VG Frequency’s August 7, 2004 Pimp Section
Slow week in terms of side developments in the community, or at least any that I’m aware of. We’re only a month away from the return of VGF on the air, so hopefully we’ll get some more good stuff to fill up the very first show back. In any case, the music takes center stage, so let’s see what dropped for the week ending August 7th:
Alexander Prievert - Ecco the Dolphin 2 (Sega CD), Metropolis Street Racer & Conker’s Bad Fur Day “The Dolphin-Squirrel-Paris Rave” [VGMix2 #2001]
Alex hits VGMix with his latest release, which frankly sounds like very generic techno. Yet this one is ambitious in giving a very different spin on material that you’d never think could be “techno-ized”. Not only that, but he also combines elements of music from 3 games that you’d never expect to be pieced together with Ecco 2, Metropolis Street Racer & Conker’s Bad Fur Day. The first thing I noticed was that the mastering here was poor enough to dull a lot of the energy this track had, so it needs a drastic overhaul to give the mix clarity and presence. We finally get some unique stuff coming in with some weird effects entering at the 2:08 mark to give this one something particularly notable and enjoyable. It’s pretty strange as this track is pretty oxymoronic to me. It’s clearly innovates on the source material in a big way through its usage in the context of a wholly different genre. But as a strict techno piece independent of the material mixed, this is noticeably unremarkable work for the genre itself. In the 2 1/2 years I’ve been around the community, I’ve never quite heard a paradox like this mix right here. I wouldn’t have spotlighted it here if there weren’t some redeeming qualities, so it thus remains up to you how you’re gonna feel about it.
analoq - Noir “amazeing!” [The People’s Remix Competition: Animation 5]
Aaron won PRCA:5 handily with this cool spin on “Maze” from the Noir soundtrack, which OverCoat randomly picked to be this contest’s challenge (thanxusomuch!~). Stripping away the (crappy) vocals and focusing on the melodic progression of the music itself, analoq tinkers around with the original with a light, laid-back groove before moving up the power again with electric guitar returning at the 1:47 mark. Short and sweet, and a vast improvement over the original (hey, those vocals are the epitome of an “acquired taste”). You can always trust analoq to take any idea and expertly exploit its potential. In the meantime, we’ll be waiting for his choice of source material for PRC:A6.
The Blasted Man (Hungry Joe) - Final Fantasy 8 “Kind of Breezy” [VGMix2 #1998] - OCR Feedback
Nate Jasensky’s recent OCR submission was turned down, but was a mix that I personally felt was very promising and deserved more attention. This one’s an energetic take on God knows what theme. ;-) If you’re down with a guitar based remix with some rock undertones, then you should sign yourself up for a listen to this progressive offering. This one carries quite a number of style changes and features tons of development in those respects, almost functioning like a medley piece. With regards to the strengths and weaknesses of the track, I’ve written so, so much about this mix in detail as an OCR judge and that carried over into my review of “Kind of Breezy” over at VGMix, which you’ll wanna check out if you’re really wondering what I thought about it in ludicrous amounts of detail. It’ll be interesting to see what material Nate can produce in the future with such a noteworthy effort here.
bustatunez - “Ironbars” [CompoST 29]
BT takes the victory for the regular SoundTempest compo with this prison theme composition. The style for this one seemed to connote something terrible happening during a prison-related cutscene, and thus had the right imagery working for it, which is why it got my vote. busta is actually a student at Yale which is about 10 minutes away from my apartment, so we’ll hopefully getting together in downtown sometime before I head back to school and shoot the shit. BT burst on the SoundTempest scene, already possessing nice samples and the knowledge to use them impressively, so I’ll be looking forward to any of his further work, and hopefully he may do a VG remix or four. Meanwhile, “Ironbars” does a great job in setting a tone with sinister connotations, and is an original you’d be remiss in not DLing.
Chad Seiter - “A Whimsical Being” [http://www.chadseiter.com] - Feedback
Here Chad makes a quick entrance with a slowly-paced original wind piece. It’s only 1:44, so there’s not much for me to say. The flow is somewhat melancholy in the right frame of mind, but very relaxing at the same time and something you could zone out to if the piece was longer. I liked what I heard, and nothing should stop you from giving this a quick peek. Check out the Feedback link to sample some more of Chad’s original work, including some works-in-progress longer than this piece.
