Pairing II (D) (Round 4)

Listen to the tracks and make your selection.

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211 Sim City 4 — By The Bay (G)
204 Sakura Relaxation — Afterimage (D)

Wow...kinda surprised to see both of these made it this far. Afterimage still strikes me as a sorta-kinda piece, while By the Bay, although a poor substitute for Sim Broadway, pleases in a typically smooth SimStyle.

I really liked "By The Bay" at the start of the competition, but I must say I've grown tired of it. And the thing is...I don't have a valid excuse for feeling this way towards it. I guess when it's put up against a track that I love, it sounds inferior. Vote for "Afterimage".

211 Sim City 4 — By The Bay (G)
204 Sakura Relaxation — Afterimage (D)

By The Bay has eliminated quite a lot of good tracks, so it might be a potential winner of this contest, who knows... Afterimage was nice while it lasted, but it's become tremendously annoying in my opinion. Gonna vote for By The Bay.

"Afterimage" is OK, but something freaks me out about Seiken Densetsu musicality meets typical hentai jazz. I find it a little disturbing that Mr. Harmonically Idiosyncratic degrades himself to using such . And that judgement is totally unrelated the pornographic material of hentais.

"By the Bay"... Bad start. Most music built from any ostinato turns me off. Add the old techniques of thickening the percussion component, introducing a serene slow-paced oboe melody, and eventually rocking things up with a drum kit rhythm and I can't help but think Jerry Martin is inspired by Naoshi Mizuta. I hate this music very much. If this is a predicted winner, I'm shocked.

Originally Posted by Mr. Maul

I hate this music very much. If this is a predicted winner, I'm shocked.

Seconded. If this can knock out the superior "After the Drop" (last round), which knocked out the even more superior "EVAC Industry", something's wrong.

4.5/10 By The Bay
The beginning starts out a tiny bit too slow, but the song is good nevertheless.
It still needs to develop a bit faster.

3/10 Afterimage
At this point of the contest, I can truly say this song is boring compared to others.

Both are wonderful songs.

I'd say Afterimage is more immediately likable and accessible to most people. It's got a nice groove to it, and it's incredibly pleasing to my ears right now, since it's late, and I'm tired.

By the Bay takes awhile to develop and is kind of...I don't know, different. It may put off some people. I find it more complex and rewarding in the long run, though.

My vote: By the Bay

Evil pairing. I really like both songs for slightly different reasons. "By the Bay" has a great atmosphere and a gradual but satisfying progression. "Afterimage" has some very classic Kikuta elements that I really adore but the song admittedly has a few more weaknesses than its competitor. Really sad to see either song go, though.

I like By The Bay. And Besides

Originally Posted by Mr. Maul

"Afterimage" is OK, but something freaks me out about Seiken Densetsu musicality meets typical hentai jazz. I find it a little disturbing that Mr. Harmonically Idiosyncratic degrades himself to using such . And that judgement is totally unrelated the pornographic material of hentais.

It's not unrelated to me. It's a Secret Of Mana meldoy with a porn backbeat. Kikuta's done better, as we all know with Fire Wire.

Hmmm . . . it's a tough choice. Afterimage is an OK track, but By the Bay also took down After the Drop (people just can't get behind a boy soprano for some odd reason.) But out of these two?


By the Bay, if only for when the sax starts up the duet.