Ken Hisuag

For no reason beyond personal enthusiasm, this week's feature is doubled up. ikurumi - Nihil & Arts Factory Null - Lies The first of many remixes within Dolls of Pseudo Paradise, and among the tracks being carried over from the Seihou Project. This was Reimu's theme in Seihou 1, but I think most are familiar with it from this re-publish and its later remixes down the series. I'm not particularly fond of it, at least when comparing it to other Reimu themes, but fan arrangements have done a good job at adapting its parts in creative ways. As for these remixes, glitch hop is unique enough on its own, and the vocaloid arrangement is more competent then I'm used to. Forest306 & Sing, R. Sing! - Cherry-petals, Travel Through Love & Iris Drop - The Rainbow Light That Makes You Bloom Yuuka's forgotten theme, extremely underrated. I should mention that DiPP is possibly my least favorite music release in the series, entirely because I dislike the production sound; I believe a motif's true strength is independent of its presentation, but its reception will be inevitably impacted. I say this because the original version of this piece in SD-88 is one of my favorite non-Touhou ZUN compositions. I appreciate the justice these remixes do to the piece, especially the folk one. Toubu Kaitakuchi - Sakura, Sea, and Stupa Sword (Furura Remix) ~ Enigmatic Doll & ZYTOKINE - Enigmatic Dollz This one was far more difficult to find for than I expected; I thought it has a decent enough degree of popularity to receive thorough coverage, and granted there was coverage, but it took a while to find anything I was happy with. Regardless, find I did; still not sure about the title of the first one, but the info is close enough to track down as needed.

This is something of a followup to last week; as Okami has been an important entry to this thread, there are other soundtracks that have had similar impact. More so than any other, perhaps, is the Monster Hunter series. Between busker and I, there have been several MH features spanning across the series, with a slightly heavier focus toward the more recent entries. My own contribution was extremely minimal; my initial feature was done without real familiarity, and I basically chose three tracks out of a random selection without any real appreciation for their context. Despite this, the quality of the music was enough to capture my attention; specifically, one of those tracks from the initial feature stuck with me. Subsequent explanations from long-term-fan buskerdog have helped facilitate deeper interest, leading us to today. For some time, I've wanted to do a proper feature of the title that technically served as my entry point. What has made this difficult (and indeed what made the initial feature attempt difficult) is the confusing localization standards of the series. As previously discussed on this thread, some Monster Hunter games will release with different titles between the two hemispheres; subsequently, expansions to the games (which are common) have also been known to release with different names. Even worse for my purposes, music track titles may also be localized, further frustrating attempts to identify a track's origin. But by far the most difficult aspect of the situation is the titular monsters themselves; not only do they carry their respective music themes with them from game to game, but even their names are occasionally localized, making sourcing their first appearance a sometimes nigh impossible task. All that being said, the situation is somewhat improved by starting with an official soundtrack release rather than the loose music from the game, thus skipping the hunting process (heh). I thus desired to procure the OST from which my favorite track had originated. This track was The Awe-Inspiring Brave Figure, localized as Draped in Valor, and was the arena theme for Monster Hunter X. Pronounced "Monster Hunter Cross" (or so I gather), the game was localized as Monster Hunter Generations, with the subsequent expansion renaming the game to Monster Hunter XX ("double-cross?"), or Generations Ultimate. As with other entries, the game featured monster and music from previous releases, while also adding a selection of new monsters. There are also cutscene and idle area themes, some of which are remixed versions of returning tracks. The style of this music is less Oriental than Okami, but still has a distinctly Eastern tone to it that varies in intensity. I'd also say I detect some Irish folk influences, but I'm beginning to suspect confirmation bias with how often that happens (more on that in a future feature, perhaps). Despite the series' being most well known for its combat tracks (i.e. the monster themes), there's some amazing music in the other parts of the game as well. That being said, there's a reason for the reputation. To close off, I wasn't that impressed with the pieces added by the expansion (assuming I've heard them all, since the music release wasn't technically a proper OST), but the one track that stood out was a full cover of the series' main theme. Even that wasn't quite to my expectations (I prefer other versions), but the motif itself is fantastic, and I'd be remiss not to include it.

