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Friday, September 22, 2017

Ep. 82: The Loom


This week we feature some of the greatest patron submissions ever, including a particularly beautiful testimonial and a singularly heartfelt karaoke. In fact, these submissions are so great, that this podcast can ignore its existential dilemma entirely and move forward in the knowledge that it has served a purpose. So park the car, walk beyond the rest stop and into undiscovered lands with Josh and Emily on this week's VGM JUKEBOX!

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This episode was made possible by:
Game Track Title Composer(s)
Dice Mage 2 Map Stem Matt Creamer
Terranigma Overcoming Everything (Final Battle) Miyoko Takaoka, Masanori Hikichi
Skuljager Warehouse David Hayes, Rod Barr
No Man's Sky Heliosphere 65daysofstatic
Ninja Spirit Forest (Round 2) OH!G.I.
ESPN Final Round Golf 2002 Track 26 Unknown

...and listeners like YOU.

19 comments:

  1. Helioshpere takes is place alongside Lonely Rolling Star in the list of tracks that have made me forget I was listening to a podcast.

    I actually suggested a track that combines sawtooth waves with sampled drums after the last discussion of Game Boy Advance sound. It was more or less the opposite of a golf track though.
    This time, something about the ESPN Final Round Golf track put me in mind of Konami Krazy Racers, and it did so just before Emily mentioned racing games and Outrun. Sure enough, it also uses sawtooth waves and samples (at least, I believe they are sawtooth waves).
    Note, if you check it out, that tracks 1 though 26 don't use the wavetable channel at all (thus no sawtooth sound) while most of the rest do. The first 26 accompany gameplay and my guess is that that channel was reserved for sound effects.

    Another thread for the loom.
    It really was a beautiful episode.

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  2. The kids call the song “Round 2”. I’m trying to get them to recognize it as “Forest”, but I think they’ll train me first.

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  3. Norrin_Radd is cool. I ‘discovered’ him through that Pixeltunes episode as well. True to form, the Mega Drive-style Treasure Buster OST immediately grabbed me....so I bought it. 

    Oh my gosh, that “No Man’s Sky” track! I was right there with you, Emily, feeling the feels.  No words. 

    Incidentally, it’s apropos that we count to six to the Ninja Spirit track. We listen to game music on occasions where I am taking the kids somewhere without my wife. She mostly hates game music, especially FM synthesis. So there are up to six of us in the car when we play that song. Just to paint a picture, I’m driving the car, and within seconds of  pulling out, I hear, “Daddy, may you please play Round 2?”, or “Daddy, may you play Map”?(from Waterworld, another kid favorite and also the only OST my wife actually likes so far)

    So a couple of explanations: first, before I had kids, I thought it would be neat if they called me “Papa”. They had other plans, but it turns out that “Daddy” sounds very sweet....even my oldest, who’s twelve, still calls me “Daddy”. It’s nice.  

    Second, instead of saying, “Would you please_______”, Yoshimitsu has always said “May you please_______”, and the other kids followed suit. We tried to correct them at some point, but they’re totally set on and it’s so cute and endearing, so we left it alone. Maybe they’ll start a trend. 

    SFII Is so good! Animite, I love you. You epitomized the crest of the wave of my happiness with video games. And reminded me that life goes on.....even after the thrill of livin’ is gone. I guess that’s why I went home to be a family man. 

    Would the stories and tracks that come out of this living tapestry you two have created be known as the fruit of the loom?  Levity aside, this is one of my very favorite episodes. It’s the triangulation of everything you’ve started, and epitomizes what makes TVGMJB such a valuable part of my life. Karaoke, family, philosophy, feels, and friends. 

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    1. So, fun story.

      I was listening to the podcast and the FamilyNemo Ninja Spirit track, and it got to the part where you talk about counting to 6 in the bit where the music cuts out dramatically. Key read the testimonial 'one, two, three, four, five, SIX!' and....silence. "Wow!", I thought, "That WAS dramatic".

      It turned out my phone battery had just died right after she shouted six XD.

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    2. Also, I am sad that none of your childen go by the name 'Little Nemo' as their psuedonym

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    3. Looks like whatever necromancer powers I have left can affect electronics sometimes! Intriguing...

