Doom music isn't meant to make you feel "good" necessarily. Instead, it's meant to keep pushing you forward. That's why it's so good as a workout or working play list. It helps to push you to do one more rep, one more worksheet, kill one more demon. And in that sense, the Doom soundtrack is absolutely genius.
@RobinsMusic that's perfectly valid. I don't want in any way to take that away from you or anyone else who feels that way. I know I do, too, when im playing doom. But that's not the stated intention by either the music or the composer. It's meant to be a driving force pushing you through the hordes of demons. That's all I was getting at.
this is the type of music that make you feel like you're unstoppable, you could have the whole universe against you alone, and still feel like you can win
Every time Garth says the music is samey and derivative my brain just goes "bring out the Ar Tonelico, and not the safer pieces the REALLY weird stuff". Especially since I know you don't really like or understand it, I think it might be what Garth's looking for, something he doesn't immediately understand and has to go "what is even going on here?". I suggest this because his responses remind me of the period when I was struggling to enjoy movies or books because I would correctly predict the entire plot within the first ten minutes due to my familiarity with the medium and genre. So maybe instead of playing your favourite songs which tend to lean more towards the classical and which he finds predictable, maybe go through your video catalogue and pull out the things you found weird or hard to get into instead.
Okay, so... I never actually took the time to listen to Ar Tonelico music before now. (Only came across this channel today.) And just from listening to a couple, I think I found a new soundtrack to add to my list of favorites. Thank you!
Your discussion on the loss of melody - I can't speak to film on this, but for videogames, some of the shift from melodic to ambient music seems to have been both a removal of technical limitations, and more gameplay loops that encouraged remaining in a specific area for longer periods of time. Technical limitations used to drive towards melodic music - If all you have are two pulse waves and a noise channel, and that's responsible for everything - including the sound effects - it's hard to do ambient music. Meanwhile staying in areas for longer, as tends to be the case with open world games, drives towards ambient music because ambient music tends to hold up to being played on loop for longer before starting to get repetitive.
...Also I think he asked you to send him chip tunes - or at least the weirder side of modern video game music - next time he's on at the end. Megolavania seems like an obvious suggestion, but the Plok boss theme, the entire soundtrack to NES Pictionary of all things (actually, let's lump those two together under 'Anything by Tim Follin' - although I'm not entirely sure how much his music would sell to people who aren't aware of the technical limitations of the systems he was working with), possibly something from the Jet Set Radio/Future soundtrack, the Guardian theme from BotW, possibly that one Pokemon song that samples another track from the soundtrack and plays it backwards, though that might be best presented in context of first hearing the town theme it's sampling and is clearly borrowing from horror film soundtrack tropes rather than doing anything unique but it's still pretty wild that you get that in a children's game (though early pokemon music does something that 'real' instruments struggle with, according to some analytical essays I've read about pieces from that franchise, so gameboy era Pokemon battle music might provide something for him) even some Splatoon music might be the 'different sorts of soundscapes' he's asking for (Particularly Salmon Run but that might just be my lack of context on what's going on in the realms of unusual time signatures outside of video game music)
The great difference between a classical musical work and a video game symphony is that the game led us on an adventure that we experienced. We failed, we triumphed, we experienced heartache, joy, anger, rage. And the music is a reminder, a symbol of the feelings and the journey. Something as simple as the overworld theme from Zelda, or the route music from Pokemon, can be so powerful because the context of the piece is in some ways unique for every gamer that experienced it. Imagine if the birth of your firstborn had a themesong playing in the background. Even if the themesong wasn't that technically amazing, the context of what was happening when you heard it makes it so much more compelling.
On the topic of context adding to the musical experience, I think about Vicar Amelia's theme from Bloodborne. The booming and crashing as the beast tries to crush you. The sound of nails scraping against stone as she tries to rend your soul from your body. The haunting screams and howls that ring out through the hall. A cacophonic mix of human and beast, hunter and prey, that portrays a feeling of desperation from both sides of the conflict. It made me wonder in my first playthrough; Who is the hunter, and who is the prey? I cannot separate these sounds from the music. They are forever linked in my mind. It's just as Garth said, it often feels like something is missing without the context.
Yes its literally missing a large part of the sound that added to the music - sounds of playing the game. It is a different medium, I think showing relavent clips for some of the games would probably assist with that...
Very observant and critical, but so open-minded about this stuff. Will definitely appreciate having Garth coming back whenever. I'd like to see how he handles video game music outside of the classical / orchestrated realm, as he requested at the end!
Garth best guest! I loved how you put him through more different stuff than last time, but I also see from the comments that you need to go even weirder. I'm really looking towards for a third round of this with even more out-there songs.
Music like that helps me gain some perspective. The hellscape you would be faced with in the Doom universe is nothing like what we are experiencing in our lives. Of course, suffering is to a large part subjective, based on whatever perspective you have in life and the amount of pain / stress tolerance that you have developed in life, or that you may have inherently. But shifting your perspective at least a little bit and tipping your toes into that world and mindset (the music being the vehicle for that, so to speak) can help you power through certain issues in your own life. At least that's my attempt to philosophize that process.
a soundscape is the perfect way to describe Doom (2016) soundtrack considering a lot of it is actually atmospheric in gameplay where the transition happens before and after combat
Also, thank you very much, to both Marco and Garth, for this treat. Despite having not a lot of songs that i am particulary fond of, ghis might have been the most interesting of these sessions for me :)
I wonder how he would react to the main themes of Helldivers 2, the genius of which is actually in its unoriginality and how it ignites every bit of nostalgia for military movies of the past.
15:16 The most recent I can think off the top of my head was Battle Los Angeles, that one had an over-arching theme to the movie score, the music was fantastic.
I love to see recurring guests, hope to see Garth on the show again, third time the charm, hope to have at least one track from the absolute legend Kobayashi included.
It's always great to have a harsher critique out there, especially since it looks like it's coming from a right place. I'll think of some tracks that might capture Garth's attention more, but it's great to have that diversity of guests and their approaches in your videos!
