Hi Huppa, I was wondering: are there any arrangements you would recommend for A Mystery in Your Town? This was my favorite song from Double Spoiler, but I've never come across an arrange of it that I've liked! I didn't even like MasamiT/O-Life Japan's version and he's my fave Touhou remixer :(
Hi!! I’m flattered you choose to ask me, and yeah, non-main game OSTs like DS and StB can be hard to find good stuff for. I can truly sympathize. Even when you do come across such arranges, it’s usually Retrospective Kyoto, Sleepless Night of Eastern County, Infinite Nightmare that get all the rep.
I went on your blog for a peek, and it seems like you like piano and classical music? However, looking at what I’ve got in my collection, all I can find for this specific original is the version on Marasy’s DS+StB album 幻想遊戯<文>W, which honestly isn’t too exciting.
I don’t know what genres you may be into other than that, but I’ll try and list some goodies that I’ve got on me!
TOHO JAZZ MESSENGERS - No More News (girls’ apartment)Jazz as the circle name implies. Starts of real slow and smooth but eventually picks up. My personal favorite of the bunch, probably. It’s really classy!
街角麻婆豆 - La critica (天狗レボリューション)Tango, but with a playful style! This entire little tengu-and-kappa-themed album is great, and this track is no exception. As usual it has Machikado Mapoze playing around with lots of different types of live music.
sound sepher - あなたの町の怪事件 (sepher.jp 東方アレンジコレクションII)Straight forward arrange that is very similar to the original, but has different sound bites for a much more modern sound. As it goes along, it gets more of a techno sound. I consider this a good alternative if you really love the original composition! (there’s no yt link for the track, but here is an album crossfade)
和妻悉皆屋 - あなたの町の怪事件 (和楽東方撰)You may know of the famous nnd/yt video of an ensemble of musicians doing a live Bad Apple!-cover. That ensemble released an album! And it has a Mystery in your Town arrange! Not the best track on the album, although good, and it’s worth checking in out in my opinion only for the live traditional instruments.
SWING HOLIC - カイジケン (SWING HOLIC VOL.09)This circle is pretty staple but I decided to include this anyway. It’s jazzy of course, but also makes lots of use of electric guitars and drums, in a way that’s more reminiscent of a lot of inst rock arranges. It’s rather nice, actually, and different from what this circle usually delivers.
DDBY - 思い出景色 (座って聴く東方文花帳)Really sweet and relaxing piano arrange that takes a lot of liberties with the original. Entire album is DS+StB only, so you might be interested if you like that.
いえろ~ぜぶら - 風を超えて~Flying~ (東方詠劫歌 ~Point and Eternity~)Yellow Zebra is one of those circles that have a tendency to make a lot of stuff that sounds about the same. I do think this is one of those tracks that sounds really good in their style though, and was one of the first tracks to come to mind. Avoid if you don’t like j-pop, however.
K2 SOUND - Screen (瞬還 -SYUN-KAN-)Another vocal arrange. Not their best track, but K2 SOUND usually play it rather safe with slick and funky pop. Kotoge Mai is also a great vocalist.
Riverside - divergent (Fleurir…)J-pop with a strong anison (anime op) feeling to it. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but holds up well for what it is.
I also took the liberty of uploading my entire playlist for this original to mediafire. It’s a mixed bag of 37 tracks, not curated by any means, but since it takes so little work on my end I thought I might as well.
With that, I hope you might be able able to find something that is to your liking. If not: let the search continue! You never knows what’s gonna pop up at the next event.