ReMix: Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium 'PhantasyIsAFourLetterWord'
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- Game: Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (Sega, 1993, GEN)
- ReMixer(s): Rosencrantz & guildensterN
- Composer(s): Izuho Takeuchi, Yoshimi Nakagaki
- Song(s): 'The End of the Millennium'
- Posted: 2003-01-09, evaluated by djpretzel
Cool - I didn't really expect anyone else to ReMix this track (title screen) from Phantasy Star 4 that I covered way back when, but I'm sure glad someone did. Whereas my mix was overblown techtronica that totally emphasized the bassline, Rosencrantz & guildensterN have given us a more industrial, guitar-driven piece that emphasizes the melody. I use the term "melody" loosely, as this is pretty repetitive title BGM that doesn't develop much and is essentially about a decent bassline and a chromatic riff on top and little else, but now we've got two mixes that focus on either of the main components, so I suppose we're covered :) In typical R&G fashion, this has a lot of edgy vocal samples and audio manipulation at play. Mitch & Nate take some heavy but funky drums, undulating slap bass with attitude, stereo shred guitar, a great electric-piano-ish bubbling "computer" synth pattern, and a variety of other percussive and ambient sounds to turn the PS4 intro into a different beast. Note the wah that gets added to the guitar on its second iteration and the nifty solo effected electric guitar outro. These guys specialize in making mixes that are sonically out-of-the-ordinary, and never fail to throw at least one fresh timbre or effect our way with each submission, which is saying a lot. If you haven't checked out their stuff yet, this is a good, representative introduction that should tell you whether you'll dig it or not. As for the mix name, Mitch writes:
"anyway the new song is called "phantasy is a four letter word".... the title is derived from the fact that in PS4, each name had only 4 letters... plus we couldnt think of anything else to call it, so it seemed right... "
As accidental or fairly irreverent titles go, I think it works pretty well. I remember naming my character "DAVD" back with Phantasy Star 2 - seemed to be a convention of the series for awhile there. Hard-hitting, ambient-industrial goodness from the dynamic duo, this time of source material I'm more familiar with and from a series I'm partial to. At 5'16", this is also quite long for the genre and esp. for the depth of the original piece - the length might be the arrangement's one weakness - but overall I enjoyed all 5+ minutes and can recommend this to both fans of the genre and of the series. Groovy.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the The drums seemed pretty weak, and a lot of transitions were jarring.
Props for live guitar and bass though.
Some good arrangement ideas, but compared to remixes nowadays, the production is really lacking.
- OA on April 2, 2008
- micuu on February 23, 2006
But I felt that this was way to chaotic for my taste, the electric guitar was mostly trying to add some more havoc unto the arrangement. But I still gotta admire them for their creativity, I already knows that the original wasn't anything like this. It took a while for me to get the meaning of the title. Nothing deep with it, but I still remember how hard it was to figure out some cool names when you only had four letters or less to make out somthing of. Nice work dudes!
- Bummerdude on January 7, 2006
- pallokallo on September 28, 2005
Fucking spectacular, gentlemen. Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are most certainly not[/i] dead!
- Royal Sovereign on May 26, 2005
What i love is you know straight off the bat its a PS4 remix. It stays true to the original tune.
Compared to djpretzel's mix, i love how yours focuses on the sweet melody of the theme.
I keep swaying back and forth from djpretzel's brilliant version to your mix but you may just pip his!
- Ekin on April 17, 2003
elman wrote: WOW. 11/10. The ULTIMATE Remix. It doesn't get any better than this from what I've heard. Anyone trying to remix this song now should just stop. Now. You have no chance of doing better than this.
P.S. What was that weird noise in the background during certain parts of the song? I'm not referring to the voices or any of the electronic stuff.
P.S.S- Was that guy talking about acid reflux? Me confused.
exceeeelllent... more kind words...
acid reflux?? naw... actually thats a quote from alien 3... after ripley gives a description of the alien... and the noise you speak of, which you probaball heard under that quote right?? im not sure exactly how nate made that noise, but it was with some fruity loops plug-in, and i think basically it took a noise and stretched it out, and such... err i dunno... but the desired effect was that it was to sound like a digerie-doo...
- lefty on February 26, 2003
P.S. What was that weird noise in the background during certain parts of the song? I'm not referring to the voices or any of the electronic stuff.
P.S.S- Was that guy talking about acid reflux? Me confused.
- elman on February 26, 2003
but our next remix is of a very neglected, but much deserving game... Castlevania SOTN....
:P :twisted: 8O
- lefty on January 12, 2003
lefty wrote: you guys are too kind to us.... thanks for all the nice words... if you like this one, you'll be blown away (or atleast we are going to try our damnedest to do so) by our next one... keep yer ears peeled...I'm hopin' it more Sega!
by the way, im just curious if anyone has identified the origin of the organ arpeggio at the begining... any guesses?
It just needs to be said again: This is a MUST DOWNLOAD.
- endblink on January 11, 2003
by the way, im just curious if anyone has identified the origin of the organ arpeggio at the begining... any guesses?
- lefty on January 10, 2003
- sgx on January 9, 2003
- Evilhead on January 9, 2003
Anyways, this remix is most definitely good. While I don't like the bassline that much, this remix makes me want to crack open a Vanilla Coke and remember the days when I was 8 or 9 years old and beating this game on rental...I recommend it.
- Inthesto on January 9, 2003