I went back and check the first time to see which song Garth had not had a chance to listen yet. Here are some recommendation: Zero (Ace Combat) - I don't think it would impress him musically, maybe? But I would like to see his take on a fusion of 3(?) music styles, and does he think they did well in that fusion. Flow (FF14) - It is probably not something new to him, but I would like to see his calm analysis of the song. If nothing else, maybe that would stop it from punching me in the feel every times I listen to it. I don't know if showing your (former) teacher something that moved you so much is something you feel like you are up for it; I get the anxiety of potentially having something that is very meaningful to you get a cold splash of water on it. Dance of the Cryptek (Mechanicus) - Could be a good jumping point for discussion of electronic mix with classical in a context where the two are supposed to be mix because of the amalgamation of religion and technology that is the Mechanicus. Would like to hear his opinion on how someone would write a piece about worshipping dues ex machina. Tenebre Rosso Sangue (Ultrakill) - An inverse of Mechanicus. Instead of worshipping the dues ex machina, this is anger toward dues ex machina. Ludwig (Bloodborne) - I would like to see his opinion of the transition from phase 1 (the beast) to phase 2 (the man) and the differences between the two. For me both conjured fear, but they are different kind of fears (horror vs danger). That is all I got, maybe Elden ring DLC will grace us with another fantastic piece, Dawn Trail too for that matter.
Part of me wants to see his response to Soken’s Flow, but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be impressed with it, which would kind be crushing cause even though he’s a stranger to me, the idea of a very experienced musical academic roasting one of my favorite game pieces that made me cry is too much to comprehend.
Not a game, but some of the tracks from the made in abyss ost explore some really crazy things musically. But since you're all about vgm, i can understand if you wouldn't be interested in exploring it. But I hope someday you can discover it even if it's by yourself.
Great stuff, though frankly I'm surprised The Unsung War didn't make into this one. Would have liked to see what your teacher's thoughts to that one was.
I loved his expression after just 2 seconds of time's scar. This realization that says : "Wait this is actually something to take serious not just some beeps and boops" and the immediate shift to paying close attention to what's to come.
30:00 My guess would be that John Williams gets a pass, because not only is the West more familiar with his works in general, especially the older generation, pre-videogames, adore his works. That is two factors coming together. Especially for the States, anything from outside that rivaled what was made inside was always looked at and even treated with disdain. Just look at the american localization of various Asterix movies. Adding extra lines and even narrators were there was none to explain what's going on on the screen, while originally the movies did not expect their audience to be mentally handicapped. Worse: In Operation Menhir (horribly renamed "The Big Fight", as american titling always has to focus on the violence aspect), they rewrote all the dialogue to be horrible and anachronistic puns - in an otherwise rather grounded movie. Discussions with my, also american, friends, blown away by the animation quality, led to the conclusion that this could have easily been the product of disdain for foreign animation rivaling Disney's at the time, and nobody from the outside can be allowed to compete with the local product. I can believe there is a similar arrogance about music. The old and known, as well as the locals, are treasured, and acknowledging what is going on in East Asia can feel threatening to one or the other brittle ego.
I think it's worth noting that risk aversion and uncertainty around novel media was and still is a major factor with studios, be that for film or games. Which is a significant part of the reason adaptations were often handled the way you're talking about. I'm just saying that while there absolutely was that attitude you're talking about for some, much/most of the time that was a product of market skepticism. Studios *assumed* media needed to be a certain way to work in the states, because of what it had been up to that point.
The way he looks at, and can break down as a teacher, even with something critical, or something he would never listen too, is nice. Hopefully he can do more, and can be open to some of the weirder ones haha
Garth is my favorite guest. I enjoy that he’s critical about music overall cause it shows he cares about this art. I also enjoy that he seems to want innovation. My interpretation from the little he shares is that this music seems to be stagnant. Some fresh ideas get mixed in but for the most part the big ideas tend to be derivative. Not to say being derivative and making something from it isn’t bad in fact it can be amazing but it can be predictable like a movie can be predictable. Sometimes it can be refreshing to go on a journey where you don’t know where and when things will shift and end. So why not make music for such a unique media truly shocking with different sounds and formats no one has thought of. Especially when the tools are so readily available to make whatever you want. All this said by someone with zero musical knowledge :) Anyways share your thoughts I’m curious if anyone agrees or disagrees with what I said.
it's interesting how he say that Doom is layered anxiety because as someone with anxiety i feel it's the total opposite. It makes me energized and motivated and kind of drop some of the anxiety and stress but to someone who doesn't have that constant anxiety it feels like it makes them anxious.
BFG Division sounds like they took pure rage and distilled it into music, definitely agree that it energizes you, makes you want to crush anything that gets in your way.
I'd love to see you show some of these guys Akira Yamaoka's works on the Silent Hill series. Some pieces are very psychedelic rock, some pieces are incredibly unnerving ambient music, some are somber and some are upbeat. It's very interesting at the very least
if you are looking for sugestions, the blue archive game for tablets and mobile actually has some pretty nice music. my favorite being unwelcome school, the song that plays whenever things get a bit... silly the piano solo does slap
I love Garth whenever he is on, he has a great mixture of a critical yet humble mind / personality. Basically the ideal teacher's personality, you might say. Or at least that's always the type of teacher that I appreciated and developed most under. And it's also a tough combination of emotions and aspects of the ego to get under the same roof. Too much (or unrefined) humility can make you uncritical and (mentally) impotent, and too much (or again, unrefined) criticalness can make you arrogant and narrow-minded.
Melodies, in my mind, are similar to lyrics in a song or words in a movie. If you need it to tell a story, do so. But sometimes, like in the Intro to Pixar's "Up", words would weaken what you want. Sometimes you need it, sometimes you don't. It depends. It's another tool to make what you want appear in a listener's mind.
Great views from Garth! Hope to see him return. Am I crazy, or does it look like his ceiling is about to collaps on his head?😅 Hopefully it's just lens distortion.
His room is not rectangular in shape. You can see that the wall on the left, the one with the hanged pictures, is slanted towards the back, so the perspective is creating an illusion, since the corner where the back wall meets the slanted one is directly behind Garth, so you think the ceiling is bent down instead of the right part of the ceiling being farther away.
@@bananeeek8376 That could be the case indeed. It doesn't explain the surface of the ceiling warping though (almost looks like ceiling draping). Anyways... Great reacting, with or without a straight ceiling😄
When I got into classical music I certainly felt sick and tired of pieces that are (EPIC ORCHESTRA MUSIC) where they essentially say nothing, but have sooo much just to sound big and loud and I feel like a lot of games soundtrack do do that.
I think that is because they're actively not saying something, the epic orchestra is basically supporting and uplifting the protagnist AKA the player character. You are the one who is saying something through gameplay and the orchestra is relegated to background music for the gameplay. I don't know if changing that would be better, worse or even appreciated by the people playing it. It would depend on the game I suppose.
