Board 8 > Haste2 ranks the VGMC retirees - Finale!

(+) Yeah! (+)

EXSPHERE too low. Easy Top 3 retiree all-time. 2:45-3:32 is among my favorite sections in all vgmusic. If I had to pick a bone with EXSPHERE it's that I think after 3:32 is not as strong as everything prior to it but I mean, it's like a 10/10 from 0:00-3:32 so yeah.

---

5) Caravan Stories - Raging Spirits
https://youtu.be/L-8kfkJPODQ
Nominator: @Toxtricity (supporters: kaonashi1, DireKrow)
Ranking among Retirees: 15.25
https://youtu.be/L-8kfkJPODQ
Composer: Azusa Chiba
Score: 9.5/10
Favorite part: All of it.
VGMC History: VGMC 13 (DEFEATED Look Pimpin! And Zoo, LOST R3 to Chloe)

Oh man, one of my favorites from this contest has to be so DIFFICULT to write about! Yeah, this one is pretty much neck-and-neck with Lauraras Dance. But this one at least got some wins! Sounds a bit impressionist(?) Its all about piano chords and using as many different pitch classes as possible while sounding surprisingly diatonic! Not just that, but using unexpected notes in octaves too that really display the possibilities of sounds. It has a really mysterioso aura to it as if youre in a magical forest or something. It mostly features piano, violin, and cello, but other instruments get used in subtle ways a lot, too that really make this magical atmosphere happen. Love the thick harmonies and how they change by like one or two notes at a time, and it relies on lot on two-part patterns. Not only that, but the natural percussive of piano strikes is put to full use in this track (referring back to magical aura). The 5/4 meter really helps out with the atmosphere and prevents the music from sounding too repetitive (rhythmic variety).

Opening bell/piano arpeggios have a cool note layout! You like got the tonic in the bass, then the tonic/4th/5th/7th emphasized plus the notes of a iv chord! TWhen the main melody comes in its apparent theres more than two hands on the piano! Note the major 2nd rubs supporting the main material here. (The hairpins provided by the strings at key moments 0:45 are really cool!! 0:33 love how the stuff drops out and here we see how great music like this can sound without any actual melody (I love the movement in the bass, though)... cool dynamic changes of different timbres. 0:51 seems to be the only place where it sounds like traditional note choices in the melody. The closing chord at 1:15 is just beautiful. tonic/4th/5th/7th 9th. Yeah, very little use of thirds seems and just messing with 4ths/5ths intervals seems to be key to creating music like this (maybe).

But yeah, this piece is just...amazing!!! Very, very beautiful despite it being very rhythmic. It would be way cool to learn an arrangement of this on piano. :) :) :) (I would totally vote this over Chloe now, contrary to when the match occurred)

And with that... I've decided to revise down the scores a bit... again. All the scores from 9.3-9.5 have been dropped by a tenth of a point in the revised ratings. The reason is this: everything left feels like a cut above all the previous music.

So now we're entering the "Phenomenal" tier for REAL now...! Fifteen retirees, four VGMC 13 reps, and.... eleven Pokemon tracks remain, for a total of THIRTY pieces of music!


---

Haste_2 posted...

Fifteen retirees, four VGMC 13 reps, and.... eleven Pokemon tracks remain, for a total of THIRTY pieces of music!

I'm so confused about all the interpolated lists in this thread.

---

Oh wow, the lone nomination that I got to retire in my 13 VGMCs is in your Top 25 if I am interpreting this correctly

---

azuarc posted...

I'm so confused about all the interpolated lists in this thread.

me too

Also I refuse to believe there are 11 Pokemon tracks superior to EXSPHERE. Hell, I'm not confident I believe there are 11 Pokemon tracks worth making a VGMC field period!

---

xp1337 posted...

I'm not confident I believe there are 11 Pokemon tracks worth making a VGMC field period!

Today on hot takes....(assuming you leave the "I believe" part out.)

---

if you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen

---

I mean, I don't disagree with you, but I have no particular love of most Pokemon soundtracks. That's hardly a universal opinion, though.

---

there are 11 tracks worthy of retirement in just Explorers of blah
---

NFUN posted...

there are 11 tracks worthy of retirement in just Explorers of blah

now this is quite the hot take

---

Pokemon music is not good

---

Arti posted...

now this is quite the hot take

Yeah, the number's too low

---

You know... let's forget about adjusting the ratings at this point. I realized it would be a real pain to adjust the scores for all the remaining music. Also, I'm dropping one of the Pokemon tracks so that I have one less write-up to do, so there's really only 29 tracks remaining!

Yeah, I knew some would be annoyed to see a bunch of Pokemon music along with what's highly ranked. Let me explain.

Fist off, I saw this topic as a chance to give some additional music some exposure. There were two series I loved which, at the time, had no retirees. So I took that as a chance to give Ace Attorney and Pokemon some exposure. Now, Pokemon has something retired now, true, but....

That leads to the second reason. There is SO MUCH high-rated music from that series I decided it's still worth posting my favorites from the series. They're mostly from one game, a game that has been largely ignored by the VGM community, for some reason. Maybe it's because the game itself isn't very popular. It's my intent to show what that game has to offer. Oh, and by the way, this top ten Pokemon list is going to have music that's never been in VGMC. Temporal Tower, Fire Island Volcano, SDMB, and (possibly) Battle! Colress would have all been on the list otherwise (there's not much point in drawing attention to these).

Third, It's kind of hard for me to come up with an excuse to give OTHER music some exposure in this topic, since I never mentioned I would include any such music when I first posted the topic a year ago...

---

Should it be such a surprise that eleven tracks are a 9.5+ ratings? Pokemon as a series is HUGE, you know....Anyway, I'm glad you made all those comments (except for the one saying Pokemon music is no good :( )!

I've decided I will present the remaining VGMC 13 favorites AND my top ten Pokemon tracks completely separate from the the remaining fifteen retirees! It will go like this:

#'s 10-6 (Pokemon),
#'s 4-1 (VGMC 13),
#'s 5-1 (Pokemon)

Then the retirees get finished up. KEEP IN MIND, though... I will be asking you to rank the Pokemon music, once for the first set of five and again for the second set of five so that I can get a feel for how you guys received them (wait until the time comes for more details). That's easy enough compared to trying to predict my VGMC 13 top ten!

10) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Glacier Palace - Great Spire
https://youtu.be/WYn1TveURos
Composer: Keisuke Ito, Yasuhiro Kawagoe
Score: 9.5/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: https://youtu.be/WYn1TveURos?t=28

Very climactic stuff here. Very heroic beginning! Ive played music in wind ensemble in college with this same sort of thing (referring to the woodwind triad mordents) but I like this a lot more (much more variety) than that piece I played in band! It sounds like some kind of miracle happened opening up the final dungeon or something. Weve got some good contrasts between epic and calm here. This is one of many examples of orchestral writing that I love so much about the Gates to Infinity OST! It just makes me so happy to listen to this. :)

Love when the chimes go nuts before the main theme begins! Strings take on the main material here (melody along with supporting rhythmic chords), supported by brass, and its just so heart-warming. The pops on the third beat contribute to that, too they sound so PERFECT! At 0:40 love all the bass drums and other percussion with their big syncopation..really, ALL percussion in this track is just great! I also love the way the music moves harmonically to a new key (0:50 - 0:58) especially with those yummy brass harmonies underneath...super feel-good and climactic! Really love that pivotal chord at approx. 1:02...

1:12 throws in some interesting soft synth polyrhythms! Very unexpected (these kind of sounds are rare in the Gates to Infinity OST), but it works! Not to mention we have my very favorite part of the Hope theme it simply sparkles here! Choir hairpins! I just love when everything comes down with the low strings...the way the music stacks on itself and swells. Its so reverent and 80s/90s cinematic, esp. with those dark chimes and choirs zoning in and out And hey, those synth polyrhythms sneak in there, too! 2:10 is just so wonderful in terms of harmonies And hope theme part 1 (trumpets to the forefront, FINALLY!) comes in to conclude it before it loops :)

All in all, just epic!!

---

It's true that I am specifically picking Pokemon music to show you guys, but does that mean I want Pokemon music to dominate the VGMC bracket this year? No, not at all. Nor am I necessary interested in getting Pokemon music to retire... that already happened last year. It's just that... there are many Pokemon reps that I would love to see in VGMC at some point.

9) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Great Glacier
https://youtu.be/EDZWRcD3ZtM
Composer: Keisuke Ito, Yasuhiro Kawagoe
Score: 9.6/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: All of it

This is definitely not epic like Great Spire is, but it certainly is delightfully programmatic! It sounds like snow is falling one layer at a time seriously, I CANNOT get over how the music was done to make it sound like winter. I havent heard anything quite like this.

You got the constant harp and bass and chime doing their thing, but then you got the whole string section (+chorus) rising up from nothing, staccato, gradually building upon itself as it gets louder and louder until its just overpowering! The way they add one note a time, too Im not good at explaining it, but it is just GORGEOUS. The chords they do are absolutely the BEST! And then it comes back down to nothing getting for the next layer. :) :) :) Oh, yeah, and Id better mention the three-note pattern the chime does adds a polymetric effect thats all the better! Finally, flute plays above it alla, cheerful, folky song, and I love how it revolves around the major 7th and (to me) along with the way two notes in the scale getting flattened in the second half...

Grand pause at 1:07 is very sudden! But then it comes back and things are now much more tense because of the interesting chromatic movements in the bass (The choice of notes from the bell-like instrument add to that tension)). FINALLY, after one final crescendo the winter effects stabilize at 1:22 and the brass/low strings turn into a march of sorts it sounds like youre out enjoying the calm, chilling air now! Makes me want to go outside now! A nice way to end the loop.

But yeah, the ways harmonies get used in this is simply brilliant.

8) Pokemon Sun/Moon - Malie City (Night)
HM: Malie City (Day)
https://youtu.be/6gXKNu9Etdg (Night)
https://youtu.be/bCJEE_Jury0 (Day)
Composer: Minako Adachi
Score: 9.5/10
Favorite part: https://youtu.be/6gXKNu9Etdg?t=60

On to Malie City. Boy, its the prettiest acoustic town theme Ive heard in the series, for sure. Ive shared quite a bit of vgm with my dad. Now, he likes a lot of what I shared, but only once did he ever share a piece of vgm with other family members, talking about how great it was. It was this track! To me, its the most crystalline, watery piece of music Ive ever heard!. The plucked instruments fit right in and add LOT of artistry to the whole thing... The night version's slower tempo also allows us to enjoy more fully the complex harmonies in the second half. On the other hand, The day version has more artistic use of plucked instruments! (Speaking of plucked instruments, perhaps one of them is from the Pacific Isles? Honestly, though, one sounds Asian and the other European to me)

Those mallet percussion strikes are used in just the right way (very little sustain) to get you that sound, and the VI7 that keep outlining in whats otherwise (at least initially) mostly diatonic only makes the effect even more impressive! Seriously, that by ITSELF makes this worth listening to. The flute sounds authentic and its melody is certainly nice, but I dont think it really can stand on its own without all the other stuff going on. Bells and Celeste team up, perfect for me to fall asleep to! It is late at night as Im doing this write-up so I hope I dont fall asleep before finishing this.

The second half gets even more dreamy. 0:48 things get a lot more harmonically active as the guitars do cool tremelos and such! (Love the augmented sound at 0:52) Those descending chords toward the end just are gorgeous between the thick low strings and the outlines of the bells.turns out theyre transposing major 7th chords, no wonder it sounds so non-diatonic =) But its not just the chords themselves, its the melodies on top that are gorgeous, too the fast ukulele triplets and other stuff really flesh it out. But yeah, the second half of the track is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! Adachi is awesome! (whoops, I used "guitar" and "ukelele" even though I don't know what they are, hehe)

What's better, Night or Day?

---

Whoops. Malie City is a 9.6, not a 9.5 >_>

7) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Illusory Holehills
https://youtu.be/o4tkE4zXVMM
HM: Holehills
https://youtu.be/nLOIwv0kv08
Composer: Keisuke Ito, Yasuhiro Kawagoe
Score: 9.7/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: 0:29 - 0:59, https://youtu.be/o4tkE4zXVMM?t=29

The regular Holehills theme is GREAT!!! (see the HM link) Im not sure if this version really sounds Illusory, but I still like this one a little bit more! And boy, this one is a rhythmic MASTERPIECE! The craft of this is just...amazing.
This ones so much fun you got a fun little woodwind ditty in 5/4, but by the fourth measure gets interrupted by a 12/8 triplet thing that just floats.! I love PMDs folky instrumentation! (xylophone always makes it better) And its so ridiculously catchy. Each 12/8 measure gets more heavenly each time, too, until it finally does two of them in a row coupled with trills and crescendos and going up and up. :) (see 0:25 - 0:29) And it leads to a nice key change!

