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. 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. 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.

Someone had this idea to create a Mario Kart style fangame as a Bloodborne spin-off. Random though this idea may sound, those behind it were enthusiastic enough to see it through to production, including an entire soundtrack, though it ultimately did not see release due to copyright. The soundtrack was published thereafter, and while it had merit, it did not appeal as much to me (I'm not familiar with the motifs of Bloodborne), so the matter seemed settled there. Then the team decided to rebrand their game into something more original; while it would retain its aesthetic inspiration, direct references thereto were reworked to make the project safe to release. This also resulted in the soundtrack being remastered, with the new version being significantly more fine-tuned in instrumentation and arrangement in my opinion. Evelyn Lark (a.k.a. The Noble Demon) is the composer for Nightmare Kart, and her chosen style for the project is reminiscent of other racing games, being high-energy and extremely jazzy. A slight horror element is also infused, though more strongly in some pieces then others; having seen some footage of the gameplay, I'm surprised this was the preferred accompaniment, though I'm anything but disappointed.

I mentioned in Musical Discoveries today that I had trouble finding arrangements of Skies Beyond the Clouds, due to the title being an apparently popular one for other media. While this made achieving the goal of the search a bit frustrating, it also resulted in some worthwhile discoveries. Osamuraisan - UNGAISOUTEN Just some straightforward acoustics from a talented guitarist. Hayato Asano - Behind the Clouds Despite hailing from a remix album, this piece is apparently original, which places it here.

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. 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. 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! The remaining tracks shouldn't be nearly as difficult.

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) 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.

I do not generally interact with the horror genre, as it is usually by nature a glorification of blatantly evil things. That being said, horror is also utilized as an aesthetic nowadays, with the actual elements of horror being relatively minor. What actually constitutes as "horror" as opposed to merely horror-related can be a bit ambiguous, as I think will be clear by the end of this month. My relationship with Dead by Daylight is, by my own admission, bizarre. I can honestly say I've been following its development since its release, albeit without actually playing it, despite everything about it being seemingly in conflict with my beliefs. Admittedly my investment has nothing to do with its aesthetic, but rather a fascination with its asymmetrical framework and as an example of the complexities in live-service game design and community maintenance. More relevant for this thread, however, it its exemplary sound design; music and ambiences composed by Michel F. April serve a vital role in both gameplay and atmosphere, while also advancing the artistry of the project. The officially released soundtrack is limited to compositions from the earlier years of development; while menu theme variations were released for later years, much of the in-game music remains unavailable except through gamerips. Some of the best music this game has is unfortunately also the hardest to procure properly, but thankfully much of it has been archived through Youtube, allowing me to share it here. Note how the layering works in the last two tracks; this is a better representation of the strengths this soundtrack has. In addition to the music actually used, some scrapped compositions have been leaked over the years. One in particular has stood out in my memory for years now, and is probably my favorite piece associated with the game despite not technically being part of it. While there is no official title, it was datamined around the same time as an in-game function called the "Archive" was in production, so it is associated by most with that.

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. 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. 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.

It's still Wednesday where I am, and I have one more feature to add to this month. As I've listened through these soundtracks, an inevitable comparison has been in my mind to what I would consider the quintessential Final Fantasy soundtrack; not FFVII, not FFVI, nor from any other entry in the franchise, but which nonetheless captured the spirit of the project in the best possible way. I also realized at some point that I'd never done a proper feature for it since a brief mention way back at the beginning of my time here, to which mention I had later noted an intention to return thereto. Well, I couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. While Uematsu notably contributed a number of tracks toward the end of production, the majority of Chrono Trigger's OST was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda. As a SNES release, the soundtrack is most immediately comparable to FFVI. The comparison is a fair one; both are strong in imaginative arrangement and variety. FFVI, in my opinion, makes stronger use of musical theme, having more prevalent leitmotifs throughout. Chrono Trigger, on the other hand, succeeds in an area I've yet to see matched: instrumentation. As I've mentioned before, a lot of SNES arrangements suffer from over-ambition, trying to capture a sound that's just out of reach. The better SNES soundtracks are played to their strengths as a blend between classic chiptune and synthesized instrument sampling. This Chrono Trigger does excellently, balancing its orchestral tracks against hardware limitations in a way that, ironically, invokes more accurately the feel of orchestra. Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, not because of nostalgia (of which I have none, having yet to play the game), but simply out of respect; it had been and will continue to be the standard by which I judge the music of the classical gaming era. But this isn't technically Final Fantasy, is it? Lest I cheat the month, here's one last piece for the road, a particularly impressive remix I found during the month.

