This sounds like fun! I'll give it a go.

1) Letter From the Lost Days - Silent Hill 3 Soundtrack
I suppose I should admit right off that I have Never Ever played a Silent Hill game in my entire life, youtube is a wonderful medium for learning Not my favourite Silent Hill vocal song (that honour would probably have to go to Hell Frozen Rain or Waiting For You) but it's still a pretty good example of how good a team Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Akira Yamaoka make. Melancholic and slow, its words could be referring to either of the two main female characters, and the hopeful, almost desperate lyrics wishing for a brighter future starkly contrast with the eerie, ponderous beats (and, y'know, the whole feel of silent hill in general).

2) Father's Son - Tori Amos
I've been a massive Tori fan since my mid-teens, so everything I have of hers goes straight onto the walkman. Like a lot of the songs from American Doll Posse, it's very much critical of the state of America at the time it was written (clue: the first track is called Yo George). One of the great things about her work is that a lot of her songs are laden with symbolism, allowing people to take away different meanings from the same song. 

3) Kino and Kino - Eilon
God I do love Kino's Journey, and it is a crying shame that the music has never been released in any format (even if every song is a reworking of the same melody) but this delightful person from LiveJournal re orchestrated several of the tracks using as close to the original synths as he could find. Every track reminds me of The Beautiful World, bittersweet and wonderful.

4) Connect - Puella Magi Madoka Magica Opening
Another song from another series I love, although this one is a lot more recent. Initially I found this song rather annoying, maybe because it jars with the themes portrayed in the rest of the series, but as it reaches its climax the song does the one thing I love in any anime opening, it picks up the pace with a hint of what I can only describe as desperation.

5) Another Dream - Phantasmagoria of Flower View Ending
Aaah, from back in the days when I used to play Touhou every damn day instead of once in a blue moon. ZUN may not be able to draw for toffee but he sure can compose, and whilst most of the ending themes are fairly nondescript (I'm looking at you UFO ending) this one has a good rhythm and piano that makes it stick out from the rest.

6) If I could Turn Back Time - Cher
I don't usually listen to Cher, but when I do it's because someone shows me a clip from Will and Grace and I love the song. Despite its sad lyrics it's still so chirpy!

7) Fly me to the Moon 4 Beat Version - Evangelion Soundtrack 3
That series is probably the main reason I like old school crooner songs, and its this version I based my performance off when I did a recital way back in school.

8) Walking the Streets of a Former Hell - Subterranean Animism Soundtrack
Out of all the Touhou games this one has some of the best music. It does a good job of setting the scene of an underground village populated by youkai and oni.

9) Fireflies - Owl City
Yep I'll have me some Owl City. Every song sounds the same but in a good way.

10) Dancing Through Life - Wicked Soundtrack
Oh God did I hate this song when I first saw Wicked in the west end, the character who sings it is so vain, vapid and just generally annoying, but somehow, perhaps due to his character development during the story, I've come to appreciate this song more, maybe not for its message, but for its spirit.

11) For the Sake of Happiness - Valkyrie Profile OST
In case it has not become apparent I listen to a lot of game soundtracks, I think mostly because I like songs which I can associate with an emotion, and I generally find that easiest when I'm playing video games for some reason. A lot a Valkyrie profile's music is meh, this being a case in point, but its still nice to listen to once in a while.

12) Angels Dear - Overcoat and Destiny
A vocal cover of Where Angels Fear To Tread, the theme song for Secret of Mana. That game was probably the RPG that defined my childhood, so I have a soft spot for remixes of the theme song, or any of the soundtrack for that matter.

Although most of my music is either OST from Touhou games, or arranges of them, I'll give it a try. I like the very idea of such thread.

1: Demon Tale Sonata - dBu

An arrange of "Hartmann's Youkai Girl" from Touhou 11. Just as the original it's really creepy and disturbing, but much more melodic. I don't really like dBU arranges, but this one is very fitting for an extra boss fight, just like the original - it fits the girl with the power to control subconsciousness. Also, for the lulz - during that fight we are attacked with deadly roses, hearts and "penis missiles" or attacks named "Superego" etc...Very Utena-ish.

