10: O-Life Japan -
The Truant Boss's Time to Charge
Good ole' O-Life, as unusual as ever.
I struggle to find a proper word to describe this piece. It's too active to be ambient, and has too little direction to be anything else; "rambling" comes to mind, but that doesn't make any sense. The oriental folk is strong, but offset by the traditional orchestra elements, synthesized percussion and whatever-you'd-call-the-beeping-instrument. I'm reminded of
Hiveswap at some points, and
Okami at others, but not as a hybrid of those styles; this arrangement doesn't really fit in any specific genre. But it's uniqueness is less experimental and more comfortable, presenting itself and fully intentional in its oddities without trying to be odd. Ultimately, I don't think I have much to say about it, but I did like it; even though it's lacking real buildup, it doesn't drag or even risk dragging, managing to remain calmly engaging throughout.
If this is my lowest score so far, it's only because it has been such a good tournament. 7/10
11: shtm1 -
The Perpetual Snow of Komakusa
Just when I'd started complying the tournament entries into a playlist . . .
I doubt any of us have had the time to familiarize ourselves with this theme to the same extent of older Touhou pieces, though the high quantity of remixes may have helped. As stated in the previous tournament, I'm not as big a fan of cover/transcription class remixes, of which piano arrangements more often than not are a part. There's nothing wrong with these remixes, and they are no more easy to do than the more interpretive kinds, but a big part of what I like about remixing in general is its potential to showcase differing perspectives on a musical piece. However, there is certainly a time for standard covers, and it's not impossible to get creative with these either.
This remix is not necessarily a cover, though it leans heavily in that direction. I had to bring of the original theme and listen to it a few times to determine what parts of this arrangement were directly inspired by it, and what elements were more interpretive. Despite my efforts, I'm still not as familiar with the theme as I'd like, so I'll try to be careful about my examinations. I perceive instances of adjusted style when a motif is repeated, allowing the second run of the motif to sound unique to its first; this is usually done through instrumentation, and the artist does a good job at adapting to the situation. Additionally, and though a little thing, I really appreciate the grace note in measure fourty-two; this was a very creative and audibly distinctive way of recreating the effect of the original theme.
There are two aspects that cannot be properly appreciated due to the medium of presentation, a.k.a. the MIDI limitations. Musescore is not a professional software, and thus has some understandable playback issues in regards to dynamics and ritardandos. When playing a piano, there is a certain degree of relativity to these articulations that require customization to properly program into a MIDI. I imagine this arrangement would sound better played on a real piano, where these articulations could be more capably interpreted.
Overall, I'm going to rate this 7/10 as well. I actually really like it, but the cover-leaning and poor MIDI playback leave a bit to be desired.
12: ESQUARIA -
Humanity
I am rather torn on this piece, but no more than the piece seems torn on itself.
Instead of explaining what I like first and then getting to what I don't, I'm going to start with the part that confuses me and then explain why. 1:04-1:55 could be completely cut out of the song, and the overall progression would be improved. I was so sure of this, that I decided to prove it.
Y'all know I don't like heavy EDM percussion solos overly well, but this particular instance clashed and even detracted from the surrounding parts. Note that I left in the identical section at the end; by that point in the arrangement, the climax of the piece has passed, and the heavy EDM percussion works as an epilogue.
I'd describe this arrangement as "cinematic EDM," in that it feels like a film score that changes moods according to the scenes it plays over. With this in mind, the sudden changes in style could be understood as scene transitions, or back-and-forth conversation and action sequences, etc. It would be for a sci-fi fantasy epic (though more in the vain of
Lord of the Rings than
Star Wars), and would play during the climactic finale.
The source motif is well integrated into the arrangement, and I wish it had better structure to take advantage of the scene it was setting. If it had proper buildup, this would have been a nine from me.
As is, I'm giving it 7/10.
Maybe I should start using decimals in future tournaments?