This new section is a little more normal at first, but still catchy. But harmonies are awesome here, and are constantly moving forward in such a delightful way SOUNDS SO GOOD, omg omg omg!!! The brass and timpani get involved underneath...it starts small but then the timpani gets added...the syncopated stuff is top notch! But that stuff is especially great at 0:44 this four-bar syncopated pattern is one of the greatest rhythmic ostinatos I have EVER heard anywhere, OMG OMG OMG! And harmonies are constantly moving everything upward (modulations) , too my words fail to adequate explain this stuff, but the composers of this game are simply brilliant!! Then the chimes and bagpipes transition into the climax in such a cool way. But the chimes arent done yet they permeate the entire final section!!! (1:06) And the they nail the melody yet AGAIN! Rhythms are kind of based on stuff before but they sound much more conclusive and stable in 5/4 now. Nice soft mallet percussion underneath here, too. And the way it ends in major (aw yeah)

Seriously, how did the composers manage to cram so many tasteful things into one track?! The more I listen to this, the more flabbergasted I am! This originally missed out on the top ten somehow, but I'm glad I went back to this and changed my mind!

6) Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Open Pass
https://youtu.be/r5iZ8NqwpbA
Composer: Keisuke Ito, Yasuhiro Kawagoe, Noriko Murakami
Score: 9.7/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: The first 40 seconds

I wouldnt expect this to be the fan-favorite in PSMD by any stretch, but this one (to me) has so much charm its RIDICULOUS! This one gives off a strong Broadway vibe to me. Gives off some other vibes, too, like humor and mischief! Does some odd tonal things that are right up my alley. This is the opening dungeon in PSMD, by the way, which kind of explains why it sounds the way it does.

Anyway, the reason I love this so much is pretty much demonstrated at the very start. Strings staccato playing that kind of throws you rhythmically by an eighth note. Its got SUCH a great bounce to it while also sounding a bit, um, magical? The string writing here is just fantastic the intro is definitely my favorite where its almost 100% whole tone scale, and yet it doesnt SOUND that way! Then the main idea combines that a lot more with traditional major scale I dont know exactly why, but it just sounds AMAZING to me!!! And they start doing all sorts of scale alterations once the melody begins... And I enjoy the unsophisticated choice of flute...:) Finally, about the flute melody itself it kind of messes with altered scales related to whole tone use in fun ways. It raises the 4th scale degree for a while, then the 5th scale degree a bit later, so even the flute writing makes me happy :)

Later on its not quite as amazing, but its fun how the whole tone scale carries the music into the next section its still nice and light and now the composers decided to put some funny things in there it turns into a simple waltz briefly (strings on beats 2+3 is fun), and you got extremely jarring chords + pure tritones later that were obviously not to be taken entirely seriously (mischief?). But I like all of it!!!!

But yeah, for such light/thin instrumentation and silly music, to me this is top-of-the-line! Very few moments in music impact me like the first part of Open Pass!

---

And here comes my request Id like you to rank the five Pokemon tracks so far on the list! I need responses from just THREE USERS!!! :) :) :) And then we can keep moving along! (only once more will I ask anything from you guys!)

Believe me, I know its a bit inconvenient, and I know youre probably thinking Argh, why does he want me to rank music that has nothing to do with the main list being ranked? (among other things) I would have passed on asking you to rank the music normally (in fact, I never asked the Ace Attorney music to be ranked!). Im just WAY too passionate about these Pokemon tracks,though ! And that means I need some feedback on the music for nomination purposes! (Two will likely be nominated for the upcoming contest...)

But consider the fact that it only takes ten minutes to do this! You could even multi-task as you do it! (Even if I may not deserve any responses ~_~) Thats much easier to do than trying to guess my VGMC 13 favorites, right?

For your convenience, heres the list!

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Glacier Palace - Great Spire
https://youtu.be/WYn1TveURos
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Great Glacier
https://youtu.be/EDZWRcD3ZtM
Pokemon Sun/Moon - Malie City (Night)
https://youtu.be/6gXKNu9Etdg
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Illusory Holehills
https://youtu.be/o4tkE4zXVMM
Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Open Pass
https://youtu.be/r5iZ8NqwpbA

---

Malie City
Open Pass
Glacier Palace
Great Glacier
Illusory Holehills

i would not want any of these to retire, and in fact i no longer have any interest in listening to Gates
---

Thanks for the response NFUN. Did you know that Toxtricity ranked Gates' OST one spot higher than Explorers, making it his highest ranked Pokemon OST (or at least very close to it)? You seem to like the music from Explorers, so you might want to reconsider. Maybe my picks from Gates to Infinity were just bad!

---

Haste_2 posted...

Thanks for the response NFUN. Did you know that Toxtricity ranked Gates' OST one spot higher than Explorers, making it his highest ranked Pokemon OST (or at least very close to it)? You seem to like the music from Explorers, so you might want to reconsider. Maybe my picks from Gates to Infinity were just bad!

I think it's just not really my style. I've heard other songs from it before and didn't care for them much either. Even Infinite Dungeon 2 kind of misses for me, and that's likely one of the tracks from the game I should like the most
---

Sorry if my joking criticisms have offended you NFUN, especially since they may not have looked like they were in good humor. Really if there's anything you have against me, I would like to work that out. Also, sorry Toxtricity for using your own opinion that way if that bothers you. It was far more to defend Gates to Infinity than it was to defend myself >_>

Also, it seems some misconceptions still need to be dispelled! I know ranking Pokemon music was part of the VGMC Retirees topic, but I have no goal whatsoever of having any more Pokemon music retire. That was true for last year only, and I got what I wanted! Furthermore, if you guys think I have an extreme Pokemon obsession or something... that's not really the case. I just haven't explored much vgm this past year because of limited time, so Pokemon music is kind of going to be a part of my nominations by default. (EDIT: a bit late, but I forgot to say that I also have no intention of flooding the next VGMC bracket with Pokemon music, either... it's just that I happen to be nominating some from that series!)

Still waiting for two more rankings :) :)

---

gimme like a few minutes

---

?
---

That was unnecessary drama (EDIT: that I created), wasn't it? Forget I said anything.

---

Glacier Palace - Great Spire >= Illusory Holehills > Great Glacier > Malie City (Night) >= Open Pass

Now I know Great Glacier is the first song in Oddity Cave!

---

(best to worst)
Glacier Palace
Great Glacier
Illusory Holehills
Malie City
Open Pass

If we're going with early game PSMD, i'd prefer Lush Forest tbh

---

From favorite to least favorite:
Illusory Holehills
Great Glacier
Glacier Palace - Great Spire]
Open Pass
Malie City (Night)
---

Lush Forest is awesome. That's a mid-8, at least. It's a great example of why I like PSMD music more than Gates in terms of atmosphere. While we're on the subject of PSMD, though, the truth is that... I know very little of the latter ~40% of its OST, with the exception Tree of LIfe ~ Roots and Second Dark Matter Battle. I guess there are a couple of others I know bits and pieces of, but it's been too long. I fully explored the other PMD OSTs. Considering I am currently playing PSMD (er, on hold for the past nine months, but I really DO plan on finishing it), I wanted to leave the music as a surprise. But from the 60% of it that I'm aware of, Sheer Mountain Range came very close to making the top ten list!

