#part 4 of my vgm final

[kiisaes]

> TUNES FROM DEEP SPACE _ 4 (1) (2) (3)

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 18/01/2024

MAGFest 2019: SiIvaGunner Presents - High Quality Ripping

Season 3 Featured on: MAGFest 2019

Presented by Nape Mango, Omknee, ShonicTH, Chaze the Chat, Harmony Friends, Trofflesby, Craz Xexe, Agent

Yeah, okay, this is cheating in a lot of ways - this is not on the SiIvaGunner channel, and its obviously not even a rip. But I felt it necessary to commemorate, as I mentioned briefly in Because I Love You, its finally time for MAGFest once again, and the SiIvaGunner team is to host their own panel there tomorrow! And in the spirit of that, I want to just...talk about SiIvaGunner and MAGFest, at least for a little bit. Because the first two panels in particular, the ones that marked the beginning and end of Season 3, are some of my all-time favorite videos associated with the SiIvaGunner channel.

A big part of the identity and gimmick of the channel itself, as you're likely well aware, is the bait-and-switch - to present it as a faceless entity simply uploading video game music, only to instead feature jokes, shitposts, edits, and so forth. Part of maintaining that kayfabe, then, is to intentionally obscure who makes what behind the scenes, to keep the real people under wraps for those who aren't going to dig deeper, in order to further sell the illusion of being an official VGM upload. The team does of course still give credit when its relevant, as any rip can be featured on an album be given full credits there, but just that degree of separation alone between casual fans and ones willing to download an album has probably led to a few too many people being unaware of who made their favorite rips. Back then, I typically fell somewhere in the middle - I wasn't actively using music listening software and thus missed out on listening to albums for a long time, but was still aware of some of the big names you'd see in comments sections, saw some shoutouts from Twitter, the works.

Yet with the two MAGFest panels of 2018 and 2019 respectively, it felt like the first time that the magnitude of what SiIvaGunner is and how much it means to people was revealed to me for the first time ever. The uploaded recording of the 2018 panel, posted by Chaze's own account, features a shot about seven minutes in that turns the camera to the crowd - and it's an absolutely packed-full room of nerds just like me. And even though I've never been able to go to any of these MAGFest panels due to travel costs and complications...just seeing how many people truly do care about SiivaGunner, in such a tangible way, something more than a number...it resonated with me, yknow?

Beyond that, these panels are just such fascinating pieces of history for the channel, such good time capsules in so many ways - and that's in a lot of ways why I chose to highlight the 2019 panel in particular. Rather than discussing the upbringings of the channel, it features members of the team reminiscing and going through Season 3's timeline of events in particular, going into surprising detail into the thought process and direction the various pieces of the year took - while also giving insights into the production of the Christmas Comeback Crisis, King for a Day Tournament, and more. I feel like with the turn from Season 3 to Season 4 Episode 1, you can really notice that the idea of "hype" for SiIvaGunner content becoming so much more prominent, so much more deliberately handled by the team, which is made all the more evident by the King for Another Day Tournament reveal live on stage.

Man, look, it's an hour-long panel, and there's so many small things that I still remember from it, despite last having seen it five years ago. The members talking about their favorite rips, giving a round of applause to all the rippers who couldn't come join them at the panel or on-stage, the very funny last-minute rips made to "celebrate" the channel being terminated a day earlier (one of which I've embedded as the Bandcamp link), and even some slight discussions on what SiIvaGunner as a channel means to the team, what it represents, and what their goals have been overtime. And, of course, the fucking incredible PowerPoint hijinx with Inspector Gadget, which I am 100% going to take as confirmed canon that Gadget's level of sentience and awareness of the real world is just the same as Woodman's and The Voice.

I have, of course, been told a number of times that I overanalyze SiIvaGunner, that I'm uncovering depth that's clearly not intentional, looking too much into a silly meme channel. And sure, I'd admit that I do overthink things to a degree, anyone who read Vote Responsibly!! should be able to tell you as much. Yet its stuff like these in-depth behind-the-scenes looks, these moments of getting a face and a voice to attach to the works, that really just felt super validating to me even back then - that the intentions and goals of the channel that I myself had picked up on were in fact some sort of direction that the team itself were steering toward. And though Nape Mango does indeed declare in this very panel that "Everything is a coincidence with SiIvaGunner", I'm forever in awe at just how good the team has been at lining those coincidences up into something genuinely incredible.

We SilvaGunner, We Rip.

[buttonbee-kirby]

Sky Waltz Appreciation Post (Kirby Soundtrack Soliloquies #1)

As I mentioned in a previous rambling, my favourite part of the Kirby series might not actually be the copy abilities, the lore, or even Kirby themselves - it might actually be the music. Video Game Music (VGM) is probably my favourite genre of music, and there’s just something so undeniably catchy, moving, and iconic as the Kirby series soundtracks.

{Disclaimer: I am not a music major, so please don't expect a lot of in-depth analysis or technical terms. I just love what I love.}

I could ramble on and on about my favourite soundtracks, composers, and motifs, but today I want to highlight what is probably my favourite song in the entire series. I've given it quite a bit of thought, and over the years I've finally come to the conclusion that it's Sky Waltz, which premiered in Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

This song is first heard in World 5, Nutty Noon, and while there are so many banger songs in this stage (Sky Tower is phenomenal, the Boss Rush music is bombastic), there is something so simple and serene to this song. I love the way the violins build up to some great climax only to slow and rhythmically descend back down. I've already promised that if I ever get married, this song will play at my wedding. If I can get my future partner to agree, it's going to be our first dance.

Songs like Green Greens, Bubbly Clouds, Fountain of Dreams, they all get the hype and remixes they deserve throughout Kirby's games, as they should. Even newer songs like Dried Up Sea from Planet Robobot. Song of Supplication from Star Allies, and even Sky Tower from RtD have seen remixes in later titles and get waves of praise in YouTube comment sections, Discord, and other forums. Fun fact, Sky Tower has made an appearance in every mainline Kirby game since Return to Dream Land, and even some of the spinoffs (we’ll see if this holds true for the Forgotten Land) Sky Waltz should absolutely be given the same treatment: the fact that it's one of the few 3/4 songs in the Kirby series, the way it makes you feel like you're lightly jumping from cloud to cloud in its intro and then slowly floating down with a parasol during the violin solo, it brings me so much joy.

So to celebrate Sky Waltz, here are three remixes, official and unofficial, that are worth listening to while you're writing, cooking, or just relaxing. Links are embedded in the titles since I can't post more than one video per post.

1) Dreaming of Skies at the Fountain of Rainbows

While this track features more songs than one song, I still consider it a Sky Waltz remix since it does play the entire piece in its intro. Also, I only learned this existed and more people deserve to know about this, so I’m using this as an excuse as well. Included with the official, physical release of the Kirby Star Allies Soundtrack (Limited), the Kirby Arrange Selection mp3 player features a variety of arrangements from across Kirby's history, with two of them dedicated to Kirby's Return to Dream Land. Sky Waltz gives it a bright start to set up the more energetic Super Ability before finally finishing off with a calming rendition of Grape Gardens and Rainbow Resort. I would recommend checking out the entire collection, but this one is easily my favourite.

2) Sky Structure by azifly

Now let's take a look at a fan remix with an interesting twist. This composition takes the soundfont from Kirby Canvas Curse (which deserves its own music post) to recreate Sky Waltz from a fantasy sky kingdom at sunset to a utopian, bumping city in the early morning. It also takes inspiration from Tiny Town, which I struggle to explain since I’m not a music major, but if you’ve heard it before or listen to it now, you’ll see what I mean. I'm honestly shocked how well Tiny Town works with this piece, and I wish azifly would make more remixes like this in the future. Definitely check out their channel, while they don't have a ton of songs and they haven't posted in quite a while, what is there is worth a listen for sure.