Darangen - Donkey Kong Country 2 “From Within” [VGMix2 #1988]
Here’s a pretty solid rock mix of Dave Wise’s mines theme for DKC2 by a name I’ve seen around VGMix but haven’t had the opportunity to review much, Michael Boyd. As with many rock mixes, the percussion can be pretty straightforward and this uninteresting, and I believe that’s the case, but Darangen’s electric guitar work here is alright, and the music here sets a somewhat despondent tone, which you’ll understand more once you read the details Mike gave in his mix description. This one’s faring very, very well over at VGMix, currently standing in Tier 1. A little inflated of a ranking? Frankly, yes. But this one has interesting ideas and makes a whole new piece out of the original, so it’s a good first look at Darangen if you’re unfamiliar with his stuff.
DistantJ - The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time “Sand” [VGMix2 #1918]
For any fans of the Gerudo theme or Danny B’s “Awakened Fears of the Gerudo”, you’re inevitably gonna have to head over to VGMix and check out J’s latest release tackling one of the more-covered LoZ:OoT themes out there. This is some pretty energetic techno, though the production on it is such that the melody never really takes its spot in the foreground of the track over the beats, thus this production on this mix does need to be addressed, which is one area of DistantJ’s mixing that I consistently highlight as having room for improvement. Despite all that, I’m liking the ideas presented here and the development here is easily observable. Once DJ finds more of the right balance amongst his sounds, he’ll be in a lot better shape. As I listen to more and more of his material, I can hear him improving his game in various ways, so you’ll no doubt see him on OCR in the eventual future. Not the best track of his I’ve heard (that would be his Link’s Awakening mix, “Windfish Enigma”) but one that should be more easily accessible to you Zelda 64 fans out there.
Fatty Acid - Chrono Trigger “Rhodes to the Past” [VGMix2 #1502 / OC ReMix #1226]
I covered this one last week, so let’s quickly see what I said for the week of July 31st:
Liontamer wrote…
Following up with another remix that I voted NO on is Joe’s “Wind Scene” remix that managed to split the panel voting with the question of how dramatic the arrangement was. Despite the debate on that, I can guarantee you that this is one excellent sounding mix that flavors the popular source tune with some electronic sounds and thick beats, resulting in a pretty good genre adaptation mix that strictly arranges rather than rearranges. Don’t forget the Rhodes either, which is the primary inspiration for this mix. You’ll likely be feeling the energy here, and Fatty Acid’s choice of source material is gonna ensure that he gets a notable reception with his pending OCR debut.
Now that it’s out at OC, the feedback is indeed strong and the people are all “McDonald’s I’m luvin’ it” for the phat b33tz! Pimp this one with some subwoofers for maximum effect.
Freemind - “Passion” [http://www.bands411.com/freemindlab] - Feedback
Some dope original work as usual from OCR’s resident Grecian, Thanasis, as he goes for some more ambient material accompanied by stock beats that you’ll EASILY recognize from Ben Cousins’ Zelda 3 mix “Lost Woods South Central”. Moving into 1:29, we get some Eastern sounds to add more variety to the package along a female vocal sample introing at 1:54 that provides some more ear candy. While the piano provides activity throughout, 2:33 features the addition of some eerily-processed vox that actually went over well with me. Pretty odd, but it works. Pretty straightforward work from FM on this one, but the sounds were cool, so hit it up.
Majeliss (computermage) - Mega Man 3 “Loneliness” [VGMix2 #2012]
No one’s EVER started an MM3 remix with the Protoman whistle before. That’s UNHEARD of.