Hey, I got more than I requested! Awesome, much appreciated!

---

too lazy to re-listen to everything but Illusory Holehills was the best I guess
---

th3l3fty posted...

too lazy to re-listen to everything but Illusory Holehills was the best I guess

That's very helpful, actually. Anyway, for my top five on the list you now know you won't need to listen to them until I ask for them be ranked at that time.

Now to finish off the first VGMC I immersed myself in, VGMC 13!

4) Secret of Mana (2018) - Steel and Snare
https://youtu.be/5jEnB5Zx7vk?t=7000
Nominator: Toxtricity (supporters: banshiryuu, cakophon, DragonImps, Lord Bob Bree)
Composer: Hiroki Kikuta, arranged by Noriyuki Kamikura
Score: 9.6/10
Favorite parts: https://youtu.be/5jEnB5Zx7vk?t=7022, https://youtu.be/5jEnB5Zx7vk?t=7067
VGMC History: VGMC 13 (DEFEATED Portabellohead, LOST R2 to Studiopolis Act 1)

Hb guessed that my list had Smash Ultimates Gangplank Galleon as the SNES remixed track. Bzzzzt! Come on, the original Gangplank is in my bottom 10-15! =P Wow, this one has grown on me. Is it Secret of Mana fanboyism? Anyway, I dont know my specific genres/periods/major influences for most rock/metal, so all I can say is prog. Like, the very best prog remixing POSSIBLE!!! I love this style to death!

To talk about the original SNES track, its pretty much just a melody set to electric slap bass (could be wrong there) octaves with some ambient metallic noise and snare, but its great! It takes just one simple idea and plays around with it in a way that openly rejects traditional meter (theres that word again)... very impromptu-sounding, as if Kikuta created this solely by noodling on the keyboard. The best part has to be when the end-of-phrase keeps going a few extra measures at 0:29!! I like to think of this piece as having a free meter rather than saying oh, it goes 4/4, 5/4, 13/4, 127/4, sdafdafe/4!!!

But anyway, on to the PS4 version of this. Most of the updated tracks in this remake are questionable, but this is an absolute gem (there are a few other good ones in the remake, too). The improvement is STAGGERING. The synth chords and patterns provide such a chill start. The bass introduces the first two notes of the theme by itself and plays around with that. But when the motif gets passed on to the forte section at 1:57:02, its just WHOA!!! GREAT open-fourths chord on the resolution there, oh, wait, its been transposing fourth chords leading up to it, too, OMG OMG. Way to utilize the simplest motif possible ;) . Such a cool contrast to present the theme melody with the quiet bass alone groovy in such a laid back way! The ambient metallic noise sounds more ambient than the original and actually loudens/softens very subtle, but really effective. Then the bass idea gets presented again with GRINDY GRITTY OCTAVES GOODNESS, aw, yeah! The extended end-of-phrase crazy noodling sounds as good as ever! And those piano clusters add to the coolness. Gotta love the muted guitar to finish it off lots of great variety in this remix! I cant get over all the great stylistic things going on in this version!!!. And then we got brand new improv stuff + awesome rhythmic chords towards the end!!! All in all, not only does it add a ton of great stuff, but its VERY faithful to the original! Anyway, this is a serious contender for being my favorite Secret of Mana remix.

If you want to hear some other excellent Secret of Mana remixes, I would suggest Spectrum of Mana, easily found if you Google it. All sorts of rock/metal styles are done, including a lot of (how shocking) progressive rock. Honestly I think the album is better than most OCRemix albums. The opening track, The Rabbit Hole, left an impression on my mind the most, at least, back then its been a while.

P.S. Its a shame I my friend and I stopped playing PS4 Secret of Mana only like 5 hours in, because he had some sort of technical issue preventing us from doing multiplayer anymore. Then again, we had the SNES music playing so we likely would have missed the Steel and Snare remix entirely! But if we do ever play it again we know when to switch to the PS4 music!

Wait, and isn't this the only time Secret of Mana has won a match?

Huh, I couldn't fit two write-ups in. This is a first, I think.


---

...what on earth is going on? My post won't show. Did I break the TOS or something?

---

3) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Dark Man Stage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7fdQgcKNWg
Nominator: @PSI_NESS (supporters: tennisboy213, Janus5k, Hbthebattle, banshiryuu)
Composer: Mari Yamaguchi (arrangement supervisor - Hiroki Morishita)
Score: 9.7/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: https://youtu.be/d7fdQgcKNWg?t=53
VGMC History: VGMC 13 (LOST R1.5 to Dead Neon Hell City), VGMC 14 (DEFEATED Night Gale, LOST R2 to Infinite Dungeon 2)

Janus5k is like me when it comes to "dark" music. He supported not only Dark Man Stage, but Second Dark Matter Battle, as well. That makes sense because Janus (Magus) uses sShadow ("dark") magic!

You could say that this is the first piece from VGMC 13 that I fell in love with. (I did not run into this during nominations because there was so much I DIDNT listen to) This came as a shock to me because I never really thought of Smash remixes as being particularly amazing. Seeing it lose its very first match was crushing to say the least, especially since my expectations for it were actually kind of high I thought, Well, if King Dededes theme can retire, shouldnt this, too? The sound production is STAGGERING to me, to say the least. Its got a clear hard rock sound to it, but hardly any instrumentation associated with rock is found here. No electric guitars anywhere in this!!! Its got somewhat of an inside a computer quality (to borrow the phrase from Mycro) that really captures the spirit of the Mega Man, yet it manages to sound so very unique, MUCH different from most of the other remixes in Ultimate.

Anway, to talk about the original theme from MM5 (https://youtu.be/_ipPeVc0i7I) , Dark Man Stage is technically not a robot master theme. Its the first of many final stages in the game. If you want to be spoiled, <spoiler>Dark Man is, in fact, Proto Man, IIRC...granted, the use of the altered Proto Man whistle kind of gives this away!</spoiler> But yeah, this is one of my favorite themes from the original MM series. It displays three contrasting feelings in three different sections: sinister, chill, and groovy (thats the best I can come up with). But yeah, I LOVE the contrast between the sections, for sure, and it works well for a middle-stage type level! In terms of composition, I love how it goes back and forth between dorian and natural minor a lot, which I feel like Ive talked about dozens of times by now in other write-ups, haha. Also, the modulations are GREAT in how they give off that chill feeling in the second part of it. Oh, yeah, and the arpeggiations are done in part 1 in such a way that its a real banger! Its, in my mind, a great composition achieved through subtle musical decisions.