Kommisar has been uploading a lot of his older works to his channel recently; quite a few gems. I don't know why this video title is in Japanese. The Third Man is an old suspense film noteworthy for a variety of things, but most relevantly to me they chose the gimmick of using only one piece of music for their soundtrack. Having seen the film, I don't think it worked, but the piece itself is good. I recently watched The Straight Story for the first time, and it's been awhile since I was as impressed with a film as I am with this one. It has been on my mind, and as such so has its music.

Schwarzwald - Vampire Illusion Finding this was a pain; I did not expect such trouble for an EoSD piece. While there was no lack of results, at least three-quarters of them were mixed arrangements with both Eternity and Eastern Dream..., which didn't fit my criteria. I didn't even discover this one; I only found it because it was covered by Bit2, and I was immensely grateful for it. Ping Xing Shi Jie - Crimson Belvedere ~ Eastern Dream... While I didn't have nearly as much trouble with this one, I was struck with indecisiveness between options favoring intensity and favoring serenity. Obviously I settled on the latter, though it had more to do with the uniqueness of the particular arrangement than my own preference. k-waves LAB - Legend of Hourai I'm a bit worried at how close in style this one is to the preceding feature, but it fits too well for me to pass up. Since Dolls in Pseudo Paradise is less familiar to some fans, I may feel inclined to add additional commentary to the tracks featured, especially given the unique origins of some. As for this one, it's an original composition for the album, and as such severely underappreciated.

22: Eternal Melody - SYNCHRONICITY A paradox. On initial listening, it seemed to me the piece was clipped at the end; there is no fadeout, neither is the last measure even finished. So I went looking to see if I could find another video, to determine if this was a mistake by the uploader or an issue with the arrangement itself. What I found was this video, which includes the album's preceding track as an intro into the focus piece, but does not do much to fix the ending. As of now, I still do not know if the cutoff is intentional. The piece itself has a good buildup, even without the extra lead-in, but suffers a little in its climax. It felt a bit longer than it maybe should have been; the progression structure supports it, but I suspect it has too many unnecessary parts in the middle to give its climax the necessary punch. It was also a bit difficult at times keeping track of the source motifs; at times I thought I heard elements of Maiden's Capriccio and Capital City of Flowers, but I believe this was unintentional. Of course, there's nothing wrong with an arrangement creatively straying away from its source material; I just thought I'd mention it. A solid arrangement, but with a few oddities. 7/10 23: Karasu - Moths to a Flame Casual intensity. Glad to see Karasu in a tournament, though I would have preferred a piano arrangement. As expected, this is a more experimental-type remix that doesn't quite fit its associated genre. Despite employing heavier instrumentation, there's a laid-back tone to the piece; it's not building up to anything, and even its climax holds back on anything forceful. While this is intriguing, it also doesn't seem to serve a purpose, and the finer thought process underlying the arrangement eludes my perception. Creative, but without direction. 6/10 24: ShinRa-Bansho - Traveler of the Aurora Cheating. Following up the previous two with this feels imbalanced, but mayhap that's my bias. However that may be, it's hard to sound fairly critical of this piece, since it obviously covers all the important points and also happens to be a favored style. As a high-energy piece, it jumps very quickly into itself, but somehow avoids stagnating. This may have something to do with the length; I initially thought it was too short, but I think this was more the previous entry feeling so long. It's well filled out and progresses quickly, so I'm now inclined to think its length is appropriate. Also impressive is the double lyrics, a method not unheard of but uncommonly employed. With perhaps biased favor, an invigorating ending. 8/10

Each year, I've listened through and featured an individual disc from the OST for Okami; the soundtrack is extensive enough that it was inconvenient the first year to listen to the whole thing at once, and it made for a consistent plan going forward. While there are five discs in the official release, the fifth is actually a collection of promotional and unused music; the soundtrack itself finishes with the fourth disc. As such, this will finally conclude my four-part feature of Okami. Of the four parts, this disc is notably shorter, feature only about thirty tracks to the previous three's fifty each. The style is about the same: There are cutscene tracks, area tracks, and combat tracks, each arranged according to their usage. The genre is almost exclusively Oriental folk reinforced with orchestra. Melody is lighter compared to similarly styled collections, but is still present, differentiating the more memorable pieces. The signature sounds of the Eastern Hemisphere are what defines this soundtrack, and are what captured my interest when it was introduced to me on this thread shortly after I started posting to it. It remains the most unique soundtrack ever shared with me by someone else, and it represents to me the core purpose and potential of this topic.

