Musical Discoveries in Touhou Fandom

[Ken Hisuag]

MN-logic24 - Lunar Ark
I'd been looking for an instrumental, but I admit this duet is well executed. For this piece, the airy atmosphere is almost a necessity; it's the space song of Touhou, after all. I'm glad it's also high-energy; I would have settled for a quieter piece, but I think the motifs work better this way.

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Secret Messenger - Disaster
There are a lot more arrangements of this piece then I expected, including a really impressive one by Aqua Style that I only passed on because it seemed fairly well known; maybe I'll share it at a later date. I imagine a slightly sinister sound in this remix which I don't believe is intentional, but nonetheless adds some depth to its progression.

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Theking35 - A Drunkard's Lemuria ~ On the House
I intended for a remix of the Retro Ver. specifically, but it seems those who arrange the piece do their due diligence in tracking down the original and using that as their baseline. I actually appreciate this, especially as I consider the original to be the superior version, but as it isn't technically a Touhou piece its representation here technically bends the rules a bit. Then again, the "rules" are purely self-imposed, so the only one who'd take notice is me. The jazz take is unusual, and the harmony clashes a bit at times, but the melody still shines through.

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Edited May 18, 2024 by Ken Hisuag

[Ken Hisuag]

Machikado-Mapoze - Sky of Scarlet Perception
The title of this piece being reflective of the game's name makes it a difficult track to search for in Japanese, and a later track having the same name with a single additional word makes it equally difficult to search for in English. This is a relatively simple arrangement, but in a charming way, and by no means lacking in imagination.

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Yamata no Orochi - Usual Days
The first iteration of this motif, and hardly the best, but still deserving of recognition. Representation seems to be lacking a bit, but I'm happy with this find.

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Hako_FUJ850 - Heaven is Black, Earth is Yellow
A rough start on this one, but I think it balances out past the intro. I considered looking further, but I didn't want my personal preferences to dictate too heavily for this track, being that it's already well known and represented.

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[Ken Hisuag]

Yuku Chobi - Chobi-san and Sakuya-tan's Daily Life
The audio is a bit messy, but the instrumentation is at least unique. Arrangements for this were scarce.

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Missing Tracks:
{U2 Akiyama - Beautiful Nature Sight}
I found two Touhou remixes with the same name as this track, both of which were actually arrangements of different pieces. I suppose it is a bit generic, but I'd expect Touhou musicians to be a bit more careful.

Fantasy Nonet - Fragrant Plants
"Nonet" is apparently a musical group of nine people; the word is repeated twice with different spelling in the musician's alias, and I'm not sure what the nuance between them is. That aside, it's neat to find a music box arrangement from someone other than the usual masters.

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Kaminogi Works - Dancing Water Spray ~Irish Session~
Most of the Dancing Water Spray remixes I find are mixed with other pieces, especially Fragrant Plants, which is understandable but inconvenient for my purposes here. This one showed up fairly early though, so I wasn't too worried.

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[Jaz:3]

On 5/11/2024 at 8:06 PM, Ken Hisuag said:

Mochi.Rin - A Sky Dyed Scarlet

On 5/11/2024 at 8:06 PM, Ken Hisuag said:

What do y'all think?

The bass at around 1:00 kinda reminds me of brazilian funk

 

 

On 5/11/2024 at 8:06 PM, Ken Hisuag said:

??? - A Land Resplendent With Nature's Beauty (piano arrangement "2" from kkcwkoh)
It's important to cite your sources. I almost didn't use this for the feature, but I couldn't find another remix that respected the original motif in quite the same way (to be fair, it's a more obscure piece). If anyone recognizes the arrangement and can identify the artist, I'd very much appreciate it.

 

I've look through many sites and the author is possibly Zun (or Team Shanghai Alice which other sites said)

Source:

https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Strange_and_Bright_Nature_Deity_1_(CD)#Comentarios_de_ZUN

The link to the website inside the wiki above seems dead, but there's nothing that Wayback machine can't do, lol. Thankfully the link to the past (zelda game reference) is still available:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130602115423/http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/comic/bk_detail.php?pcd=200708000492 (remember to translate to english)

Some other sites also said the same thing, which is Zun made the comic with another author and Zun made the songs himself.

It seems like the comic has a total of 3 parts or volumes? I don't know.

