ReMix: Skies of Arcadia 'Horteka Stomp'

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Skies of Arcadia

LeonHeart of the Flame's first posted submission is from Dreamcast (and later Gamecube) classic Skies of Arcadia. By sheer coincidence, I've just been to see STOMP recently - if you ever get the chance, don't pass it up, these guys and gals are amazing and from musical, dance, and showmanship perspectives equally impressive. This mix bares their single-verb title I would assume in a sort of homage, as the intro to this mix - and its salient characteristic - is a great variety of percussive activity. LeonHart brings in acoustic guitar (sounds like a soundfont I recognize from somewhere...), a pipe lead, a questionable but not awful saxophone, strings, a nice synth bell pad, and myriad assorted backup instruments, but it's the drums that essentially take center stage and push the song along. It's quite dramatic, however, and has something of a Celtic feel to it. There's also nice The Who-style "Baba Yaga" underlying, quick synth patterns. While some polish and/or better samples could have been used to bring certain aspects of the melody/harmony up to the level of the drums, nevertheless the overall effect works and is creative and unique, too. Good, promising stuff from LeonHeart of the Flame.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
I remember really enjoying the music of the original, and the game itself was nice, despite the frequent battles and sloooow battle speed. I remember getting bored with waiting for so long, so I'd do pushups during the battle animations after inputting the commands. By the end of the game I was a pretty tough looking guy. :-D
The track starts off really interestingly with makeshift percussion in the form of metal hits and the like, and builds a bit. There are some really cool elements like the super-speedy acoustic guitar synth (big bonus) and some stuff that is complete ass, like the out-of-tune midi saxophone (seriously, why? ;_;). Also grating to the point of physical pain is a high pitched *something* that sounds like a bomb falling. It cuts straight into my brain and is excruciating. The rest of the mix is good, but I can't listen to something that causes my head to hurt. :-(
These flaws are all the more frustrating, because the arrangement is really nice and there is a great texture to the percussion and a few of the background synths. I think it's a bit empty in a few spots, but it's still decent, but the pain and the lame sax sample ruin it for me. :-(

- OA on February 14, 2008
Haha damn this is some different stuff for OCR.
They smooth flute based legato lead does well to contrast and balance the percussion. Like the boomy low end. Really wish it had more strings or pad action to fill the song out harmonically. The song screams for some nice pads. The attention to melody and percussion helps to offset this. 2:55 was def my favorite part. Love those type of leads and composition.

- avaris on December 15, 2007
I really love this remix!
It's more "tribal" then the original, thus making it better overall...
The STOMP feeling it has is just stellar work.
Great job, keep em coming!

- CE on September 16, 2005
I enjoyed this one a lot. Kind of reminds me of one o' them injun tribes. Some neat percussion and horns througout the piece.

- Corporal Eschebone on January 17, 2005
I've loved this since the WIP boards, and that still stands :)
Just a really nice overall sound, not much else to say ^^

- Hadyn on February 26, 2004
I really, [b]really[/b] like it, and the more I listen to it, the more I enjoy it. I agree with the above poster in that there need to be more SOA themes on this website... short of perhaps Chrono Trigger, this game had more great rythms than any other game I can remember playing.
If I might make a suggestion for any would-be SOA remixers out there, check out Gilder's Theme. It's short, to the point, and quite subtle, but I also think it has great potential as the song could go so many directions with the right mixer at the helm. Check the MP3 out if you get a chance.

- ShrikeArghast on January 29, 2004
The very beginning, drums intro, makes me think of "Art of Noise"

- Coucou on January 29, 2004
Yo, I dig the percussion. Its pretty sweet, though maybe a tad too continuous. Some more breaks from it would be nice on the ears. Most instruments are used well, but that sax is hella weak. Nice nighttime sounds at the end. There's some high-pitched junk at places like 3:30 that hurt my ears. Enjoyable. Nice job.

- sgx on January 29, 2004
8/10
Recommended for SoA fans. I really like this piece. It starts out with some garbage can(literally) beats, then the tune comes in. But you get my opinion in favor cause it has "my" part in it, where it starts out high(the note), then gradually goes down. Yah very very nice.

- SynthesizedStampede on January 28, 2004
Grr... I really feel irritated that this piece actually was accepted. :wink:
I submitted this almost 4 or 5 months ago, but decided that I wasn't satisfied with how it sounded, since it is rather monotonous in overall rhythm. I thought I removed the file so that OCR wouldn't be able to get it... but apparently they did.
I'm probably my worst critic on this piece. While I was aiming for a Stomp reference, I don't feel that I really actualized it well. The song is technically sound, but not really very catchy. I'd planned to completely revamp it before I submitted it, but I suppose I should just be happy it got accepted. Maybe I can resubmit it and replace it later.
Oh well, it's a start. Thanks, djp. :)

- Asterin on January 28, 2004
fadeaway wrote:
Kudos for mixing a SOA song, though. This game had some really terrific music, and is under-represented here at OCR.

Amen to that.
I like the piece...nothing fantastic, but I liked it ok. 5/10

- Rucianu on January 28, 2004
I hate to say it, but I really disliked this piece, which is unfortunate because the Horteka theme is probably my favorite song from Skies of Arcadia. I know you were going for that distinctive "stomp" style, and while you may have achieved it, the end result just sounds unpleasant to me.
Kudos for mixing a SOA song, though. This game had some really terrific music, and is under-represented here at OCR. Hopefully the next remix from Skies will be more appealing to me.

- fadeaway on January 28, 2004
LegendarySword wrote: Well, the song is linked above. I guess djp just forgot to post it on the main page.

Meh. It'll auto-post or get fixed. Whatever. Apparently Leon just needs a mixer profile page created for himself.
Not really feeling much here on the lead synth horn, since it sounded both MIDIish and out of tune. I liked the rest of the instrumentalization though, which made this one a much stronger package.

- Liontamer on January 28, 2004
Well, the song is linked above. I guess djp just forgot to post it on the main page.

- LegendarySword on January 27, 2004
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

- djpretzel on January 27, 2004

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