To talk a bit more about the Smash remix, gotta love the insertion of the actual altered Proto Man Whistle, and they even bend the pitch up at the end to get it in tune when the actual music starts! Very classy! Anyway, we first hear the Get a New Weapon theme which works really great as an intro... I never liked it in the original game, but its placement is PERFECT here! Love how the drums kickstart the entrance of the main part of the music, and MAN does it sound great. The fake drums are so stylish, ahhhhhhhh, normally percussion is the last thing I think about in music its hard to talk about since I dont know what youd call the individual percussive sounds. But yeah, its kind of industrial/computer-esque sound while sounding like rock, not edm or something..

SO MANY great little details, SO MANY layers and subtle effects that its hard to really single out individual things going on. For example, fast lots of 32nd-note sputters really make a difference and well-placed snare hits at not-so-obvious critical moments like at 0:40... Other cool details like a backup melody joining in at 1:06-1:10. Now onto the synths THOSE SYNTHS, man. Both lead and accompaniment synths turn this into pure magic! The synths were also carefully chosen in order to maintain the contrast between the three Dark Man sections. THANK YOU Morishita for being so faithful to the original theme in this regard. LOVE the robust sound of the lead synth in the first section and the chill backup portamento synths of the middle part, but its the third sections trumpet-like synth thats EASILY my favorite its my favorite synth ever, and WOW, the feelings of this third section in general. Love the syncopated stuff culminating in... four descending quarter notes. It moves on to MM5 intro (great harmonies here!), and then finally (HEY THE TRUMPET IS BACK) the title screen. The flow through all of this is really great, and it doesnt really sound like a medley to me impressive.

Anyway, Hiroki Morishitas arrangement supervising really shined here SO MUCH BETTER arranged than most of the other MM remixes. I wish the Smash community recognizes that, but they seem to be only crazy about the remixes from the fan-favorite MM2 and MM3 games If you want to know my second favorite MM Smash remix, by the way, its Ice Man Stage, which isnt particularly popular, either. https://youtu.be/PZYm9G_mwVE.I never appreciated the original Ice Man theme until I heard the remix, but its got REALLY fun rhythmic ideas, ahhhhhhh, SO GOOD. But somehow I dont expect most to like it....

---

Haste_2 posted...

...what on earth is going on? My post won't show. Did I break the TOS or something?

it did show, and then it didn't?
---

Haste_2 posted...

That makes sense because Janus (Magus) uses sShadow ("dark") magic!

You know Janus is a member of the Roman pantheon, right?

Haste_2 posted...

Wait, and isn't this the only time Secret of Mana has won a match?

Fear of the Heavens won a match eons ago. It marked the high point in one of the biggest streaks in futility in VGMC history. I'm surprised I wasn't on the support list just because Secret of Mana, but I also have been rather reticent about SoM subs over the last 8 years.

---

azuarc posted...

You know Janus is a member of the Roman pantheon, right?

Does the 5k part of the username imply the original Janus? Otherwise I'm not sure why you would ask that(?)

Time to finish this.

2) Crosscode - The Ultimate Experience
https://youtu.be/vYr8sLskgfk
Nominator: Toxtricity (supporters: DragonImps, loweffortmemes, TheArkofTurus)
Composer: Deniz Akbulut
Score: 9.8/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: https://youtu.be/vYr8sLskgfk?t=234
VGMC History: VGMC 13 (LOST R1.5 to FULL STEAM VENGEANCE!!)

482 (now 532) likes and no dislikes! =D Where to even begin? I dont know how to broadly describe the music, but its full of prog, obviously. Sounds very 70s, too. Tasteful electronic effects everywhere. Lots of harmonies that evoke all sorts of emotions Piano and organ writing is just.amazing. But yeah, the sound production is really, really tight. :) Also refreshing about this is that it doesnt use any traditional electric guitars, except for the bass which has a very smooth timbre. And this battle theme communicates a ton of different feelings, too. Really, this track is practically a suite with like seven different sections (too lazy to count them). With all thats in here I cannot understand how it lost its one and only match >_< other than bad taste, erm no, I mean, if you voted against it, obvious you thought Full Steam Vengeance was the greatest piece of music ever! Yes of course. But please dont ever vote against this again.

The opening piano is so thick and suspenseful (plus its impressive how those synths beneath it blend so seamlessly), and I especially love its final chord before the music moves on (nat-vi7 chord with a ii in the bass!!!) and that warbling in the background is GREAT! Then you got that sort of siren-y synth thats just way too cool, it raises the intensity like CRAZY! At 0:47 it sounds like AXELAY (especially that bass!!), my favorite obscure SNES soundtrack! The patterns put in to 7//8 stuff meter cool for words, tooso fun! 1:13 that nimble melody wow, so cool and impromptu! I have to slow that down to hear its details...ah, its fast sextuplets doing a bunch of fourths!!! 1:31 just goes crazy rhythmically, a TRIO of rhythmic craziness/ JAM SESSION (synth, organ, and DAT ACTIVE BASS~!!!) even if its put into a 5/4 mold, but it doesnt really sound like 5/4 at parts. Then the second synth joining the first in various intervals is just too much fun!!! Does that really last more than 40 seconds? Time FLIES there! Then how that leads into epic slow majesticness at 2:14 OMG OMG! It sounds relatively normal by itself but the way its placed is GENIUS. And then when it climaxes at 2:39, WOW those descending harmonies (Were in C minor, but it suddenly moves to Gbmaj7 with Ab in bass to start off, and then they move in sort of parallel downard).!!!! Then it gets a lot more tense and frightening after thatthose sitar-flourishes at the end of it!!!---> 3:26 haha WHOA those dissonant notes it does.. Amazing how well that instrument fits in, but they have a brilliance that works FANTASTICALLY with the chosen synths. Anyway, It moves to chillness at 3:34 (perfect set of sounds). Then when the fake piano comes in after that combined with that synth it reminds me of SUPER TRAMP! Those piano chords...thick and cool!!!


---

1) Rose Gun Days (Season 3) - linkage-alter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCW8lV-htEo
Nominator: @loweffortmemes (supporters: cakophon, kaonashi1, TheArkOfTurus)
Composer: xaki
Score: 10/10 (Godly)
Favorite part: 0:00 - 1:31
VGMC History: VGMC 13 (LOST R1 to Shonen wa Sora wo Tadoru)

Yeah, this is one that nobody guessed correctly! This was the one I hinted was in a "battle of weaklings". loweffortmemes, do you forgive me now for ranking your VGMC favorites poorly? >_> (okay, I got the @ to work now)

One. Stinking. Vote. Just one vote swing and it would have won a match! For some reason I had not even heard this track until its match. I was completely blown away the first time hearing it, unlike some others of my highest-rated music. Like, absolutely flabbergasted. On a side note, can you believe it? I did not support a single one of (whats now) my top ten during nominations! But I only listened to maybe 10% of the nominations that year?