Also the albums from 1-3 is here on the Moriya Shrine too:

https://moriyashrine.org/files/file/92-strange-and-bright-nature-deity-volumes-1-3/

[Jaz:3]

On 5/7/2024 at 11:58 PM, Jaz:3 said:

 

Follow up from my previous first post. Here's the links to the creators AND the link to buy the albums if anyone wants to know

 

The People:

https://www.youtube.com/@tumenecoshoyusound2752/videos (I think it's in the previous post also bu watever)

https://www.youtube.com/@shoyusound/videos

https://twitter.com/TUMENECO/with_replies  (I think this is the name of the circle? I don't remember how I found this account... oh! maybe from another person on twitter)

https://shoyu-sound.jp/tumeneco  (their own website, cool)

 

The Music!!:

https://tmnc036ginga-hihu.tumblr.com/  (details about the album and link to buy)

https://www.melonbooks.co.jp/detail/detail.php?product_id=2378145  (the store, shipping fees finna go crazy...idk I don't shop online for goods overseas that much)

 

I kinda want to buy it tho...but I gotta ask my mom first...nothing goes in and out of the house without being unnoticed since I live with her. I don't think it'll be allowed tho...idk, it just maybe so.

 

Followup on my followup...

TOUHOU FANS !!!!! Hear me.... you need to listen to this song NOW. In my previous post I said that I wanted to buy an album because the demo showcases some cool songs. But I checked their channel and...they uploaded an mv of the 1st track in the album.... I HAVE TO BUY THE ALBUM NOWWWWWWWW. It sounds so beautiful man! The quality is craaaaaaaAAAAaaazy. Everything is so... soo so good!! OMG I found something so cool (well to me atleast).

Now this is what I'm talking about, shit is is so good, it reminds me of myy days playing Osu! and finding so much cool songs! (that sounds like this one). ArgHHH, I gotta play Osu! again!

If people asked me why I want to live in this world or why I dont wanna die or whats purpose in life. I tell them 1 simple word: music. But that is among other things tho.

It also reminds me of what I wanna do in life. Now I don't tell this to anyone much except that time the teacher made us wrote our dreams in a note (tho what I wrote saying what I want to do is very small). I want to be (somehow) a musician. You know, songwriter, composer stuff. So I can make beautiful music like this one! Or I fail, then I guess all I can do is share and inspire others. (but how can I inspire others if I can't even do what I want to do? I'll get to that later someday)

So, yeah. I'm gonna beg my mom.

 

 

On the night of the two galaxy railways by TUMENCO (all translated from google)

 

Original song: Unknown Flower, Charming Journey, G Free, Hiroshige 36 ~ Neo Super-Express, Welcome to the Moon Tour Arrange: tomoya

Vocal: yukina & Mii (GET IN THE RING)

Lyric: yukina Source: Night on the Galaxy Express (Kenji Miyazawa)

 

Oh i forgot! Shoutout to the person on reddit that shared the info about the album. Without them I wouldn't have this moment. Or maybe I should thank god.

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by Jaz:3
I love music mwah mwah mwah

[Ken Hisuag]

On 6/3/2024 at 3:24 AM, Jaz:3 said:

I've look through many sites and the author is possibly Zun (or Team Shanghai Alice which other sites said)

Pretty sure these are all references to the original piece, not the piano arrangement I posted. I appreciate your efforts, though.

Since it's minorly relevant and I want to further illustrate the point I was making, I'll share this example of lacking citation I found this week. I found this video first:

Samgold Production - Drunk as I like (rock remix)

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Subsequently I came across another video using the same image, visualizer and music, but posted much more recently. The description was empty. I'll post the link without embedding it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O12S5b-LGUc

If I find something without any citation, I can never be sure I'm getting it from the proper source. kkcwkoh has a fairly good reputation, which is why I chose to feature that piano remix anyway, but I'll probably never know who actually made the arrangement.

Edited June 15, 2024 by Ken Hisuag

[Ken Hisuag]

Missing Tracks:
{U2 Akiyama - Swing a Fish to Drive Away Flies}

Huǒlú / Hi-ro (can't be sure) - Drunk as I Like (Ver.2)
I had options, but I thought the SNES soundfont complimented the goofy mood of this piece, especially with the Super Mario World style.

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SoundChaos - Mairaku "Mock Dance" ~ Can you step on the dancing? (Beta Ver.) (?)
If anyone hasn't heard the "finished" version of this remix, I encourage them to look it up; it remains one of the most impressive arrangements I've heard in the franchise. I had intended to mention it here regardless, though it's already been featured here in the past. Then I came across this, which is ostensibly an early version of the arrangement. While I can't be sure of the authenticity of that claim, it is significantly different from the version I've heard before. Thus I felt duty-bound to take advantage of the situation.

