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Raiders of the Lost Remix Tournament

buskerdog

buskerdog

Onshi
It's about time. Since it is once more my turn to host, I am once again going against the tradition of naming the thread after a Star Wars reference, although this time you still get a Spielberg* reference, so I'm kind of following the tradition?... We're gonna run out of Star Wars references soon, anyway

*Realising the things these films have in common is George Lucas, not the director... this is why you can't talk to me about film

To anyone who has no clue what this is I'm going on about, the remix tournament is a recurring forum game we run on this here site. The idea is to share Touhou remixes and then rate and rank them in a very non-competitive nature. Each participant will PM me three Touhou remixes, and then when everyone's ready I will drip feed them 3 at a time into this thread, keeping each submission anonymous to the person who submitted it, and everyone will rate the songs in the post. Repeat until I've posted all songs, and then I average together all the scores and that's the remix tournament!

If you want to participate, simply state your interest in this thread, and then PM me your three remixes of choice. Try to avoid something that has appeared in a past tournament. Sign-ups will be open for about a week, then we can get started. The objective of the remix tournament is to share cool music, so don't take it too seriously! However, do try to show up to each round to leave your ratings and opinions.

I think that's summarised it neatly. Any questions, just ask here!

Current entrants:

@Tenkko 
@CountVonNumenor 
@Ken Hisuag 
@Shionne Imeris 
@Gou the frog 
@Drunken_Flower
@sodaodaoda

 
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I wanna join again too. I really liked the remix tournament back in summer. I just need to decide what songs I will bring forward this time though...

 
I am here. Forgive me for my late response.

BTW, make sure to make an announcement on Discord for the regulars that aren't on the site proper too often. Also, announcing the tournament through the chatbox seemed to have quite the positive effect last time, so consider that as well.

 
Sorry for the wait. I'm keeping entries open for just a bit longer since soon will be a convenient time for me to commit to this, then we can get started.

I'm actually not sure if I myself am going to be adding any submissions this time. I know that sounds a bit disappointing, but I've been so incredibly busy lately that doujin music isn't exactly something that's been on the front of my mind... I'll make an effort though!

 
I apologize all for the delay, time really flew by me. But, I did in fact manage to select submissions of my own in the end which I really like ; )

Now, I have kept you waiting much too long. Let's get this show on the road.


Spoiler

KISIDA KYODAN & THE AKEBOSI ROCKETS - Beautiful Diver




 
Alright, time to review these 3!

1. KISIDA KYODAN & THE AKEBOSI ROCKETS - Beautiful Diver
A really funky arrangement! I like the rhythm it has. The vocals weren't my thing at first, but as the song went on, they grew on me.
The only real complaint I have is that I wish that the guitars were a bit quiter, and that the piano was louder, but other than that, it was great!
8.5/10

2. Boga - The Doll Maker of Bucuresti (EoSD Arrange)
BOOOOOOOGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love their arrangements so much! They're awesome! And this one is awesome as well!
Doll Maker of Bucuresti is slowly starting to be my favorite Touhou song ever made, so the fact that this arrangement makes it sound like it's from my favorite Touhou game ever makes it even better.
Only thing is, it does sound kinda empty to me, compared to EoSD's OST at least, could me just me tho. And I do kinda prefer the original to this. ^^;
9/10

3. TATAMI STUGIWO - Dance of the Poisoned Candy
Oooh, holy hell, this one's cool as fuck.
There's something so nostalgic about Christmas songs to me, and the fact that this song combines some of the most nostalgic sounding Touhou songs (Komachi's theme, Yuuka's theme) with nostalgic Christmassy songs really hits it home. xd
I could imagine myself eating cookies and going out in snow while listening to this. :KoishiXD:
9.5/10

 
oh quite a strong start

KISIDA KYODAN & THE AKEBOSI ROCKETS - Beautiful Diver

Talk about the original music for a moment.
A World of Nightmares Never Seen Before is quite underrated, i quite happy there's some attention to it.
The melody is.. yeah quite generic in Touhou really, it's easily memorable but doesn't stand as much.
The star of the track is that short bassline and it's the best throughout the franchise.

Now about the arrangement.
Love the band rock feeling, not super polished nor perfect digital sound, knowing them it is recorded together (i assume).
The vocal reminds me of ONSEN PROJECT, I'm sorry i haven't put much attention to these 2 bands, but they are on the list.
Contrary to the previous comment, i feel the mastering is perfectly fine.
None of the instruments are fighting each other, though i do feel the vocal is quiet at some parts especially when she needed to scream, but mostly it's fine~.

My favorite this round 9/10
would repeat a lot

Boga - The Doll Maker of Bucuresti (EoSD Arrange)

Ok i need to say that EoSD instruments choices aren't the best, the strings are very muddy, it lacks contrast.
I would recommend if you want to make music from the same era, try DiPP,
it's almost the same but with better piano and strings, perhaps the mastering as well?
and even more it should've fit better for Alice.