3) Sky Waltz by Jonathan Aldrich (Art by torkirby, Kyle Smith)

This. This is what I want to be played at my wedding. I can just see myself gliding across the floor before getting thrown into the air during the final climactic build. Their additions to the piece feel like a natural extension and gives Sky Waltz the arrangement it deserves. It kind of reminds me how they extended certain pieces in Super Kirby Clash (another game with a killer soundtrack I need to talk about). If Sky Waltz were ever given another official remix, I would want them to do what Jonathan did. Jonathon has many other phenomenal piano remixes to check out (their rendition of Earthfall is spectacular) and they seem pretty active, so be sure to send a few likes their way.

That's all for now! Let me know which one was your favourite or if you'd like more ramblings discussing Kirby music. I could do mini-essays, Top 10 lists, whatever sounds interesting! Here's hoping Sky Waltz gets some love in Kirby and the Forgotten Land or in the 30th Anniversary Concert this summer.

- buttonbee

[vgm-in-irregular-time-of-the-day]

DAY 1850) Tron 2.0 - Credits Medley

Composer: Nathan Grigg, Wendy Carlos

Given that this is a medley; there’s lots of timesig changes but they’re more like unrelated sections from each other, often totally fading in/out or with ambiguous pauses, so I’ll just talk about each section separately.

0:00 - 1:29 is all just 4/4, frantic drums, crazy synth sound design, but no odd time really for this section.

1:29 - 1:44 i’m counting as triplets in mixed meter: 4/4, 4/4, 5/4, 5/4, 6/4, 5/4, 4/4. if you were to count those as 8ths instead of triplets it’d be more like 12/8, 12/8, 15/8, 15/8, 18/8, 15/8, 12/8 (replace the 8s with 16s if you’re going to be weird like me and count them as 16ths if you find x/16 more natural to think about for some reason) !

1:46 - 2:17 is polymetric! The syncopated bell-like synth ostinato is in 7/8, but the slower synth hits and most everything else behind it really are in 6/4. For a short bit before 2:17 I guess there’s some 5/8 polymeter in one of the synth layers also. Some other more ambiguous stuff you might be able to interpret as even further layers of polymeter but the point is like, yeah this part’s lots of layers looping in different loop lengths from each other on top of each other!

2:17 - 3:06′s at a bit faster a tempo than the previous section. Also polymetric but a lot simpler case of it. 4/4 in that metallic bell-like synth rhythm, and 6/4 polymeter in the beeps under it from 2:17 - 2:42

3:06 - 4:03, here it’s 6/4 through most of the parts of this that have enough of a rhythm to latch onto something, which only really happens starting with the echoy drums that come in at 3:31.

4:03 - 4:45 is interesting; this is taken from “FCon/The Root of the Problem (Combat)”, which is one of the tracks I have on my biiiiig queue of possible tracks to eventually post on here but never happened to ever post. I’d count this snippet of it as all 7+8, 15/16, but just being aware that there’s a constant four-on-the-floor “4/4″ kick acting “polymetric” to it from the bits at 4:15 - 4:21 / 4:27 - 4:34.

4:45 - end is all loose, but just 4/4 stuff whenever concretely countable

Hopefully I addressed everything important here! there’s a lot going on in all of these sections, so it wouldn’t surprise me if I missed an obvious polymeter layer or something and just didn’t realize it! Lots of these sections come from other tracks in the game too, so are in a bit different of a context musically from their amalgamation here. Obviously wild tempo changes between each section that i’m not bothering to write out lol

This is a great cross section of the crazy stuff present throughout this ost though, tron 2.0 is totally one of the most odd time/polymeter/etc filled game soundtracks out there. Part of that’s obvious influence from Wendy Carlos’s original score to the 1982 film being much like that (and this game borrowing a lot of the material she wrote), but Nathan Grigg’s style is always full of that kinda thing as well, and he only adds to that intricacy in his original additions to the mix!

For all those reasons I thought this would be a pretty good sort-of-sendoff for this blog i’ve been running for over 5 years...........

....so...

...!

...THE FINAL DAY sort of...! As I said many posts ago (https://vgm-in-irregular-time-of-the-day.tumblr.com/post/623135939348365312/day-1828-shining-force-cd-track-25-composer) [probably a better read than my post right now here today], this will be my final post that’s in the “1 song presented with a text post daily” format; I’ll take a break but I will eventually shift to talking about this again in (most likely) YT video vgm mixes, including other related content besides just the very specific odd timesig stuff in vgm too!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me all this time! ULTRA SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO CHz who has helped me out with this blog FAR more than anyone could possibly imagine, he’s done far more work than anyone ever needed to do, far beyond my expectations to help me along with this. And he doesn’t get enough credit for that, this blog would’ve probably died a long time ago without chz’s help. Thank you so much CHz for all your assistance! Sharing me things you remember when I’m in desperate need of a new track to post at the last minute, uploading so much music for me, helping me organize so much, writing out timesig charts for me so many times, sharing overwhelmingly huge amounts of odd time vgm with me, probably even more than anyone else. So many other things all these years you’ve helped me with on here, I can’t thank you enough!

That said, thank you to EVERYONE who has shared odd time vgm with me (and this is like, a LOT of people, far too many to list, and i’m sure plenty would be uncomfortable being listed too, so i won’t subject this post to that).

I’m very bad at responding to PMs and other messages sent to me; I apologize greatly if i’ve left you hanging for months...or years...or forever. I’m just bad at that form of communication lol, but I’ve read the majority of what’s been sent and still try to keep as much as possible in my big list backlog of stuff to eventually post. I get excited and happy when I see people linking me new odd time vgm i’ve never heard and stuff like that; so if i’ve never responded or never posted stuff you’ve linked me here, please know that I actually do appreciate it even if i might not show it haha. I’ve honestly mostly only maintained this blog pretty sporadically and rely heavily on queuing everything in advance on occasion, rather than constant observation of it.

Once i shift to the new format of presentation i’ll still include the suggestions that’ve been linked to me, and stuff. I’ll maybe try to be more communicative in the future now that i’m not going to be bogged down by the load of keeping a constant daily stream of these posts. (though i probably won’t be paying too much attention to tumblr for a while during my break from doing this stuff)

thank you to everyone for every positive comment, every intent to help by sharing, and just...general inquisitiveness and enthusiasm about this THING i’m doing for no reason! This is all literally just me nerding out about my favorite combination of niche subjects together “proggy/mathy/etc music” and “video game music” at the same time as each other. I never expected this would get anything close to the following it’s gotten, but now occasionally it’ll get pointed out that this blog is me in some group i’m in or something and 5 people will be like “WAIT...that’s YOU?! I’ve been watching that blog for years!” or something; like i’m really startled by how many people follow this sometimes lol.

Really thankful for everyone showing interest in me just being me, having fun talking about things i like in music. I hope that can continue even if i’ll be changing what I talk about and how I talk about it!

It might be quite a while before I return to doing this kind of thing again, and it’ll definitely be a much less constant pace, but I think that trade-off be worth it. I’ll return to making posts here again when I finally have new stuff to post, big video mixes with animated visual transcriptions or WHATever i wind up doing (probably a new dedicated youtube channel for the new stuff too) and stuff! I’ll find out what that will be when I get there

Thank you all for everything!

THank you!

WOW

THANKJ YOU for all 5 years of this website being a fun place to post music i like inside of

BYE

OH WAIt here’s my twitter/soundcloud/etc links and stuff if you want to contact me in a place i’ll be far more attentive to than tumblr, since i won’t be paying attention to here for a while:

https://twitter.com/chimeratio_

https://soundcloud.com/chimeratio

ok now ACTUALLY BYE

THANK YOUI

(thank you part 2)

[hcmj]

HCMJ’s Favorite Albums of 2019!

Listen to a mix featuring these albums here: HCMJ’s 2019 End Of Year Mix

Other Favorites:

David Bruce - The North Wind Was a Woman

galen tipton - fake meat

upusen - Highland Ave.

