Preliminary Match #12

Listen to all five songs and select the one you like best.

Emil Chronicle Online - break through the parallel
Mickey's Speedway USA - San Francisco
Shivers - Main Entry Hall
Worms Armageddon - Stats
Colorful Kiss - Sakuranbo Kiss ~Bakuhatsu Da Mo-n~

break through the parallel: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:
San Francisco: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:
Main Entry Hall: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:
Stats: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:
Sakuranbo Kiss ~Bakuhatsu Da Mo-n~: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:

Emil Chronicle Online - break through the parallel
A nicely bouncy, slightly jazzy piece. A little repetitive, but charming.

Mickey's Speedway USA - San Francisco
I guess everyone's getting into NASCAR these days... The track captures the laid-back vibe of SanFran adequately, I suppose, but it's kind of dull and has a very flat sound.

Shivers - Main Entry Hall
Much as I wanted to like this one, it's minimalistic to the point of near-nonexistence, nothing but a drone with a few endlessly repeated notes. Just enough to keep the area from being silent, I suppose.

Worms Armageddon - Stats
I suppose a militaristic track does fit Worms like a glove. The distant string melody that pops up here and there is nice, but it's literally shoved to the background by an endless series of beats. And the chipmunk voices, and SFX? They drop the bottom right out of the song. More melody + less SFX + better-mixed beats, plz.

Colorful Kiss - Sakuranbo Kiss ~Bakuhatsu Da Mo-n~
More chipmunk voices, but they're at least singing rather than speaking most of the time. Kind of cute, but also kind of annoying. Suki suki suki.

1: Emil Online Chronicle
2: Colorful Kiss
3: Mickey's Speedway USA
4: Worms Armageddon
5: Main Entry Hall

They're all pretty solid (except Shivers), but I think I like San Francisco best. I have a kind of nostalgic attachment to ave;new I've Sound tracks, and Sakuranbo Kiss is really solid stuff, but I really love the leads in SF. I need to find this soundtrack...

The Worms voices used in "Stats" made me laugh a little, and god help me, I like the J-pop of "Sakuranbo Kiss." Emil Chronicle is the only one here that I'd actually qualify as actually being a good song though.

"break through the parallel" is repetitive. The melody is nice, but it does get old quickly..

As for "San Francisco," it had some interesting beats, but it really didn't capture my attention all that much.

"Main Entry Hall," despite being very minimalistic was kinda soothing in a way. I probably won't vote for it because it will get trashed if it was in the contest.

"Stats" is different. I'm all for strange things in music, but I really didn't like this at all.

"Sakuranbo Kiss ~Bakuhatsu Da Mo-n~" is really strange. Chipmunks galore! The music is really nice though. Very strange, but I kinda like it.

Break through the Parallel was addicting and quite frantic. The slowdown halfway through was welcome. Didn't like the end.

Nothing noteworthy in San Francisco

Glad to hear something different than what has been in the contest so far with Main Entry Hall. Not bad, not great. Probably works great in-game.

Stats just kept going and going. And Bakahatsu I could see getting annoying quickly, but will get my vote for now until next round when it will likely get punished. It kept me listening intently throughout at least.

I'm officially in love with the two Emil Chronicle Online soundtracks; they're fun, skillful and just plain awesome, I urge you to check them out. "break through the parallel" is my favourite from the second soundtrack release, and may be my favourite across both soundtracks. The (awesome) melody in the first 2-minutes is somewhat repetitive, I agree, but I think just enough layers and intricacies are added to keep me hooked. Replete with the slow interlude and the amusing rap-violin finish, methinks this one is an absolute winner.

"San Fransisco" is a fine attempt at quasi-melodic urban racing music. Some decent progressions and quirky brass lines keep me interested, but overall I'm not too fussed over this one.

I admire "Main Entry Hall" for being so appealing in such a short time frame, something many tracks in this contest have failed to do. It's quiet, creepy, and secretly thrilling. I know most people probably think this is ambient crap, but I was actually hooked.

"Stats" sounds eerily familiar~ Coming into this grouping, I was sure I'd dislike this piece, given the length in particular and the whole Worms-militaristic music thing. But damn was I pleasantly surprised. It's basically just an exceptionally composed tune, with militaristic and electronic elements blending together really well to form a particular cohesive and consistently entertaining piece of music. Some choral adornments are used to nice effect, as is the Worms motif and the Scottish and Worm voices. Definitely keeping this one~

I haven't had the pleasure of listening to the Colorful Sound Collection, even though it's been sitting on my computer for ages. "Sakuranbo Kiss ~Bakuhatsu Da Mo-n~" is a magnificently entertaining piece of music that rises far above the crowd of generic h-game vocal tracks. I'm much more accustomed to the kawaii style of Japanese vocals than the next person, so I actually think they sound pretty good, especially in correlation with the composition. I love the chorus and the whole enthusiastic atmosphere; I'm gonna have this one in my head for days!

"break through the parallel" - 10/10 OMG
"San Fransisco" - 6/10
"Main Entry Hall" - 8/10
"Stats" - 9/10
"Sakuranbo Kiss ~Bakuhatsu Da Mo-n~" - 8.5/10

Strongest grouping, liek, ever.

Break through the parallel is nice and different, it seems well put together but it doesn't strike me as amazing, it might need some time to warm; San Francisco has a great groove but it's not especially interesting; Main Entry Hall is very atmospheric but it lacks anything memorable; Stats develops amazingly which is crucial for a longer track such as this, it knows where it's going and I love the whole orchestronica implementation along with the querky worms voices towards the end which just adds to the amazingness, probably my favourite from the prelims so far (more scottish vocals need to be used in music); Sakuranbo kiss... oooooooookay... this sort of J-pop really does not appeal.

Stats for the win!!! (Shame it has to share it's name with statistics)

Stats was kind of exotic on first listen, but subsequently its build up and delivery wasn't as magnetic as I previously thought. Break through the parallel, on the other hand, strenghtens on repeat listens.

break through the parallel - A nice and intricate blend of instrumentation. I liked the entry of the pan flutes and the accent shift in the one part towards the end.

San Francisco - Not particularly interesting. Couple of decent progressions.

Main Entry Hall - I will also throw out the "minimalistic" keyword. Doesn't go anywhere, and I'm more disappointed regarding the abrupt stop at the end of the song. Definitely inconclusive.

Stats - Boring until the hihat comes in, and then the rest of the percussion shortly afterwards, where it becomes some nice drum and bass electronica. It's as if the song adds more layers the longer you listen to it, although the voices about 2/3rds in were kind of weird.

Sakuranbo Kiss ~Bakuhatsu Da Mo-n~ - I downloaded this song a very long time ago without even knowing where it came from, who sang it, or what it was, thinking it was by kotoko for some reason. I'm almost never against jpop which I find bearable.

break through the parallel is really nice; I don't think of it as repetitive at all. When the piano comes in at 0:35, it's wonderful. The song stays interesting throughout.

San Francisco and Main Entry Hall are decent but not substantial enough. Stats is OK, but too long and a bit boring. And I don't like the kind of singing featured in Sakuranbo Kiss (are those real people?).

I didn't know people enjoyed music that sounds like an epileptic seizure. 48.33%?

I mean if any song should advance other than San Francisco (which is the greatest song of all time), it could've been Stats, which was fun the whole way through. Really great nom, whoever nominated that.