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  4. Wow! Another great episode. So much to talk about.
    First of all, Animite, thank you so much for your contribution. Perfection.
    Second, as soon as I heard the first few notes of the ESPN Final Round Golf track I could hear Josh singing a karaoke to it about families driving around while listening to VGM.
    I really appreciate the concern and thoughts for all those suffering from natural disaster hardship. Though not directly affected by any of them myself, I feel very connected to them. I have two sisters who live in suburbs south of Houston. One of whose home was flooded waist high. I have another sister living in Mexico, thankfully not in an earthquake touched area. I lived in FL for two years and have many friends dealing with the Irma aftermath. And lastly, I grew up in Puerto Rico so a lot of my friends and extended family are safe, but in a difficult situation facing months without electricity. So it’s been a pretty emotional last few weeks for me.
    I used to work as an environmental consultant in the desert oil fields of Utah and surrounding states. A lot of that territory is remote and I spent a lot of time far from much visible human influence. More than once I found myself climbing to the top of a hill and wondering if I was the first person to ever stand here. Then wishing to see a time lapse history of the place going in reverse. How many wandering oil field workers, shepherds, and Native Americans had passed by before me and did they have similar thoughts?

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    1. Hey Big Papi, I'm really sorry to hear about all the loved ones you have who are dealing with these disasters. Are you able to communicate all right with your relatives in Puerto Rico right now? We're definitely keeping you in our thoughts. And donating to relief efforts.

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  5. Oh man, I loved this episode so much! That No Man's Sky track... ungh! It's so fantastic. It's got that slow build to it like something from Sigur Ros or Godspeed You Black Emperor. It's just layers of loveliness that keep getting added on top of each other. I really want that game, I just don't have anything modern enough to play it on. One day I will branch out into the Heliosphere. Great testimonial too.

    I love the image of Utopia Nemo and the kids all listening to Ninja Spirit. I feel like the world is a slightly better place now that I know that is happening somewhere in it.

    Animite! My man! I was raised on Street Fighter II, so this karaoke really resonated with me. In fact, I wrote rap battle lyrics about Street Fighter II on the racketboy forums once. Keyglyph was part of the rap battles too. I'll find it and post in a new reply. But man, shout out! What a great karaoke!

    I also send out my thoughts to those in Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, or any of the many areas that were on fire in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California, and Canada. I live in Washington, and though I was far from the fires, we had plenty of unhealthy smoke in the air. We also had planned a trip to Glacier National Park, but we were forced to cancel because they were evacuating areas we were supposed to stay in. The lodge we were supposed to stay in canceled for us. This is a minor event compared to anyone who lost their house, of course, but an inconvenience none the less. We still did the Yellowstone half of our trip and it was crazy that when we drove there from Seattle there was smoke in the air the ENTIRE drive. So much of the NW was on fire. I hope all our patrons are ok.

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    1. Ok, as promised, here are my SFII rap battle lyrics. You can see the full rap battle thread at this URL:

      http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=50343

      I get my kicks from cuttin' moves with super turbo kung fu
      Step to the sticks and buttons. Let's play Street Fighter II!
      Player Select: lemme guess... you're gonna be Ryu or Ken
      You know there's other choices, right? Yet you pick 'em again and again.
      You're so damn predictable; your moves are all played out
      You can even pick my character and I'll still knock you out
      "Play Dhalsim!" you laugh "His slowness is bound to annoy you!"
      Never underestimate me. I will meditate and destroy you.

      "Round One.... Fight!"

      As expected, you turtle in the back like a fireball machine
      But what!? My stretched foot kicks your face from across the screen
      You cry "NO FAIR! Those long legs are so cheap and so lame!"
      Fine. Step a little closer bitch. HA HA! "YOGA FLAME!"

      "Round Two.... Fight!"

