leads and styles it sticks with some pretty conventional approaches to those styles. I can pick out some individual things I like during the track but they don't excite me as part of the whole. ambivalence
-desire blue sky-- pretty sure I said this the last time it made an appearance but I wish it hit the gas a little harder. the electronic backing seems to want to but the song doesn't really commit. it's stuck in this weird no-man's land of pensive and energetic. kanako itou kinda soft-pedals it with the vocals and I get why, I think, but I don't feel enough from a track that should be set up to make me feel more.

-reach for the moon. do we really need to discuss thoughts on this track again

nah

-there's been some discussion about the en vs jp version of this track. it's largely moot for me-- much of the charm of this track for me is in the arrangement and the instruments. this is super pretty and I like it quite a bit. bongos come in at :40 followed by a big pile of plucked strings and it's lovely. cool little harp moment at 1:11! it's plucked string heaven. the energy of the bass instrument starting at 1:14 is great-- I remember a conversation with Toxtricity about tamashii no refrain where he was talking about the energy of the bass rhythm (and how it kinda reminded him of din don dan dan), and (though this is a far more low-key track) this carries some of that main rhythm and energy. the next big moment is when the strings kick in at 1:45 chorus followed by a bit of piccolo-- nice!! this track is great. I don't remember enjoying this as much as I am on this listen but it was a real highlight today.

-cool crab music. there are aspects of this track I would have called generic in other circumstances but this track kinda papers it over with energy and fun, and it works for me. crab emoji you get the THUMBS UP emoji
-rivers in the desert has the feel of a slightly ominous, urgent track, and I feel it a bit, but not as strongly as I want to. this is definitely catchy, but I don't really find it as catchy as I want it to be. this whole song is like the delfino plaza stage in smash-- it wants to move, but I don't really feel like I'm on the platform when it starts moving and oh noooo I fell off the stage

Mr. Driller: Drill Land - Heading Back to Town
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Sound of the Wind
Terraria Calamity Mod - 1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

shout out to Rivers though for being the first video game song i heard out in the wild (playing on the overhead speakers at sone ranch market)

---

Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Heading Back to Town [9.2] > Desire Blue Sky [8.0]
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke [6.7] < Sound of the Wind [7.3]
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon) > Rivers in the Desert

me when Mr driller music sounds not like a drill wtf and is the best violin in vgm instead o_O
me when desire blue sky starts like reflection celeste and then it has japanese singing and this crazy saxophone 0_o

me when rftm is is a touhou song that sounds like one and has a nice melody and then uses a zun zun pets 0_O
me when kaze no ne isn't kaze no notam and maybe even sounds like jrpg transistor instead o_0

me when O_o
me when there are rivers in the desert '_'
---

cakophon posted...

me when there are rivers in the desert '_'

Same.

---