Here's a fun and intriguing topic. When one has put the effort into deciding upon an online alias, it's natural to wonder about the origins of the other names around you. Most often, a username is inspired by some life experience, personal interest, or inside joke, and thus can function as an amusing glimpse into someone's personality. Even the more impulsive choices reflect something of the user's mindset. In my early internet days, I used the moniker of "Thomas the Traveler," inspired by the triple T acronym I had adopted as a postscript (actually stands for "Truth Told Today"). For less interactive accounts, I utilized an old childhood nickname "Yozia;" this is still in use in a few places, such as my Bandcamp profile. As I became more active online, I wanted something that sounded more like a proper name; "Hisuag" was a bizarre misspelling applied to me at a job, and the situation was memorable enough to occur to me as a humorous possibility. As for "Ken" . . . I actually don't remember. Mayhap it was another instance of someone getting my name wrong (which happens fairly often).

Altemis Yukkuri - Scarlet Destiny IMO, a perfect blending of elegance and intensity in this one. The organ intro is independent from the rest of the piece, but sets the tone so that the following elements are interpreted accordingly; from there, it continues building up from classical instrumentation into a more modern-sounding symphony. The audio quality could be a bit better, but I don't think it detracts overly much. Morimori Atsushi - The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls (MRM REMIX) Having already picked out the U.N. Owen feature, my desire was to find an arrangement that would bridge the gap between remixes while (obviously) still doing justice to the material. This is a bit shorter than I'd like, but otherwise it fits the bill perfectly. This is also one of those music artists that has impressed me enough to take special note of their work. Paradotto - Ultimate Taste Since this is certainly the most well-known piece in the series, I was prepared to do a bit of digging for something unique; instead, I found this full-flavor remix while looking for a different feature. Why settle for a single remix when I can use all the remixes at once? Seriously though, I appreciate the idea of such a well known track being given this sort of treatment; it helps highlight the different styles at play without listeners getting caught up in the nuances. Potentially very helpful, and a pretty fun listen as well.

Normally I like to wait for a soundtrack's official release to feature it, since this makes it easier to differentiate between tracks and helps ensure fuller representation. Occasionally this backfires on me, because some soundtracks unexpectedly don't receive a release until long after their respective games; Cyber Shadow took over a year, Mago still hasn't seen a proper publication, and Champions of the Continent is only now seeing its second soundtrack release with tracks from two years ago. For this reason, I may feel inclined to push forward with a feature I'm looking forward to, lest I be anxiously awaiting an event that has no guarantee of coming to fruition at all. Deceive Inc. is a unique cross between a deception game and a tactical shooter, colored in the aesthetic of a James Bond film. For such a game, a variety of music genres would be suitable; what was delivered was hybrid jazz, constructed so as to have multiple layers per track to accompany the progression of each game session. Technically, "Phase 2 Out of Cover" is the final form of each track, but that doesn't mean the other iterations don't often have their own charm worth highlighting. The highlight of the music, however, has to be the two-part Extraction Phase, a unique piece for the climax of every level. That's an unusually large feature for such a small soundtrack, but I think it's warranted.

ramaseta - The Maid and the Pocket Watch of Blood (Jazz ver.) This was a really hard pick (and I'm still not altogether happy with it). This is my least favorite track from Touhou 6, but I know it's well loved by others, so I was determined to find something that did it justice while also bridging the gap a little. While this arrangement doesn't have much movement, it does a good job at adapting the original motif into a laid back comfort piece. I felt it should have been longer, but four minutes isn't bad length, so that's probably a good sign. Nuruhachi - Elegant Psychopath Dramatic cinema style is an orchestral that elegantly twists around in continuous progression. Normally I get this from CarrotWine or Melodic Taste, but while the former employs looping and the latter often lacks length, this arrangement is a masterpiece of completeness, and quite possibly the best orchestral remix I've heard in a while. Under different circumstances, I might have saved this for a tournament, but that seems ill-advised currently, so y'all get to enjoy it now. Notzan ACT - The Young Descendant of Tepes Ironically, this is the sound I was seeking for Maid and Pocket Watch, and vise versa (if only I could switch them somehow). Regardless, I was surprised how well the spacey synth sound worked with these motifs.