Avoid clicking unsolicited links; check the url for suspicious website names.

Initially I chose a five-Wednesday month for Final Fantasy because I was struggling to decide which entries to cover, and figured having an extra week would be advantageous. Having covered four, however, I remained conflicted over what the fifth feature ought to be. FFVIII & FFIX both seemed viable, but would also result in all the features being from a specific part of the series rather than being spread out more. On the other hand, modern entries have only gotten larger, resulting in soundtracks that would take a lot more time for me to listen through. I even briefly considered spin-offs, but I have no context off of which to judge relevant impact. So ultimately, I've decided to take a slightly different approach to wrap up this series. Despite being a franchise, leitmotifs are inconsistent across entries, each soundtrack being mostly its own entity. The few musical themes that are consistent stand out for this reason, and none more than Uematsu's iconic "Prelude." I hesitated to include any iteration of this piece in the previous features due to its relevance being more toward the series as a whole rather than the given entry within which it was contained. In some ways, its the perfect piece for this purpose; its relative simplicity lends itself to customization without risk of losing its core features, allowing it to always represent aspects of both the franchise and specific iteration. My personal favorite is FFVI's, but FFX's showcases more strongly how versatile the piece can be. I left out FFVII's for being too similar to FFVI's, but in compensation I can utilize it for the other major leitmotif of the series: the "Chocobo Theme". This one have far less thematic relevance, but is nonetheless considered iconic, and lets me wrap up on a lighthearted note. FFVII had several iterations of this piece, so I've just gone with my favorite out of them (even if it isn't necessarily the best representation of the motif).

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. 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. 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.

Final Fantasy X marked a significant change for the series's music, this being the first entry to feature additional composers. Most of the soundtrack is still Uematsu's work, but with several arrangements and additional compositions from Junya Nakano and Masashi Hamauzu. The platform this time around was the Playstation 2, and it's at this point I begin to question the absence of live instrument performance. So many of these tracks are obviously VSTs, and while there isn't technically anything wrong with that, by this time the hardware should have been able to handle more, and the series certainly had the necessary clout to justify it. I hesitate to assume this to be a conscious decision on the part of the developers; more likely there's simply more to the process then I'm aware of. The soundtrack itself is significantly subdued overall compared to the previous entries covered. While this fixes the cohesiveness problem I mentioned in FFVII, I feel this goes too far in the other direction, lacking sufficient range for such a large collection. That being said, individual track quality is still impressive. I've deliberately avoided using final boss themes for these features, and I'll continue to do so here, but I felt this iteration was particularly well suited as a musical point of culmination. I also mustn't neglect to mention the primary leitmotif the pervades throughout the soundtrack, that being of Zanarkand, which serves to tie the music together with the story in an exemplary way.

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. 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. 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.

Before this week's Musical Discoveries post, I have a few miscellaneous VGM tracks I want to share. I'm thinking giving Fracture Features a more off-schedule function, so that I can share the little discoveries without needing to wait for an available slot.

Final Fantasy VII remains one of, if not the, most legendary video game releases of all time. I say "legendary," because while other titles may be more iconic, influential, or even prolific, I can't think of any that are held in such high esteem outside their general fandom. Well beyond the playerbase, there is an almost reverent familiarity with the characters, important moments, and music of this game. Uematsu was once again in charge of this soundtrack, which was adapted for the PlayStation system, but may have begun composition with the SNES still in mind. While the instrument sampling is more clear, it still retains an artificial sound that must be worked around to achieve the desired effect. Genre variety is more obvious, either because of the aforementioned sound improvements or possibly due to further experimentation by Uematsu. This works in the game's favor, allowing better tone and mood capturing through the music, but also weakens the soundtrack's cohesiveness as a collective work. For this reason, I think I prefer FFVI's OST, even as I acknowledge FFVII's as being the more technically superior production.

