i am a sord lol

So. Those of you who listen to me talk about Touhou music are probably well-aware of the love/hate relationship I have with IOSYS, arguably the largest (and certainly one of the most productive) Touhou dojin-circles out there. I have a small number of songs I absolutely adore by them, a large number I hate, and then a few outliers that I either hate lyrically but love musically (Convictor Yamaxanadu) or hate altogether but CAN'T GET OUT OF MY HEAD (Marisa etc. etc Precious Thing, FOE).

Well, I snagged a few albums in order to get some songs I do like (Convictor Yamaxanadu, Border of Death) and in listening to the other songs on said albums, I've come to a realization about why.

I love IOSYS when they're being serious. Technically, they're superb; they've got a good grasp of musical theory, how to properly 'construct' a song. A few of the vocalists they use have fantastic voices - 3L, the vocalist for Border of Death, stands as the shining example of them knowing exactly how to pick a voice to suit a song.

The problem is, IOSYS isn't serious any more. Their niche has been found, and it's in joke-vocals. Marisa Stole The Precious Thing was, thanks to its disgustingly earwormy qualities, was their first break-out hit; and after that, more and more of their songs/lyrics became jokey and less pleasant. The fact that their MAIN vocalist, miko, is like a chipmunk on acid, just adds to that factor.

I'm never quite sure if IOSYS makes the characterizations and the rest of the fandom picks up on it, or the other way around - I'm pretty sure Boob Envy!Shikieiki was around before Convictor Yamaxanadu, but I have no way of knowing if Marisa Stole etc. was the origin of Failice. It sure SEEMS that way, though, considering the song is basically one giant handbook on How To Poorly Bastardize Alice Margatroid, with a bonus chapter on Oontz Oontz.

That said, Touhou Otome Bayashi, their second album (aka the album that introduced Marisa/Thing) is really an example of how damn good they are. Out of four vocal tracks, they hit a 50/50 ratio (Marisa Stole is an obvious case of suck, and Keine's Drawing Song is probably the most painful vocals I've ever heard on a Plain Asia mix ever, but Border of Death is fantastic and Special Ability to Sneak Out etc. actually sounds like it would fit in nicely with a Katamari soundtrack, to its benefit) but then you realize that it's a twelve-track album - there's seven and a half tracks there (Mainly to Manipulate The Floor has typical techno vocals that don't really have any focus, think Daft Punkish) that show off their strengths with nonvocal stuff.

If you're the type to go for Touhou albums, give it a try sometime; it's a very hit-and-miss album, but the hits more than make up for the misses. Just don't expect later IOSYS albums to be your thing unless you really like Marisa Stole The Precious Thing.

BUT IF YOU HAVE ANY REMIXES THAT FALL UNDER THESE CATEGORIES, ALL THREE PEOPLE ON MY FLIST THAT LIKE TOUHOU, PLEASE SHARE. Also new icon but NOBODY CARES :V

List of Windows-Era Touhou songs I need to look into fan remixes of:
KEY:
*: already have remixes playlisted on Youtube/downloaded
!: already have remixes on hard drive/MP3 Player of some sort
?: Having particular problems finding a remix I like

6 - Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
Beloved Tomboyish Girl
Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea
Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17 (*)
The Maid and the Pocket Watch of Blood
Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial (*)
Septette for the Dead Princess (*)
UN Owen Was Her? (*)

7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom
Diao ye zong (Withered Leaf)
Mystic Oriental Dream ~ Ancient Temple
Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of Sumizome ~ Border of Life (!)
Necrofantasia (!)

7.5 - Immaterial and Missing Power
Demystify Feast
Night Falls ~ Evening Star

8 - Imperishable Night
Deaf to All But The Song
Love-Colored Master Spark (!)
Cinderella Cage ~ Kagome-Kagome
Voyage 1969
Flight of the Bamboo Cutter ~ Lunatic Princess (*)
Extend Ash ~ Hourai Victim (!)
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke

9 - Phantasmagoria of Flower View
Spring Lane ~ Colorful Path
Flowering Night (!)
Eastern Judgement in the Sixtieth Year ~ Fate of Sixty Years

9.5 - Shoot the Bullet
Sleepless Nights of the Eastern Country

10 - Mountain of Faith
The Gensokyo the Gods Loved
Fall of Fall ~ Autumnal Waterfall
The Primal Scene of Japan the Girl Saw (*)
Faith is for the Transient People (*)
Cemetary of Onbashira ~ Grave of Being (*)
Venerable Ancient Battlefield ~ Suwa Foughten Field (*)
Native Faith (*)

10.5 - Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
Crimson In The Black Sea ~ Legendary Fish
Catastrophe in Bhava-agra ~ Wonderful Heaven (*?)