There have been a lot of above average releases thus far this year; there's an urge to rush coverage of it all while it's still relevant, but that's not technically a realistic perspective considering the standards of this topic over its lifespan, nor is it thankfully in any way necessary. Nonetheless, a few especially good soundtracks do not bear putting off, if for no other reason than they are stuck in my head and I shall not know peace until they are shared. This week, I belatedly but enthusiastically come to the phenomenon of Pizza Tower. While this game has apparently been in public production for some time, I'd heard nothing of it until its recent release. Accompanying its deceitfully rough aesthetic and versatile gameplay is soundtrack that is equal parts genius and insanity; it is one of those rare instances of a soundtrack being an irrevocable part of the full experience, while simultaneously achieving something extraordinary in its own right. There is no specific style adhered to, but an inherent consistency that gives it character. Hopefully my selection manages to convey the range and quality throughout.

Tonchi - Shanghai Alice of Horai 17 This was technically an arrangement of the Music Collection version, hence the name. Given the close proximity the two versions have to each other, I did not intend to feature them separately, though I acknowledge a case for doing so. Spielraum - Vualkyrie I love an arrangement with a few twists to it. Between the interlude and the melody adjustment, there's an almost whimsical mood to this, but more pop style. Frost Fragment - Blasphemous Choice Alegria Iceon's style is consistent between circles apparently, but I'm not complaining. This has all the marks of an ideal Locked Girl arrangement, contrasting hard energy with more formal interludes.

Circumstance has delayed opportunity to feature the surprise masterpiece of Hi-Fi Rush, which released with barely more than an announcement and proceeded to become one of the best received games of the year thus far. The music replicates the style of rock popular in the 90's and early 2000's, adapted for a modern rhythm game; the result is one of best soundtracks I've heard in a while, and easily a contender for top five of the year (knock on wood). In addition to the standard soundtrack, the game contains a selection of licensed music for boss fights and other select moments; however, for the convenience of those who wished to stream or otherwise publicly play the game, alternate tracks were composed in similar arrangements as a replacement option. While the circumstances would imply a "we have x at home" situation, these alternative songs actually hold their own, with the added distinction of fitting a bit more cohesively into the soundtrack imo.

Knowing all that would definitely have boosted my rating up to 8.9 or even 9. Also goes to show that, even if you can read the lyrics, there's sometimes more to understanding them.

yoirone - Misty Morning There are some epic arrangements of this track out there, but I thought this laid back style suited it better. It also stands out from my usual options. 5crow3 - Beloved Tomboyish Girl Based on the translation results, I think the title's supposed to be a pun, but I can't be sure. I was trying to be careful with picking for this one; as one of the more heavily memed tracks in the series, options range across every imaginable style and mood, making the decision of what to use decided too easy. I went with this one because it managed to incorporate a humorous tone without being entirely structured around it (being coupled with Oriental folk makes this an ideal arrangement for the associated character imo). Boberon (a.k.a. Bob NL) - March of the Chinese Warrior I had a very specific tone in mind while searching out this remix. I wanted something full, but relatively low energy, perhaps somber. I should know better than to entertain such expectations; they inevitably make the process more difficult. Regardless, this fits pretty well; the instrument quality is rather subpar, but that's always been an issue with this artist. What I wanted to avoid was something high energy (rock, metal or techno) or anything folk (felt too obvious).

The first of April saw the surprise release of The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, a short mystery game in the style of Ace Attorney. Despite being an April Fools joke, the game is competently and charmingly designed, full of nods and references that avoid being heavy handed accompanied by a solid central mini-game mechanic. Most importantly for my purposes, the game comes with a decently sized soundtrack. While its nothing extraordinary, it holds the same charm as the rest of the game. I was also surprised to discover the existence of unused tracks; whatever their intended purpose, they serve as a nice bonus to the collection.