BLACKPINK - Kill This Love

Starkey - Earth EP

Lamp - ‘A Distant Shore’ Asia Tour 2018

AWITW - Ｓｈｅ Ｗａｌｋ Ａｌｏｎｅ う者姻

Seaketa - Gion ぎおん

SNJO - Diamond

BONNEVILLE - AFFORDABLE LUXURY

20) Gareth Davis & Scanner - Footfalls

I first found the experimental composition/clarinet music of Gareth Davis in the early 2010′s during my initial dive into the Miasmah catalog. Teamed up here with another electronic musician/clarinetist, Footfalls uses long, poetic waves of deep woodwinds and synth improv to describe hauntingly desolate environments. It only seems fitting to start the list with one of many bookends on a decade in the grim, cold grey of Philadelphia.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

19) Barker - Utility

Arp and delay-driven rhythmic expression that recalls late-era Kraftwerk, building a pristine sci-fi future with ear-pleasing, rich, and laser-sharp production. Like disembodied trance or house music searching for a strong beat that never comes, Utility is absolute, skillfully-stated synth pleasure.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

18) Sean McCann/Seth Graham w/Kymatic Ensemble  - Split Series Vol. IV

Seth Graham’s Gasp was a big favorite in 2018, here condensed and re-imagined for chamber ensemble. Sean McCann’s “Vilon” finds a blissful middle-ground between electronic ambient music and traditional western instrumentation, like a poignant hymn sung somewhere far away, while the new “Gasp” arrangements are full of expressiveness and surprises.

BANDCAMP

17) 猫 シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h - Building a Better World

Deep bass pulses and distant rain welcome us to a familiar comfortable place, but as the unmistakable sound and melodic freedom of telepath’s original synth work bends its way over rolling toms in the reverb-soaked hifi opener, it becomes clear that this album is something new and special. Full-on new age drenched in an endless downpour, it’s a huge and beautiful world that’s blissful to be lost in.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

16) Various Artists - Oneironaut

Another rare case of a compilation that is actually worth listening to, Japanese indie powerhouse Local Visions assembles the best talent from the sax-loving, jazz-infused, post-vaporwave electronic underworld of Japan and beyond in the indomitable Oneironaut comp. Notable contributions from Utsuro Spark, upusen, Tsudio Studio, tamao ninomiya, and countless others deliver a hazy daydream.

BANDCAMP

15) wai wai music resort - WWMR 1

Also from Local Visions comes this special collection of tracks caught somewhere between “lost LP found in a record crate” and “bedroom 4-track” - two distinct lofi flavors that mysteriously meld seamlessly on WWMR 1. It sounds new and old, youthful and mature, and full of affection for love and the music it references.

BANDCAMP | SPOTIFY

14) EXID - Me & You

There’s something about this mini-album, a Christmas time snowy nostalgia as the sun sets on another chapter of life (and era of kpop) in tracks like “나의밤” and “WE ARE..,” the Jamiroquai funk of “내일해 (Urban Mix),” or club igniting title track - EXID may never exist in this form or at this level again, and like so many of my favorites this year it reflects the recent history of its genre brilliantly.

APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

13) Fire-Toolz - Field Whispers (Into the Crystal Palace)

Field Whispers is the stunning next step in the evolution of Fire-Toolz that feels completely at home on the finely-curated Orange Milk. Extended sax-soaked dreams collide with splinters of music jumbled and broken, elegant and disjointed, all bouncing off each other while still leaving room for moments of soaring guitar and dreamy synth pads.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

12) Hakobune - The Last of Our Time Together

With over 50 releases (4 just this year!), Hakobune’s discography can seem like an impenetrable wall of ambience, but like classics Seamless and Here and Love Knows Where, The Last of Our Time Together stands out - monumental and multi-dimensional - a slow dance skidding along the frozen surface of an endlessly deep, rich sea of emotion.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

11) FM Skyline - Advanced Memory Suite

As nostalgic electronic music continues to evolve and find itself elevated in the hands of increasingly-focused musicians, FM Skyline delivers a joyful retrospective on a decade that gave new life to so many old sounds. Exploring the inner recesses of our memory and delusion, Advanced Memory Suite turns the page on a decade of chillwave/synthwave/vaporwave/whateverwave. It’s a hypnotic monument to the modern renaissance.  

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

10) emamouse - Black place on the edge

It was a huge year from the prolific Tokyo-based visual artist and musician emamouse, whose non-stop creative output continues to challenge the very nature of reality. Black place on the edge was a standout favorite this year, layered and mysterious - incidental music for the surreal dreamworld described in mou’s most unnerving illustrations. Like waking up and finding yourself trapped inside Quest 64.

BANDCAMP

09) Koeosaeme - Obanikeshi

My favorite Orange Milk release of the year, Koeosaeme delivers another absolute hurricane of hyper-detailed, sensory-extreme, buckshot-to-the-face arrangements. The sheer amount of data on this album is staggering, with more musical information packed into a few minutes of its blissful chaos than most full length albums combined.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

08) Jaeho Hwang - Non-self 비자아

I was super fortunate to play a show with Jaeho Hwang in Tokyo during this year’s Neo Gaia Phantasy tour - his immense set started so intensely it’s as if the entire room was cast under a shamanistic spell, hypnotized by percussive expressionism, drawn to the light of digitally melting faces and occult rituals playing out on the screen behind him. Non-self 비자아 is without mercy and full of powerful and primal energy.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

07) Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising

Natalie Mering’s subtly expressive, velvety voice on its own is enough to make anything she touches turn to gold, but her songwriting is so masterfully dialed in on Titanic Rising it’s as if Harry Nilsson came back from the dead to write a new volume of pop rock ballads to get us through the next 50 years. It’s an album dripping with love for all the best parts of the 1970′s (Stardust-era Willie Nelson, early ELO, “Lost Weekend” Lennon and friends, etc), but also showcases the compositional chops to match and sometimes surpass its musical lineage (e.g. “Picture Me Better”).

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

06) Monari Wakita - RIGHT HERE

Off the heals of last year’s jaw-dropping Ahead!, ex-Especia Monari Wakita continues to defy modern conventions while asserting herself as one of the most powerful female voices in jpop. “エスパドリーユでつかまえて” sounds like Hitomitoi when she was a rising star, FRIEND IN NEED continues the new jack swing flirting, “やさしい嘘” sounds like it’s begging to be sampled by a future funk artist, and the lead-off single “Just a Crush for Today” is somewhere in a stop-and-go freefall between Billy Joel and Sonic R.

VIDEO 1 | VIDEO 2

05) Yeule - Serotonin II

Beneath the subtle power and diffusion of a voice like an extra-dimensional Julee Cruise, Serotonin II’s beautifully bleak paintings of the world it carefully constructs are reflective of Yeule’s transcendence into the artist’s next form. Crumbling brutalism under a blinding white sky, aliens in a graveyard - the romance of eternal torment in the spiral - all in dark room illuminated by a computer monitor sometime in the 00′s.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

04) The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time - Stage 6

The final release for this multi-year project, capturing a mind being lost to dementia, also marks the end of Leyland Kirby’s multi-decade spanning Caretaker project - a project that has had an immense impact on my perception of the limitlessness of music. Now completed, Everywhere at the End of Time towers as a 50 track, 6.5 hour journey from dreamy lucidity to terrifying confusion and darkness.

BANDCAMP

03) Tsudio Studio - Soda Resort Journey

Tsudio Studio brings a contemporary frame to leisure fantasy. Instant classics “Kiss in KIX,” “Asian Coke Light,” and “Like a Ruin” expand on the electro-bossa pop of Port Island, while surprises like “Beijing Cat” expand and explore new worlds of sound. One perfect chord after another, from start to finish, Soda Resort Journey is bubbly and delicious to listen to. Play it looped, close your eyes, be where you’d rather be.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

02) Minuano - Butterfly Dream

Lamp vocalist Kaori Sakakibara’s side project Minuano is like some mutant variant of Lamp - equally complex while slightly less disorienting arrangements (although there are a few re-worked Lamp classics on here), tighter pop sound, stunningly immaculate vocal production - all while maintaining the unique orchestral jazz pop that makes both bands such a euphoric joy to listen to. “Memory of Soda Pop” was my favorite track released by anyone this year.