I think that the use of leitmotif is actually what puts video game music above the rest. A concert can squeeze in a little bit. A stage play or opera can use a little bit. But a game soundtrack is often rife with it. Game music builds upon itself within one extended experience better than any other form of music I feel. That's something that a non-gamer cannot really ever understand without perhaps a guided experience through a single OST... Or several. Since Time's Scar has some hidden leitmotif from as far back as Chrono Trigger.
59:00 this guy is insanely skilled lmfao this basically a perfect run for the player, might have been better to show a normal player for a more realistic exprience. He made her look easy, she is insanely difficult lmao 😂 😭
Not gonna lie. Some more cutting, eccentric or overall unexpected sounding pieces might be a good listen both privately and for a video. Something from Witcher 1, 3 or Cyberpunk. Maybe a piece from Heroes IV, or ESO elsweyr DLC. Warframe (especially the newer songs), something from Stellaris or the main theme from Anthem. It's not here yet but the single song from Soulframe felt great too. Older WoW soundtrack tended to be more diverse (looking at Ahn'Qiraj) and on the Blizzard note, D4 was musically boring but Kyovashad has a nice somber music. Games like Humankind, Endless Legend and Endless Space II have marvelous "floating" music. BG3 is great but something like Rivellon theme from Divinity II might feel different enough. Enshrouded was a real surprise with its music. Much if not all of this comes from my own preferences of course.
@@sexmachine0732 I though more about the space shanties since they felt really fun but I gotta say that unlike for example Fromsoft music Stellaris always seemed (to me of course) to know how to balance the orchestra. How to stay subtle rather than going full on bombastic and over-filling. Just so I don't forget. There are some fun tracks from the DLCs too. Take The Formless for example.
I think with all of the Doom music, it's good to think about the driving philosophy behind the game design of Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, which is that they are built around the idea of push-forward gameplay. The idea is that to properly convey the ferocity of Doomguy, there can never be a moment when he is in retreat. As such, everything about the combat, the environments, the mission design, and indeed the music, is meant to get you moving and keep you moving, to encourage total and absolute aggression at all times. As a result, like you point out, the Doom soundtracks are not really meant to be melodic. They have individual tracks and moments that lean more into melody, but they are primarily concerned with rhythms - angry, hateful, viscous rhythms that you don't so much listen to as feel, and that fill you at all moments of gameplay with a burning need to move forward and *kill more demons.* While some people will certainly enjoy listening to the Doom soundtracks in the way you are here, in my opinion they are fundamentally unsuited to listening without action, but that's not accidental. Their very reason for being can result in them feeling overlong, repetitive, or even a little dull when listening to them without *doing* something, and why they make such excellent workout music.
I think it would be amazing if you can give your guest more real studied context of what they are about to hear more that This game is about amazing stuff.
First off, thanks so much for timestamping your videos, it really is an extra thing that's very appreciated! Secondly, I get that most people you show music to and including yourself have a classical background, but I and probably others would really appreciate also focusing more on the pre-live orchestra and modern music production era of videogame music. A lot of those classic tracks have very strong melodies and sometimes interesting compositions in general. Stuff from the mega man series, castlevania, street fighter 2 etc. In general old capcom and konami stuff. And of course some Rareware gems like Donkey Kong Country cheers
Perhaps the Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 Ost is more up his alley? My Quiet Forest Home and town/area themes would be my picks but I think how the games give each character a main instrument and a theme, that plays not only for cutscenes, but also a pre boss battle theme, and in the case of the 2nd game, another song that incorporates the theme of the current character into the last boss of their story, would show how much more video games can do with music for the player interacting with the game. You're in a cutscene, maybe sinister or somber music is playing, and suddenly, the character theme plays but its more serious this time, and its building up to something. The thing is, it''ll play on repeat untill the player finally advances the text which leads into the boss battle, and a new track plays which transitions the current theme into the boss theme. This happens with 8 different character, which transitions into 3 different songs, and it even works for the secret boss theme where the pre boss theme was never intended to play, but it still works beautifully. The catharsis of hearing that transition for the first time is so mindblowing. And that's just for the first game! In the 2nd game, 8 character themes gets incorporated into the final story boss of each character. While the theme itself has to backseat itself in the beginning in order for the character theme to shine, just the fact that it's a thing at all makes the moment all more memorable. You can feel the character shine in that moment when their theme plays, that it's their final obstacle to overcome. I believe the pikmin games, DOOM, and devil may cry 5 also incorporate player responsive music, although less of music theming and more player interactive, where how well you're doing in game mechanics changes the song. In pikmin, the song starts off with a lonely instrument and as you grow more pikmin, more and more instruments are added until you finally get to hear the full song in its entirety, which encapsulates how lonely the game is in the beginning compared to the end where you have all of the little buddies to keep you company. In DOOM and DMC5, when you make an execution attack on an enemy or perform a sick combo, the game rewards you with the chorus of the song and it energizes you and it makes you want to keep playing perfectly. I highly reccomend listening to Octopath Traveler 1 and 2, pikmin, and devil may cry 5 songs within the context of their music, especially octopath with it's preboss battle theme.
Oh yeah Cynthia's theme from pokemon also has this too. She has a prelude during her dialogue before transitioning into her boss theme after advancing the final text.
Tenebre Sangue Rosso and some Genshin songs (Scaramouches Boss Theme) could be something for Garth. And the original Tower Knight from Demon's Souls maybe, for the memes, but also because it shows how From Softwares limitations of the time created something... uhm... unique. To me at least it is far more memorable than most modern fromsoft music pieces, despite being not nearly as sophisticated in any regard.
I think I understand now. You’re undervaluing or underselling the importance of the context for the video game music. The biggest difference is video games are an interactive media vs watching an opera. The music hits much harder when you’re hearing it as you do the thing in the game. I understand you having to help put the music as something palatable for people who aren’t used to said media, but I firmly believe the context is just as relevant to the piece itself as paying attention to the story of an opera
The Melania fight song is really not meant to blow anyone’s socks off but rather to just set the tone in a battle against the sweatiest of bosses. I think it’s intended to allow the player to focus in and not be a distraction so I can see why he feels that way about it.
im not sure what i would show him. maybe happy chaos, KH's the other promise, the skyrim theme, mh4u Lunar Abyss, ff14's Regis Battle Theme and the dream of flight from civ.