My keyboard is giving out on me, so this will take even longer than usual. 19: Diao ye zong - The Second Performance: Curse Deity Approaching the end. Y'all ever hear jumpscares referred to as "cheap horror?" In theory, a jumpscare exploits a fight-or-flight response to "cash-in" on building tension; this is contrasted to the more difficult process of cultivating dread over time, sometimes withholding payout indefinitely in favor of an enduring horror. This doesn't have much practical application for me, since I don't tend to engage with horror in the first place, but it struck me as a fitting parallel for my experience with this piece. Pola's Eternal Hades will serve as my musical comparison to cheap horror; it accomplishes its mood by crafting an atmosphere out of elements specifically selected for their fitting qualities. The end result is effective, but lacks depth, and therefore endurance. Curse Deity is meant to be an unsettling song; its lyrics communicate a heavy threat, belying the lighthearted tone they are sung in. Their is a unique form of discordance throughout, the nature of which is of a level beyond my ability to fully analyze, but I suspect some advanced chord work in a carefully maintained distance between the melody and accompaniment. The resulting product lacks overt horror, yet its intricacies allow the effect to penetrate far deeper than a more obvious piece would. A masterpiece of tone setting. 10/10 20: C-CLAYS - The Moon which was Swallowed to a Wolf Confusing but apparently intentional grammatical error aside . . . At first, this seemed some straightforward augmented Oriental folk. Yet with further listening, I find myself at the diversity of instruments at play, being more than I usually hear utilized. The augmented accompaniment is balanced surprisingly well; the Oriental folk takes precedence, and usually feels the focus, with the additional parts serving to reinforce and elevate the arrangement. As the piece progresses, the balance becomes more even without losing the folk focus. All this works splendidly with the source motifs. A minor downside is the limited escalation of the piece; the piece reaches its peak energy early on after an initial buildup, and fails to have a proper climax. Nonetheless, the dynamic instrumentation and arrangement make it a fun piece Would (/will) listen again. 8/10 21: UNDEAD CORPORATION - Kushinada-hime "AAHHH!" The previous tournament entry from Undead Corporation (several tournament ago) is still one of my favorite submissions, being a wonderful blend of folk and rock accompanied by a stellar vocal performance, all together doing great justice to a usually too-familiar motif. This piece has a lot of the same elements, but with a bit heavier emphasis on the metal and less obvious applications for the source material. I think it's pulled off well, but isn't as fresh to me as the other one was; whether this is because the pieces are too similar, or there is something else lacking in this one, I'm not sure of. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it, and whether the intro is meant to be amusing or not, I've become quite fond of it. The lyrics are weird, though. Fun in an epic way, oddly nostalgic. 8.3/10 This did take longer, I'm really tired now, and I'm worried about how much that effected this post.

As man of consistency, I return here to commemorate Resurrection Day with potentially related music. I deliberated at some length over what to post, with my favored options lacking relevant material, giving me to ponder (not for the first time) the possibility of sharing from my other musical interests on a slightly more frequent basis. Regardless, I eventually settled on Don Francisco, whose propensity for ballads was as unusual in his time as it is now (I mean proper ballads, not forlorn country songs that are all too common). His most popular song is specifically written for the occasion. Have a blessed day, y'all!

Officially, a new beginning! Rikumaru - A Dream More Scarlet than Red [PC-98 Remix] Just as I started with a Zunish remix of a PC-98 track, I thought it only fitting to use a PC-98 remix for this Zunish piece. This isn't an especially dynamic one, but it accurately translates the style of the source into the sound of the older era. 38BEETS - Scarlet Something more complex is in order after that. For these early Windows era tracks, I'm anticipating a wide variety of options; so far, that is holding true. Soul as Scarlet as a Ground Cherry has a unique tone to it, and rather than find something to match it, I settled on a less unusual but sufficiently artsy. Kai Cyreus - Legendary Apparitions I've been blessed to hear some incredible arrangements of Apparitions Stalk the Night, many of them through past remix tournaments. So I was determined to find something creative at the very least. This piece lacks a bit of the punch that would perfect it, but the balancing of the melody against itself in slight discordance does an excellent job at creating a dark and determined tone, which works excellently with the motifs.