Hahahaha! I’m just busting Maj’s balls there. The intro’s actually handled in a nice way, and this was a pretty interesting take on the Bun Bun’s “Ending” theme done in an electronic hip-hop style. The phatty bass presence is kept at a good level so as to not overshadow the other stuff going on, though I thought the electro-lead and the clap synth were EQed a little too high, while on the other hand the reverbed piano sounds hot. Everything here is presented nicely as Maj spends his 4 1/2 minutes tinkering around with the melodic progressions of the original and flavoring it with da hip-hop spices we be liking. The flow is capable, thus I felt it was worth a look.
mv - Final Fantasy 7 & Chrono Trigger “A Foray into the Eastern Horizons” [OC ReMix #1228]
This excellent combination of Uematsu’s “Wutai” & Mitsuda’s “Schala’s Theme” bring you Eastern flavors from France’s most prominent mixer at VGMix & OCR, Xavier Dang, whom you can always count on to deliver the goods. You’re gonna have to check out DJP’s writeup to get the full deal on all of the instruments, but the sum total here is that you will be able to relax your ass off with this excellent piece. Indeed, the very cliche Schala’s theme is integrated well enough in the composition so that it doesn’t detract from the piece for us anal-retentive people. Everything flows well, and there have already been overtures in the review thread for the mix that it’s a great track for…um…love…and all that entails. Feel free to check out the original version sans a few tweaks at VGMix as well, and see why this mix’s arrival at OCR was so highly anticipated.
Nixdorux (Nicolas Ferranti) - Gargoyle’s Quest “Gargoyle in Broadway” [VGMix2 #2026] It’s Nicolas, and he’s NOT doing Zelda. Well, damn, you know I had to check it out just to see how his skills would translate to another game’s work. Here’s some very beautiful and upbeat orchestral work that features a lot of movement and development, even sounding at some of the more low-key section like something that could belong in a movie featuring simpler city life in 1920/30s America. Bah, who knows where I get my mental imagery sometimes. Things even seemed like they would go towards a more militaristic slant by the 2:40 mark, and I said “Here comes the usual”, yet Nix actually used that buildup very briefly to segue into his conclusion. A very cool piece from a game I’m not familiar with myself, but you orchestral fans owe it to yourself to sample this one.
Shnabubula - Solstice “Shadax the Blue” [VGMix2 #1993]
If that ain’t a bitch…
Samuel Ascher-Weiss’s first impression with me was his brief & off-kilter Guardian Legend OC ReMix “Red Spiders”, so when I downloaded this mix of Solstice’s intro muzak early in the week and put off listening to it until Saturday, I expected more of the same. Never would I have thought that instead I’d be hearing a very upbeat wind-led orchestral theme. Some of the harmonic choices in the second half of this NES-game remix are decidedly flaky and scattershot, so it’s not as strong as the first half. Despite that, this follow-up release of the Shnabubulan One is worth exploring to see another side of his work and the potential he has when engaging in other remixing styles.
Sir Nuts - Descent 1 “Ascencion (Upside Down)” [The People’s Remix Competition 21] - Feedback
OOOOOH, this is awesome right here. My man, Mike Molina, is back again with some good melodic techno work via reelmojo’s People’s Remix Competition. Taking on TO’s source tune choice from Descent for PRC21, Mr. Nuts has got the dial turned up with his familiar brand o’ work. I definitely wasn’t feeling the piano coming in at 2:51, as the off-key melody killed the flow and deflated a LOT of energy here. [frowny face] That’s gonna need to be looked at, but the bigger picture illustrates that this is some solid stuff. Hopefully we can get some tweaks done and see more of this mix in the future, if you know what I mean. Check out the brand new PRC website launched this week, which featured EVERY song ever made from The People’s Remix Competition. Straightforward but swanky, head on over to http://www.peoplesremix.com and get the goods!
trickwaters - Lufia 1 “Memorie di ultima guerra: I Introduzione” (a.k.a. ‘Memories of the Last War: I Introduction’) [VGMix2 #2007]
Pat latest VGMix release is a straightforward string & wind-centered orchestral interpretation of Lufia & the Fortress of Doom. The flow of the notes here from the strings needed to be more humanized, but that’s just me being nitpicky. The development here courtesy of trick is logical and natural sounding in it’s own right, starting off gentle and building momentum toward the bigger finish in what you’d come to expect from many other great-sounding orchestral game arrangements. More good work from one of the few notable names in the American scene who’s yet to be posted on OCR.