Marco would you ever do anime music on your channel? Im really interested in seeing you react to some tracks from ‘Made in abyss’ I think you would fall in love with them.
I think he started doing a video a month or something. But he really can't. Anime music is one of the worst for copyright strikes. At this point, the only thing more dangerous to play on a monetized channel would be Disney music.
Garth asking for some really different music reminded me of the Crash Twinsanity ost for some reason. I'm not sure how much there is there, but it's entirely acappella and I don't think I've heard anything with the sort of audio texture(is that theright term?) since
Funny he should mention BFG Division as a war soundtrack. Many, MANY, years ago I had the OG Doom soundtrack, as well as many other game soundtracks burned on CD during my time in the desert. Even made a patch cable to plug my CD player into the aircrafts ICS so the whole crew could rock out on a flight. I think I personally encouraged a few to buy the Halo soundtrack.
I actually agree that Malenia's theme isn't the best. There's so many bangers from the game like Godrick's theme or Placidusax's theme, but Malenia's is kind of just "up down up down, follow the formula". Also glad you aren't a fan of AI art. It's good fun, but when used unironically for legitimate work it's so soulless and disrespectful.
Absolutely criminal to not use Maria over Malenia :( Would be cool if you could show him that and see how it contrasts with Malenia. I think Maria does a much better job at being an esclating piece of music. Good stuff regardless, keep it up!
Do you know the arrangement of Chrono Cross/Trigger for the 2010 "Symphonic Fantasies"? The first few minutes begin with the best rendition of "Time's Scar" I've ever come across. And (as crazy as it sounds), it gets better from there during the remaining 15min journey through both games... The CD recording is available here on youtube. The remaining pieces are also highly recommended!
Great guest however the choices weren't good in this episode. And before anyone attacks me I don't mean the pieces themselves are bad or anything i just mean that there are other choices that he would have loved alot more
1:02:00 Without being able to express it as eloquently as your guest, I tend to feel the same way about the Souls music. It's really effective in context, but is rather repetitious and homogenous on repeated listening (the same is true for Raphael's Theme, incidentally). There are really good exceptions, of course, but the same style and instrumentation (esp. choir) is repeated way too much in every Souls game and almost every theme, to the point of losing its effect on me, personally. Shadow of the Colossus to me has (on average) far superior orchestral writing, esp. Prologue and Epilogue. The soundtrack is more dynamic, the choir has a more varied range and volume, as well as not featuring in every single track.
since Garth says he enjoyed genshin impact, bring in Star Rail too. also all the weird and quirky music in gaming too since he want's less "samey" music to react to
Tbf Malenia's theme IS one of the weakest in Elden Ring. It's never been one of the From Soft tracks I would choose to listen to. It's a game full of amazing music, but this one doesn't feel like the composer felt much inspiration.
Marco, why you so tight, there's music beyond what youre exposing. 1 - Inon Zur (composer) he did the soundtrack for Fallout (game) ua-cam.com/video/_yGpoRbwe4s/v-deo.html , and the forgotten "Dragon Age", great soundtrack ua-cam.com/video/3aUH08obnTk/v-deo.html i know you never watch comments and i'm 100% sure you would like the last one, so some amazing music will skip by you... oh well....
@@rodgod82no dude, they’re just saying that music, like with all art, is subjective. Our ears don’t all work the same when it comes to music, not that hard to understand.
I mean, I can see it... If I'm in the right mood for it, it's amazing, like the best thing ever... But most of the time, when the adrenaline isn't pumping my face off, it can be pretty hard to listen to... It's got an unusual soundscape, interesting rhythmic measures and such... But melodically and harmonically it's pretty weak and repetitive and, as nice as it is to have that different soundscape, it's kinda narrow in variety and a bit on the grating side for repeated active listening. In some ways it's a masterpiece and fits its purpose near enough perfectly... But in other ways it's like listening to a cool composition, but it's being played entirely using fax machines... I dunno...
Doom music isn't meant to make you feel "good" necessarily. Instead, it's meant to keep pushing you forward. That's why it's so good as a workout or working play list. It helps to push you to do one more rep, one more worksheet, kill one more demon. And in that sense, the Doom soundtrack is absolutely genius.
Idk but personally that track makes me feel badass as hell I’d say that counts as good
@RobinsMusic that's perfectly valid. I don't want in any way to take that away from you or anyone else who feels that way. I know I do, too, when im playing doom. But that's not the stated intention by either the music or the composer. It's meant to be a driving force pushing you through the hordes of demons. That's all I was getting at.
@@Duskraven67 no I get it, it’s obviously a very different kind of good feeling than just happy music
this is the type of music that make you feel like you're unstoppable, you could have the whole universe against you alone, and still feel like you can win
squaack squaaaack you're a parrot!
Garth was a good guest he was not completly dismissive and had fair criticism.
Every time Garth says the music is samey and derivative my brain just goes "bring out the Ar Tonelico, and not the safer pieces the REALLY weird stuff". Especially since I know you don't really like or understand it, I think it might be what Garth's looking for, something he doesn't immediately understand and has to go "what is even going on here?".
I suggest this because his responses remind me of the period when I was struggling to enjoy movies or books because I would correctly predict the entire plot within the first ten minutes due to my familiarity with the medium and genre.
So maybe instead of playing your favourite songs which tend to lean more towards the classical and which he finds predictable, maybe go through your video catalogue and pull out the things you found weird or hard to get into instead.
Just make him listen to buying good at palmira from evergrace, that will be weird enough :'D
Mean one winged Angel ist a total mess tbf
The opening splash screen for ar tonelico 1 makes me feel things...
Okay, so... I never actually took the time to listen to Ar Tonelico music before now. (Only came across this channel today.) And just from listening to a couple, I think I found a new soundtrack to add to my list of favorites. Thank you!
@Namadu7 no problem. It's a great soundtrack and I'm always happy to get the word out.
Imagine showing One Winged Angel to someone and they reveal "oh, that's me performing that." Wild.
Garth gave malanias theme the treatment malania gives the players, I love his critique
Your discussion on the loss of melody - I can't speak to film on this, but for videogames, some of the shift from melodic to ambient music seems to have been both a removal of technical limitations, and more gameplay loops that encouraged remaining in a specific area for longer periods of time. Technical limitations used to drive towards melodic music - If all you have are two pulse waves and a noise channel, and that's responsible for everything - including the sound effects - it's hard to do ambient music. Meanwhile staying in areas for longer, as tends to be the case with open world games, drives towards ambient music because ambient music tends to hold up to being played on loop for longer before starting to get repetitive.