      You shoot projectiles again, but you're too close for the attack
      I slide underneath the fire and plant you flat on your back
      Aw, you poor baby gamers scamper in your Pampers and Huggies
      Here's one to grow on: Can't block the headlock yoga nuggies!
      You go on the offensive, tryin' to get in close for a throw
      But I hit you with a headbutt double bump "K.O!"
      You accuse me of cheating and demand a "rematch"
      Zangief, Chun-Li, Guile: I'll beat you with the whole batch
      I start off playing nice saying "Hello. How do you do, Ken?"
      But then I hit ya with the quarter circle forward "HADOKEN!"
      Ya think you can jumpkick me, but I'm not sure ya can
      When I forward down diagonal punch "SHORYUKEN!"
      With Blanka I'll shock ya and bite ya because I'm gnarly
      You'll miss the thrill of winning, more than Guile misses Charlie
      You leap my Sonic Boom, but Flash Kicks were always my plan
      You've met your doom, boy "Go home and be a family man"
      I break more players than Honda's ass breaks chairs
      Hundred hand slap your face 'til your nose needs repairs
      As Zangief, I wrestle bears and come home the survivor
      I slam down health bars with my spinning pile drivers
      It's your last quarter, with mercy I'll give you an honorable way to die
      Somersault to a handstand: crush your head in Chun Li's thighs
      You tried real hard, you tried to come correct
      But did you hear what the announcer said to me? "Perfect!"
      Your skills are so tired it's like you O.D.'d on ambien
      But I don't mind being the World Warrior champion
      I just wish I had a worthy opponent to brawl
      Guess I'll just keep practicing uppercuttin' waterfalls

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    2. Okay, so, get on that VGM Karaoke submission, JT. Just saying. Hakama is way excited over here.

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    3. Is it weird that I imagined this performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda as Vega?

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  6. To add to that bit about lost requests, I have sent a lot of submissions here and hearing this episode makes me wonder all these temporal disparities that happen when a submission going back for months, maybe years before it gets played. I guess when you dealing with hundreds of submissions from many different patrons, there's always a good chance one will get lost in the shuffle, and when it finally does unravel, it feels like finding a message in a bottle found in a beach, discovered after a long drift. Even though I worry sometimes that one particular track might get lost in the shuffle, when I inevitably hear something I sent long ago, especially one I won't even remember sending, I'll be surprised and delighted to hear it!

    I did really enjoy hearing that Street Fighter thing at the end. It came completely out of left field for me. Good job Animite!

    As for how I discovered Matt Creamer's music was actually buying the PSP version of Retro City Rampage when it came out in July of last year (and to date the final new PSP game released!). I had gotten a real kick out of his music in that one!

    I also got really intrigued about the brief discussion of Game Boy Advance sound! Having that 8-bit DAC mix in with the square waves and noise channels of the classic Game Boy makes for a unique sound. Kinda like the YM2612 FM/SN76489 PSG combination on the Sega Genesis!

    Finally, That Ninja Spirit track is also some more great Irem goodness for my ears!

    Masahiko Ishida (OH!G.I) had also done Image Fight and R-Type II and Image Fight especially just fun to listen to!

    More info on OH!G.I here: http://vgmdb.net/artist/9697

    Anyway, great show as always!

    -Electricboogaloo

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    1. Rest assured that if you submit a track via the survey, we definitely get it. Submissions that get sent through other channels though, such as Facebook, the comments section here, Twitter, and to a lesser extent email, are harder to track as they have to be added to our records manually. If we see the recommendation but can't get to our records at that exact moment, we might forget to add it in later.

      We try out best, but the sheer amount of recommendations these days is overwhelming, so definitely stick with the survey if you want piece of mind!

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    2. Dont worry!

      I send all my submissions through the Google Forms survey anyway, so at least it should all be there!

      And yeah, dealing with a lot of recommendations from so many people is a lot, but hey, it's not only what makes the show interesting but also it's the fuel that keeps the show going!

      You'll be sure to see more recommendations from me in the future!

      -Electricboogaloo

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  7. (Opens rest stop restroom door)

    Oh, hey everyone. I'm glad you enjoyed the ballad. I must now return to the creative space I've dubbed "the gurgling think tank" to come up with more stuff. Until then, farewell light of day. I'm off to become a Morlock.

    (Closes rest stop restroom door)

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    1. Is there any way to get an MP3 of this karaoke? The chorus keeps getting stuck in my head, plus the line "I quit my jooooob!" I just can't remember all the other words.

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    2. Yes, need this MP3! I’ve been looking around to see if it was posted anywhere. Great job on it, Animite!

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