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Musical Discoveries in Touhou Fandom


Ken Hisuag

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I begin to wonder if I'll finish the PC-98 era before year's end. I could of course calculate it out now, but there's no impact either way so . . .

Meylan - Illusion of a Maid ~ Icemilk Magic
A relatively short arrangement that nonetheless manages to make its point. Surprising variety in the instrumentation, specifically contrasting its piano intro and interlude with its chiptune hybrid sections; it contrasts well without breaking the flow.

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aKoidion - Cute Devil ~ Innocence
Not your standard solo instrument cover, this is a detailed arrangement from a skilled accordion player. It's not a simple matter to make a single instrument cover sufficient range to make up for the lack of accompaniment, and while the accordion is one of the few instruments capable of multiple simultaneous layers, I still consider this quite a find.

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Alstroemeria Records - DAYS / BEAUTIFUL MOMENT
Once again, I'm struggling to find remixes of this game's later tracks, aside from circles I'd previously utilized. I'm using this piece for Days because of the extra bit at the end, which I think adds a nice touch considering what the original piece is meant to be.

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To make up for that, here's a double-arrangement of Icemilk Magic and Cute Devil together:
Lowlands Blossom - Dreamy and Illusionary Twin Moons
Granted, this is more two separate remixes tacked together, rather than a proper combining of the themes.

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Yuuhei Satellite, feat. Shinra-Bansho & Shoujo Fractal - Connecting With You (Full Collaboration ver.)
What a big project for such an obscure track! Weirdly enough, while I appreciate both Yuuhei Satellite and Shinra-Bansho, I haven't found their collabs to be all that extraordinary compared to their standard projects. They are unique, though; perhaps this is the natural product of rectifying their respective styles? Personally, I think there's a different explanation, but I'm not willing to go too deep with it.

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SilentBird - Arcadian Waltz
Hi there, Gou! It's very fortunate that this exists, since I wasn't finding much for this piece otherwise. The original is rather chaotic in its energy, so this is a nice switch-up in comparison.

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AramiTama - Blooming Flower at the End of the World
Here's something unique; it reminds me of another piece from some time ago. I describe it as "loud ambience." Does anyone else find it mildly unsettling?

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zuikakup - Bizarre Romantic Story ~ Mystic Square
I was hoping for something unique for this track, and I believe I found it. Though seemingly a bit slow, this arrangement make up for it with atmospheric progression that fits the melody perfectly.

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Frost Fragment - Dream Express (Bittersweet Piano ver.)
While the original piece is relatively fast, I thought the melody would suit a more remorseful tone. This captured exactly what I was looking for.

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Paradise of Boundaries - Alternative Magic Formation ~ Magic Square (Arrangement - SA Style)
Quality option for this one were scarce. A fair deal of what I found was zunish, so I decided to go with the best option from that.

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Special Thanksgiving feature! I usually struggle to find something for this, but this year I found an entire EP of zunish compositions themed around autumn. I'm only posting one of the five tracks, specifically themed for the holiday itself.

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ProfPrac stated he composed in the style of Touhou 11; I find it odd he didn't go with 10 given the theme, but it works out alright.

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Last minute post!

Stygian Riverside - Dreamscope
The majority of arrangements I found for this piece were zunish remasters; this rock remix stood out.

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R3 Music Box - Spiritual Heaven ~ Spiritual Heaven
There were other options, but the music box seemed to fit this piece especially well.

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Komeiji Records - Romantic Children
This one I feel a bit guilty for; the artist clarifies in the description that this is less of an arrangement and more of a transcription. Nonetheless, there is a unique sound to this piece, and I appreciate it.

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Murasame Umbrella - Plastic Mind
The sound could be perceived as a bit messy, but less in an audio-quality way and more in an "intentional" sense. What surprised me most about this discovery was finding out that maritumix was associated with a larger circle.

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Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms (Ink-dyed Sakura) - Maple Wise
It's always a treat to find a creative arrangement of a less popular piece.

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DJ Abner - Forbidden Magic
I've never heard anything from DJ Abner that wasn't zunish, but I'm not surprised to discover his musical skills are more diverse.

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Something I love are calm songs, it always make me feel so good and get relaxed 

And I also love Touhou and it's soundtrack 

Then i found something like, jazz versions of Touhou music, I loved it! Is a album called Cafe de Touhou

It sounds great =D

R.gif.675558ef97c406a179f3e6f2ea771110.gif

Edited by _.Mevs
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Hi. it's me remember? yeah me neither.

It's been quite busy past few months, who thought having a substantial audience will take a lot of time.
in addition I've been grinding One Piece, biggest mistake of my life.
haven't even done a lot of music research, well i do found some interesting ones but mostly just my own taste.

I present thee

 

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mob_suika-export.gif.6d8d97d0ef2df024e56271e49c363436.gif🍺 BEER FOR THE BEER GOD!!!🍺 mob_suika-export.gif.6d8d97d0ef2df024e56271e49c363436.gif

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Sick last week, but I'm back now.

Bitawan - It's a Communist World!
The audio quality of the source video was a little better than this turned out; my decision to use this piece was determined specifically upon the original sound.

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Kinukawa T - Treacherous Maiden ~ Judas Kiss
The timing of this arrangement (as in its beat) is what attracted my attention.

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Nama Pan-ko - No Judgement
The audio quality of this one might also be a bit less than ideal, but the arrangement itself should justify it.

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Edited by Ken Hisuag

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  • 2 weeks later...

Happy New Year, everyone! It is my tradition to utilize an arrangement from my "reserved for tournaments" collection around this time, in celebration of the old year's end. I'm having a harder time with that this year, in that I don't want to give some of them up. It's irrational; I have far more than I'll ever be able to use anyway. It's too late (early?) to spend so much time deliberating; I hope this one fits the occasion sufficiently.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I took an unannounced month hiatus; between house re-org and work events, I needed the extra time.