BANDCAMP

01) EQUIP - CURSEBREAKER X

This was the year of EQUIP. No better story for this year, no better sound than CURSEBREAKER X - the songs from this album will always bring back a thousand memories of smoke-filled clubs, dark forests, and snow-capped mountains from across Japan - the building promise of absolute freedom and a happier tomorrow as we all lived the Neo Gaia Phantasy.. But even without my personal connection to the music, the hardware-driven “perfect sound” VGM and EQUIP’s signature cassette tape destruction has never been better balanced than it is here - it’s loud, and filled with unforgettable melodies and unknown lands. It’s monumental and iconic and will stand the test of time and it was my favorite album of 2019!

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

[latin-dr-robotnik]

What about the best game soundtracks of the 2010s?

So, I’ve been on and off thinking about and drafting this post for most of the year, and it’s finally time for me to unveil it to the world: we are now very close to the end of the year and the end of the 2010s, and while Sonic soundtracks have mostly kept their god-like status, I for sure played and listened to a lot more games than just Sonic. Because of that, I’m kinda in the mood to remember and revisit some of the games with the best soundtracks out there. 

Disclaimer: remember this is merely a personal list, where I take into consideration the game soundtracks that influenced me the most due to overall quality or hype surrounding them. I’m aware of the limitations of the giant task of listing 10 years of VGM, so this post is also an open invitation to all sorts of discussions for the myriad of games I’m surely gonna miss, and maybe even a door into other fandoms I used to take part or still am. If you have a game or a particular track you think it deserves the spotlight, then keep the discussion going!

Also: I’m only listing games with fully original soundtracks, but at the same making an exception for commercial songs created with a particular game in mind, released and then featured in said game (for example, A7X’s stuff for the Black Ops series).

I’m going to include Sonic games just for the sake of highlighting specific tracks. So, what are your favorite soundtracks of the 2010s? Here are some of the best for me:

Non Sonic games (in no particular order):

PAYDAY 2 (2013) - Highlights:

Hot Pursuit;

Backstab;

Break the Rules.

Mega Man 11 (2018) - Highlights:

Fuse Man;

Block Man;

Dr. Wily’s Gear Fortress.

Sunset Overdrive (2014) - Highlights: 

Total Annihilation;

I’m On The Run; 

I Don’t Want Your Company.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Zero (Yakuza 0) (2015) - Highlights: 

Judgement; 

Heart Break Mermaid; 

Pledge of Demon; 

Queen of the Passion; 

I’m Gonna Make Her Mine; 

Koi No Disco Queen. (sorry i got carried away for a while ‘cause this game and its ost are both so great)

Furi (2016) - Highlights: 

My Only Chance; 

6:24; 

Wisdom of Rage.

Super Mario Odyssey (2017) - Highlights: 

Steam Gardens; 

Jump Up, Super Star!; 

Break Free (Lead the Way). (I mean, Mario finally has not one but TWO proper vocal tracks, one of them being Sonic-esque as fuck, and in a mainline game no less? WHAT TIMELINE ARE WE EVEN LIVING IN?)

Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010) - Highlights: 

115; 

Abracadavre (Ascension DLC 1 was such a biiig hyyype back in 2011, I clearly remember those days); 

Not Ready to Die. (featured in DLC 2, Call of the Dead, using the classic ‘Damned’ Zombies menu melody)

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013) - Highlights: 

I’m My Own Master Now; 

It Has To Be This Way; 

The Stains Of Time. (also the first two tracks were featured in LakeFeperd’s fangame Sonic Chrono Adventure, lol)

Undertale (2015) - Highlights: 

This game needs no highlights, we all know it. But if you insist... 

Well, here’s where I put the most influential song of the entire decade; 

Ruins; 

It’s Raining Somewhere Else.

Freedom Planet (2014) - Highlights:

Main Theme;

Relic Maze 2;

Thermal Base 1;

Final Boss 2.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) - Highlights: 

Hyrule Castle (I’d say both versions, but the marching steps playing outside are badasssss); 

Breath of the Wild (greatest main theme of all decade, no doubts); 

Kass’ Theme (man, I hate that Nintendo blocked the full version of that song on YouTube).

Shovel Knight (2014) - Highlights: 

In the Halls of the Usurper (Pridemoor Keep); 

Tango of the Troupple King (what a fun highlight from Plague of Shadows); 

A Cargo of Fineries (Flying Machine); 

Hitting Close to Home.

Celeste (2018) - Highlights: 

Resurrections; 

Confronting Myself; 

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix); 

Golden Ridge (Golden Feather Mix); 

Farewell.

Katana ZERO (2019) - Highlights: 

You Will Never Know; 

Sneaky Driver; 

Monster.

Cuphead (2017) - Highlights: 

Floral Fury; 

Dramatic Fanatic; 

Railroad Wrath; 

High Sea Hi-Jinx.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) - Highlights: 

The Wolven Storm; 

Hunt or be Hunted; 

Land of a Thousand Fables.

Spark the Electric Jester (2017) - Highlights: 

Lunar Bass (Stage 10); 

Flower Mountain Canyon (Stage 2); 

Sunset Heights (Stage 6) (no, not the one from Sonic Forces); 

Megaraph Fortress (Stage 16); 

Special Boss (a.k.a. the obvious Crush 40-esque song for a Sonic-esque game)

The Messenger (2018) - Highlights: 

A Melody To Break the Curse; 

Civilization in the Sky; 

Hills of Destiny.

Spark the Electric Jester 2 (2019) - Highlights: 

Floresta Blanca; 

Castela Blanca (a.k.a. Sunset Hang Castle); 

Technoria City; 

Titanic Tower. (no, not the one from Sonic BTS, same composer tho)

Sonic games (in chronological order):

Sonic Colors (2010) - Highlights: 

Planet Wisp Act 2; 

Aquarium Park Act 1; 

Vs. Orcan & Skullian; 

Nega Wisp Armor (Phase 2); 

Speak With Your Heart.

Sonic Generations (2011) - Highlights: 

Crisis City (Modern); 

Stardust Speedway Bad Future US; 

Mission (3D Blast Saturn Theme); 

City Escape (Classic).

Sonic 4: Episode 2 (2012) - Highlights: 

Metal Sonic Theme; 

Sylvania Castle Act 3; 

Sky Fortress Act 2.

Sonic Lost World (2013) - Highlights: 

Midnight Owl; 

Snowball Waltz; 

Dragon Dance; 

Juice Archipelago. (a.k.a. Delfino Plaza 2013)

Sonic Runners (2015) - Highlights: 

The entire game OST---I mean, 

Fly Away; 

Magical Snow Day (perfect timing, huh?); 

End of the Summer.

Sonic Mania (2017) - Highlights: 

Stardust Speedway Act 1; 

Egg Reverie; 

Mirage Saloon Act 2; 

Press Garden Act 2.

Sonic Forces (2017) - Highlights: 

Infinite; 

Moonlight Battlefield (Aqua Road); 

Red Gate Bridge; 

Network Terminal (Interior); 

Virtual Reality (Supporting Me Remix); 

Fading World (Imperial Tower).

Team Sonic Racing (2019) - Highlights: 

Ice Mountain; 

Green Light Ride (Tyler Smyth Remix); 

Bingo Party; 

Haunted Castle; 

Sky Road.

Honorable mentions:

Sonic Before the Sequel (2011/12) - Highlights: 

Hilltop Heights Act 1; 

Titanic Tower Act 2; 

Metro Madness Act 1; 

Butt Funk (Rocky Ride Act 2).

Sonic After the Sequel (2013) - Highlights: 

The Adventure Continues (Horizon Heights Act 1); 

Smokey Bear Says (Foliage Furnace Act 2); 

Stellar Lights (Technology Tree Act 2); 

Wolf Rayet (Technology Tree Boss); 

Ghosts With Guitars (Moon Mansion Act 2); 

Serious Influence (Redhot Ride Act 1); 

Neon Paradise (ATS Version) (Parhelion Peak Act 2); 

Red Moon (Storm Station Act 3); 

Mach Σ (Dream Dance Act 1).

[dotzines]

Artist spotlight: Monty Guiraud!

