Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 28! Outlaws/Verga, Miss Conductor/WORN TAPES, Masked Man/All of You

(+) Yeah! (+)

REFLEC BEAT The Reflesia of Eternity - Kuraki Koutetsu no Verga (Full ver.)
UNBEATABLE [white label] - WORN OUT TAPES
MOTHER 3 - Battle Against The Masked Man

sorry i've been busy a bit.

Kuraki Koutetsu no Verga (Full ver.)
WORN OUT TAPES
For All of You

Yakuza Kiwami 2 - Lullaby of Outlaws - 5- Some crazy saxophone sounds! I like the bass how it sounds spy thriller rhythm thief like. Not much I dislike, but it doesnt really invoke anything special in me
REFLEC BEAT The Reflesia of Eternity - Kuraki Koutetsu no Verga (Full ver.) -6.5 - The instrumental part is so nice. I like how much mobility and variety the sound has with the pianos followed by a sting sound. The vocals are just alright.

The Caligula Effect 2 - Miss Conductor (Regret ver.) - 5.5- Ah yeah this song. The beat drop followed by the dreamy almost atmospheric sound is weird. Im conflicted if i like it or not. Its fast but a little too snippy. I think this sound would benefit being slowed down by like 15 percent.

UNBEATABLE [white label] - WORN OUT TAPES - 8- The unbeatable ost, at least what ive heard is so fun. I like how effortlessly the rhythm and beat flows from one idea to another. Its so smooth yet deliciously varied. The transitions from instrumental to vocals is well done. I wonder if it moves on a pleasing harmonic change or resolution. The part where the song randomly gets really fast and skippy is super fun.

MOTHER 3 - Battle Against The Masked Man - 4- Iconic song. The vibes are creepy and immaculate but the melody is well oof. The smattering of dissonant piano notes halfway through are probably my favorite part, despite the fact they lack any melody. It just feels like this song doesnt have any proper resolution and holds me in a tense stasis, which sure is probably the point. I just dont like listening to it.
Shredders - For All of You -8 - Good trance song. Has the perfect mix of the constant backing with the long hypnotic notes that coat you in soothing brilliance. I do wish each of the sections were a bit shorter. Like around the 2:30 minute mark it introduces a futuristic synth boop noise, but i wish that came earlier as I started to get bored without the constant variety. I think this song could have been compressed to half its length and it would have been better, but its kinda pointless asking that of trance music.

Kuraki Koutetsu no Verga (Full ver.)
WORN OUT TAPES
For All of You

Matches 1 and 2 are incredibly fun, while Match 3 is nice but ultimately something I don't feel strongly on.

REFLEC BEAT The Reflesia of Eternity - Kuraki Koutetsu no Verga (Full ver.)
The Caligula Effect 2 - Miss Conductor (Regret ver.)
Shredders - For All of You

MATCH 1

The jazzy piano in Lullaby of Outlaws is cool, but I'm not really feeling the aggressive instrument (I can't tell if it's a weird-sounding brass instrument like a trumpet or if it's just a synth) at 0:20 here.

Verga's another one of my favorite discoveries from this year's contest entries. Strong melody and really great harmonic depth with some interesting sounding chords and progressions. The vocals are really good too. I knew I had seen the name rionos before, and as it turns out, she did sing a different song that I had heard before (Stuffing My Pockets Full from Summer Pockets), so it's nice to hear her in another song. I actually think her vocals lend itself even better to this song than to that Summer Pockets song. Another strong example of the kind of complexity in songs that I really enjoy.

MATCH 2

Miss Conductor feels like controlled chaos in a good way. Definitely one of, if not the most frenzied song on the soundtrack. Really love this song with the only exception of something I don't really enjoy as much in this song being 1:28-1:33 because I'm not really a fan of talk-singing in vocals. But like I said, everything else about this song is great.

Worn Out Tapes is very cool too. The synths and drums definitely get me pumped up, and the vocals are good here too. Despite that, though, I think my favorite part of the song might actually be 0:58-1:04 where it's a little calmer. Melodically, it reminds me of some of the lo-fi songs that I really enjoy. The only thing I'm a little lukewarm on is the "o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o" at 1:23. Wish this song would've been in match 3 instead so I could vote for it, but Miss Conductor's a no-brainer here.

MATCH 3

Battle Against the Masked Man has a somewhat unpleasant buildup that leads to some guitar parts that aren't very interesting to me. Certainly not compared to other Mother 3 songs that have more prominent guitar riffs and licks. Fate is the first song that comes to mind, just to give an example.

For All of You isn't particularly interesting to me either, but Battle Against the Masked Man feels slightly grating at times whereas this song doesn't, so I'll pick For All of You.

Miss Conductor (Regret ver.) > Kuraki Koutetsu no Verga (Full ver.) > WORN OUT TAPES > Lullaby of Outlaws >> For All of You > Battle Against The Masked Man

Reflec Beat: The Reflesia of Eternity - Dark Iron Verga (Full ver.)
UNBEATABLE - WORN OUT TAPES
abstain

Dark Iron Verga (Full ver.) >= Outlaw's Lullaby > WORN OUT TAPES > Miss Conductor

got home later than anticipated from work so I can't comment on match 3, everything in the first couple matches fucked tho

An Outlaw's Lullaby: Some really cool muted trumpet, sax, and piano in this one. Not a ton of direction to it, but it's a fun song.

Kuraki Koutetsu: Really like the production of this one. Good melody, piano, and vocals. Just a well-made song all-around.

Miss Conductor: The vocalist here is meh. Not bad, but not great either. Instrumental is pretty standard J-pop stuff without anything super interesting. Just kind of a song that exists to me.

WORN OUT TAPES: The mix in this one is pretty weird in the latter half, but I like the vocalist and instrumental on its own well enough to give this my vote.

Battle Against the Masked Man: This one doesn't really do anything that interests me. It feels like a long intro, but never actually gets to the meat of the song.

For All of You: Very good synths and vocal samples. Love the production and buildup throughout. Favorite song of the day.

Markedly better day than yesterday, but still not great.

Votes:
Kuraki Koutetsu no Verga (Full ver.)
WORN OUT TAPES
For All of You

So oops i thought i had voted earlier but didnt!! but theres still absentee votes that will be counted

From TunnelScene:

Kuraki Koutetsu no Verga (REFLEC BEAT Reflesia)
Miss Conductor Regret ver. (Caligula Effect 2)
Battle Against the Masked Man (MOTHER 3)

good McCoy Tyner piano moments.. . .I talked about this one in my ranking topic

oh man this match isreally close. both tracks have their share of the exact sorts of tonal/rhythmic areas I like. but overall this one is a bit more the emotion I want, just enough to edge it out. but definitely one of the closest matches in the contest so far for me

that cartoon melody is fun and fabulous like a vintage balloon

what if rhythm doctor was pink

this mother 3 track starts so much like "Atlantis Central Tower" from "Timelapse: Ancient Civilizations...The Link to Atlantis" which is a video game song that I love. thank you roland jv2080 Eric the Persian. even tho this game has the infamous timesig examples and stuff, I always felt it was overall less unhinged than earthbound. but this track is one of the biggest adjacencies to the unhinged insanity that earthbound's ost is and I really respect it for that

some fun rubbery analog synth sounds here. I like how some layers ignore the barline mostly too. I can see why p0 likes this one

From rwlh:

abstain
Miss Conductor Regret ver.
Battle Against the Masked Man