[D] First Round #13 (London vs. Zyp Zyp)

Listen to both songs and select the one you prefer.

Download Links:

Rama - London
Tetrisphere - Zyp Zyp

Streaming:

London: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:
Zyp Zyp: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:

Rama - London
I read the Rama books many years ago, and was kind of keen to play the game (but it never came out for Macs). I'm surprised and pleased someone did a game rip; this is some pretty good ambient stuff.

Tetrisphere - Zyp Zyp
Tetrisphere's never done a whole lot for me, and I've heard a fair number of the song thru various contests and SotW.

London.

"London" is an example of ambience done well. Extremely well, in fact. Gorgeous little harmonic decorations are used to great effect with the ambient pads. A very simple track, but it conveys so many unspoken dreams and stuff through the soundscapes; I'm a fan, and as such will be looking into this "Rama" game rip.

"Zyp Zyp" is also pretty good for its genre (ambient techno, perhaps). I imagine this one will be repetitive and annoying to some, but I personally dig all the beats and electronic rhythms present. Very solid, but the other track's too beautiful to ignore.

"London" - 9/10
"Zyp Zyp" - 8/10

Edit: I just realised something, that "Myrmicat Area" track is also from this Rama game, isn't it? Consider my opinion of it englightened after listening to London.

Funny fact: There exists a margarine in Germany called Rama. Every time I read "Rama" I have to think to it. Ah, and by the way, it gets my vote.

Wow, the surprises are coming out at full force now. Zyp Zyp is purely trance-inducing and totally sweet. Just like Outlaw's Lullaby which I just listened to, this is another contender for best song in the contest.

London isn't going to win any awards for it's composition and brass usage, but it's ambience is excellent and also trance-incuding, especially at the change halfway through. It doesn't have the raw power needed to take out Zyp Zyp, though.

EDIT: NO

For years I've been wanting to get a Tetrisphere track into the contest. Predictably, it's going dismally, though I'm not surprised. People don't like the N64 sound capabilities. They definitely don't like trance/techno. And they don't know the handiwork of Neil Voss. Besides going up against JPop, there was little chance of doing something.

Nevertheless, I'm sticking with my guns. Maybe "Learn" would have done better (it's slightly more ethereal), but this is my favorite track from the game. Moody to a fault, beats shooting out like an electric laser light show, and it breaks down gloriously at the end without the backbeat. I love the thing like a relative.

: Tetrisphere - Zyp Zyp
: Rama - London

I've been pretty impressed by the tracks from Rama, and how they do so much with so little. Really nothing fantastic about either one but the ambience is solid.

Zyp Zyp though is from a legendary soundtrack by a legendary composer and gets a vastly easy vote. Holy shit 1:11

Yay Rama! <3 Although I actually like Zyp Zyp a lot -- it's too bad it went up against one of my all-time favorite tracks. I'd have voted for it otherwise. Maybe I'll renominate it next year. :B

(For the curious, the game versions -- choice of PC or PSX -- of Rama's music can be acquired here, or a partial selection of the incomplete original-quality here -- Alistair hasn't finished with it yet, so that's all I have.)