16. namkcuR
Total Points: 80
Highest Ranking: 6th
Lowest Ranking: 16th
Aurora Borealis
I spent more time on this playlist than any I've made before - this is the second main DI I've done(the other was the very first DI), but the fourth DI I've done counting the mini-games(Symphonic Island, Retro Island, and Best Of 2000s). Going in, I decided to make a playlist with an electronic/classical/otherwise instrumental theme. I really wanted this playlist to sound like fantasy, maybe even somewhat otherworldly at times - that's why I named it 'Aurora Borealis', because Aurorae Borealis look like fantasy, and I wanted this to sound like fantasy; whether or not I succeeded in that, you'll tell me, but that was my aim here. I modified the tag information for Album and Track Number for all of the tracks, so I think they should appear in the right order automatically, but I can't promise that they will, because I modified the information with VLC Player and I don't know if ITunes will see the changes correctly(I use ITunes primarily, but I would've had to import second copies of everything since I don't want to modify my main copies, and that would've been confusing). I uploaded it all in one zip, so it's a bit on the large side - if that's an inconvenience to anyone, I can split it in two.
The first part of the playlist is the electronic part - some of it is pure 100% electronic music, some of it is electronic-influenced music, some of it is video game music. A couple of notes about the first two tracks - the first track sounds orchestral but is actually electronic, because the orchestra isn't real, from what I understand, and the second track is the only track in the first part that is 0% electronic, it's completely orchestral. For this part in particular, I used it as an excuse to listen to some big electronic names that I had been wanting to listen to more of for a while now - Kraftwerk, Daft Punk, Bjork, Aphex Twin, Komputer(not so well known, I guess), the NIN Ghosts album, and Genesis(ok, they're not an electronic artist, but the second half of the track I picked fits the electronic mold fairly well). I also discovered Royksopp via somebody else's playlist in this DI, really digging them. I enjoyed listening to all this electronic music, it's a genre I've wanted to get to know better for a while now.
Book I:
1. Koji Kondo - "Overworld" - Zelda Sound And Drama (2:50)
2. Klaus Doldinger - "Bastian's Happy Flight" - The Neverending Story Soundtrack(3:13)
3. My Bloody Valentine - "To Here Knows When" - Loveless (5:31)
4. Daft Punk - "Veridis Quo" - Discovery (5:45)
5. Shiny Toy Guns - "Major Tom" - Major Tom (4:11)
6. Kleerup feat. Robyn - "With Every Heartbeat" - Kleerup (4:08)
7. Royksopp feat. Lykki Li - "Miss It So Much" - Junior (5:02)
8. Kraftwerk - "Spacelab" - The Man-Machine (5:55)
9. Komputer - "Motopia" - The World Of Tomorrow (2:57)
10. U2 - "Lady With The Spinning Head[Extended Dance Mix] - The Best Of 1990-2000 (6:08)
11. The Chemical Brothers - "The Private Psychedelic Reel" - Singles 93-03 (9:08)
12. Yumiko Kameya/Naoto Ishida - "Mute City" - F-Zero OSV (1:53)
13. Nine Inch Nails - "Ghosts II 05" - Ghosts (3:06)
14. Grandaddy - "A.M. 180" - Under The Western Freeway (3:21)
15. Genesis - "The Cinema Show" - Selling England By The Pound (11:06)
16. Aphex Twin - "Goon Gumpas" - Richard D. James Album ( 2:03)
17. Bjork - "Unison" - Vespertine (6:49)
18. Radiohead - "Kid A" - Kid A (4:44)
19. Shiho Fujii, Ryo Nagamatsu - "Castle BGM" - New Super Mario Bros. Wii OST (2:46)
Total Running Time: 1:30:27
The second part of the playlist is largely orchestral in nature…it's got video game music, some classical pieces, some proggy stuff(Bowie, Floyd), some rock-symphonic stuff(Muse), and a Sigur Ros track(which doesn't exactly sound like it fits the theme on paper but I think fits in really well). This part is pretty heavy, it has a fairly dark vibe at times, but I think there's a lot of really beautiful and powerful music here. I kind of used the Exogenesis Symphony as a centerpiece here, and I think all four of the tracks preceding it sort of build up to it. A note about the way I chose to end it; I may have made the ending a little too epic, with the huge build up in the second half of the Sigur Ros track leading into the almost-half-hour-long Pink Floyd track. I honestly thought both tracks sounded like 'grand finale' type tracks, but in the end, the last 1-2 minutes of Atom Heart Mother are just too epic to be anywhere but the end for me. I used the Final Fantasy IV Prologue as a post-ending epilogue type thing. Yes, I appreciate the irony of using a track called 'Prologue' for that purpose. But the FF games themselves have all played some variation of the track during the end credits, after the big ending, for years now, even though it was originally the prologue in FFIV. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do, I'm pretty proud of this playlist.
Book II:
1. Shinsei Nihon Symphony Orchestra - "Birth Of The People ~ Sacrifices" - ActRaiser Symphonic Suite (3:05) *Composed by Yuzo Koshrio
2. Andre Rieu - "Aquarium"(from Saint-Saens' "Carnival Of The Animals") - Romantic Paradise (2:27)
3. David Bowie - "Warszawa" - Low (6:24)
4. Yuzo Koshiro - "Last Moment Of The Dark" - Ys Books I & II OST (2:23)
5. Muse - "Exogenesis: Symphony" - The Resistance (12:51)
-------5. "Pt. 1: Overture" (4:19)
-------6. "Pt. 2: Cross-Pollination" (3:56)
-------7. "Pt. 3: Redemption" (4:37)
8. Arthur Rubinstein - "Nocturne Op. 9/No. 2 in E-flat" - The Chopin Collection (4:27)
9. Sigur Ros - "Festival" - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (9:24)
10. Pink Floyd - "Atom Heart Mother" - Atom Heart Mother (23:44)
11. Nobuo Uematsu - "Prologue(Arranged)" - Final Fantasy IV Minimum Album (4:54)
Total Running Time: 1:09:33
Grand Total Running Time: 2:40:00