Carrd ✿ Ko-fi ✿ Commissions Patreon ✿ Twitter ✿ DeviantArt ✿ Tumblr

Header source: [X]  

Introduce yourself Greetings! The name's Monty, and I'm a freelance illustrator. I like cute things, art history, and loafing around with video games. Final Fantasy XIV is my current love, Pokemon is my forever love. When did you start drawing? Are you a digital or traditional artist? I'm a digital artist! Watching Spirited Away at age 10 got me inspired to start drawing, but I didn't start getting serious about it until around 20. At around 24 was when I decided I wanted to make it my career. Do you use any traditional mediums? If so, which are your favorites? I pretty much live my entire life in electronics right now, but I still enjoy using traditional mediums. A micron pen and a sketchbook are still fun to use together, and when I had more energy, I thoroughly enjoyed oils and acrylics both.

image source: [X]   Why do you prefer traditional over digital? (or viceversa)

Digital simply offers more convenience for me to post regularly. Even though I still love to indulge with traditional art to really get into the thick of it, being a digital artist is just what I prefer. What do you think is the most challenging part about being a traditional/digital artist? Something I found in traditional art that digital art is missing is a commitment to the process. When I was doing oil paintings, planning out your artistic process was paramount, because you can't just hit "undo" to perfectly rid all your mistakes that could've been avoided in the thumbnailing stage. As a result, it can be easier to get complacent about the art you make. It makes it harder for you to stop and smell the roses with regards to what you just created. What inspires your pieces? My inspiration comes from two camps. One is character-driven, based on character designing, original characters, roleplay, and D&D. The other of course, comes from my personal experiences with real life. Sometimes with things I do, issues I go through, and of course - nature. Nature is unavoidable.

image source: [X]   Explain your "everyday" drawing process My process for everyday pieces is pretty messy, but for pieces I work extra hard on, I take a cue from traditional painting and make thumbnails on index cards or paper. Composition is really important to me, so I want to make sure I get it right. Afterwards, I'll hop over to FireAlpaca to make an extremely messy sketch with fat lines just to get a general idea of where shapes will go. I'll adjust objects and subjects to my pleasing until I find my preferred composition. Then there's lining, followed by flat colors. My favorite stage of all (and the last) is rendering the lights and shadows. I typically do this with 2-4 tones of color on different layer modes, but if I REALLY want to fine tune it, I'll use several different colors on each area individually. Do you have an artist you admire (or more than one)?

Several of my loved ones, family members, and close friends are also artists, so I'm always admiring and curious about what they're doing. I don't have any particular idols, and honestly there's way too many artists whose work I adore for me to name. Is there an artwork you are most proud of? Why? None really come to mind. Even though there's some pieces I'm fairly happy with, someday I'm going to top those, too. We're always improving, and that's pretty cool.

Do you listen to music (or tv shows/films/anything else) when drawing? I very much like to listen to music depending on the subject matter of what I'm drawing. If it's a more serious or atmospheric piece, I'll listen to VGMs of various RPGs. If the piece is more cute or fun, catch me listening to Vocaloid. DECO *27 is my favorite Vocaloid composer.

image source: [X]   What makes art interesting for you? Colors are life. What do you do when art block strikes? I don't think I've ever had art block ever since I've kept a list of every single idea I've ever wanted to draw, but even if that fails: do art challenges, whether they be one-time or daily themed challenges. If -that- fails, draw memes. What’s the most valuable art advice you’ve ever received?

My art professor once said, "all artists are liars". While this quote can sound fairly offensive, it's a truth that we should use to our advantage. The things we draw aren't really there, and my fursona who is a fluffy genderless dragon that can lift up a truck with their bare hands isn't real either. Viewers know this, but what makes anyone attached to any piece of media is how someone depicts that completely non-existent dragon. One of my most important philosophies when it comes to making art is to be conscientious of how you share it, and I feel that quote from my professor really solidified it. If your viewers believe in what they're seeing, then that's a win for you as an artist.

[decembermoonskz]

i've been really bonkered by assignments but i think two of them went really well!!! i had three due this week so i'm super glad that the bulk of it is over but i havent even looked at the one due next week </3 so that will be my weekend plans (whether i stick to said plans... a problem for tmrw, methinks) but i am very excited to sit down after i submit this last one (for this round of assignments anyways) and read g&s hehe be it the teaser or the chapter - any and all that's available when i've the time to sit and read HAHA

and what about you!! how have you been? any fun life updates, new interests, recommendations of any kind??

hey that's great to hear! congrats! you've got this and remember to breathe and stay hydrated while you work~ i believe in you! aaaa and i hope you enjoy g&s i worked on the bulk of this part all this month and it's been worth it!! i'm proud of how it turned out. i hope you enjoy it!!

i'm good just taking one day at a time, trying to focus on my studying mainly and trying to squeeze in some time to write and play genshin (patch 2.6 is coming out in like 4-5 days and i'm so excited). hmm i managed to read two books this month, i finally got to start reading to all the boys i've loved before and just *sigh* i love jenny han books. i plan on reading the third one soon but i wanted to take a break before finishing the whole series so quickly lol

hmmm any recommendations..... oh! i've been listening to more vgm and persona 5 added more music to listen to form their other two games (royal, strikers), this song is finally available for me to listen to and i'm so happy it's so peaceful but it has a very "contained twistedness" to it that makes it a perfect song for a villain

[biondinoya]

Behind MAPLE DANCE

HARP

Harp is one instrument that sounds magical, it represents fantasy to me personally. I grew up listening to a lot of video game music, especially during the ’90s to 2000s. If there are things that stuck in my head about the music, they are the Synth sound (old MIDI sound) and the Harp. Harp can be found in many classic RPGs during that era, and Final Fantasy’s Prelude by Nobuo Uematsu is a very popular piece that is played on Harp. It’s also one of the pieces that made me fell in love with clean guitar sound now if that makes sense.

Now as a fantasy-minded musician, I think it’s natural for me to incorporate Harp in my music. I had MIDI-Harp sound that I played with my guitar using Roland GR-30 in almost all of my solo recordings. From Virgo’s Night (2019) and Ziist (2020), you can find Harp sounds all over the place.

I met with Gwendoline Pannetier (Harp) and her sister Laetitia Pannetier (amazing Violinist) in December 2018. At the time they are recording classical pieces. In our conversation, I bring up the topic that I love video game music. Little that I know that Gwen turns out to be a gamer and she listens to VGM as well. After their recording is finished, Gwen took me into the harp room, and then she plays the early part of FF Prelude. Now we’re talking! She was also a fantasy & sci-fi lover. We talked about music and movies and I find that we mostly have a common interest in those stuff.

At first, we played cover songs of VGM for Instagram, until I initiated the idea of doing original songs. Because why not? The duet feels like natural to me, easily my top fav duet so far.

DUO FORMAT

It’s interesting because such instrument combination is uncommon and usually the repertoires are mostly classical music. Which is of course using Nylon/Classical Guitar as opposed to Electric one. Doing something a little bit different always feeds my soul and makes me happy, so I’m convinced to go with this harp and electric guitar format. At the same time, I wanted to keep my ‘band identity’ in this duo so I prefer to use Electric Guitar, while Gwen is using her Acoustic Concert/Pedal Harp.

CONCEPT & IDEAS

I am a believer in short songs, so I composed most of my music in less than 4 minutes “if possible”. I think it’s another influence I got from VGM, they had short themes for many things. It’s also what I do for this duo. As for the ideas, they came from my homebrew fantasy RPG world. Maple Dance is a festival that is held regularly in The Great Elven Town, it’s a celebration of love and happiness. Moonshower is a forest area near that town, it’s a place where elves and several other races who broke their tradition live, so it has to be mysterious in some ways. Bard’s Whisper is a reprise of my song from Virgo’s Night EP (2019) in duo format. That blue dragon in the artwork is my character named Argo, the Draconic Paladin. And the High Elf druid with the harp is Gwen’s character named Diana.

All in all, enjoy Maple Dance! It’s available now on all digital/streaming platforms!