2: The Spell - Lunatica

A piece of good female vocal metal, with addition of male voices during the refrain. It's not that great as their "Edge Of Infinity" or "Elements", nevertheless it's really fast and kinda aggresive, yet sometimes dreamy track. Mainly due to the fact that I love the lyrics, and Lunatica as a whole, I have this on my permanent playlist.

3: Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind - ZUN

Soundtrack from Touhou 12. This one is the theme of Touhou 12 last boss, Hijiri Byakuren, a female Buddhist monk sealed for a millenium in a demon world. Funny thing. This forum is a home for people who sometimes have to deal with lack of tolerance from other people. This is the same reason why Hijiri was imprisoned - she claimed equality and requested peace between humans and demons. Of course our heroin in-game free her, just to beat the crap out of her. What the hell? Nevertheless, it's a really beautiful piece of music, with those very distinct trumpets (ZUN-pets, as some people call it).

4: Innumerable Eyes - Demetori

Another Touhou arrange, this time from Touhou 11. Demetori is a band which arranges OST from Touhou games, and is known for their proficiency in powerful metal and badass guitar riffs. I view "Innumerable Eyes" as one of their best works. However it lacks the eerieness of the original it is based on. In place of this we have a great piece of power metal.

5: Solar Sect Of Mystic Wisdom ~ Nuclear Fusion - Demetori

Yet another arrange from Demetori, and again from Touhou 11. This time it's the final boss theme, which originally was intended to be powerful and awesome (you need to have power metal, when dealing with a hell raven, that became a LIVING STAR, and has a NUCLEAR POWER PLANT CONTROL ROD ON IT'S ARM!)

6: The Witches' Ball ~ Magus Night - ZUN

OST from Touhou 12.8, extra boss theme. I didn't like particularly this game, maybe because of the sick game system (freezing hellish amounts of enemy bullets instead of dodging them). The very song also was kinda meh, the first time I heard it (and died seconds afterwards), however it grew on me. Starts calmly, then goes a little chaotic, and suddenly (in-game usually when the extra boss, which theme this is unleashes a sick attack) it's like "OMG I'M SO SCREWED".

7: Hellfire Mantle - Rei

THE MOST EPIC OF EPIC! Arrange of Touhou 11, the music on the last stage, when we fly towards the very CENTER OF HELL, through friggin' flames, over lava. Attacked by hell ravens and a fucking HELL CAT!

8: Love Coloured Master Spark - dBu

Another dBu's arrange, this time from Touhou 8. I really like the original, but I can't get along with any arranges of this. I don't actually even know why I still have it on my list. It's fast, it sounds good, but is somewhat lacking, like most of dBu's tracks for me...

9: Hundred Demon's Flight - Unlucky Morpheus

Ah, one of my favourite's A vocal arrange from Touhou 12, sung by Fuki. She is a vocalist whom people either love, or hate. I am one of her supporters and "Hundred Demon's Flight" is one of her best vocal performances, with her thrilling, beautiful voice. Too bad she's gone from Unlucky Morpheus...

10: Ghost Lead - ZUN

OST from Touhou 13 (the newest game in the series). People don't like it much, because earlier theme of the character "Ghost Lead: is associated with, was much more epic. However I like this one. It's short, it has ZUN-pets, and this "special something" which can be found in ZUN's works.

11: Supernature - Inkubus Sukkubus

Inkubus Sukkubus. Pagan metal, as some people call it. I have only two of their tracks on my mp3 player ("All Along The Crooked Way" and "Supernature"), but this one is really calming, simple, yet deep and beautiful.

12: Floating Darkness - Tatsh Music Circle

And finally, "Floating Darkness". Yes, it's an arrange from Touhou. It's vocal,so it's good. And it is also very...maybe nit disturbing, but tries to give the feeling of chill and suspense. The track it was based on sounds very unusual, however this arrange failed in forwarding this. Maybe that's better. The vocals are good, but not awesome.

MissMocha wrote:

SAME. WAVELENGTH. It was one of my least favorite songs at first, but after repeated listens, it's actually become one of my favorites, for all the forshadowing, but more importantly, for how double edged the lyrics are. It sets the stage for so much character development for Fiyero.

So True. I do remember even during the first time I heard it finding 'so we're perfect together' hilarious.