11 - Subterranean Animism
Green-Eyed Jealousy (*)
Satori Maiden ~ 3rd Eye (*)
Lullaby of Deserted Hell
Sun Worship of Gnosis ~ Nuclear Fusion
Hartmann's Youkai Girl

12 - Undefined Fantastic Object
At the End of Spring
The Traditional Old Man and the Stylish Girl
Captain Murasa
Fires of Hokkai
Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind (*)

13 - Ten Desires
Night Sakura of Dead Spirits
Ghost Lead
Rigid Paradise

WHAT WE'VE LEARNED TODAY:

• I didn't give TH 10-12 the attention they deserved, musically
  
• Imperishable Night is still my favorite Touhou soundtrack, with EoSD and MoF not far behind.
  
• With exception of the 5th/final/extra boss themes, Mountain of Faith really did its stage themes far better than its boss themes.
  
• WHY CAN'T I FIND ANY GOOD NON-VOCAL REMIXES OF CATASTROPHE IN BHAVA-AGRA.

( also known as 'Sword spends too much time ranting about a weird Vocaloid song' )

arpkarpkarpkarpkarpkarpk pacapacapacapacapacawa-

DAY 8: Game With the Best/Most Original Soundtrack
Yeah, I had to go with a rhythm game here. I didn't go with anything that used licensed songs, however.

( Their weak spots are... uh... I forget! )

( The list )

HEY bottlemilk

REMEMBER WHEN I BITCHED ABOUT HAVING A COPY OF BAD ROMANCE WITH A CRAPPY RAPPING RAP GUY ON IT

turns out that the father-in-law is just terrible at looking for mp3s

and got one of the early demo leaks

zlololol burim exclusive, baby :(



Sometimes I wonder how I'm that much more net-savvy than a guy who used to do computer tech.


EDIT: seeing that this guy apparently does this with ALL of Gaga's songs, I figured I'd give him a little ten-minutes-in-GIMP tribute:



There you go. Antipiracy at its most obnoxious. ♥

Damn shame it's not less than 40k, since it's been BEGGING to be someone's LJ icon.

THIIIIIIIIIS IS A CASTLEEEEE

BUT IT'S NOT ROOOOOOOOOOY'S ONEEEE

grdhsgbvjjlbr

God damn it why do all the interwebs only have the english version of Twister (the Surreal Theme Tune of TWEWY) for MP3z?!

The Japanese version is infinitely more gooder.

Anyone out there able to help me out?

Yay letter W. :|
Comment to this post and I'll give you a letter. In your journal, list 10 of your favorite songs that begin with that letter. Then, post in your own, if you see fit.

1) Yasunori Mitsuda - World Revolution (Brink of Time remix)
Yes, the final boss music from Chrono Trigger. I love love love this song. <3 <3 <3. The especially brassy trumpets in the Brink of Time arrangement add a certain... odd flair to it that you grow to love.

2) Dragon Half - Watashi no Tamagoyaki
Nobody really knows who the singer of this song is, do they? I know the song itself rips off various pieces from Beethoven wholesale, but... a Japanese singer singing about omelettes and tomatoes... Perky-happy, which was just damn perfect for Dragon Half, and is probably one of my favorite animoo songs to date.

3) The Association - Windy
This song is from like the sixties, or seventies, or some other time when people loved each other and LSD. I don't know why I love this song so much, but it's very probably because of the lulz caused by mental images of putting a Card Captor Sakura AMV to this song.

4) Slipknot - Wait and Bleed
Yes, Slipknot is decidedly emo "I HATE YOU ALL GONNA GO SLIT MY WRISTS NOW :(" death metal. I know. However, due to events that have gone on in a RP I do recently, this song has found itself on my playlist frequently. And I can't help headbanging to it, dammit.

5) Nine Inch Nails - We're In This Together Now
Speaking of emo hate music... I first found this during a stint I had with deluding myself into thinking I was dating a lesbian even though it was online and I was confusing deep friendship style love for 'I want to marry you' love. Regardless, I've always thought this fairly...fitting for me at my worst.

6) Information Society - What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)
I love Sega. With the original run of Sega CD systems, SoA released a 'Rock Paintings' CD+G CD, which included (amongst other things) this song. This is pure late-80s/early-90s new age schmaltz, and I love it.

7) Chris Issak - Wicked Game
Man, where has this song gone? Back when I was younger, this used to be the ultimate 'get a girl wet for you' song if you could sing it like Chris.

8) Bon Jovi - Wanted, Dead or Alive
I'M A COWBOYYY ON A STEEEEEEEL HORSE I RIIIIDE

9) Duran Duran - Wild Boys
There aren't any other Duran Duran songs I have that start with W. I heart Duran Duran. And the song is a good example of how they were awesome back then. (Not that their stuff circa Astronaut is bad or anything!)

10) Green Day - Whatsername
At first I saw this as more of a 'bonus song' to the rock opera that is American Idiot, but now I think it's one of the most approachable, catchy songs on the album. Why, exactly, do people never play it on the radio? Why the hell did they focus on Wake Me Up When September Ends? Were they all SIVNIOGHRIO ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG 9/11 NEVAR FORGET? If so, I want to kick them.