In the aftermath of the latest Rivals Direct, it seems ideal to feature the music from Dungeons of Aether. Similarly to Creatures, this soundtrack was arranged entirely in FM. Personally, I don't think this normally suites the style of Flashygoodness, but in this particular entry it seems to have worked well; perhaps influence from the rest of RESOFORCE is to be credited? Regardless, there are several noteworthy motifs introduced in this title, and I consider it a worthy addition to the series.

I want to do something funny for today, but my moments of inspiration are inconsistent, and I can't afford to rely on them. So in the likely scenario I can't think of anything better, I'll post some funny music here.

There was one announced; the "preshow" is at 9:00 AM Pacific time, with the actual Direct to follow at 10:00.

For this week's feature, I am dedicating a post to Theme of Eastern Story. It's placement in the musical chronology is arguable, but it seems fitting to address it between the two major eras of the series. For those who don't know, the familiar arpeggios that serve as the main theme for the series was first featured as the logo jingle for ZUN Soft (precursor to Team Shanghai Alice): Later Zun would incorporate the motif into the extra stage theme of the first Seihou game (the extra stage being a reference to his games). But it wasn't until the Untouched Scores collection that he would dedicate a proper arrangement to the theme, putting a name to the motif and establishing its place in the series. I initially set out to get remixes for each of these three uses, but I had no luck finding anything for the original logo jingle (which is fair), so instead y'all get two Eastern Story arrangements. Snow Evarose - A Shrine Maiden's Pride An arrangement with energy and impact, coupled with a sense of awe; that describes many remixes of the track I've found, with a similar quantity switching out "energy" for "serenity." Nonetheless, I appreciated this one's more daring take on instrumentation and the bit of twist in the interlude. Kani Sasimi - Ephemeral Light of the East I feel like there was a drop in quality in the uploading, but I can't always trust myself on that. I didn't find a lost of arrangements for Silk Road Alice that fit the tone I wanted; this was fairly close, and original enough to stand out from all the MIDI covers. fromadistance - Life That's Scarce a Hundred Years Here's that "serenity" I mentioned. What could be more fitting than Oriental folk orchestra?

At this, the conclusion of this series of Legend of Zelda features, I was left to decide between the remaining titles for a worthy contributor and fitting ending. I've already covered Breath of the Wild, and some soundtracks like Majora's Mask are too closely connected with other entries. I had it narrowed down to two, with no particular leaning one way or the other. I eventually chose Twilight Princess over Skyward Sword; I had little to no familiarity with either title, but figured it was better to favor the earlier release. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is considered a notably darker game compared to other entries, and is commonly contrasted to Wind Waker in tone and aesthetic (for a variety of reasons). Much of the music in the game seems to reflect this, being more somber and often favoring lower tones; some pieces utilize unique instrumentation blends to accomplish intimidating atmospheres. However, the soundtrack is extensive, and has a surprising degree of variety; in between the area and event themes, there are a multitude of mini-game and comedic tracks that somehow avoid contrasting too sharply with the rest of the game. This has resulted in my selection of featured tracks being significantly more difficult than usual. Under different circumstances, I might have divided this into two separate features; as it is, this is will be the largest single feature I've done thus far. Consider the above as the feature proper, and these as "bonus tracks," as it were; they represent the other extremes this soundtrack occasionally reaches, while maintaining a level of quality consistent with the whole:

This is an off-schedule post to appreciate a category of Touhou music that, though falling under the identifier of the thread, doesn't get as much recognition in it; that of original compositions in the Zunish style. I used to use tournaments as a time to feature these discoveries, but that ceased to be reasonable. I happened upon this thread dedicated to the subject on Maidens of Kaleidoscope, and it reminded me that I haven't featured anything of the sort for a while. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to do so more often in the future. http://shrinemaiden.com/index.php?topic=98.0