There's nothing wrong with the arrangement, i mean it's a carbon copy with different instruments.
if you looking for faults in the context of this tournament it's the lack of re-arrangement.
wait.... don't say they use the midi file from the game.... I'm... gonna assume it's not. sus
yes there was a midi support for older games.

6/10 nice
above average

TATAMI STUGIWO - Dance of the Poisoned Candy

Dance of Sugar Plum Fairy is one of my favorite classical music, can confidently say it's in the top 10.
I also like Poison Body, it is a really special arrange, everything it arranges to always came out as malicious song even if you use cheerful tones, the more cheerful you want to make it the more uneasy it will be.
And combined with Sugar Plum Fairy that depicted as serene and curiosity,
it emphasized the malicious feeling, the fear of malicious child. (i may or may not have fear of porcelain dolls)

At first i thought the track is just two songs played in succession,
since the first minute is just pure Sugar Plum Fairy and then the minute after is Poison Body.
But finally at the later half of the video they started to mix them together.
And as i said before it does emphasize Poison Body potential, who could've guessed sugar made poison more potent.

Slightly mixed feeling with the slow part with Flower Land, i feel something is missing during the transition i can't point out why.
The addition of River Styx and Sixty Years is quite nice, doesn't leave that as much impact as Flower Land but nice addition.
If you see it from story perspective it does makes quite a solid piece.

As for quality, it peaks at some part, quite ear grating. Idk if that's compression issue or instrument choice or mastering issue.

i'd rate this 8.5/10
would willingly choose to listen from start till the end but won't repeat indefinitely.

 
Alright here we go

1. KISIDA KYODAN & THE AKEBOSI ROCKETS - Beautiful Diver

Kishida is I think one of the first music groups I found, completely by accident. Still love them, really big fan of the tone they go for with the drums and guitars, and ofc ichigo's vocals are so damn good. I think they really shine in more laid back songs like this. Also A never before seen world of nightmares is a favorite of mine so this was an easy pick.

Drunken_Flower said:
The vocal reminds me of ONSEN PROJECT, I'm sorry i haven't put much attention to these 2 bands, but they are on the list.
Click to expand...
ONSEN PROJECT has an acoustic version of this, also sung by ichigo (sneaks in a 4th entry)

Anyways, 9/10

2. Boga - The Doll Maker of Bucuresti (EoSD Arrange)

Oh shit Boga. Always loved the EoSD/DiPP style with the detuned instruments, I wish ZUN had done more of it. But this dude really nails that style so I guess it's as close as we'll get. Though there's really not much more to this one than what the original already brings, and it doesn't help that The Doll Maker of Bucuresti always gets overshadowed by Alice's actual theme for me I'm sorry.

7/10

3. TATAMI STUGIWO - Dance of the Poisoned Candy

mmhm, interesting combo. I saw the name and the "christmas" in the title and expected it to be just Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and then Medicine's theme kicks in and I'm like "oh shit here we go". It's neat, I don't know what else to say about it. Mixing in the melodies of Yuuka and Komachi's theme in there is interesting, reminded me I need to go re-read PoFV stuff at some point. Had to turn down the volume for that last part, I don't know if it's Youtube compression or if it's actually compressed to shit but, ow.

7/10

 
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1. KISIDA KYODAN & THE AKEBOSI ROCKETS - Beautiful Diver

This song has been quite a nice way to open the tournament. It is rather rare to see an arrangement based on A World of Nightmares Never Seen Before (the only other one I know is Sadomasochism from Akatsuki Records), and this one is quite a welcome addition. The only nitpick I can come up with, in the lack of a musical culture, is one that basically should not really be addressed. I found it odd that a song associated with Hecatia had the background image containing Doremy Sweet. Is there something I am missing? Is the Extra stage of LoLK happening in the Dream World?

No matter what, I will rate this song 8.5/10

2. Boga - The Doll Maker of București (EoSD Arrange)

This one has been an interesting pick. Initially, I have listened to this song at the recommendation of @sodaodaoda last summer, and I quickly fell in love with it. I am not really the greatest fan of EoSD (don't get me wrong, I still like the game, but for me PCB creates a greater nostalgia as it was my first direct contact with the games), but I appreciate the direction of the music from that era. Therefore, combining the unique music approach of the EoSD/DiPP era with a theme from PCB, it sure felt like something I really wanted to share. Also, is it wrong that I may greatly prefer The Doll Maker of București over Doll Judgement? 

Like last time, I will not offer an official rate of my own upload in order to be devoid of bias. But if I have to give it a grade, I would give it a 9/10 purely on the feelings it creates for me. If a song can make you interested in a character, then it means the song has something special. 