Tuba Lin - Final Fantasy 9 “Shepard Won’t Alone” [OC ReMix #1227]
Ironically enough, this is the second OC ReMix of the summer that’s got a title in improper English. So what does that mean? That it’s from the FF series, of course. Wait, nah. Following in the titling footsteps of The Risen Daysprings’s FF7 mix “Truth in Forgiveness Await”, we have a nice orchestral mix that goes HEAVY on the rearrangement of “You’re Not Alone!” that I enjoyed greatly at that level. GrayLightning is much more knowledgeable about the sample usage here, but like I said when I voted on it, I thought the samples were subpar. Nonetheless, the arrangement is primarily what counts here, and it’s top notch. More orchestral st00f with a different sound due to the samples, but very creative arrangement ideas nonetheless that certainly take the source material in an uncharted direction.
Unknown & zircon - Chrono Trigger “When All Hope Has Faded” [VGMix2 #2014] - OCR Feedback
Two of SoundTempest’s heavy hitters have joined forces in this very energetic yet melancholy techno/orchestral piece that (much like “Calamitous Judgment”) includes several influences, including the noticeable style of one of Jared Hudson’s favorite composers, Danny Elfman. Here, my bros Ty & Andy have pulled out a lot of different tricks, starting out this mix in Unknown’s style with a very nice music box with some hot female choir vox action before throwing zirc’s electronic stylings into the loop with a technosynth iteration of the melody from “The Day the World Revived”. The tandem does a great job trading off sounds and measures throughout the mix, definitely providing a product that wouldn’t be possible from either one individually. Excellent work that any CT music fan is gonna mess their pants over via this powerhouse team-up of one of OCR’s orchestral mainstays in Unknown and the site’s latest “OMG, who IS that?” in zircon.
virt - The Legend of Zelda 2, The Legend of Zelda 1 & The Legend of Zelda 3 “Blood of Ganon” [Dwelling of Duels: Legend of Zelda / VGMix2 #1986]
Jake Kaufman’s all about the return of the ROCK with “OMG, da bl00d of ga//on!1`~” with a literal headbanging Zelda medley piece that’s the winning entry in July’s Dwelling of Duels over notables like the guy whom some have deemed an “asshole personified” the outspoken Seifer. Ironically enough, some critics (and no, they aren’t outspoken critics) have called virt’s guitar work soulless. Though you hear an overabundance of energy here, admittedly I’d have to agree in part with those critics, as some of Jake’s previous VGMix material has sounded a lot more emotive (”Warrior King” & “Wings of Gold”). There are a lot of fans out there who’ll flatly disagree with that assessment, but in any case I’m all over the fact that this mix is all about kicking you in the face with some creative, sick riffs on insanely popular source material. There were tons of great style changes and transitions throughout, illustrating how Jake typically let’s it all hang out when he works on his latest rock mix material. You’re gonna have to check out “Blood of Ganon” yourself if you wanna hear what virt managed to do at the 5:12 mark to totally change the feel of the mix and secure DoD victory. More top tier stuff from one of the legends of the community.
The Wingless & Vigilante - Metroid 1 “Final Exam” [http://www.thewingless.com]
Jesse has been a big fan of The Wingless ever since John released his MM2 classic “Teardrinker”, so, even though it took a year to finish (A YEAR!), they’ve finally gotten everything done with the official release of “Final Exam” over at what many call the greatest website ever, TheWingless.com. Just listening to this, you can really hear how Vigilante’s involvement changed the presentation of the mix, as he and Wing put together a much more harder-edged, rock-that-shit-down offering than Wingle’s general body of work. Both Jesse and John’s characteristics shine through here, and you’re a chump if you don’t pick it up. Sample this hot stuff dropped by two of OCR’s dictator-like judges.
After only a few weeks of quitting the scene for now, Quinn Fox is back, and I’m a selfish, happy happy man! Cruise on over to his homepage at http://www.quinn.50g.com and snag a MASSIVE chunk of his work while it’s available to you! Meanwhile, Quinn’s been seeing if anyone’s interested in a collaboration over at the VGMix forums. Hope to see Fox back in the mix sooner than later. And that’s all the news that’s fit to report regardless, so find your way back here next week.
August 11th, 2004 at 5:22 am
I don’t like the Megaman 3 remix, but Computermage did some great jobs before this.