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 17/11/2023

Beyond the Floating Isles

Season 4 Episode 2 Featured on: Summer​-​Colored Smiles ~ The SiIvaSummer All​-​Star Festival Collection

Ripped by redoxwarfare

Due to the absolute volume of rips per each album, a lot of my time listening to SiIvaGunner is done so rather passively. I'll chuckle with a joke I recognize, add tracks to "Banger" and "Vibes" playlists if I'm enjoying them, and continue with my day. Its only when I decide to just listen to those playlists in particular that my brain starts getting into gear again. Like...what *is* Beyond the Floating Isles even from? I knew it was an absolute vibe of a rip, yet knew nothing else about it. That was when my journey started - and my sudden, adoring infatuation with the band "Crying".

I only just recently turned 22 years old, and for a long part of that life, I didn't really...listen to music. I enjoyed looking up my favorite video game music, and Minecraft music videos were of course part of the collective childhood of my generation...yet the act of just listening to music for music's sake, the appeal of the creative medium, was somehow lost on me. There's likely something deep-rooted in my neurodivergent mind that explains this, but SiIvaGunner has as a result been a way for me to find bands and albums that I truly connect with - through the shared passion of video game music, I've been able to grow that emotional attachment to bands that I otherwise wholly felt like I lacked. The most prominent example of that is of course Maroon 5 thanks to channel creator Chaze the Chat's enduring passion for the band in the channel's first four Seasons: I've discussed in posts like Moves Like K.K. just how much that passion reflected back onto me, and its far from the only band I've gone through this with. It may sound silly to say, but these video game mashups and arrangements and meme edits have genuinely helped me grow attached to vocals and melodies and themes from the wider music industry that I never would've otherwise.

Which brings us to my most recent experience with this - Beyond the Floating Isles, and Patriot by Crying. After making more of an initiative for myself to listen to more non-VGM this year, and after having this rip sit in my playlists for years on end, I decided it was finally time to do my due digging. What I found was a band I'd never heard of before, with only one true album release, and a lack of any real activity over the last six years. Beyond the Fleeting Gales sits at just shy of 150 thousand views on YouTube - less than SEVERAL of the rips I've covered here on this blog, yet is one of my new all-time favorite albums yet released. Patriot may be the song covered in today's rip and the one I'm the most emotionally attached to, but the album in its entirety exudes a similar vibe that I'm absolutely enamored with - a vibe that redoxwarfare did an incredible job distilling into a rip. Float Islands was an excellent choice for a song to use for such an atmospheric, uplifting song as Patriot - the two themes have little in common in terms of joke-material, but its clear to me that Beyond the Floating Isles was not made with comedy as its main intent.

I have no connection to redoxwarfare - never spoken, not sure of which rips they've made prior, and no true image of their interests and goals as a ripper. Yet Beyond the Floating Isles speaks with so much intent and love - love for a band that feels destined to be forgotten, yet is adored by the few in the masses who have found them. And I extend my deepest, sincerest gratitude toward redoxwarfare for succesfully introducing me to Crying - even if its three years after the fact, I now finally see the Fleeting Gales, and beyond.

(no but seriously go listen to Crying i will break traditional post formatting just to give you easy access to it theyre SO GOOD)

[vulpiano]

Brevyn - Short Circuits (VULP-0170)

Vulpiano Records is proud to present electronic artist Brevyn's first full-length album of all-new material. Complete with a fantastical story about a gardening robot's journey, the release marks a VGM-centric direction for the artist. Every track is a delight, highly-evocative of the natural world despite (or because) of the immersion in chiptune sound. You can also find descriptions for the atmosphere of the tracks in their lyrics tabs on Bandcamp. My favorite track here is "Birds", complete with synthy tweets. Overall, an outstanding achievement in Brevyn's discography.

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution, the music is also available for use in video game projects of your own.

Words from the artist:

If you’re downloading, I suggest WAV or another lossless file.

'A gardening robot awakens among hills, rivers and mountains, not remembering an inkling of its functions and original purpose. Something draws it to follow some unusually fussy glowflies and amphibians to the rocky mass of the Chrome Citadel, where it will rediscover just what it forgot..!'

I finally got the Magical 8Bit Plug in 2018: Short Circuits is the result. I was curious about 8-bit music for many years before, being a video game person long before a musician, so this was a great way to merge my interests.

It was fun to explore chiptune hence a more melodic sound. Like most of my more uptempo projects, most songs follow a pseudo-synthpop style. I mix the 8-bit voices with effects and external sounds too, sometimes with bitcrushing. Even a piano here and there, including one ("Mountain View") that I think Celeste fans will enjoy.

Two years on, I notice some songs are too simple to loop more than once or twice in-game as I planned. Some work more as ‘beats’, so I include a handful as bonus-only and trimmed some filler. Still, I kept the songs short themselves, so they should hold up otherwise. To spice things up I created a few new songs (1, 20, 25, 26, 27) and remixed 14 and 16 from previous releases, so it isn’t a 100% archive release in the end. When it came to "Toppling Floors" I liked it but didn’t fix some iffy clicking on it before it got stuck on a freezy drive (like the other original files for the album, hence tons of other WIP material; part of why my flow with new music went out-of-whack this past year).

I want to tackle more VGM vibes in the future. To hear more of this in my music, check out my first album Turquoise Trilogy (where "West Forest Field" and "Entering The Citadel" originate):

brev.bandcamp.com/album/turquoise-trilogy

Download or stream on Bandcamp:

https://vulpianorecords.bandcamp.com/album/short-circuits

Also available on:

Internet Archive | Mediafire

—Tracklisting—

1. Happy Trails! - Intro 00:56 2. Off Into the World 01:27 3. Dodge 00:54 4. Temple 01:55 5. Cleanup 01:55 6. Pachyderm Road 01:14 7. Mountain View 02:16 8. Batteries (Recharge) 01:13 9. Temple II 02:11 10. Elemental Duel 01:35 11. Frozen Lake 02:28 12. Birds 01:22 13. Up a Tree 02:13 14. West Forest (Bit Version) 01:33 15. Climbing the Citadel 01:03 16. Entering the Citadel 02:41 17. Retreat 01:21 18. River 01:38 19. Riverboat 01:45 20. The Tower 01:16 21. Into the Mist 01:01 22. Raindrop 01:22 23. (Re)Discovery 02:01 24. (Re)Discovery II 01:47 25. Finale 02:14 26. Recharge 00:47 27. Regrowth 00:54

Brevyn: Bandcamp | Rate Your Music | Soundcloud | Tumblr | Twitter | Wordpress

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution

Cover art collage by Marilyn Roxie

Assets used in cover art:

Aamatniekss - Free Pixelart Platformer Tileset: aamatniekss.itch.io/free-pixelart-platformer-tileset

Crugger - 2d platformer resources c11: crug63r.itch.io/c11

GrafxKid - Gum Bot sprites: opengameart.org/content/gum-bot-sprites

MamaNeZakon - Forest Tileset: mamanezakon.itch.io/forest-tileset

Jaks - Pixel Nature: jaks.itch.io/pixelnature

La Red Games - Gems Coins Free: laredgames.itch.io/gems-coins-free

[vgm-in-irregular-time-of-the-day]

DAY 1845) Final Fantasy X - Decisive Battle

Composer: Masashi Hamauzu

One of my favorite pieces of music by Masashi Hamauzu! Who is one of my favorite vgm composers!

This is very ambiguous at a lot of parts. I used the official Final Fantasy X Piano Collections sheet music to count a lot of this out, but that actually cuts out a lot of sections, or outright changes the meter in them. So for everything not the same in there I had to parse it on my own, and there’s definitely room for other barline interpretations because of what this style is like!

Very mixed meter but uses very few actual “odd time signatures” (or by some interpretations, none), just constant shifting ambiguous flipping between various x/4 containers (though i guess if you treated it as half tempo it’d all be x/8, bars combined to make ‘actual odd timesigs’ sometimes). Results in a very fun, hard to follow sound that I adore!