M8 - Sad Doll ~ Waltz of Misery
I'm using the specific arranger's alias rather than the circle name because I can't find a proper translation (something like "Statue Sculptor"). For the piece itself: I always appreciate a piano arrangement that goes farther than the all-too-common melody transcription, even if it's just a creative accompaniment. Transposing it into a waltz, especially a more discordant track such as this, is a wonderful bonus.

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Conagusuri - Phantom
I wonder sometimes if my preferences in music are too evident in what I choose to feature; not because there's anything wrong with that, but because I try to find unique sounding tracks. I would consider this to be among my more unique discoveries.

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Arts&Sounds:Utopia - Legendary Illusion ~ Infinite Being
I've always struggled with this piece; I can hear a great deal of potential in its motifs, but the progression always seems to be lacking. Thus far, the best remix I've heard is the Pocket Wars version from the first remix tournament; for this feature, I wanted to find something else if possible. This one has a great buildup into the main piece, and the interlude goes a long ways to improving the overall progression. I still think it could stand a bit more "punch," though (also not a fan of the fade-out ending as a general rule).

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kimino-museum - Alice in Wonderland
I normally prefer low-energy arrangements of this piece, but this track reminded me of Lycoris Sound, and I didn't want to pass that up. The shift in tone/instrumentation halfway through is a little awkward, but both halves are equally well constructed and progression is kept consistent.

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maritumix - General Offensive
maritumix is one of the few consistently active artists who has a significant PC-98 catalog, but he's also one of my favorite Touhou arrangers, so I've avoided utilizing his work in favor of having him available for later features. Now we're nearly through the first era, and the time has finally come. Grimoire of Alice is a powerful piece, and I prefer it arranged to compliment and enhance that tone.

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I'm only doing two features this week instead of three, and I freely admit the reasoning to be petty. There's six tracks left to cover from Mystic Square, and I'd like to split them evenly between the next two posts rather than include something else in the latter. Plus, I like leaving these two pieces to themselves.

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nnrihito - Shinto Shrine 1
I'm assuming the uploader is the artist, since there's no indication of alternate source. This and the next piece were difficult to find, especially considering their unassuming titles. Song names got generally more interesting post-PC-98, so I'm hoping this won't be a problem for much longer.

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namapanko - End
The artist also arranged Shinto Shrine, but I considered this arrangement to be more interesting. The "stuttering" at the beginning is intentional; I initially thought my headphones were glitching out, but I respect the creative effect.

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Demetori - Eternal Paradise ~ Heart of the Sunrise
The timing of this track's release could not have been better. It's a very unusual style for Demetori (at least the Demetori I'm familiar with), but it's executed with the same degree of quality one would expect. I think it pairs well with the Shinto Shrine remix, too; both have the energy of an ending theme, but with the contrasting moods complimented by the differing instrumentation.

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I haven't been active in this thread lately, which is something I hope to change in the future, however for the moment now just isn't the time. I really should though, because @Ken Hisuag that Demetori was absolutely beautiful :TenshiCry:

Anyway, I'm just dropping by to say that I've been relistening to some Yuuhei Satellite and forgot how brilliant this song was. In fact, I think this might be the first Yuuhei Satellite song I ever listened to, although back then I didn't look up the lyrics. But now that I have, I realise that I actually really like the lyrical content as well as the music.

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Yuuhei Satellite - Evening Rain, a Hiding Place with You

 

 

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Kinukawa Tamaki - Mystic Dream
My insistence on transcribing artist names into something I can read is not always practical (nor always reasonable), but it helps me remember artists I otherwise would have forgotten.

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GUNFIRE - PEACEFUL ROMANCER
Not quite what I expected to choose for this piece, but the slightly hybridized style of eurobeat from an unfamiliar circle name caught my attention. Just as well; while there were plenty of other options, most of the best ones were from circles I've already used (some more than once).

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Madeleine - Soul's Resting Place
I know I've used this artist before, but it's been quite a while, and I liked the idea of having an oriental folk remix for this track; it fits quite nicely, and contrasts the other two features as well.

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ti - Hakurei Shrine Grounds
A not-quite-chiptune arrangement with a surprising degree of personality to it.

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Fuyuki Seana - atmosphere
I'm hoping this doesn't sound too compressed; it's a good arrangement, but the mixing could have been better (to be fair, it's an old track, and the artist seems to have improved since).

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mixtuti sakuramochi - Youkai-Sealing Finale
The filter effect on this keeps me waiting for the drop, but it doesn't. That combined with the ending makes this a most unusually styled remix, but in a way I appreciate the uniqueness.

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Shishimai Brothers - When the Whirlwind Blows
No idea what "Tsuji / 辻" translates properly to. I had almost given up on finding a unique arrangement for Winds of Time when I found this track, so it was very much appreciated.

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saiyoucho - Moonsoul
There's a bit of chord alteration in this arrangement; not enough to re-write the piece, but enough to adjust the tone in a way that works exceptionally well with the instrumentation.

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Gauche - Phantasmagoria
I didn't look very long for this one, the irony being too good to pass up. If you know you know; if you don't, the video's description will tell you.

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Edited by Ken Hisuag
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1 hour ago, Ken Hisuag said:

No idea what "Tsuji / 辻" translates properly to. I had almost given up on finding a unique arrangement for Winds of Time when I found this track, so it was very much appreciated.

Noun: "crossing, intersection". It's not a common kanji, however. Also, "crossing-wind" would not quite be the right translation because 辻風 is a single word - what you're looking for is "Whirlwind".

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