Why Touhou music?
"I once had a nice long talk with a musicologist who was working on programming computers to compose music. He said one of the interesting features of pleasing music was that it had to be both predictable and surprising. Predictable so we could have a handle on what we were listening to and to provide a foundation for surprise, and surprise to create the tantalizing interest and pleasure without which the music would be boring."
-Tyll Hertsens of Inner Fidelity
With touhou music, the foundation is all of ZUN's original compositions from the Touhou OSTs. After listening to touhou arrangements and some of the OSTs for so long, I've become quite familiar with many of the original themes and is thus somewhat predictable. The surprising part is when arrangers use their creativity to rewrite ZUN's original themes and make them into something special. There are so many themes out there, and so many different doujin circles who each have a unique style. Because of those reasons, touhou arrangements are such a joy to listen to and discover.
About the author
Hi everyone! I've been listening to touhou music since about 4 years ago, ever since a friend of mine introduced me to it. Since then I've discovered many amazing doujin circles, and many that I disliked. But of course, there's always new music to be discovered and games to be played. As for visual novels, i have also been actively reading for about 4 years since my first VN, G-Senjou no Maou.
I was inspired to create The Emotional Skyscraper from a blog that I used to read called Midnight Insomnia. The writers there used to write reviews on touhou albums and visual novels, but nowadays they only post updates on some touhou warcraft 3 custom maps. There aren't many websites or blogs out there that review or discuss touhou music, so I'm hoping that I can fill the gap that Midnight Insomnia has left for touhou music fans.
Anyways! I hope you enjoy the contents of the blog, and feel free to drop by with any comments or suggestions!
I was inspired to create The Emotional Skyscraper from a blog that I used to read called Midnight Insomnia. The writers there used to write reviews on touhou albums and visual novels, but nowadays they only post updates on some touhou warcraft 3 custom maps. There aren't many websites or blogs out there that review or discuss touhou music, so I'm hoping that I can fill the gap that Midnight Insomnia has left for touhou music fans.
Anyways! I hope you enjoy the contents of the blog, and feel free to drop by with any comments or suggestions!
How I rate albums
Since VGMDB's rating system goes from 0.5 to 5 stars and goes up in increments of .5, that is how I will rate albums.
5/5 - As good as it gets - This album represents its genre in the best way possible. Brilliant arrangements, great recording/mastering, and overall very pleasing to listen to. The album should have some theme or concept to it, which can be followed throughout its tracks, or the album should have excellent flow between the tracks. A 5/5 album is something that I would listen to over and over. The things that seperate a 5 from a 4.5 is a special "quality" that makes the album unique, or if the album really stands out from the other albums that the circle has created.
4.5/5 - Excellent - This rating represents an album that is similar to a 5/5, but just lacks that special unique quality, or has a track or two that isn't consistent with the rest of the album.
4/5 - Good - Most albums will receive this score. There will most likely be a couple of tracks that I didn't like, but isn't significant enough for me to dislike the album overall.
3.5/5 - Decent - Only has a couple of tracks that I enjoyed and would probably not listen to its entirety again.
<3/5 - Well, anything less than a 3.5 to me is bad, and the rating doesn't really matter at that point. These scores are reserved for circles that I am very familiar with. The album is disappointing in many ways, especially when compared to the circle's previous works.
As music is a very subjective thing, my ratings are all very subjective as well. If I listen to an album and simply don't like it, I probably won't bother writing about it. I'd rather be introducing people to good music rather than venting about bad music.
5/5 - As good as it gets - This album represents its genre in the best way possible. Brilliant arrangements, great recording/mastering, and overall very pleasing to listen to. The album should have some theme or concept to it, which can be followed throughout its tracks, or the album should have excellent flow between the tracks. A 5/5 album is something that I would listen to over and over. The things that seperate a 5 from a 4.5 is a special "quality" that makes the album unique, or if the album really stands out from the other albums that the circle has created.
4.5/5 - Excellent - This rating represents an album that is similar to a 5/5, but just lacks that special unique quality, or has a track or two that isn't consistent with the rest of the album.
4/5 - Good - Most albums will receive this score. There will most likely be a couple of tracks that I didn't like, but isn't significant enough for me to dislike the album overall.
3.5/5 - Decent - Only has a couple of tracks that I enjoyed and would probably not listen to its entirety again.
<3/5 - Well, anything less than a 3.5 to me is bad, and the rating doesn't really matter at that point. These scores are reserved for circles that I am very familiar with. The album is disappointing in many ways, especially when compared to the circle's previous works.
As music is a very subjective thing, my ratings are all very subjective as well. If I listen to an album and simply don't like it, I probably won't bother writing about it. I'd rather be introducing people to good music rather than venting about bad music.
My other stuff
Here, you can find me on other websites:
SBAF - An audio forum that's "Too objective for subjectivists; too subjective for objectivsts."
VNDB - Check out what I've read, and what I am currently reading.
This is my current audio setup:
Home: Schiit Yggdrasil > Schiit Valhalla 2 > HD650 (modded)
Home speaker setup: Schiit Yggdrasil > Virtue ONE.3 (130w PSU) > Overnight Sensations MT
Portable: DX90 > UERM, OR GO450 > UHA-6s mk.ii > UERM
This blog is typed with a Realforce 87u, either 45g or 55g and with my surface pro's type cover.
SBAF - An audio forum that's "Too objective for subjectivists; too subjective for objectivsts."
VNDB - Check out what I've read, and what I am currently reading.
This is my current audio setup:
Home: Schiit Yggdrasil > Schiit Valhalla 2 > HD650 (modded)
Home speaker setup: Schiit Yggdrasil > Virtue ONE.3 (130w PSU) > Overnight Sensations MT
Portable: DX90 > UERM, OR GO450 > UHA-6s mk.ii > UERM
This blog is typed with a Realforce 87u, either 45g or 55g and with my surface pro's type cover.