VG Frequency’s May 21, 2005 Pimp Section
Covering the relevant releases from the month o’ May continues with the goods from the week ending May 21st. You’ve got a full plate in front of ya, so make with the clicky clickly.
Shuichiro “Shu” Nakazawa & Zuntata - Landing Gear “S.L.M.J.” [ZUNTATA LIVE 1998 Güten Talk from the Earth AST]
I’m telling you, that sounds like a Daffy Duck voice sample in there. I’ll bet you almost anything that I’m right. In any case, genius is the word of the day here with this cut off Zuntata’s 1998 live concert album, and the winning track from Song of the Week, Week #24. Ripped from a video file of the concert, this is an absolute must-have for anyone that prefers their music strange, energetic, intelligent, and most importantly Japanese. It also makes a good running track if you plan on running pretty damn fast. Needless to say, I can run fast. Of course, I’m no JigginJonT though.
Tenmon - “Summer Clouds” [Mizu no Kakera: Once Summer of Islet-Origin (Game Rip)]
A brief but dense instrumental piece, loads of stuff including piano, acoustic guitar, tambourine, some light wind instrumentation, light drums, and so forth layer together nicely to present an nicely paced and upbeat setting. With school wrapping up and the summer in swing, this logically picked up 2nd place for Song of the Week, Week #24.
Asuka Sakai - “Ark Ver.1″ [Klonoa of the Wind 2 ~Something Forgotten Wished by the World~ OST]
I’ve got no idea what Klonoa of the Wind is, but if you’re interested in hearing a track that’s potentially mistakable for something from Phantasy Star Online done by one of the individuals responsible for the Katamari Damacy soundtrack (i.e. the loungy Engrished love song “Que Sera Sera”), then the 3rd place finisher for Song of the Week, Week #24 has got your name all over it.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Binster - “Closed-Eyed Astronomy” [http://www.abandonedsheep.com] - Feedback
Everything Martin makes is gold, so whenever he makes any type of release, be it VG-related or not, you ought give it a try. Mr. Binfield’s had some prior sweetness with colleague RickBRF and their . Sampling Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, this one tricks out that track with some stylish synths and hot beats. Beautiful and loopable, this is one you can easily show off to 80s fan just to see if they’ll bite. Induce the sunshine condition in others today.
Blue Magic - Chrono Cross “A Warrior’s Path” [VGMix2 #4067]
Technically not a very unique name for a remix, but well-done nonetheless. The strings were a bit plain and inhuman sounding, but the atmosphere was pretty good. Damon’s come a long way since his earlier days in the community. Noting the revisions he’s done to his mixes between posting them to VGMix and subbing them to OCR, I’m confident that this one has what it takes to be Blue Magic’s third mix. Needs a bit of refinement, but certainly worth checking out in its current form.
chthonic - Zelda: Link’s Awakening & Mega Man 2 “It’s My Turn to Dream” [VGMix2 #4141]
Everyone and their mother nowadays has been doing “Ballad of the Windfish” mixes, so much so that in this day and age of VG remixing, it’s joined the ranks of the overmixed. But Ben decides to join the party with an electronic-based take on it that’s a little different from the rest. Some of the synths and sounds are plain and generic, but the arrangement’s got spirit, including MM2’s “Metalman Stage” thrown in there for good measure, as well as some Middle Eastern motifs featuring some brief Zelda 3 & Zelda 64: The Ocarina of Time references. If you feel like dancing…
Daniel Baranowsky - “Schema of a Lunar Creation” [http://www.therighteous.net]
One of the perks of being on the panel is hearing the musical brainfarts of other judges when they have the inclination to cook stuff up. Here, Dan plays things incredibly abstract (also known at “What the FUCK?”), and truly shows off the outer limits of his range. It’s not particularly musical, but then again neither are Top 40 radio stations. Beg Dan for a copy and see if you can handle the noise.
DJ Orange - Final Fantasy 5 “Harvest Hoedown” [VGMix2 #3601 / OC ReMix #1352]
There aren’t too many cover-style mixes that I’d end up voting in favor of, simply because a conservative approach ends up not expanding the instrumentation of the source material enough, but Geoff’s take here did the trick. I heard from some other people that they weren’t feeling it. Grrr, they don’t know jack! Most of the groups Geoff rattled off as influences went right over my head, but I’ll tell you, I likes me some organ, I likes me some woodwinds, and I likes me some Orange. Actually, this reminded me a bit of A Clockwork Orange for no specific reason, particularly the intro. Well worth downloading for the offbeat flavor.