(0:00 - 0:24) all 4/4

(0:24 - 0:28) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4

(0:28 - 0:34) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4

(0:34 - 0:48) [4/4, 6/4, 5/4, 3/4, 3/4, 3/4]x2

(0:48 - 1:07) [4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4]x2

(1:07 - 1:13) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4

(1:13 - 1:19) 6/4, 4/4, 6/4, 6/4

(1:19 - 1:38) [4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4]x2

(1:38 - 1:46) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4, 6/4

(1:46 - 1:52) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4

(1:52 - 1:58) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4

(1:58 - 2:04) 6/4, 4/4, 4/4, 6/4

(2:04 - 2:10) 4/4, 4/4, 2/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4

(2:10 - 2:14) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4

(2:14 - 2:21) 6/4, 4/4, 6/4, 6/4

(2:21 - 2:40) [4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4]x2

(2:40 - 3:20) all 4/4

[loop from :13]

don’t be mislead by the “all 4/4″ bit at 2:40 though; lots of weird accent timings and odd phrasing there.

Probably the part I have the hardest time solidifying an interpretation for is :34-:48, the hits don’t really line up with what the rest of the music’s doing by my perception. In this case, I based it off the slower strings mostly; if I were to base it off the percussion hits it’d be....honestly just all 3/4. and other transcriptions i’ve found write it out that way but TOO LATE i wrote it out this way ! Even feeling it as all 3/4 it’s still pretty strangely grouped

Most of the rest of this, while ambiguous and open for interpretation, still has a single consistent general feel and it’s more just like semantic stuff like “do you want to call this 6/4 or 4/4+2/4″.

ANYWAYS crazy piece of music, no matter how you write it out. I used to feel this all at half the tempo, ~105bpm where what i’m interpreting as constant 8ths now were 16ths. By that perception, it changes timesig like every bar. The main feel at like :28/:48/1:19/etc becomes 4/4 + 3/4 + 4/4 + 5/4, stuff like that all around

[retro-vgm-revival-hour]

A game that originally began development as a sequel to the original Street Fighter, the first Final Fight game had to switch its genre from the original fighting game idea to a beat ’em up and eventually change its Street Fighter 2 moniker following the success of Double Dragon, more importantly Double Dragon II: The Revenge

With various ports of the first installment in almost every video game platform out there, its sequels and its characters making appearances in other Capcom titles, It’s plain to see why the Final Fight series is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to talking about memorable games in Capcom’s legacy.

Although no new final fight games seem to be in the near future, and the series will be celebrating it’s 30th anniversary next year, what better way to celebrate one of my favorite beat ‘em up by sharing the Latest Retro VGM Revival Hour Episode focusing entirely on the amazing music of the final fight series.

so gather your squad and be ready to take on various baddies that stand in your way, because on this day WE TAKE THE FIGHT TO THEM! ______________________________________________________________________ 1.) Final Fight – Manami Matsumae, Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, Yasuaki Fujita, Hiromitsu Takaoka, Yoko Shimomura, Junko Tamiya & Harumi Fujita – “Boil ’em up (Industrial Area/2nd part)” – December 1989 – Capcom – Arcade

2.) Final Fight – Jolyon Vincent Myers – “Lost In Time (Opening Theme)” – 1991 – Creative Materials / U.S. Gold – Commodore Amiga

3.) Mighty Final Fight – Setsuo Yamamoto & Yuko Takehara – “Slum (Round 1), Riverside (Round 2), Old Town (Round 3), Factory (Round 4) & Mad Belger (Final Boss)“ – June 11, 1993 – Capcom – NES, GBA & Wii/Wii U/3DS virtual console

4.) Final Fight CD – T’s Music (Arranged from original compositions by Manami Matsumae, Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, Yasuaki Fujita, Hiromitsu Takaoka, Yoko Shimomura, Junko Tamiya & Harumi Fujita) – “Boil ’em Up (Industrial Area/2nd part), Burnin’ Cycle (Bay Area/3rd part/UpTown/4th part), Toilet Gang (Bay Area/2nd part), Unused Track 3, Double Andore (West Side/2nd & 3rd parts), Slim Subway Smash (Subway/1st part/Up Town/3rd part), Something Putrid by the Bay (Bay Area /1st part) & Street of Luxury (Industrial Area: 1st part/ Up Town: 2nd part) ” – April 2, 1993 – Capcom – Sega CD

5.) Final Fight: Double Impact – Simon Viklund – “Boil ’em up, Double Andore, Mad Gear Gang, Slim Subway Smash, Something Putrid by the Bay & Street of Luxury” – Apr 14, 2010- XBLA & PSN

6.) Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 – Satoshi Ise – “Needle (Final Fight Stage)”- August 13, 2000 – Capcom – Sony Playstation, Sega Dreamcast & Arcades

7.) Final Fight 2 – Yasuaki Fujita (Bun Bun), Mari Yamaguchi, Yuki Satomura, Setsuo Yamamoto, Yuko Kadota & Tatsuya Nishimura- “Fret Street Beat (France), Sleep Junk Down (Italy: 1st part) & Carve a Dragon Wood (Hong Kong/1st & 3rd part/Japan/final boss)” – May 22, 1993 – Capcom – SNES, Wii Virtual console & Wii U

8.) Final Fight 3 – Katsunari Kitajima – “Wrath of the Skull Cross (Intro/2nd part) , Smeared Grafitti (Scrap Yard/1st part), Straight to the Top (Skull Cross H.Q./Elevator fight) & For Metro City (Police Station /1st part)” – December 22, 1995 – Capcom – SNES, Wii Virtual console & Wii U

9.) Final Fight Revenge – Jim Wallace – “Andore Stage, Damnd (Thrasher) Stage, Poison/ Edi .E Stage & Rolento Stage“ – March 30, 2000 – Capcom – Arcades & Sega Saturn (Japan Only)

10.) Final Fight: Streetwise – Unkown – “Boil ’em Up Remix, Double Andore Remix, Slum Allyway Remix & Street of Luxury Remix” – February 28, 2006 – Capcom Production Studios 8 & Secret Level/Capcom – PS2 & Microsoft Xbox

11.) Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds – Hideyuki Fukasawa – “Haggar Theme“ – February 15, 2011 – Capcom & Eighting/Capcom – PS3 & Xbox 360

12.) Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite – Eishi Segawa – “Haggar Theme” – September 19, 2017 – Capcom – Windows PC, Xbox One & PS4

13.) Street Fighter Alpha 3 – Takayuki Iwai, Yuki Iwai, Isao Abe, Hideki Okugawa & Tetsuya Shibata – “Gimmick (Rolento Theme), No More Swingin’ (Guy Theme) & Stripes (Cody Theme)“ – June 29, 1998 – Capcom – Arcade, Sega Dreamcast, GBA, Sony PlayStation, PocketStation, PS2, PSP, Sega Saturn (Japan only), PS4, Steam, Xbox One & Nintendo Switch

14.) Street Fighter X Tekken – Hideyuki Fukasawa – “Mad Gear Hideout/Abigail Dancing (Round 1), Mad Gear Hideout/Sodom Dancing (Round 2) & Mad Gear Hideout (Round 3)“ – March 6, 2012 – Dimps & Capcom/Capcom – PS3, Xbox 360, Windows PC, PS Vita & IOS

15.) Super Street Fighter IV/Ultra Street Fighter IV – Hideyuki Fukasawa – “Theme of Cody, Theme of Hugo & Theme of Rolento“ – July 18, 2008 – Dimps & Capcom/Capcom – Arcade, PS3, Xbox 360, Windows PC & IOS

16.) Street Fighter V/Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition – Masahiro Aoki, Hideyuki Fukasawa, Keiki Kobayashi, Takatsugu Wakabayashi & Zac Zinger – “Metro City Bay Area theme & Theme of Cody“ – February 16, 2016 – Dimps & Capcom/Capcom – Windows PC, PS4 & Arcades _______________________________________________________________________

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[vgm-in-irregular-time-of-the-day]

DAY 1823) Phantasy Star Online 2 - The Fighter ~ Phaleg

Composer: Hidekuni Horita

(0:00 - 0:31) 16 bars of 7/4

(0:31 - 0:39) [7/4, 4/4,.4/4]x2

(0:39 - 0:48) 8 bars of 4/4

(0:48 - 0:56) 4 bars of 7/4

(0:56 - 1:04) [7/4, 4/4,.4/4]x2

(1:04 - 1:14) 8 bars of 4/4

(1:14 - 1:22) 3 bars of 7/4, 2 bars of 4/4

(1:22 - 1:38) 8 bars of 7/4

(1:38 - 2:07) [6/4, 7/4]x6, 4 bars of 6/4

(2:07 - 2:14) 4 bars of 7/4

[loop]

there’s other ways you could break this down, version of interpretation at half this tempo, splitting/combining bars in different places, etc etc as always, but this is how I feel it makes most sense to write! early happy month/day 7/4 time day!???