Nanami's Rose Groom wrote:

Nuclear Fusion and Cosmic Mind

Oh God YES these are like two of the best Touhou songs. Have you heard Fractal Cage by EastNewSound? I think it's one of the best remixes of Cosmic Mind out there. Byakuren is one of my favourite touhou characters so that helps too.

Anji wrote:

Waiting For You

Aw man I was hoping to get this song in my 12 I think this is one of the best songs of the whole franchise.

Makubi wrote:

9) Fireflies - Owl City
Yep I'll have me some Owl City. Every song sounds the same but in a good way.

This is the only Owl City song I know, but I have pleasant memories attached to it.  It's a song that reminded someone of me; songs like that stay with you. 

My random sample is pretty good, I guess.  I listen to more non-otaku music than is reflected here, but them's the breaks when you're using the iTunes DJ!

1. Half the Perfect World - Anjani Thomas
Anjani is a protege of Leonard Cohen -- see #11 on this list -- whose album Blue Alert is a sort of... gentle, jazzy, reflective collection that always makes me think it ought to be played after hours in a smoky bar while the employees mutely clean up.  Half the Perfect World, off that album, is a quiet love song that is all melody; it's lyrically one of the weakest songs on the album, but it's so relaxing to listen to.

2. The Ladies In My Town All Know My Name - Strong Bad
Hey, remember when homestarrunner.com was a thing?  They had a soundtrack!  Some of the songs were worth listening to almost on their own merits.  This was not one of them!  This song is Strong Bad's untalented voice singing, in full, "I am fairly great, and the ladies in my town all know my name / Except for this one girl, she thinks my name's Brian."  That one girl is just hung up on me, I guess.

3. The Avenue Q Theme - Avenue Q
I love Avenue Q, the Tony-award-winning Muppet musical.  It's about growing up after college, facing a vacuum of purpose, and trying to stay lighthearted.  The characters are mostly Sesame Street parodies who explore adult issues -- how could this possibly go wrong?    This theme song introduces Avenue Q as where you live after college while waiting for opportunity to knock.

4. Row! Row! Fight the Power! - Gurren Lagann
This song is the musical centerpiece of its anime series, full of machismo and ill beats.  It's a great exercise song.  It's also a great demonstration of why Japanese artists who haven't trained their accents should think twice about singing songs in English professionally: when it came on during the series, "fight the power" sounded an awful lot like "white power."

5. Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
I'm glad some rock got onto this list.  I know nothing about Falco except that they're German, and I discovered this song principally through pop culture references.  The first I remember was the Simpsons' "Dr. Zaius" in Troy McClure's Planet of the Apes.  It also shows up in Kingdom of Loathing and Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series.  As a song, it's only okay, but it is iconic.

6. Last Evolution - Revolutionary Girl Utena
Nanami's first duel song.  I love it.  You love it.  Next.

7. The Björk Song - The Brunching Shuttlecocks
Wow, this goes even further back than Homestar Runner.  The Brunching Shuttlecocks were a humor site on the early Internet, run mostly by Lore Sjöberg, whose name still shows up occasionally.  This song is Lore singing a love song to the eponymous Icelandic vocalist using increasingly strained rhymes on the word Björk.  "She's small and she's odd, like a lepton or quark."

8. Standing in the Way - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
It's just nerd songs all the way down, isn't it?  Buffy had a musical episode in season 6 when a dancing demon visited town.  It was one of the best episodes of the series, and a clear precursor to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.  This is one of the best songs of the episode, about how Buffy's guardian Giles worries that by protecting her from harm he may actually be -- wait for it -- standing in the way of her growth as a Slayer and as a human.

9. Missa Papae Marcelli Kyrie - Giovanni da Palestrina
One of the oldest songs on my playlists: Missa Papae Marcelli is a sacred mass composed by Palestrina in the 1500s.  This song is the apotheosis of vocal counterpoint, with half a dozen voices moving with and against each other to produce a truly beautiful prayer.  I ran across it during a music theory course and still listen to it.