Geoffrey Taucer, The Prophet of Mephisto & PriZm - Xenogears “A Star Freezes Over” [VGMix2 #3399]
Indeed, this sounds like much like a slightly rougher version of The OneUps deciding to intermingle Xenogears with The Eagles’ “Desperado” and actually would have made a good fit on OneUp Studios’ Xenogears Light album with a bit more polish. The trio’s collaborative efforts have certainly paid off with a very fresh spin on Mitsuda’s “Gathering Stars in the Night Sky” that may need a glossier finish so-to-speak, but otherwise presents itself well. The concept certainly gets to the heart of what VGM arranging is all about, with some stylish mainstream material thrown into the mix as well.
goat - Final Fantasy 4 “The Sky Was Never A Limit” [VGMix2 #3462 / OC ReMix #1353]
I haven’t heard Chris go for a more orchestral-based remix since his Kid Icarus-inspired “Slice of Heaven”, so this was a welcome change of pace from the rock I’m normally used to. Even goats look for love, and what better way to woo the lady goats that with a rock ballad, this one done to FF4’s version of the Prelude. The orchestration was a weak point in terms of realism at times, but the performance there is nonetheless well done and the arrangement was some of the nicest I’ve ever heard when it comes to FF and is sure to make the bitch in you cry for either your girlfriend or (you lonely ones) for your attractive female friend who loves you like a brother. If you’ve heard many of goat’s Dwelling of Duels entries, you know that Chris is a guy who has no problem making a very lengthy track. Clocking in at nearly 7 minutes, you’ll never get bored with it. It may not be Valentine’s Day anymore, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stop wooing, playboy. Let a goat help you find love. This is way better than a Hallmark card.
Joker - Resident Evil 2 “The Corporate Office” [VGMix2 #4145]
Tackling RE2’s “Safe Place”, David offers this lo-fi style piece that retains the spooky atmosphere of the original while adding more depth to the instrumentation. The production sounds a bit rough, which may have been purposeful in creating a haunting feel, but tends to only mud the track. The instrumentation as well is fairly minimalist, but it works well for this type of style where the mood is the focus. The drums felt a bit out of place, but the strings, wind SFX, and piano were right at home here. It could use a great deal more sharpness, but it’s certainly one to check if you’re a Res Evil fan. Joker’s one to pay attention to in the future as his skills continue to develop.
Sadorf - “Pretzel’s Challenge” [Original Remix Competition 21]
This special edition of ORC featured remixes of an older original piece by djpretzel, “A Challenge to the Shogunate”, with Ichi and Sadorf sharing the victory. Both pieces sounded more in the WIP stage of things, but you can check out both in order to hear the two square off as Ichi brings an synthetic ethnic flavor while Sadorf trances the source material up, both prominently featuring piano. The co-winners will be selecting the material for ORC22.
Ichitootah - “The Shoguns Jukebox” [Original Remix Competition 21]
Ichitootah - Bermuda Syndrome & Golden Sun “Ichitootrance” [The People’s Remix Competition v2-16]
TO - Bermuda Syndrome & Golden Sun “Uranian Ballet” [The People Remix Competition v2-16]
As PRC head Kamoh called it, “too many ties”. TO & Ichitootah bang heads with their co-winning tracks covering two games, with Ichi doing a piano and vox accentuated trance mix, while TO went for a slower, more refined orchestral piece. Too bad I didn’t vote on this one to break up the tie. If y’all ever get into a tie over there at PRC, ask me to make a tie-break vote. I’LL fix things for ya. The Larry’s Remix Competition. I like the sound of that.
Krispy - Halo 1 & Halo 2 “Insurrection” [VGMix2 #3700 / OC ReMix #1354]
Kris hasn’t been around for way too long in terms of having material at OCR, so after getting fairly close with some DKC Aquatic Ambience material a little while back, the Halo touch was what was needed to get Krispy back in the spotlight. I personally felt that the arrangement here didn’t distinguish itself enough from the source, but there are nonetheless some exquisite Middle Eastern motifs in the mix here. Those of you out there in the community who are conservative and love arrangements that “stay true to the original” will be all about it here with a sweet rendition of one of the newer tracks in VGM that frequently gets mixed, the Halo theme.
Nixdorux - Super CastleVania 4 “Lord Dracula” [VGMix2 #4176]
Nicolas goes for an ambient orchestral first half in this moody CV4 mix, before switching gears to strings and an organ on cameo in this track representing the entrance of the ambiguous & complex Lord Dracula. Quite the interesting representation of Dracula, as it doesn’t go for a cliche attempt at sounding sinister and evil, rather Nix takes a more refined stab at the source material. Soild work per the usual from Nicolas, who shows a good deal of range within the orchestral genre for those of you familiar with his body of work.