...Also I think he asked you to send him chip tunes - or at least the weirder side of modern video game music - next time he's on at the end. Megolavania seems like an obvious suggestion, but the Plok boss theme, the entire soundtrack to NES Pictionary of all things (actually, let's lump those two together under 'Anything by Tim Follin' - although I'm not entirely sure how much his music would sell to people who aren't aware of the technical limitations of the systems he was working with), possibly something from the Jet Set Radio/Future soundtrack, the Guardian theme from BotW, possibly that one Pokemon song that samples another track from the soundtrack and plays it backwards, though that might be best presented in context of first hearing the town theme it's sampling and is clearly borrowing from horror film soundtrack tropes rather than doing anything unique but it's still pretty wild that you get that in a children's game (though early pokemon music does something that 'real' instruments struggle with, according to some analytical essays I've read about pieces from that franchise, so gameboy era Pokemon battle music might provide something for him) even some Splatoon music might be the 'different sorts of soundscapes' he's asking for (Particularly Salmon Run but that might just be my lack of context on what's going on in the realms of unusual time signatures outside of video game music)
I want Marco to throw him some Guilty Gear Music, I wonder what he’d gleam from those
Hurray for time stamps !
"Age group for this, what, 15, 12"
BG3 being PEGI 18 and ESRB M: 🤨
Dungeons & Dragons has always been a bit on the silly side of mature entertainment.
Without the context of All Of Baldur's Gate 3, it's honestly fair! That song, as freaking good as it is, does feel very cartoonish^^
A disney villain style song with lyrics that can be taken as being comically evil. Yeah, 12 to 15
The great difference between a classical musical work and a video game symphony is that the game led us on an adventure that we experienced. We failed, we triumphed, we experienced heartache, joy, anger, rage. And the music is a reminder, a symbol of the feelings and the journey. Something as simple as the overworld theme from Zelda, or the route music from Pokemon, can be so powerful because the context of the piece is in some ways unique for every gamer that experienced it. Imagine if the birth of your firstborn had a themesong playing in the background. Even if the themesong wasn't that technically amazing, the context of what was happening when you heard it makes it so much more compelling.
On the topic of context adding to the musical experience, I think about Vicar Amelia's theme from Bloodborne. The booming and crashing as the beast tries to crush you. The sound of nails scraping against stone as she tries to rend your soul from your body. The haunting screams and howls that ring out through the hall. A cacophonic mix of human and beast, hunter and prey, that portrays a feeling of desperation from both sides of the conflict. It made me wonder in my first playthrough; Who is the hunter, and who is the prey?
I cannot separate these sounds from the music. They are forever linked in my mind. It's just as Garth said, it often feels like something is missing without the context.
Yes its literally missing a large part of the sound that added to the music - sounds of playing the game. It is a different medium, I think showing relavent clips for some of the games would probably assist with that...
Into the wilderness - wild arms(find the original)
Something is always moving on the surface - armored core 4A
Contact with you - armored core 6
what an amazing teacher, you lucky meatball you.
Very observant and critical, but so open-minded about this stuff. Will definitely appreciate having Garth coming back whenever. I'd like to see how he handles video game music outside of the classical / orchestrated realm, as he requested at the end!
What I would give for you to show every single guest Ludwig, the Accursed and Holy Blade. I know it would probably get old but I love it so much
Garth best guest! I loved how you put him through more different stuff than last time, but I also see from the comments that you need to go even weirder. I'm really looking towards for a third round of this with even more out-there songs.
Doom's music by Mick Gordon makes you want out and conquer the world. It makes you feel like you can accomplish anything.
Music like that helps me gain some perspective. The hellscape you would be faced with in the Doom universe is nothing like what we are experiencing in our lives. Of course, suffering is to a large part subjective, based on whatever perspective you have in life and the amount of pain / stress tolerance that you have developed in life, or that you may have inherently. But shifting your perspective at least a little bit and tipping your toes into that world and mindset (the music being the vehicle for that, so to speak) can help you power through certain issues in your own life. At least that's my attempt to philosophize that process.
a soundscape is the perfect way to describe Doom (2016) soundtrack considering a lot of it is actually atmospheric in gameplay where the transition happens before and after combat
I really appreciate Garth's critical thinking and his way of articulating it.
Also, amazing timestamps
Also, thank you very much, to both Marco and Garth, for this treat. Despite having not a lot of songs that i am particulary fond of, ghis might have been the most interesting of these sessions for me :)
I wonder how he would react to the main themes of Helldivers 2, the genius of which is actually in its unoriginality and how it ignites every bit of nostalgia for military movies of the past.
15:16 The most recent I can think off the top of my head was Battle Los Angeles, that one had an over-arching theme to the movie score, the music was fantastic.
I love to see recurring guests, hope to see Garth on the show again, third time the charm, hope to have at least one track from the absolute legend Kobayashi included.
It's always great to have a harsher critique out there, especially since it looks like it's coming from a right place. I'll think of some tracks that might capture Garth's attention more, but it's great to have that diversity of guests and their approaches in your videos!
I went back and check the first time to see which song Garth had not had a chance to listen yet. Here are some recommendation:
Zero (Ace Combat) - I don't think it would impress him musically, maybe? But I would like to see his take on a fusion of 3(?) music styles, and does he think they did well in that fusion.
Flow (FF14) - It is probably not something new to him, but I would like to see his calm analysis of the song. If nothing else, maybe that would stop it from punching me in the feel every times I listen to it. I don't know if showing your (former) teacher something that moved you so much is something you feel like you are up for it; I get the anxiety of potentially having something that is very meaningful to you get a cold splash of water on it.
Dance of the Cryptek (Mechanicus) - Could be a good jumping point for discussion of electronic mix with classical in a context where the two are supposed to be mix because of the amalgamation of religion and technology that is the Mechanicus. Would like to hear his opinion on how someone would write a piece about worshipping dues ex machina.
Tenebre Rosso Sangue (Ultrakill) - An inverse of Mechanicus. Instead of worshipping the dues ex machina, this is anger toward dues ex machina.
Ludwig (Bloodborne) - I would like to see his opinion of the transition from phase 1 (the beast) to phase 2 (the man) and the differences between the two. For me both conjured fear, but they are different kind of fears (horror vs danger).
That is all I got, maybe Elden ring DLC will grace us with another fantastic piece, Dawn Trail too for that matter.