10. Man Up - The Book of Mormon
This song is something of a montage.  It starts with a Mormon missionary singing about how he has to evangelize to Africans even though they don't want what he's selling.  Then one of the Africans comes in to sing about how she wants to go to Salt Lake City, and then another Mormon missionary sings about how he's abandoning his mission.  It ends with an African complaining of maggots in his scrotum.  You should download the soundtrack to this musical.  It's fantastic.

11. Alexandra Leaving - Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen is probably my single favorite musical artist, writing deeply introspective folk-ish acoustic guitar songs that are often painfully honest.  Alexandra Leaving is one of his best songs.  It's based on a century-old Greek poem, "The God Forsakes Antony," that examines Mark Antony's feelings when he was driven out of the city of Alexandria; Cohen adapts it to make it about a woman, yet the feelings survive intact.  "As someone well prepared for the occasion, / In full command of every plan you wrecked, / Do not choose a coward's explanation / That hides behind the cause and effect."

12. Sirens - Angels & Airwaves
Angels & Airwaves is a Blink-182 descendant that exists in the alternative-to-indie-rock zone, but very accessible.  They're not quite my cup of tea -- if I'm going to listen to modern rock they aren't my first choice -- but Sirens is catchy, with a nice chorus, the right amount of volume, and almost enough energy.  I can hardly understand a word, though.

And that's that. 

Last edited by satyreyes (11-10-2011 10:37:18 PM)

1. Rinbu Revolution
I don't think I really need to explain this one o_o

2. Sound Effect Collection - Pokemon Gameboy Sound Collection
I found this by accident one day while I was looking for Pokemon Red/Blue sound effects. I downloaded it thinking it was going to be just a bunch of sound effects, but it was actually music!

3. Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku


4. Dreams - Fleetwood Mac
Reminds me of my sister. She says it's her "tea song."

5. Get Along - Slayers
I watched Slayers at the beginning of the year. Love it

6. Fly - Blind Guardian
Peter Pan!

7. The Ding Dong Song - Gunther
It's because of that video with Akio and Touga...

8. Always - Erasure
...Robot Unicorn Attack.

9. Temporal Tower - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
PokeRemixStudio's version of Temporal Tower from PMD. I've never played any PMD games all the way through, but I love Dialga's themes!

10. Mirror, Mirror - Blind Guardian
Love it Not really much else to say about it, though.

11. I Wanna Know What Love Is - Foreigner
I always liked this song -o- I sing it at my sisters every now and then.

12. Katamari on the Swing
NANAANANANANANANANA KATAMARI DAMACY

I'm surprised that this thread is as popular as it is.  Well, I said if it got popular that I'd go ahead and do a Dozen from my entire computer library, instead of the one I did simply from my 4GB crappy off-brand MP3 player.  There's around 4,000 MP3s on my computer itself.

1) Voice005
My MP3 player doubles as a decording device.  Since my father has bluffed, claiming he's got a lawyer he'll call every time I step out of line in his eyes, I've been forced to record every single 'conversation' we have.  This particular file was just a test, a simple conversation with my mother, testing to see if the recorder can pick up while inside the pocket of my sweatpants.  I'm really sad that it came to this in my family.  Man... this got off to a great goddamned start.

2) Rob Zombie, "Two Lane Blacktop"
I was a fan of Rob Zombie back when he was just about the music, back before he tried to branch out into movies and the like.  Don't get me wrong, some of his movies were pretty good.  But I've always liked his music best.  Hellbilly, I believe it's called.

3) Good Charlotte, "Dance Floor Anthem (I Don't Wanna Be In Love)"
Back when I wrote for my e-feds (The 'Vault' series I'm currently posting), music was a huge motivator for me.  This was the theme music for Kid Midnight of the Kid Syndicate.  It sounds a lot different than a lot of Good Charlotte's stuff.