The first 16 bars despite looking on paper like it’d be simple group of 4 four bar phrases, is actually really bizarre/ambiguous phrasing-wise. every time I listen to that portion I hear the bars grouped in different amounts. It’s possible to hear “4 groups of 4 7/4 bars” but the jumpiness of that part is insane and most likely I’ll feel it more in weird odd groups of 3 bars, 7 bars, etc

Finally listened through EVERY volume of pso2 (definitely my new favorite game ost). One reaction from me coming out of that is that Hidekuni Horita is absolutely one of my favorite VGM composers now! He contributed absolutely the proggiest stuff to that game; really hope he continues to do so with whatever he does next!! Kobayashi and Tokoi and Fukuyama are all amazing too of course, absolutely wonderful sound team and one of my favorite sets of composers all working together ever!

[vgm-in-irregular-time-of-the-day]

DAY 1318) Charge Cycles - Welcome To Ulka!

Composer: me (Chimeratio)

The final track I have left to post from this game that I did the music to! (https://chz.itch.io/charge-cycles).

So this is what I’m picking for “Valentine’s Day” this time...because Charge Cycles was technically made for a monthlong gamejam themed around “horny games” (hosted around Valentine’s Day), even though this game was 100% SFW, submitted to that jam in a slight joke-ish sense, as it only vaguely has slight suggestive implications and barely fit that theme. Really it’s just a cute silly puzzle game about charging robots, just, “charging robots” has other potential innuendo behind it...

Man I was dreading have to take the effort to make the post for this one most of all out of all the Charge Cycles tracks, even though it’s the shortest, mostly because it’s so ambiguous and polyrhythmic, and sounds nothing like the time signatures it “actually is”

It was written at 124 bpm with no tempo changes but with A LOT of polyrhythms or odd tuplets that stretch/squash weird amounts of beats into the length of a single bar or beat or whatever given space.

As I’ve said before, when I write music, in my personal workflow I write without writing in real timesig changes in. I just keep the software in default 4/4 and just ignore barlines when I want odd time to happen. So I had to take the time and effort to figure out how to interpret this almost as much as I would any other piece that I didn’t write myself.

Something like this is going to be VERY subjective, but the way I usually personally interpret and feel this is:

(0:00 - 0:15) 8 bars of 4/4

(0:15 - 0:30) [4/4 + 9/8]x3, 4/4 + 5/8

(0:30 - 0:36) 5/4, 7/32, 15/32*, 13/16

(0:36 - 0:49) 11/16, 9/8, 15/16, 17/16, 13/16, 6/8, 9/16, 6/8

(0:49 - 0:52) 13/16, 7/8

[loop]

Now, like I said, this looks ridiculous, and mostly unfitting with what it actually sounds like...and that was kind of the point! Originally this was supposed to have an alt version with “actual drums” like the in-game songs, but we didn’t go with that since we decided just a more ambient/calm tune would better suit the way the game’s menu turned out (this is the menu music).

The version with drums would’ve brought out all of the jarring barline placements rhythmically, and made this sound entirely different from the ambiguous/smooth style this has a lot of. It’s not clear how strange the timing of everything is without a drums layer like that, so it certainly would’ve been an interesting contrast to alternate between.

LOTS of polyrhythms/tuplets and other ambiguity explanations to talk about here:

Now, first off, with no drums, instead you hear the layer where 7 evenly spaced beats are stretched out to the length of a 4/4 bar (a septuplet), throughout most of the first 15 seconds. Only the 4th bar (with that high pitched glitchy sound doing constant 16ths) and the 8th bar (with the sound from before changing up its rhythm, as well as a new added sound) do anything to hint at this “actually” being in 4/4 at 124, rather than 7/8 at ~108ish like it initially sounds.

The rhythm in the 8th bar in that first section is a tuplet where 6 notes are squashed to the length of the first 2 beats of that 4/4 bar (so a sextuplet) and the last two beats of that bar are 7 notes squashed to fit in the space of beats 3-4 (so a septuplet).

Immediately at the start of the section at :15, there’s a quintuplet taking up that first beat, this happens a number of times. It’s different at :19/:29 though, a septuplet instead, 7 hits stretched to the length of 2 beats.

At the same time, the driving pulse every quarter note has two layers that get slightly offset. It’s actually an 9 against 8 polyrhythm, where the “9″ layer is the part doing quarter note hits. It’s easier to just think of it as “the ‘four-on-the-floor’ metallic click...gets desynced from itself” or...something, maybe.

:30 - :36 is where it’s ridiculous to interpret any meter unless there’s actual drums or something, but it is how I “wrote” it, where I felt barline subdivisions, and the divisions the drums were meant to employ there if they had been included. Obviously that’s a very free/glitchy feeling section so it might seem silly to define strict meter there, but it’s intended to be felt that way, since this was written with having a version with drums in mind.

The 7/32 bar is legit intended to be 7 32nd note beats, just a very subtle cut off 32nd note at the end of that moment.

*The 15/32 bar is not ‘really’ 15/32 though, really better interpreted as a tempo change for that single bar (in which it’d be just a 3/4 bar). That 3/4 bar is squished into that 15/32 space. It’s written this way only to be consistent with not writing in any tempo changes and interpreting any non-124bpm stuff as polyrhythms/tuplets (since that’s how I see most/all of it), but yeah.

The melodic section at :36 is much simpler to explain, really just put the barlines at the chord changes. The 15/16+17/16 might seem silly to not consider just 2 bars of anticipation rhythm 4/4, but it’s in the middle of constant mixed meter and definitely is intended to feel like starkly separate bars with the downbeat on the chord change, certainly would’ve been clearly that had there been drums.

The last two bars are really just empty space with almost nothing to latch on to, but it lines up with that amount of time. It’s debatable where you put the division between the two bars if you even write it like that at all. Originally, when writing a theoretical drum part, I actually had the downbeat be 2 16th notes earlier (last note of the melody is the downbeat of the next bar) and the drums just go like 4/4 + 13/16 after that. Without that context though I think 13/16 + 7/8 makes way more sense.

LASTLY, there’s a lead-in septuplet just like at the start just before the loop point at :52.

Hopefully I didn’t forget anything, haha. This is a ridiculously hard tune to break down imo and I can only really do it as easily as I can (it was still very hard to do) in this case because I made it, knew my intents, and can just look at the project file.

Hopefully this made enough sense to understand!

Even though I’ve finished with posting the Charge Cycles music finally, there’s still plenty more odd time VGM by me that exists (some already released, some not yet out) that I’ll eventually post here. Hopefully no one minds me occasionally posting my own music as I have been.

Uh happy Valentine’s Day!

[vgm-in-irregular-time-of-the-day]

DAY 1189) Super Mario Star Road 2 - Autumn Airway

Composer: SKELUX

This is to a Mario hack that to my knowledge never got finished unfortunately, but this song for it was uploaded to youtube back in 2012.

This is 5/4 all the way through, a pretty steady/simple and easy to follow example of 5/4. Also I guess fitting for 10/8 time day today!

Also this part of the description is extremely funny if you follow this blog and know how much 5/4 vgm there is lol: “I have used 5/4 timing, which I've only ever heard in one other video game tune ("don't be afraid" from Final Fantasy VIII).“