Mechanicus soundtrack is absolutely something Garth would dig
I really enjoy all these introductions to gaming music keep up the good work.
Part of me wants to see his response to Soken’s Flow, but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be impressed with it, which would kind be crushing cause even though he’s a stranger to me, the idea of a very experienced musical academic roasting one of my favorite game pieces that made me cry is too much to comprehend.
Not a game, but some of the tracks from the made in abyss ost explore some really crazy things musically. But since you're all about vgm, i can understand if you wouldn't be interested in exploring it. But I hope someday you can discover it even if it's by yourself.
Final Fantasy as a child was my musical gateway to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Yes, and Camel; as well as Brahms, Bach, and Mozart.
Great stuff, though frankly I'm surprised The Unsung War didn't make into this one. Would have liked to see what your teacher's thoughts to that one was.
I loved his expression after just 2 seconds of time's scar. This realization that says : "Wait this is actually something to take serious not just some beeps and boops" and the immediate shift to paying close attention to what's to come.
30:00 My guess would be that John Williams gets a pass, because not only is the West more familiar with his works in general, especially the older generation, pre-videogames, adore his works. That is two factors coming together. Especially for the States, anything from outside that rivaled what was made inside was always looked at and even treated with disdain. Just look at the american localization of various Asterix movies. Adding extra lines and even narrators were there was none to explain what's going on on the screen, while originally the movies did not expect their audience to be mentally handicapped. Worse: In Operation Menhir (horribly renamed "The Big Fight", as american titling always has to focus on the violence aspect), they rewrote all the dialogue to be horrible and anachronistic puns - in an otherwise rather grounded movie. Discussions with my, also american, friends, blown away by the animation quality, led to the conclusion that this could have easily been the product of disdain for foreign animation rivaling Disney's at the time, and nobody from the outside can be allowed to compete with the local product.
I can believe there is a similar arrogance about music. The old and known, as well as the locals, are treasured, and acknowledging what is going on in East Asia can feel threatening to one or the other brittle ego.
I think it's worth noting that risk aversion and uncertainty around novel media was and still is a major factor with studios, be that for film or games. Which is a significant part of the reason adaptations were often handled the way you're talking about. I'm just saying that while there absolutely was that attitude you're talking about for some, much/most of the time that was a product of market skepticism. Studios *assumed* media needed to be a certain way to work in the states, because of what it had been up to that point.
Amazing man, his Chrono Cross analysis is spot on.
The way he looks at, and can break down as a teacher, even with something critical, or something he would never listen too, is nice. Hopefully he can do more, and can be open to some of the weirder ones haha
Garth is my favorite guest. I enjoy that he’s critical about music overall cause it shows he cares about this art. I also enjoy that he seems to want innovation. My interpretation from the little he shares is that this music seems to be stagnant. Some fresh ideas get mixed in but for the most part the big ideas tend to be derivative. Not to say being derivative and making something from it isn’t bad in fact it can be amazing but it can be predictable like a movie can be predictable. Sometimes it can be refreshing to go on a journey where you don’t know where and when things will shift and end. So why not make music for such a unique media truly shocking with different sounds and formats no one has thought of. Especially when the tools are so readily available to make whatever you want. All this said by someone with zero musical knowledge :)
Anyways share your thoughts I’m curious if anyone agrees or disagrees with what I said.
it's interesting how he say that Doom is layered anxiety because as someone with anxiety i feel it's the total opposite. It makes me energized and motivated and kind of drop some of the anxiety and stress but to someone who doesn't have that constant anxiety it feels like it makes them anxious.
he might've interpreted that urge to move and to get something done (even if its only killing demons in the game) as being anxious
BFG Division sounds like they took pure rage and distilled it into music, definitely agree that it energizes you, makes you want to crush anything that gets in your way.
I'd love to see you show some of these guys Akira Yamaoka's works on the Silent Hill series. Some pieces are very psychedelic rock, some pieces are incredibly unnerving ambient music, some are somber and some are upbeat. It's very interesting at the very least
if you are looking for sugestions, the blue archive game for tablets and mobile actually has some pretty nice music.
my favorite being unwelcome school, the song that plays whenever things get a bit... silly
the piano solo does slap
I love Garth whenever he is on, he has a great mixture of a critical yet humble mind / personality. Basically the ideal teacher's personality, you might say. Or at least that's always the type of teacher that I appreciated and developed most under. And it's also a tough combination of emotions and aspects of the ego to get under the same roof. Too much (or unrefined) humility can make you uncritical and (mentally) impotent, and too much (or again, unrefined) criticalness can make you arrogant and narrow-minded.
Melodies, in my mind, are similar to lyrics in a song or words in a movie. If you need it to tell a story, do so. But sometimes, like in the Intro to Pixar's "Up", words would weaken what you want.
Sometimes you need it, sometimes you don't. It depends. It's another tool to make what you want appear in a listener's mind.
Great views from Garth! Hope to see him return.
Am I crazy, or does it look like his ceiling is about to collaps on his head?😅 Hopefully it's just lens distortion.
It’s a round room maybe
His room is not rectangular in shape. You can see that the wall on the left, the one with the hanged pictures, is slanted towards the back, so the perspective is creating an illusion, since the corner where the back wall meets the slanted one is directly behind Garth, so you think the ceiling is bent down instead of the right part of the ceiling being farther away.
@@bananeeek8376 That could be the case indeed. It doesn't explain the surface of the ceiling warping though (almost looks like ceiling draping).
Anyways... Great reacting, with or without a straight ceiling😄
Gotta have the OWA 😎...you forgot to mention that nobuo wrote the song separately then mashed it together in a way
When I got into classical music I certainly felt sick and tired of pieces that are (EPIC ORCHESTRA MUSIC) where they essentially say nothing, but have sooo much just to sound big and loud and I feel like a lot of games soundtrack do do that.
I think that is because they're actively not saying something, the epic orchestra is basically supporting and uplifting the protagnist AKA the player character. You are the one who is saying something through gameplay and the orchestra is relegated to background music for the gameplay.
I don't know if changing that would be better, worse or even appreciated by the people playing it. It would depend on the game I suppose.
I think that the use of leitmotif is actually what puts video game music above the rest. A concert can squeeze in a little bit. A stage play or opera can use a little bit. But a game soundtrack is often rife with it. Game music builds upon itself within one extended experience better than any other form of music I feel. That's something that a non-gamer cannot really ever understand without perhaps a guided experience through a single OST...