4) The Doors, "Soul Kitchen"
Back in early 2008, I spent a few months in a sweltering hell-hole in northern Florida in the name of getting a 'degree' from a place allegedly run by the government.  The place was a haven for teenagers with emotional problems, drugs, thievery, violence, emotional blackmail, betrayal, lies, abuse, shitty food... it was a piece of crap.  I completed a year's worth of course work in literally two weeks, and the only reason I was there as long as I was, was because they couldn't get their shit together.  Nobody knew what anyone else was doing, this place was a waste of my time, back when I could have been looking for a job during the big downturn in our economy.  And a Jamacian guy there actually tried to kill me.  I swear, the depression I was going through was making me nearly suicidal.  If it wasn't for a very small handful of fellow otaku there, and the music of The Doors, I probably would have committed suicide.  But towards the end, back before the Jamacian tried to kill me, I picked up a copy of the essential Doors hits on CD, and let the music of Jim Morrison take my mind to a different place.  If you've never experienced it for yourself, it's new to you.  This was new to me, and it helped take me home, on a long bus ride where a crack addict asked for an hour to borrow a phone I didn't have before trying to pick my pocket while I slept.

I'm all f*cking depressed now and don't want to finish this.

5) AFI, "Kill Caustic"
A nice heavy song to get you amped up and raring to go.  I don't like full-on scream-o, where people scream for the entire song.  At least these guys do a lot of singing as well.

6) WWE, "Carlito's Theme"
I used to love wrestling.  I used to love it so much.  It used to be my favorite pasttime.  I knew that it was 'fake' from long ago, but it's so much more real than people think, especially since backstage politics dictate a lot of things.  But these days it's stale, boring, stupidly written... the wrestling itself can be good, or even great, but the talking segments, the storylines, the writing is all f*cked up and terrible, with terrible decisions being made daily.  That's why I wrote Extreme Bishoujo Wrestling, because I knew I could do so much better.  As for Carlito... I still say "that's cool" and "that's not cool" in his accent sometimes.  I have yet to take a bite of an apple and spit it in someone's face, though.

7) Coheed & Cambria, "Time Consumer"
Oh my God.  Coheed & Cambria.  Probably my favorite band of all time.  A heavy yet melodic rock band that actually tells an amazing story behind their music.  An epic story that spans over multiple albums.  Great music, great story, these guys inspired some of my best E-fed work, including one of my most successful E-fed characters of all time, Ellis Davis.  Ellis was a suicidal young woman from New Jersey covered in scars from years of abuse, being locked in her father's closet for years.  She believes she's a zombie, one of those in touch with the dead.  Over the course of her epic story, I kind of ended up finding myself as well.  Sadly, Ellis ended up killing herself on Christmas Day of 2006, half-way through my E-Fedding career (WBL Studios started with Ellis in early 2006, and spanned until Ex on December of 2007), and even in her 'death', she was a major influence on future characters of mine.  As for the band themselves, amazing stuff.  I highly suggest you check them out.

8) Power Instinct Matrimelee OST, "Mijikon Rock (Start)"
I love fighting games.  I have several fighting game soundtracks.  This is a simple 24-second intro theme.  Not even the intro movie/video, just the song that plays between the time you put the coin in and the time you hit start.  Right before the end, the singers stop, and the final boss (Princess Sissy) screams at them to start again.  For the lolz.

9) Rap Is A Joke Duh Mixtape, "Chupa"
I have a lot of free (legally free, as in released by underground artists themselves) albums that I haven't actually listened to yet.  This is from something called "Rap Is A Joke: Duh Mixtape".  Decent rapper, crap lyrics.

10) Doctor Octorok, "Little Nemo Boy"
This is from my favorite holiday album of all time, "8-Bit Jesus".  A bunch of classic Christmas songs not just done in 8-bit style, but done in the style of actual classic games and companies.  If you dig into the title of this song, you can easily figure out which Christmas song it is, and which video game it's styled after.  I deeply apologize, by the way, about not being able to participate in Secret Santa this year.  Even if I had any money whatsoever, I don't know how much longer this is going to be my address.

11) Stone Temple Pilots, "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart"
I think I heard this on the radio once and decided to download it.  I have that freedom now that I have Sirius Satellite Radio.  It's got a different feel to it.

12) TKRMX, "Soulmates 2, Track 01"
Again, there are some legit free full albums I haven't listened to yet.  But this guy can do some spectacular mash-up albums with video game music and rap music like nobody's business.  His "Mega Man 9" album is pretty good.

I'm surprised that none of my nine Utena soundtracks came up, as well as none of my "Eminem vs. Anime" tracks... an otaku I met on Youtube made two full rap albums with Eminem's vocals over remastered songs from tons of classic anime.  I'm also surprised I got this depressed.