I appreciate that you made this statement; sudden cessation of activity can imply a variety of concerning situations, so I'm glad that wasn't the case here. God bless you, whatever happens next.

This thread had several reading recommendations: Genre-wise, I don't read as much sci-fi compared to other categories, so I'm a bit lacking in recommendations there. Closest I could get would be Frank Peretti, and I would not recommend his work to just anyone; maybe check out the Cooper Kids series, if you don't mind younger-level reading (but skip the first one). I remember being impressed by Ender's Game, but I felt it would have been better as a more self-contained work instead of a set-up for a series; take that as you will.

Mochi.Rin - A Sky Dyed Scarlet I feel a bit guilty about this one, but figured if I was ever going to try this experiment then there weren't many other options that would suit it better. This is supposedly a remix of Sunny Milk's Scarlet Mist Incident, which itself was a remix of Sunny Rutile Flection and U.N. Owen was Her? combined into a single piece. The latter is among the most recognizable motifs in the entire franchise, so it shouldn't be that hard to hear it in an arrangement, even a more experimental one. As it is, I can't hear anything of either piece, much less the combo version. I've sometimes wondered about the quantity of "faked" remixes, where the arrangement is more inspired-by than adapted-from. What do y'all think? ??? - 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. Mon Mari (Monmari?) - Star Voyage 2008 It was between this and a heavier rock arrangement, and between the two this seemed more in keeping with the spirit of the original (but it was close). Didn't find as many remixes as I'd hoped too; does that mean I get to call it an underrated piece? BTW, I've technically skipped over a piece, but only because I'm saving it for later; I also doubt anyone remembers it anyway, considering its placement.

Yea, shipping tends to be the real cost of these purchases. I use Japan Rabbit to expand my options, and hold off on orders until I can get a couple different products from the same seller. Booth is also an option for some digital albums that don't make it to iTunes, but their payment system doesn't always cooperate with me, making them an unreliable supplier. I wish more doujin circles would make their projects available through western-friendly services, but I also can't really blame them for not doing so. _______________ In relation to today's OGM feature: The moment I heard Decisive Battle, I noted its similarities to another piece that had no association with it. Sure enough, I wasn't the only one. Lemming - Himorogi, Burn in Decisive Battle

While it may seem hasty to follow up FFI with Final Fantasy VI, I only get five features total for this month, and there's a lot of ground to cover. Uematsu returns, this time composing for the SNES (though not for the first time), the sound system of which supported instrument sampling. I've had difficulty in the past appreciating the style of music made for this system; many composers would attempt to replicate an orchestral sound, but fail to balance the layers, seeming to prioritize instrumentation over tone. I suspect this was a consequence of system limitations being better than ever before while still unable to match ambition. In my opinion, the best soundtracks composed according to their limitations, adopting a unique style for the system. That being said, FFVI has surprised me in that it seems to do both. Many parts of the soundtrack are clearly inspired by cinematic orchestral arrangement, but succeed where other attempts have failed by keeping the melody clear and the atmosphere consistent. At other times, arrangements utilize a wider range of options for the system, incorporating and even relying on sounds that are very un-orchestral to achieve their tone. Perhaps in the several years it's been since I last tried this soundtrack I've become more acclimated to its sounds; regardless of the reason, I appreciated it much more this time around. I should also note the strong usage of leitmotif throughout the soundtrack. I don't claim to be especially skilled at recognizing leitmotifs, but there were enough obvious ones here to alert my attention. Every main character has a unique theme, and many of these motifs are integrated into other pieces, presumably for the relation of events to character arcs. I don't normally hear the technique used on this scale, and I'm not sure I'm capable of representing it here, but it impressed me nonetheless.