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Missing Tracks:
{U2 Akiyama - Free and Easy}

Sound Refil - Sky & Sea
I almost gave up on this one. "Ungai souten" is apparently a very popular title for musical media, so simple searches would often bring up a multitude of unrelated results (more on that in SMYL). Thankfully this impressive oriental folk remix popped up amongst it all, and I couldn't ask for better than that!

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The remaining tracks shouldn't be nearly as difficult.

[Ken Hisuag]

As expected, these were a lot easier to find for than the previous week.

ALTERNATIVE - Crimson in the Black Sea ~ Legendary Fish
Jazz seems to be a popular choice for this piece. I can't say I'm surprised, though I was hoping for something a bit heavier. Nonetheless, this is a very good arrangement, and contrasts well with my other finds.

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ajapa - Winter and Beyond
I anticipated the large-scale orchestral remixes, so this relatively lade-back folk stood out from the other options. Call it subversion, but I think it works.

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muuniel - Heavenly Guide Salvation
Iffy on the title translation, but it's close enough. After deciding on the previous two features, I was fairly settled on a hard electronic remix for this piece. While this particular one doesn't do anything too extraordinary, it's a faithful adaptation which I'd argue does some of the motif transitions better than the original.

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[Jaz:3]

these two songs would be great for April fools but that's 2 months ago. Hm... I can think of something else for that occasion though.

 

U.N Owen Was Her? from SilvaGunner but it's actually Child Protective Services Theme Song by Nero's Day at Disneyland.

Where I found it originally: https://twitter.com/rowster__/status/1800965377528299769

and

U.N Owen Was Her by SimTheNep but it's California Gurls by Katy Perry.

I can't find the song on any of their accounts tho...

Their channels:

https://www.youtube.com/@SimTheNep

https://www.youtube.com/@SimTheNepVGM (their 2nd channel)

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Here's some cool songs when I was going through r/TOUHOUMUSIC subreddit, it's a really nice place to find cool songs. The place: https://www.reddit.com/r/TOUHOUMUSIC/

 

A Resonant Name by THE OTHER FLOWER (a circle)

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Also it has a lot of info in the description.

Where I found it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TOUHOUMUSIC/comments/1dfct1q/post_rock_illusionary_joururi_by_the_other_flower/

 

 

【Touhou Arrange Maru】shrewd【Eyes of Madness】by Aria = Gedomaru (アリア=外道丸)

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The artist of that channel made the song

Found it through this new and cute original animation:

https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1djac2n/my_new_anime_has_been_released/

 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

RoundLoudness - Bhavaagra As Seen Through a Child's Mind
Might seem a bit high-energy for an opener, but perfect when taken in in context of what it's following up. I've said before that Tenshi's themes don't quite hit the elevated tone I think they're supposed to, so this seems a fitting adaptation.

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Liuhaoran Huang - Darkening Dusk
Low-energy was my target for this one, and this is a decent accomplishment of that while retaining the whimsical tone of the original. I kinda wish the artist had leaned harder in that direction, as the pacing seems almost too consistent, but the instrumentation keeps it afloat otherwise.

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Jersey & the Merry Bunch - Cinnabar Soul ~ Cinnabar-Colored Soul
Most remixes will understandably focus on raising the intensity of the piece into something spectacular, and I've heard quite a few memorable takes. But I appreciate this being a middle ground of sorts, keeping the energy while lowering the impact with lighter instrumentation. It feels like a happy fantasy ending, and that's what it's supposed to be.

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[Ken Hisuag]

Nanshen - Awakening of the Earth Sprits
My appreciation for the original has a lot to do with atmosphere, so I wasn't intending to be too picky for its remix feature. Despite that, I'm rather pleased with this discovery; it has an eerie fantasy sound to it, which fits perfectly.

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Hekoyama / Aoshan (depending on language) / Bokoyamarch (covering my bases) - The Dark Blowhole
Indecisive name translation aside, I settled on this piece for its energy and competent adaptation of the original motifs. I expected to pick something more atmospheric, but the previous find filled that slot for me.

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Karkan - The Sealed-Away Youkai
A bit more jazzy than might be anticipated for this piece, but too fun to pass on. The string bridge satisfies my desire for a "spider sound" in the piece, while the flute part probably represents the caves.