Or several. Since Time's Scar has some hidden leitmotif from as far back as Chrono Trigger.
I was actually wondering what he would think of something like Guilty Gear.
59:00 this guy is insanely skilled lmfao this basically a perfect run for the player, might have been better to show a normal player for a more realistic exprience. He made her look easy, she is insanely difficult lmao 😂 😭
Hey, just to point out - Garth did a run as Erik/the Phantom as well.
Literally just found that out today.
Not gonna lie. Some more cutting, eccentric or overall unexpected sounding pieces might be a good listen both privately and for a video.
Something from Witcher 1, 3 or Cyberpunk.
Maybe a piece from Heroes IV, or ESO elsweyr DLC.
Warframe (especially the newer songs), something from Stellaris or the main theme from Anthem. It's not here yet but the single song from Soulframe felt great too.
Older WoW soundtrack tended to be more diverse (looking at Ahn'Qiraj) and on the Blizzard note, D4 was musically boring but Kyovashad has a nice somber music.
Games like Humankind, Endless Legend and Endless Space II have marvelous "floating" music.
BG3 is great but something like Rivellon theme from Divinity II might feel different enough.
Enshrouded was a real surprise with its music.
Much if not all of this comes from my own preferences of course.
god, when it comes to stellaris, birth of a start is a awesome piece, but i would argue most of that games music is not all that exciting, imho
@@sexmachine0732 I though more about the space shanties since they felt really fun but I gotta say that unlike for example Fromsoft music Stellaris always seemed (to me of course) to know how to balance the orchestra. How to stay subtle rather than going full on bombastic and over-filling.
Just so I don't forget. There are some fun tracks from the DLCs too. Take The Formless for example.
I think with all of the Doom music, it's good to think about the driving philosophy behind the game design of Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, which is that they are built around the idea of push-forward gameplay.
The idea is that to properly convey the ferocity of Doomguy, there can never be a moment when he is in retreat. As such, everything about the combat, the environments, the mission design, and indeed the music, is meant to get you moving and keep you moving, to encourage total and absolute aggression at all times.
As a result, like you point out, the Doom soundtracks are not really meant to be melodic. They have individual tracks and moments that lean more into melody, but they are primarily concerned with rhythms - angry, hateful, viscous rhythms that you don't so much listen to as feel, and that fill you at all moments of gameplay with a burning need to move forward and *kill more demons.*
While some people will certainly enjoy listening to the Doom soundtracks in the way you are here, in my opinion they are fundamentally unsuited to listening without action, but that's not accidental. Their very reason for being can result in them feeling overlong, repetitive, or even a little dull when listening to them without *doing* something, and why they make such excellent workout music.
I think it would be amazing if you can give your guest more real studied context of what they are about to hear more that This game is about amazing stuff.
First off, thanks so much for timestamping your videos, it really is an extra thing that's very appreciated!
Secondly, I get that most people you show music to and including yourself have a classical background, but I and probably others would really appreciate also focusing more on the pre-live orchestra and modern music production era of videogame music.
A lot of those classic tracks have very strong melodies and sometimes interesting compositions in general.
Stuff from the mega man series, castlevania, street fighter 2 etc. In general old capcom and konami stuff.
And of course some Rareware gems like Donkey Kong Country
cheers
Perhaps the Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 Ost is more up his alley? My Quiet Forest Home and town/area themes would be my picks but I think how the games give each character a main instrument and a theme, that plays not only for cutscenes, but also a pre boss battle theme, and in the case of the 2nd game, another song that incorporates the theme of the current character into the last boss of their story, would show how much more video games can do with music for the player interacting with the game.
You're in a cutscene, maybe sinister or somber music is playing, and suddenly, the character theme plays but its more serious this time, and its building up to something. The thing is, it''ll play on repeat untill the player finally advances the text which leads into the boss battle, and a new track plays which transitions the current theme into the boss theme. This happens with 8 different character, which transitions into 3 different songs, and it even works for the secret boss theme where the pre boss theme was never intended to play, but it still works beautifully. The catharsis of hearing that transition for the first time is so mindblowing.
And that's just for the first game! In the 2nd game, 8 character themes gets incorporated into the final story boss of each character. While the theme itself has to backseat itself in the beginning in order for the character theme to shine, just the fact that it's a thing at all makes the moment all more memorable. You can feel the character shine in that moment when their theme plays, that it's their final obstacle to overcome.
I believe the pikmin games, DOOM, and devil may cry 5 also incorporate player responsive music, although less of music theming and more player interactive, where how well you're doing in game mechanics changes the song. In pikmin, the song starts off with a lonely instrument and as you grow more pikmin, more and more instruments are added until you finally get to hear the full song in its entirety, which encapsulates how lonely the game is in the beginning compared to the end where you have all of the little buddies to keep you company. In DOOM and DMC5, when you make an execution attack on an enemy or perform a sick combo, the game rewards you with the chorus of the song and it energizes you and it makes you want to keep playing perfectly.
I highly reccomend listening to Octopath Traveler 1 and 2, pikmin, and devil may cry 5 songs within the context of their music, especially octopath with it's preboss battle theme.
Oh yeah Cynthia's theme from pokemon also has this too. She has a prelude during her dialogue before transitioning into her boss theme after advancing the final text.
Tenebre Sangue Rosso and some Genshin songs (Scaramouches Boss Theme) could be something for Garth. And the original Tower Knight from Demon's Souls maybe, for the memes, but also because it shows how From Softwares limitations of the time created something... uhm... unique. To me at least it is far more memorable than most modern fromsoft music pieces, despite being not nearly as sophisticated in any regard.
I think I understand now. You’re undervaluing or underselling the importance of the context for the video game music. The biggest difference is video games are an interactive media vs watching an opera. The music hits much harder when you’re hearing it as you do the thing in the game. I understand you having to help put the music as something palatable for people who aren’t used to said media, but I firmly believe the context is just as relevant to the piece itself as paying attention to the story of an opera
You've gotta show one of your guests The End from Minecraft (and make them listen to the whole thing)
Been digging through your channel and I'm surprised that there's no Dragon Age so far. You should definitely check out some tracks in the near future!
The Melania fight song is really not meant to blow anyone’s socks off but rather to just set the tone in a battle against the sweatiest of bosses. I think it’s intended to allow the player to focus in and not be a distraction so I can see why he feels that way about it.