I want to finish this, especially after the hassle I had just to listen to the latest album (almost feels like I'm being gatekept by ZUN himself ). First, though, a note about the "eras;" from my introduction to the series, the separation between the "Classic," "First Modern" and "Second Modern" eras had confused me to some extent. As far as I can tell, the distinction refers to the games specifically, and technically has nothing to do with the music (although there may be some argument out of the Classic Era). I found them useful for the purpose of dividing up the series, allowing for easier compartmentalization, especially for this topic. However, as their seems to be no signs of a Third Modern Era being declared, the Second is becoming too large for my purposes. To keep things organized for myself, I have begun internally considering a division between Touhou 17 and 18, completely arbitrarily. This has no effect on anyone else, nor indeed on the task at hand, but it was on my mind as a curiosity, so I decided to share it anyway. Touhou 18 ~ Unconnected Marketeers Hard to believe this is three years old already. I'm not sure how accurate my perception on this is, but it seems to me this soundtrack gets undeserved flack, and I have no idea why. It's not necessarily one of my favorite collections, but it's far from being among my least favorites, and continues to deliver on exactly what I love about Touhou Music. I do see signs of ZUN experimenting with his instrumentation; this is technically nothing new, but perhaps it's more obvious here, resulting in others taking more notice of it? Regardless, I appreciate the more experimental tracks as much as the more standard ones. Personal picks here are The Perpetual Snow of Komakusa Blossoms and A Fantastic Giant Underground Railway Network; it's tough to favor these over the boss themes of Chimata and Momoyo, but overall I think this album's style shows more strength in the stage themes. Touhou 17.5 ~ Gouyoku Ibun ~ Sunken Fossil World This is the first entry to not be primarily composed by ZUN or Akiyama, instead featuring the talent of Shun Daimon, a.k.a. ziki_7. I was initially worried I'd fall into comparing ziki's style to U2's, but thankfully I didn't experience that tendency and was able to appreciate it on its own merits; and merits it has! There's a stylistic theme going on throughout the album connected to the game's setting, just subtle enough to avoid restricting genre exploration while still supplying a unifying character. Realizing this made the whole collection really engaging for me, especially in tying the remixes in with the original tracks. Love-Colored Master Spark stood out to me immediately, and it's still the track I listen too most out of the album. ZUN's contributions were slightly less impressive to me; I'm all for reutilizing one of the best motifs from T17 into a more epic boss theme, but by doing it twice I think he unintentionally shortchanged both the new iterations, making them too reliant on each other. That may perhaps be why I prefer ziki's arrangement of Memento of the Avaricious Beast over either of them, even though I'd have said Memory of Fossil Energy otherwise. I wish there were more of those original compositions, but I'm still grateful for what is included; I'll highlight Law of Heaven, Desires of Man as honorable mention. ZUN's Music Collection Vol. 9.5: Rainbow-Colored Septentrion What's to say about this one that I haven't said for its predecessors? Neither arrangement is significantly different from its original, although I do appreciate Illusionary White Traveler having an ending. The Wolves of Nanatsuishi Dash to Seize the Clouds is a good piece, but I'd have preferred it to have more unique companions. Touhou 18.5 ~ 100th Black Market I'm slightly prejudiced against this entry only because it didn't have a silhouette-art cover variant, being the only game in the entire series to lack it (even ULiL's DLC had a unique silhouette-art cover!). That aside, this is an excellent addition to the spin-off soundtracks. It's comparable to T12.8 in organization, specifically in that it has unique boss themes, which is unusual for these titles. Despite this novelty, I still lean toward the stage theme Black Markets Can Happen Anywhere, Anytime as my favorite, simply as a fun motif jovially presented. Touhou 19 ~ Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost As a phantasmagoria-type, this release had me hopeful for some ZUN arrangements; my expectations weren't too high, given he doesn't usually change much (see MC9.5 above), but with the varied cast reveal I had at least hoped for some upgraded older themes and perhaps even a fixed version of Avaricious Beast. In this respect I was admittedly disappointed, and I can't think of a single remixed track that impressed me from this collection. The new themes, however, were another matter. Tiny Shangri-La gets early mention here, and I promise it isn't just because of the erhu; it's more how perfectly the piece is composed with the unique instrumentation in mind! For comparison, I offer Kingdom of Nothingness for honorable mention as a continuation of T18's experimental styles; the pieces motifs and progression structure are designed to some extent around the instrumentation, favoring smoother transitions between notes and less movement through the bridges, allowing the flavor of the piece to be in that instrumentation. On the other hand, The World is Made in an Adorable Way is a more standard composition, but for all that I think I prefer it over the final boss theme for casual listening. ZUN's Music Collection Vol. 10: Taboo Japan Disentanglement Yep, I found a way to listen to it, despite the best attempts of unidentified entities to thwart me. To those who have similarly managed to experience this inexplicably forbidden album, can we agree that the Tinkerbell of Inequality is the most bizarre piece of music ZUN has ever composed? I'm not sure if I appreciate it or not, mainly because I suspect that's the entire point of the track. Regardless, it deserves honorable mention for novelty at least. Personally, though, I much preferred The Lonely Road of Hitachi, which features some of the same kind of experimentation in its staggered notes, but with a much less chaotic result. Who knows, though; in a couple months, as I acclimate to this album, my opinion may flip. Whether it does or doesn't, I suspect my enjoyment of Ghosts Exist Even When It's Not Night will remain unaffected; simultaneously a calm reflective piece and an actively journeying piece, both elements are presented as separate yet cohesive. Additionally, I want to note the arrangements of this album, which are unusually good, to the point where I'm not prepared to highlight a specific one. With that, the list is finally caught up! A quick note for individual release tracks that don't fit into this format: Touhou Unreal Mahjong has two original compositions of ZUN's, one being Curious old Shanghai tile and the other being Shinki's theme from another game, and the collaboration album Touhou Sound Fireworks featured a ZUN track called Every Day a Red Day ~ Folksy Touhou Days. I also realize I didn't include Akyuu's Untouched Scores in this ranking, thereby excluding Theme of Eastern Story. There may be others I'm forgetting; should Charming Domination ~ Speed Fox! count? Seihou was excluded intentionally, as I figured it ought to be considered as derivative. Despite the long breaks I've taken with this idea (and how long it takes to write each post up), I genuinely enjoy doing this, and with the remix tournaments no longer active I don't get to do it as much. I may continue with reviewing some miscellaneous derivative works the way SoundOfRayne did; we'll see how I feel about it later.