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[Ken Hisuag]

UNVALANCE - Hate Island
I know that Dark Blowhole technically represents the descent into the underground, but I've always associated Bridge No Longer Crossed more closely with the concept. As such, a remix like this fits better with my perception of the piece; the atmosphere is on-point, but isn't left to carry the piece alone.

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HEKATONCHEIR BEATS - Waxy Jealousy
Green-Eyed Jealousy, along with a lot of pieces from this soundtrack, lends itself to low-energy arrangements with its progression and motif structure, and I've heard a number of really great remixes in this vein. However, for this feature I wanted something a bit more intense, in keeping with its actual intention as a boss theme, while still retaining the piece's strengths. While it took longer than I anticipated, I'm exceptionally pleased with this find.

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Mentaiko Lab - Moon-Swallowing White Night
Some form of folk was my resolution for this, only further established by the volume of rock arrangements I initially came across. What distinguished this one was its genre; while I'm sure I've encountered folk-centered jazz before, it isn't usually so strongly committed to. The effect here is perfect for these motifs.

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[Ken Hisuag]

TAMAONSEN - Onis Drinking Sake In Autumn
Maybe not what I anticipated, but more along the lines of a Broken Moon arrangement, which is somewhat fitting. For some reason it was a struggle to find a suitable remix for this, even though I know more exist. Not being able to use NicoVideo may have contributed to this.

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ACCORD ON CODES - Fancy, Fancy, Fancy
Similarly defying my expectations, but this time I had more options. I worry sometimes about gravitating toward the same genres and styles, and will occasionally force something outside of my norm in an attempt to offset those tendencies.

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fractrick - Mishery
I should probably have held out for a proper orchestral, but I was settled on this one once I heard the organ sample and anticipated the percussion style. This arrangement respects the tone of the original through interludes, while still thoroughly committing to its own style. I think it fits the motifs perfectly.

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[IvanBaAl]

I guess, I have some findings to share.

Sin X Nad.

They create metal arranges of various Touhou themes. A lot of underrated ones. Perfect Cherry Blossom medley is coming soon (this is trailer).

 

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[Ken Hisuag]

Viktor Sharii - Lullaby of Deserted Hell
I actually found this one a while back. There were plenty of other options, but this stuck with me as being especially appropriate for the source material. The motifs work in a wide variety of situations, but nothing beats the serenity of a good solo for it imo.

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Avenue Room - Dazzling Hellfire
To balance out the energy, this is a far jumpier arrangement. I've said before how much I appreciate folk rock hybrids, and this is an excellent example made all the more intriguing by the varying motifs it has to work with.

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T-Jerion - Hellfire Mantle
I wavered on this one for a while; I wanted something semi-climactic, but not too climactic, lest I short-change the follow-up (a silly consideration, but still . . .). I couldn't say what finally decided it, but I'm fairly settled now.

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[IvanBaAl]

Original Hellfire Mantle already was powerful and ominous. It's different from what you hear in previous games. "What kind of final boss can live here?"

 

This is one of my luckiest recent findings. There are a few more, but it's the first of a kind I found.

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[Ken Hisuag]

jesterdist - Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom, Nuclear Fusion V2
Not only have I featured jesterdist before, but it was a previous remix of this same piece. I was impressed then, and I'm freshly impressed now; there's an energy to this arrangement that isn't quite the same as a typical rock remix, and it compliments the piece excellently.

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Kurodama - The Last Remote
Similarly, I posted a Nuclear Fusion performance from this guy some years ago. The skill in diversifying a solo-instrument performance such as this is inspiring. With NicoVideo still down, I'm at the mercy of the reposter as to proper accreditation; hopefully it's sufficient to relocate when needed.

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as key_ (_bazaar records?) - Eat up my HEART???
I deliberating on this one a bit, due to having other options I technically preferred while having held on to this particular remix for some time now. I hold Hartmann's is overrated, but the motifs have been utilized admirably by many talented musicians. I'd prefer if they didn't always "give in" to the refrain, rather committing to the eerie tone the piece starts out with, but I understand the temptation.

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[Ken Hisuag]

Kairo - eyes
The tone of this arrangement is intriguing to me; it manages an abrasively morose mood, something I'm not sure should be possible, and the vocal performance somehow fits it perfectly. All in all a find worth holding out for.

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Echoes Construction - Dawn ~ Denouncement
Similarly intriguing, but by degree rather than content. There's a dissonance to this piece that doesn't seem to serve a specific purpose, yet also isn't distracting enough to ruin the experience. I'm not sure what to make of it.