Video chapitres with thematics are awesome, especially for a non-native english speaker : it helps to focus. Thx Meatball ;)
im not sure what i would show him. maybe happy chaos, KH's the other promise, the skyrim theme, mh4u Lunar Abyss, ff14's Regis Battle Theme and the dream of flight from civ.
the silencing raphael thing is a myth
doesnt work
Marco would you ever do anime music on your channel? Im really interested in seeing you react to some tracks from ‘Made in abyss’ I think you would fall in love with them.
I think he started doing a video a month or something. But he really can't. Anime music is one of the worst for copyright strikes. At this point, the only thing more dangerous to play on a monetized channel would be Disney music.
@@Plaprad JP copyright laws are horrid for yt lol
maybe he makes a separate channel for the strikes
Oh you go right into the meat and start with one of the best things in video game history?
Nice.
Garth asking for some really different music reminded me of the Crash Twinsanity ost for some reason. I'm not sure how much there is there, but it's entirely acappella and I don't think I've heard anything with the sort of audio texture(is that theright term?) since
Send Garth Ar Tonelico!
Funny he should mention BFG Division as a war soundtrack. Many, MANY, years ago I had the OG Doom soundtrack, as well as many other game soundtracks burned on CD during my time in the desert.
Even made a patch cable to plug my CD player into the aircrafts ICS so the whole crew could rock out on a flight. I think I personally encouraged a few to buy the Halo soundtrack.
I actually agree that Malenia's theme isn't the best. There's so many bangers from the game like Godrick's theme or Placidusax's theme, but Malenia's is kind of just "up down up down, follow the formula".
Also glad you aren't a fan of AI art. It's good fun, but when used unironically for legitimate work it's so soulless and disrespectful.
What about some Starcraft 1 or Warcraft 2 soundtrack? That is really classic video game music that I think is pretty different, no?
Started with a masterpiece
no tenebre rosso sangue this time ? ;-
1:00:08 What happened to the audio here? I would have loved to hear what he said.
You should show him Bhunivelze from FFXIII.
Please have him back!
Maybe you could take a look at Aiva and give your opinion on the music, it would be interesting
Really wanna know what was discussed in Malenias phase transition
Sense the audio was gone, what where you two saying under the Malenia cutscene?
About "BFG Division"... Are electric guitars supposed to have 8 strings??
I have to say he is my favourite guest. Thanks for arranging.
Absolutely criminal to not use Maria over Malenia :(
Would be cool if you could show him that and see how it contrasts with Malenia. I think Maria does a much better job at being an esclating piece of music. Good stuff regardless, keep it up!
YESSS MORE GARTH
have you listened to time's scar from To Far Away Times: Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross Arrangement Album? if so what's your take on the arrange?
Do you know the arrangement of Chrono Cross/Trigger for the 2010 "Symphonic Fantasies"? The first few minutes begin with the best rendition of "Time's Scar" I've ever come across. And (as crazy as it sounds), it gets better from there during the remaining 15min journey through both games...
The CD recording is available here on youtube. The remaining pieces are also highly recommended!
The twinning?
Great guest however the choices weren't good in this episode. And before anyone attacks me I don't mean the pieces themselves are bad or anything i just mean that there are other choices that he would have loved alot more
Always nice to see you, all knowing nobody!
I'd love to see him back to listen to some Christopher Larkin
@@Reshapable rude and unnecessary
@@Teuwufel Agree to disagree
1:02:00 Without being able to express it as eloquently as your guest, I tend to feel the same way about the Souls music. It's really effective in context, but is rather repetitious and homogenous on repeated listening (the same is true for Raphael's Theme, incidentally). There are really good exceptions, of course, but the same style and instrumentation (esp. choir) is repeated way too much in every Souls game and almost every theme, to the point of losing its effect on me, personally. Shadow of the Colossus to me has (on average) far superior orchestral writing, esp. Prologue and Epilogue. The soundtrack is more dynamic, the choir has a more varied range and volume, as well as not featuring in every single track.
My dad plays BG3 and he's 64 lol
since Garth says he enjoyed genshin impact, bring in Star Rail too. also all the weird and quirky music in gaming too since he want's less "samey" music to react to
Maybe even PGR would work for him. Super electronic, but it has its own identity.
Is it me or there's 2 Marcos? Like, the young and the old, idk
just put lorian and lothric theme in one of this videos pls😭
Why are you presenting the MIDI version of the FF7 song "Sephiroth"? (i know its not named that anymore but bakc then it was)
Why do you only use Super Smash Brothers Brawl?
Time for some Guilty Gear~
I'm honestly curious what he would say about some of the later pieces like Drift, The Gravity or Symphony.
Malenia gave me PTSD
(movie might have been poor things?)
LUV ME EMPRAH
dancing mad?
Tbf Malenia's theme IS one of the weakest in Elden Ring. It's never been one of the From Soft tracks I would choose to listen to. It's a game full of amazing music, but this one doesn't feel like the composer felt much inspiration.
Marco, why you so tight, there's music beyond what youre exposing.
1 - Inon Zur (composer) he did the soundtrack for Fallout (game) ua-cam.com/video/_yGpoRbwe4s/v-deo.html , and the forgotten "Dragon Age", great soundtrack ua-cam.com/video/3aUH08obnTk/v-deo.html i know you never watch comments and i'm 100% sure you would like the last one, so some amazing music will skip by you... oh well....
With ai you need to teach it.
You write your prompt, you ask it to change parts, deepen and lighten parts.
Don’t just take the 1st prompt
Should have ended it with the good songs instead at least
Am I the only one who thinks Raphael's song is lame and cringe?
"i'm not even sure i like this song " 7:29 bro are you serious ?
Preferences?! That aren't my _OWN?!_
@@Reshapable not liking the best Doom song ?! yeah i'm gonna point it out , you mad ?
@@rodgod82no dude, they’re just saying that music, like with all art, is subjective. Our ears don’t all work the same when it comes to music, not that hard to understand.
I mean, I can see it... If I'm in the right mood for it, it's amazing, like the best thing ever... But most of the time, when the adrenaline isn't pumping my face off, it can be pretty hard to listen to... It's got an unusual soundscape, interesting rhythmic measures and such... But melodically and harmonically it's pretty weak and repetitive and, as nice as it is to have that different soundscape, it's kinda narrow in variety and a bit on the grating side for repeated active listening.
In some ways it's a masterpiece and fits its purpose near enough perfectly... But in other ways it's like listening to a cool composition, but it's being played entirely using fax machines... I dunno...
@@rodgod82
The best to whom?