A lot of releases happened last week (mainly due to the event), and I wanted to highlight a few of them while they're still fresh. ssbbmaster - le moineau de nuit This is part of the new 11th Hour album. Everything I could say about ssbbmaster, I've already said before; he's still one of my favorite orchestral arrangers in the fandom. Yiter - Old Yuanxian (with album attached) +TEK released "the fourth and the last" of his masterful chiptune albums, which collectively contain some of my favorite Touhou arrangements of all time. As with the previous album, this is a collab with arrangements from other artists included. Yiter in particular has a similar style to Rumya, in as much as it reminds me of Rivals of Aether, and I'm a big fan of that. Honorable mention to +TEK's Bad Apple!! arrangement which seamlessly combines the motifs of the original and its infamous remix. Nightcord at 25:00 - Bad Apple!! Speaking of Bad Apple!! . . . I'm inclined to consider remixes of the remix as a-dime-a-dozen, not for any lack of quality but simply for how many of them fail to stand out from the rest. This one stands out to me because of the names attached to it, which are too many to fully record here. It seems like a proper revival project, rather than a remaster or rehash, and I respect that.

Went to my first ever concert recently; it was exceptionally loud, even for what I was expecting, but it was also decently fun, and I really enjoyed the music. Rend Collective is a lot more active on stage then on video apparently (or maybe that's the benefit of having control over perspective), and their antics appealed to my appreciation of Irish culture. The standout performance was Let it Roll, and while the video I found later doesn't quite to it justice, it's close enough.

Thinktank - Shrine at the Foot of the Mountain I prefer to know the lyrics to a vocal song, but I can't make these out and I can't find a transcription anywhere. It seems to have minimal effect on the arrangement, so I'm letting it slide. I feel like this kind of rock is less common in Touhou arrangements, but maybe I'm just passing over them. SOUND OCTA - The Lords Give Us Blessed Rain ~ Sylphid Dream While the source album is credited to the circle SJV-SC, said album is a collaboration project, and this specific track is more properly credited to SOUND OCTA. I wish there was a better upload, but I'll take what I can get. This is a very nice blend of jazz and synth, perfect for these post-game pieces. Novaneo - Player Score ~ Pure Lunacy This pick was difficult, because I have so many other options from various fan projects, all of which sound so similar as to lack significant distinction. The decision rests primarily on this being a fresh discovery remaining true to the simplicity of the original. Which iteration of the motif came first: Player Score, or Suwa Foughten Fields?