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lol project - The Refrain of the Lovely Great War [EP Mix]
I think TREN is the musician within the circle, but the citations are unclear. It's fascinating how early this piece is technically appearing compared to its associated game. I might have held out for something more unusual, but I appreciate the resoluteness of this remix.

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[Ken Hisuag]

Almost forgot: I came across this in my searches, and while the balancing/editing precluded it from consideration for the feature proper, I was impressed by the effort displayed and wanted to share it.

Tatsuo Hasegawa - solitude girl day break

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[IvanBaAl]

An arrangement of Theme of Eastern Story. Sounds too good for a few thousands views.

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[Ken Hisuag]

On 8/3/2024 at 4:26 PM, IvanBaAl said:

An arrangement of Theme of Eastern Story. Sounds too good for a few thousands views.

The pain of trying to trace back the source of a remix that's been improperly cited!
The one link leads to the source page, but I have no way of translating it. Arrangement link is to Twitter, which I can't view because I don't have an account (and won't be getting one). Trying to search the first website's url title turns up some artwork featured on it, as well as more Twitter bios, neither of which help me.

I suspect this exists somewhere else with more views, but the information is too limited for me to confirm. Thanks for sharing, though; it's definitely one of the best arrangements of the theme I've yet heard!

EDIT: Came back to this for another attempt, and managed to penetrate the Twitter barrier a bit by putting the tag through the search engine and finding a direct link to a post from the account (which for some reason the Twitter log-in script didn't kick me out of). From this I confirmed that "5minutejamms" does music composition, so it's plausible that the arrangement in question was from there. Still not conclusive, but something more to go off of then we had previously.

Edited January 18 by Ken Hisuag

[Ken Hisuag]

Someone45356 - Teja antigua y curiosa de shanghai
I've been waiting to feature this artist, and when this showed up in my searchings, I figured it was about time. The Spanish folk is in a casual tone, giving it an even, homely feel. This isn't to say it lacks activity, though; there's still plenty going on, keeping the remix sounding full without being overbearing. What could be better for this piece?

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Clonesoldier's Factory - AN ORDEAL FROM ON HIGH
I know the title's wrong; I do this because the flippancy is disturbing, and I don't want to emulate it. I wasn't looking forward to this one, but I managed to find a compelling arrangement relatively quickly.

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Salad Savior - Magician's Melancholy
Not at all what I thought I'd end up with, but after the previous two choices I figured I ought to commit to something equally contrasting to its source material, while also balancing out the energy of the post. I can't say I appreciate the harsher parts of this remix, but it sounds alright when it's using its melodies.

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[IvanBaAl]

PCB medley by Sin X Nad was just uploaded. 53 minutes, wow.

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[Ken Hisuag]

Kori - Illusionary Sputnik Night
It's been quite some time since I featured this artist, so I'm giving myself some leeway due to this piece being unexpectedly difficult to find for. The style reminds me of another game's soundtrack that I'm hesitant to name.

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Marione - The Banquet Begins at Dawn!
I'd have adjusted the translation but for the exclamation point at the end making it difficult to reinterpret. There were a lot of great arrangements for this piece, far more than I expected; I feel the range of genres incorporated into this one specifically works well as a representation of what's out there.

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Colorful Harmony - Spring Harbor
End of Spring was always going to be a hard one to choose for; I feel I don't give this piece the respect it deserves, even as I've come to appreciate it as much as I have. A slow waltz may not seem enough, but it's a full arrangement nonetheless, and balanced well with the rest of the feature. Shionne submitted some great remixes for the tournaments, so check for those if this doesn't settle right.

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Bonus:

Togakisan - "Sputnik Night" for Piano Trio ~ Roslavets Style
I had to look up Roslavets to understand what was going on here, and I think it's better to have heard something of his compositions before listening to this remix. For context, Roslavets was a "modernist" composer, which means he sought to subvert the standard "rules" of music to express "new" styles (I use the quotations because this is more philosophy than music theory). I personally feel the remix artists fail to understand the fundamentals of Roslavets's style, resulting in something that doesn't quite accomplish what they think it does (again, a fuller explanation would get really philosophical, so I'm holding off for now).

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A Roslavets composition:

The Touhou remix in question:

 

 

[IvanBaAl]

Recent upload by Nick Nitro. An arrangement of "Maidens Capriccio ~ Dream Battle". The art makes a little harder to think about music though...

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