3. TATAMI STUGIWO - Dance of the Poisoned Candy

I really appreciate the classical music opening. And then we are slowly getting into the Touhou section of the song... Personally, I am extremely unfamiliar with Medicine's theme (but to be honest, it is pretty much the same about most themes from PoFV besides Yuuka, Komachi and Eiki's themes). But is always nice to explore new things. And from what I see, the classic music (correct me if I am wrong, but is it from The Nutcracker?) combined very nicely with the PoFV theme. And now I am at the Flower Land part. Always nice to have a little bit of Yuuka thrown into the mix, yet had a little bit of a hard time identifying the River Styx and Sixty Years segments fragments Drunke_Flower was talking about. The ending is quite energetic though, very upbeats, and it will make sure you are awake if you fell asleep (it sure gave me some energy while writing this). 

Anyway, this is also a good song, so I will rate it 8.5/10

 
Merry Christmas! I'm breaking my own rules today because I feel guilty for being unable to get this out earlier; it is done now.

Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets – Beautiful Diver
Somebody I know.

To get some of the more obvious things out of the way: This is a quality arrangement, and of a relatively rarer theme to boot. I only discovered this circle fairly recently, but I’ve been consistently impressed with the musical arrangement and instrumentation; it’s a rock style with elements of jazz, but arranged in the style of eastern pop. While not technically unusual, in this case it is done with uncommonly high-quality production, putting it on a level with GET IN THE RING or Liz Triangle. As for the vocals, they compliment (and are complimented) admirably by the arrangement, and are of similar standard.

Now getting into the complications: It is important to me to locate the lyric translations for vocal songs when possible, to better understand the piece’s presentation. This can be both a benefit and a determent, depending on the song; in this case it was a bit of both. On my initial listening, I was put off by the abrupt ending, which seemed to mess-up the otherwise serviceable progression. However, this turns out to serve a thematic purpose in conjunction with the song, representing the unendingness of the situation being sung about. In this way, knowing the lyrics improved my perception of the arrangement.

On the other hand, the tone of the lyrics seems at odds with that of the music. The song would depict an emotionally despairing situation, regretful acceptance of an equally unnecessary and unrelinquishable resentment. In context of the accompanying music, one might interpret the tone as apathetic, ultimately making light of the circumstances and downplaying their impact. However, I do not have the impression this was the intended inference, primarily both for the implications of the ending and for the style of the vocal performance. I perceive a bitterness in the song, a resentment directed inward against the singer’s own outwardly directed resentment, i.e.grudge against own grudge, aware of the hypocrisy but failing to discern a rectification. Regardless of the intended meaning, the conflict between the music and lyrics results in unnecessary confusion for the attentive listener.

In conclusion, it’s a great arrangement, though it does not especially stand out to me yet (give it a couple more listens). 7.6/10

Boga – The Doll Maker of Bucuresti
A zunish entry.

It never occurred to me for a EoSD style remix to appear in a tournament; as such remixes go, this is a fairly good one. The nature of the soundfont makes it easy to mess up and make oppressively obnoxious, which this piece does not do; the sound substitutions were handled well, resulting in a very clean mix that is faithful both to the source piece and the replicated style.

The biggest drawback is that it’s more of a cover than a rearrangement; there’s little to no creativity in its composition. There’s nothing technically problematic with this, and it’s still nice to listen to, but after the previous entry it seems a bit bland. That my initial perceptions of the piece are so influenced by outside factors is unfortunate, but difficult to ignore.

Pleasant and professional sound, but not particularly interesting. 6/10

TATAMI STUGIWO – Dance of the Poisoned Candy
Christmas crossover!

I respect the timing of this, and considering the temptation of gimmicky alternatives this is a surprisingly well-arranged (and well-constructed) option. While the Sugar Plum Fairy sections are clearly defined from the remix proper, there is still clearly a guiding idea for their rectification that is accomplished fairly skillfully. For the imagination alone, this is my favorite piece thus far.

The weakness in this arrangement is the unfortunately audio quality, made all the more apparent by the contrast between the remix sections and the much cleaner sounding clips. The virtual instruments simply can’t measure up to the professional orchestra recordings, which is a shame because the piece had otherwise accomplished the harder task of cleanly transitioning between the two in the arrangement itself. This may be a harder thing to overlook for some, but thankfully it’s not quite so bad that I can’t still appreciate it.

Creative idea executed decently. 8/10

 
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1. i know this group obviously however never really listened to them too much.

overall instrumental is quite nice, tempo is a little too slow for my taster however. Vocal isn't my favorite, quite mediocre actually however i do really enjoy the guitar parts like 2:30

overall it would be a 6/10 for me


2. i do not know the artist but it's a quite nice style they got there, it's quite similar to ZUN's however it's not quite the same and it's overall pretty solid. Alice theme is also pretty solid which makes it a pleasant experience

i would rate it 7.5/10


3. now this is quite creative piece of medi's theme it got a little bit of these eerie vibes which makes it really enjoyable, instruments blend really well together, however sometimes i feel like pitch of some is getting too high and a little too loud compared to the rest and it makes it worse even though it complements the style of the song.

still really good though 8/10

 
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