How this originated in Rose Gun Days, Ill never know. Wow, this music is CRAZY I dont know what youd call this music, but its, um, industrial-sounding? Does a lot of weird tonal things. Theres not a lot of melody in this music its more about electronic/percussive effects. I LOVE that big deep, buzzy electronic sound production of this!!! And its full of short 32nd-note passages that get passed around everywhere. Every time I listen to it I hear something I didnt notice before.

Regarding the intro, already the music is blowing me away! Those three-note piano patterns the way they do melodic minor is so WEIRD, because melodic minor is usually associated with being really diatonic, but not here to the contrary! You got those electro-trash can sounds that are SO AWESOME and PHAT!!! Groovy! And you got this big crescendo that REALLY hits you, culminating in HUGE low piano octaves with such cool note choices. Plus theres a second application of piano doing these dissonant fast runs (augmented arpeggios in this case), which is EXACTLY the kind of thing I love, OMG OMG. :) :) : Then you get the same stuff again but its all moving UP instead of down! And now we got new percussion doing new crazy stuff like, it has some of those 32nd-note sputters that I love thats used in Dark Man Stage, and that mixes in with some traditional drum set, and then you got this ascending gliss that is SO TASTEFUL, OMG OMG. Also the strings playing (dissonant) unison notes in the background adds a nice touch to it.

Okay, that was just the first 15 seconds. We finally get to the main part. Its relatively stationary... its not really going anywhere in particular. Instead its focusing on a cool CHAOS of sounds! We got one DEEP lead synth here yeah, that's right. It's lead AND bass at the same time. Anyway, it's working with the drums and the piano are all working together here and its SO snazzy how they do it! I cant get enough of those piano runs and the way they finish off the "phrase"! I love when the synth goes wild impromptu at around e.g. 0:23 - 0:26.(well, theres a lot of impromptu stuff in other places, too.) At 0:30 the music starts to move forward a bit. Piano gets a lot more spotlight in the following section GREAT chords here.

Places like 0:43 - 0:45 make my GIDDY!!!! You get that three-note motif (From the intro) sneakily added to the madness is something I didnt notice in the section at 0:45. OMG OMG. (you have to listen closely to hear it) Harmonies start doing stuff here, too, (very dissonant) and its awesome, plus violin adding to the piano is a nice touch :) :) :). The climax section at about the 1:00 is great love the way it ends on those unresolved suspensions and then one FINAL crazy piano run.!!!! 1:16 - 1:31 provides a bit of a break from all the madness, but the industrial drumming there is so artistic the way it builds into the next part of it :), yay more of those sputters and synths as part of it. Also, the (also the lowest note on the piano at 1:31, mmmmmm) From there it gets a bit less crazy, though it still sounds great! (But its really 0:00 - 1:31 that blows me away) There are still great moments, though. Plus I love the very gradual crescendo in this part, what a great subtle buildup there, plus the subtle dissonances in the piano (after 1:38) are great, too! Oh yeah, and odd synth beeps that kind of mix in the piano (as I was saying, I hear something new everytime I hear this piece!!!).

All in all, linkage alter is simply the ultimate artistry of sounds, to me, anyway! Also its a SERIOUS contender for my favorite vgm of all time.

Oh, yeah... anyone know what genre(s) linkage alter is?

---

linkage alter is p good
---

Haste_2 posted...

How this originated in Rose Gun Days, Ill never know.

It was composed for Rose Guns Days. Now you know.
---

Late as hell tag, but I am just going to be 'ing at linkage-alter for an hour or two now. Wowwww

Haste_2 posted...

Does the 5k part of the username imply the original Janus? Otherwise I'm not sure why you would ask that(?)

Now you've got me confused. Is there some Chrono Trigger reference here that I'm not getting?

---

Magus's real name is Janus

And that's who Janus5k is named for

---

I don't know my history while azuarc doesn't know his video games

---

I played Chrono Trigger, and yet it never ceases to amaze me how there are more bits of the game I never saw because I went straight to Lavos at the first opportunity and called it a day.

I also remember extremely little of the future segments other than enduring Dalton in like 18 fights clobbering me with cannonballs that took away half my health every single time I attacked, which was a complete and utter PITA because I was determined to play the game in turn-based.

---

5) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Daybreak Ridge
https://youtu.be/GaoDiAagj7g
Composer: Keisuke Ito, Yasuhiro Kawagoe
Score: 9.7/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: The first 53 seconds

Woah, talk about an intense dungeon theme. Im guessing this place is more than just a dungeon to go through sounds really perilous. But yeah, its very cinematic and reminds of John Williams in certain ways (oh, thats right, Great Spire sounds like E.T., too, I forgot to mention that), honestly. And it does odd tonal things at its very CORE that makes it one of my all-time favorite Pokemon tracks!!!

First and foremost THAT MELODY. Or is it better described as THOSE CHORDS(?). Really, its an inverted major triad thats moving in parallel (top line doubled an octave below, too), which basically means three melodies that are the same, but in three different keys Plus the shaping of the lines (rolling around) and the chromatic choices. yeah, that sounds strange but I LOVE IT SO MUCH >_> It sounds so tense in a mysterious way Theyre some of the coolest sounding things Ive heard in Pokemon! ts very ambiguous tonally, too, if it werent for the bass which stays static...But it doesnt stop there. These parallel triads keep going over CHANGING harmonies starting at about 0:36 ...and when the trumpets join in on the melody its very tasteful way to finish it off the first half! And the 5/4 meter really magnifies those feelings, too. And then the way they get interrupted by the chimes...wow, WOW, WOW, a new dimension of intensity! POLYMETERS !! THE PLANETS (SATURN)!!! 6/8 thats put on top of the 5/4 and the way it fits is so yummy :) :) :)!!! Also a minor thing but I like how it starts an eighth note late, too.

The second half I dont have as much to say about, but its still got that perilous feeling and its got enough variety in it to keep my attention, typical of almost all the music in Gates to Infinitys OST...and the harmonies at 1:01 - 1:10 and such are awesome (love when it goes to the nat-III...interesting feeling)! At the end, those trumpets, man POWERFUL stuff right at the end of the loop! (would be really fun to play)

4) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Glacier Palace - Eastern Spire
https://youtu.be/ShQrSdLbRI4
Composer: Keisuke Ito, Yasuhiro Kawagoe
Score: 9.8/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: 0:53 - 1:24, https://youtu.be/ShQrSdLbRI4?t=53

This one probably has the best atmosphere of any of the Glacier Palace dungeons. I cant get enough off the harp/crystal combination here (is there a third instrument in there too?)... What great crystalline ethereality feelings this gives I mean, those note choices in their 16ths patterns are really, really great Sure, The strings chords are nice, but its the way those 16th notes change over it are just FANTASTIC!!! Its kind of a hybrid use of triads and fourths, it seems (including some dissonances) and it GORGEOUS! In a way it reminds me of the intro to Raging Spirits. The way this piece gradually builds throughout is really great, too!

