#1
JYOCHO - Taiyou to Kurashite Kita [Bloom]
The Best One. made me care so so much about bg selection
to me, the main function of a bg is to sell the vibe. essentially just, like, synthesizing a song into image form. this does that perfectly IMO, in such an unorthodox manner as well. picking an old-ass black&white image almost feels counter-intuitive, but it works incredibly
to me, the main function of a bg is to sell the vibe. essentially just, like, synthesizing a song into image form. this does that perfectly IMO, in such an unorthodox manner as well. picking an old-ass black&white image almost feels counter-intuitive, but it works incredibly
#2
Kamisama Club - No. 5 [Capital]
whenever a dsco bg isn't just something ripped from the source material (album/single cover) ur eating good
#3
paraoka feat. haru*nya - Boot [Jounzan's Expert]
song vibe and image vibe, in sublime harmony with one another. pure joy. i might have had this set as my desktop wallpaper at one point
#4
wa. - Black Lotus [Lucilividly]
ethereal, evocative, and wholly original. blixys is such a crazy visual artist both in the editor and in... paint.net? is that right? blixys if you're reading this fact check my shit. anyways honorable mentions to ghost & akuma no uta, two blixys maps in graved that both have good original bgs
#5
Flying Lotus - Never Catch Me feat. Kendrick Lamar [Break Away]
olc's always had a knack for this, but this one's probably my favorite out of the bgs he's used. weird, dense, abstract; really great out-there match
#6
Ghost-Note - Shrill Tones [Enter The Funk Zone]
a good bg will also become synonymous with / symbolic of the map itself. where, if you look at the bg in isolation, your mind will IMMEDIATELY think of the name of the map. maybe that's more to do with a map's notoriety than anything, but this image will forever be entangled with Shrill Tones in my head. super dynamic & fun
#7
Jane's Addiction - Summertime Rolls [The sand between our toes]
it may be possible that i am biased towards using weird old art as a bg source. maybe i'm just tired of anime bgs, which would make sense. the more everyone does one thing the more valuable it becomes to do anything else
either way the map's a crazy psychedelic... experience, for lack of a better word, and the bg conveys that really well
#8
Boxplot - My Non-Existent Friend, Alice [Heaven Delight]
dont have much to say about this one. just a really good image/song pairing
#9
Pogo - Casablanca Mix (Remake) [Strange Limerence]
this one isn't even really for the bg image itself, moreso the entire context surrounding the map's creation. ofc the bg is a footprint of that but it's not the whole story
this map's a love letter (see rHO's list!!), from one mapper to another. the description is just four words: "I fell in love." it's a very rare case that maps have a story behind them and i will cherish that any time we get it