The OneUps - Secret of Mana “Secret of the Forest” [http://www.oneupstudios.com/oum.php] - Feedback
Perfomed live at Scarapino’s as part of their most recent jazz set, here’s a rare glimpse of the The OneUps in their element as Mustin and crew make the push to get the groups name out there and expose Joe Blow & Jane Q. Public to the creative wonders and booty shaking fun of video game music. This one is quite a hefty download for those of you of the dial-up persuasion (78.41MB), but I scored this vid along with others provided by Jessperk anyway, because you know you expect some quality arrangement highlighted by improved solos and great energy. Since these guys aim to make it big, be sure you can say you supported them first by checking out these performances.
OverCoat - Tales of Phantasia “Payne’s Gray Forest” [VGMix2 #4137]
Quite the interesting opening here in Scott Porter’s latest mix, 59 seconds of off-kilter ambience that you’re either going to love or hate. I personally found it very relaxing, though I’m biased being a big proponent of OverCoat’s style. Some wind instruments and beats joined in a minute into the track to help establish the pacing and demeanor of the mix, typical of most of Scott’s ambient, groove-based offerings. It’s murky. It’s eerie. It’s got a nice unique atmosphere. That’s OverCoat.
Quinn Fox - “The Iron Leaf” [Fitz Warine] - Feedback
Check out Quinn’s familiar style with some acoustic guitar sampling, piano and electro-kwakery at the forefront with this original from his in progress album Fitz Warine. The last section is a bit cluttered, but this is very cool stuff for those of you familiar with Quinn’s OCR & VGMix collection of mixes. It’s not often that you get to hear Quinn release original material, so the opportunity is yours to see what Quinn can do if you’re not familiar with his recent work or his originals. When he’s gonna host “Dayspender” again, dammit? I cry now.
Richter - StarFox 1 “Xector Point” [The People’s Remix Competition v2-11 / VGMix2 #4157]
Pretty straightforward adaptation of Sector X into basic trance along with some spacey overtones. The sounds were fairly generic and thin, and the atmosphere was sparse, but the ideas had promise. The mix was only turned out in a few days for the duration of the PRCv2-11 mixing phase, so it’s too bad Matt won’t dedicate more time to making improvements on it. There’s not nearly enough StarFox coverage out there, though I’m aware of someone else working on something. I keep my mouth shut.
Roetaka - Megaman 2 “A Warmer Farewell” [VGMix2 #4129]
The atmosphere is a bit muddy and some of the chords sounded odd, but this was a pretty interesting arrangement of MM2’s ending theme. Alex definitely put together an unorthodox approach in arranging it, so much so that I can honestly say it’ll both put some people off and leave others struggling to make the connection to the source at times. The track dragged on a little bit throughout the last minute on account of the backing beats simply repeating themselves, but the assessment of how well the arrangement here was pulled off is not necessarily mine to make. Alex is certainly a non-OC ReMixer to keep your eye on as he’s been improving his skills gradually.
Roetaka - “Calling Your Long Lost Heart” [http://www.soundclick.com/roetaka] - Feedback
Alex goes for a nice hybrid approach filled out with backing strings, piano, and a steel stringed guitar in an original piece that’s pretty cluttered on the production side but is nonetheless fairly solid compositionally. Roetaka has a tendency to make pieces that would sound better if they were condensed, but a good job is done creating dynamic contrast and flow overall. Like I say, he’s one to watch on the developmental level, and focusing on original compositions is one way to steadily improve an artist’s hand as it translates to the remixing scene. I think you’ll like a good deal of the ideas here, fair listeners.
Star Salzman - Final Fantasy 6 “Shut the Fuck Up” [VGMix2 #4136]
Star Salzman’s not to be fucked with with this ROFL rap remix of FF6’s Opening Theme with some hot vocal processing and over-the-top lyrics, as Star does his best impressions of a number of mainstream rap styles (Bone Thugs ‘N Harmony, NICE)! Hahahaha! “Star Salzman…comin’ at ya!” Icy Hot Stuntaz beware. Ain’t much arrangement substance here, but cruise with this one blarin’ out yo lowrider and tell them bitches to SHUT THE FUCK UP!
And with that, it’s time to shut the fuck up on this batch of stuff. As per the usual summer bidniss, please feel free to leave comments, and I hope you enjoy.