At :35 we finally get a bleak, thought-provoking melody with beautiful intervals inside the string section. Woodwinds get added at as the intensity gradually heightens and OH WOW the harmonies! (I sound like a broken record talking about PMD music because great chord changes are everywhere in the Gates to Infinity OST!!!) =) But anyway, 0:53 - 1:23 is just FANASTIC!!!

At 1:24 gets more intense and less stable as strings have fun moving in kind of a waltz fashion gotta love the dissonant stuff (1:42 - 1:55) Meanwhile the harp/crystal cominbation keeps pervading :) :) Then finally the music kind of sneaks up on you (hard to tell when it starts honestly) and next thing you know the music is ascending and growing until we hit the climax, yay! (harmonies make it all happen, AGAIN) I really like the way it was done without really relying on melody, and Im really impressed with the woodwind sampling in this game even the forte stuff sounds like an actual forte woodwind timbre.

Pretty much if you want to get the most out of this track pay close attention to the... you know.


---

3) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - The Frism
https://youtu.be/hcKpJh6wsg0
Composer: Keisuke Ito, Yasuhiro Kawagoe
Score: 9.8/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: The first 45 seconds? Most all of it really.

This it the last Gates to Infinity track on the list! Chances are you will not agree, but this is one of my favorite emotional themes in any game ever! In fact, a big reason I rate Gates OST so high is BECAUSE it has so many great emotional themes :). It starts off simple enough, but it has big sweeping emotional parts that really hit me right in the heart. Harmonies in this aren't super complicated compared to other tracks, I suppose (chords are well filled out, tho), (l but the few powerful moments/details make a world of difference, and hey, its an emotional theme with SEVERAL key changes IMPOSSIBLE! >_> Strategic orchestration, too, waiting for just the right moments for certain instruments, as Ill mention.

The OST is largely orchestral, but the soft synths are a fairly common way to add some flavor. Anyway, it starts with a super simple iteration of the Hope theme (oh, wait, the harmonies are deceptively deep), but once the strings take over, it already starts hitting home taking some unexpected YUMMY harmonic direction (reminds me of...Link to the Past? Not quite sure why).... Especially that chord at 0:25, absolutely gorgeous! Then at 0:35 OMG the horn writing, and my favorite use of part two of the Hope theme in the game, maybe!. (Cinematic epicness...(wonderful switch from E minor to B minor, too *_*) What a shame this whole intro doesnt repeat when it loops :/.

Goes back to thin orchestration, but its all part of the form to make the big parts that much more powerful! At 1:26 the piano sneaking in there under the oboe is gorgeous! Another powerful moment at 1:42 leading to the BIG climax (BRASS ENTRANCE!) thereafter the minor iv chord in conjunction with the deceptive modulation afterward MOVES me, especially with the choirs that are clearly heard, but are thankfully not overpowering. *_* And again that moment at 2:27 when it heads to a more formal key change, which just makes me so so happy.! Bells finish bring up the Hope theme again but in a very bittersweet fashion of harmonizing to contrast before finally doing one final little crescendo.it ends without any formal-sounding resolution that you might expect, but it just makes me like it that more! (I really like that harmonic adjustment at 2:47-2:50, OMG OMG OMG!)

But yeah, I love Gates to Infinity emotional themes, and this one probably has the most variety of any of them.

2) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - Vast Ice Mountain Peak
https://youtu.be/hIXGRb7Gb7E
Composer: Keisuke Ito
Score: 9.8/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: 0:18 - 0:35 and 1:11 - 1:29, https://youtu.be/hIXGRb7Gb7E?t=71

You know, Im really glad Keisuke was the sole composer of the new tracks in Explorers of Sky, because now I know who the composer is for one of my ALL-TIME favorite Mystery Dungeon tracks! (Vast Ice Mountain is also really amazing) Sadly, nominators preferred NINE Pokemon tracks over this last contestoh, well. Its my favorite in Explorers, barely edging out Temporal Tower.

To me, this is the ultimate atmosphere to come from any Pokemon track, even beating out Temporal Tower. No other track in the series can give me quite the same feelings as this one. I have hard time describing it, but its very dark and hopeless (actually, more like a FORCE of despair blowing at you in the wind) on one end of this, but its also sparkling and clear, and also very climactic. This IS the latter part of the final dungeon in Explorers of Sky after all. Oh, and obviously wintry, I almost forgot to say that ;) Im sure there are better words to describe whats going on in the music! Like most of my favorite Pokemon tracks, there are moments where the harmonies are just powerful.

The accompanying bells are so perfect they are truly a delight to my ear and really give off that sparkling, wintry vibes, and i just LOVE paying attention to EVERY SINGLE NOTE. The strings parts meanwhile give off a hopeless, barren vibe. Up to this point its been minor, At 0:18 we got one of the BEST parts of the whole thing the choirs joining in on a I-II-III-IV harmonic progression. Its a fairly standard progression in some form, but not when its ALL major like it is here. *_* The juxtaposition of that against everything is simply AMAZING! Cant you feel it like I do? And then hearing the marimba adjusting its supporting melody as those harmonies change. :) :) :) Really, every single instrument here work in tandem perfectly.What an absolutely GENIUS Keiseuki Ito moment!

At 0:35 we got another key moment the chime entrance. Holy SMOKES, that dark feeling from that ONE single note. (and it keeps doing it on beat 1, but its effect is strongest the first time) And here we finally get the fantastic VAST ICE MOUNTAIN theme but with completely new harmonies! The responses done by the LONGING flutes fit so PERFECTLY what a GREAT way to recycle the Temporal Tower theme!Awesome major 7th dissonance just a hair before 0:45, by the way! And then we got those YUMMY VI (tonic substitution) harmonies underneath at 1:02, allowing for MORE major 7th dissonances. And then the energy gets upped at 1:11 with some strong percussion (I especially like the Timpani use!), and then the energy gets upped AGAIN at 1:19 with those FULL-sounding octaves THE CLIMACTIC moment of the whole thing, OMG OMG OMG!!!!

Anyway, we just reached the most climactic and strongest WINDS of despair part, but at you got a nice contrast of hope *_* i n the following section as the energy of it winds down more great harmony/melodic interactions here that help provide that hopeful feeling. . and the temporal tower theme responds in such a brilliant way (the way it gets transposed) to end the loop ultimately a feeling of despair by the end. beautiful ending.

---

Let's finish this off.

1) Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Gentle Slope Cave
https://youtu.be/Olzv7Js_hyk
Composer: Keisuke Ito, Yasuhiro Kawagoe, Noriko Murakami
Score: 9.9/10 (Phenomenal)
Favorite part: 1:17 through the end of the loop, https://youtu.be/Olzv7Js_hyk?t=77

@Toxtricity, even if youve only posted once and it's hard to say if you're interested in this topic, at all, but this is probably the one write-up you should read! Oh, yeah, and I readily acknowledge your positive influence on my write-ups that would have been even more mediocre otherwise!

Oh, wow this is long. I just had so much to say about this one because of my passion for it, plus this one is relatively easy to talk about This took probably three hours, but to me it was worth it, and this may be the only write-up Ill be saving for myself.

To tell you the truth, I would have nominated Gentle Slope Cave last year If I went strictly by the rule of nominating all my very favorite eligible music However, I had to go Second Dark Matter Battle and Fire Island Volcano because they appeared stronger. Again, last year my goal wasnt to get a ton of Pokemon music in the contest It was to try and get something retired for that series. It was for the best to save this track for a future contest, if I can get the support for it These three tracks alone propel PSMD to very high ranks among my known game OSTs.

This track I just cant believe this music, its very existence. Its, like, it defies physics. Or, its like theres a complete paradigm shift, some new theory in the physics of folk dance music creation, when it comes to THIS track. The craft is amazing and every last thing about this really resonates with me to an insane degree. Great variety of melodies as a whole that really make the most of 5/4. Cheerful stuff, too!

A little story: Last summer I was working on this game (its been on hold for a while, but the plan is to DEFINITELY complete it shortly). When I reached Gentle Slope Cave, I was absolutely flabbergasted by the music. I mean, there was some great music before this, but...not at this level. Not even close. I even had a hard time progressing through the dungeon at first. I have NEVER had such a good musical experience in a video game in my LIFE! It even beats out my Ultimecia final form experience in FF8.... Oh, yeah, and there were these huge Onixes in this dungeon that were more bark than bite, honestly. Otherwise I dont remember much else, haha.

Anyway, the very start is a bit uneventful if you dont know whats coming. It introduces little ideas to be used a bit later, but its pretty uneventful, well, except you know theres going to be non-duple meters. I love it, though! The sampling quality of the pizzicatos is good, very rich. Honestly, the orchestral sampling quality in PSMD is for the most part fantastic! Percussion is very mild and sounds fitting for a gentle cave, indeed! But once the strings come in tutti, a capella, a new world completely opens up. You got some of the yummiest chords all in one big block, presented in such a VERY simple, very repetitious, but catchy rhythmic manner (5/4!) and just hearing the note changes through it all is seriously a delight! (Fourths-based chords in parallel among other things!!!) That big combination of simplicity vs. complexity presented right here at the start is REALLY something!! And the exciting thing is that this becomes a glue that holds everything together!!! Oh, and its cool how the low pizzes actually add harmonic depth to the chords, too, OMG OMG OMG MOG!. (0:24 - 0:27, especially)

Anyway, that leads into the new section. You got this super nimble/frantic tune. nimble melodies are precisely my thing if theyre done right! If theyre folky, well, even better! The breathtaking pace is fantastic and brings out an INSANE amount of energy. But it also sounds classical music-oriented, to me. For example, utilizing the melody in creative ways like intentionally avoiding syncopation or stuff to make it catchy. Rhythmically the melody is the antithesis of the big string block chords we heard before this. Specifically, I like how the melody uses great use of space (really, the space includes a note being held) and its especially cool in an irregular meter!! And the underlying pizzicatos give a surprising amount of fullness to it all, in a really fun way, WOW:) Then theres the non-traditional folk instruments that add some additional rustic flavor to it I seriously love all the nuances of the double reed, and it even decides to do a childish taunt for a bit at 0:48, lol. ! But seriously, I love humming this stuff in my head while paying attention to the precise length of all the use of space in the melody :) :) :)

And then the material repeats. What more to make it better than by inviting the whole orchestra to play the fun stuff now? =) And its full of witty calls and responses now, like a big group conversation constantly interrupting itself. And FINALLY, this part concludes, through here it comes, the first recurrence of the big block chords with that all-too-familiar rhythm!!! Wow, a mninute and seventeen seconds has taken us for one HELL of a ride. But were not done with this thing yet. Not even CLOSE!

Got a total contrast in feelings here, like you stepped into a dark spot of the cave (forget the fact that caves are normally 100% dark). The pace is still as fast as before, LOTS of 16th notes still :) but somehow it just feels relaxed. The thick textures of low strings/woodwinds is a completely new feel. At the same time, its still definitely upbeat folk dance. Interesting idea to insert some accordion into this. Nice major 7ths between the top line and bass just before 1:24 and 1:29. Bittersweet feelings (key changes) at 1:30 is actually really important to the overall form, plus its very warm orchestration makes love this part SO MUCH!! :) :) :) At 1:36 here come the chord blocks(!!!) again to take us out of this reprieve and back into full-on action! Those harmonies, omg OMG!!! Stacking of fourths, but the melody on top (sometimes bass, too) gives us all these COOL dissonances like minor 2nds and stuff, kind of the same idea as...well, FFIVs Battle 2 came to mind first, haha. Oh, yeah, and tonally the melody is itneresting, sounds kind Phrygian....

Hey, were in the final section at 1:42 and like, its a race to the finish, the best part of it all!! And now the string block chord rhythms are permeating everything!!! It multiplies the energy of the already AWESOME flute melody, and its just...holy carp. And then you have the INGENIUS idea of adding TAM TAM to the mix, OMG OMG OMG MOG MOG!!! The tonal center is fairly stable, however, the music dabs into DELIGHTFUL little harmonic ventures. For example, there are certain note choices in relation to the harmony that are GREAT, too, like the two flute notes at 1:47-1:48 because neither of those notes fit in the triad, and the way it moves to a VERY distant key in such a NATURAL way. Also, 1:52 - 1:55 - talk about CLIMACTIC harmonic shifts, holy carp again!!! :) :) :) Meanwhile, the string bass have fun going root/5th/root 5th/root 5th it really fills it out, hehe.

---

With that done, it's time for my final request of user input! I'd like a few of you to rank #5 through #1 on the list, just like what was done for #10 through #6. One last chance to explore some new music!

(Open Pass got last place on the previous list, as expected, but I was surprised to find Malie City end up fourth place)

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Daybreak Ridge
https://youtu.be/GaoDiAagj7g
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Glacier Palace - Eastern Spire
https://youtu.be/ShQrSdLbRI4
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - The Frism
https://youtu.be/hcKpJh6wsg0
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - Vast Ice Mountain Peak
https://youtu.be/hIXGRb7Gb7E
Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Gentle Slope Cave
https://youtu.be/Olzv7Js_hyk


---

whew glad we're done with Pokemon music

---

i love you Haste_2
---

VIMP
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Gentle Slope Cave
Eastern Spire
Daybreak Ridge
Frism
---