ReMix: Streets of Rage 'Drop and Roll'
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- Game: Streets of Rage (Sega, 1991, GEN)
- ReMixer(s): tefnek
- Composer(s): Yuzo Koshiro
- Song(s): 'Fighting in the Street'
- Posted: 2004-05-01, evaluated by the judges
Fun. Not the type of fun that involves too much thinkin', granted, but sometimes that's what's called for. Big Beat, like death metal, fills a genre void by offering a form of musical instant gratification that might not be refined or have subtle gradations of tone and timbre coloration, but which essentially focuses on kicking posterior with volume and rhythm in copious quantitudes. Newcomer tefnek intros this Streets of Rage Stage 1 piece with some goofy synth squelch fx action, but the beat drops and rolls ala the title quite quickly, and it's clearly identifiable as Big Beat via not only the volume but the general groove. There's a good variety of synths here, the beat is sliced and diced, there's good fills that break things up, a slick bass slide around 0'46" that segues into a nice digital aliasing synth fx riff, and some wah guitar playfulness joins the beat stew further in - in essence, you've got a lot of tradeoffs to funky, pattern-based solos, layered over some thick drums. The ReMixer does an excellent job of making the genre successfully extend to five minutes without feeling awfully repetitive, one of the common pitfalls of the style even on shorter tracks. All that being said, there was a fairly divisive split on the judges panel, as though the mix is five minutes long and doesn't repeat itself sonically too much, from an arrangement perspective the original isn't being built upon compositionally to great lengths. Of course, the original itself was very groove-based and pattern-oriented, but it was still felt that more could have been done. In instances like these, what I've personally sometimes done is brought in another melody from the same game and used it as a chorus or break. Not the same thing as turning the piece into a medley, which would be covering the songs more as discrete units, but instead I'll sometimes mix the pieces into a new whole. I've seen others do this as well and it often adds a bit more to a piece where the sonic end is covered but the arrangement needs more beef. Perhaps that would have made this a clearer pass for the judges panel, but even without it, for the genre, this takes the original and without adding too much compositionally does certainly effectively transmogrify it into very convincing big beat. It's often difficult to extricate problems one might have with a genre at large from problems one has with a specific mix in that particular genre - in fact, it's one of the most challenging aspects of evaluating ReMixes - and that may or may not have been an issue here. The benefit of the doubt is an important concept, however, that should always apply. This might not have enough arrangement of the original for ya' to consider it truly exemplary, and that might be something the ReMixer should work on for future submissions, but in the meantime my strong suspicion is that you'll enjoy this for what it is and be too busy shaking your booty to care :)
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - knux199112719 on March 25, 2010
Normally I like my tracks to be atmospheric/emotive/evocative of something, but, while this isn't the case here, this has a nicely varied sound scape and gobs of grooviness.
This isn't exactly a groundbreaking or earth shattering track, but it is very, very good and worth a listen.
- 42 on December 26, 2009
- OA on December 2, 2009
The funk that comes in after the electro voice announces 'Stage. One.' is fantastic. I have loved this song since it came out, it tops out among my top ten songs. tefnec really nailed it on this song. I love the percussion, the beat, and..and...I just can't stress how incredible I find this song to be. Please download and groove.
- MechaFone on April 14, 2008
As for the song itself, I always end up liking this, and then not liking it. Probably need to be in the right mood. But one thing's for certain is that I was really enjoying until the cool voice effect happens after the silence. Upon first listen, a year ago, hearing that voice effect, I said to myself, "This is awesome." But today I thought it was mixed too low or soft, or something else needed to be present, or a range filled, given the level of range throughout the rest of the song. Anyway, besides that, I mainly wanted to say the first 40 seconds or so are better than the rest, for whatever reason. Now excuse me while I listen to this some other day on speakers and not headphones so I can actually make a clear judgement on the rest of the song.
Really reminds me of when I burned a CD of all his originals and listened to that to and from work/school. Pretty...neutral experience. I like the concept quite a bit, but sometimes (more not than often) I get too overwhelmed. Something to stress, though the remixer is probably all too familiar with this, is to make sure huge samples aren't the only thing that sounds good; have worry later that something can be improved. Like with the bass in the first 40 seconds. It becomes the "voice effect" line, which becomes something else later. However, I think that bassline in conjunction with the percussion is what makes the first 40 seconds better than most other parts. As if some part is being left out. [u]Go listen to tefnek's originals: para bellum and love song.[/u] the ending to love song especially has the most amount of things going on you'll ever hear, all while sounding insanely nice. Then go check out the rest of his songs.
- Audity on October 29, 2006
- zircon on May 11, 2006
I did just that... And wow. Where have you been all my life? All his remixes are flawless in my opinion.
Any ways, I just wonder what happened to Tefnek after his last remix submitted?
- Azure Prower on May 11, 2006
- skamanbill-chan on May 10, 2006
- Liontamer on May 10, 2006
- tgfoo on May 13, 2004
One small note for the people questioning the judge's hesitation of posting this: The song may be awesome, but you have to ask yourself "How much awesomeness is the result of the remixer, and how much is the result of the original composer." And in this case, it was close. Although if the judges had refused this track it woulda been a damn shame.
Although Big Beat may have been absolutely hated by every pioneering electronica artist of the 90's, it's cool to see someone keeping the dream alive. Don't stop, tefnek. :nicework:
- Kamikaze Noodle on May 12, 2004
this is a really really fun mix, non stop funkn' beats. I even love the little voice goin "Stage 1" to let the nonSOR players know where this tune originated from. this is one of those great mixes where u let someone listen to and u say, ya this is a track from an old Genesis game! and of course the foolish simpleton says "whoooa, no way dude". Just shows HOW MUCH can be done with the right remixin skills, and the right source material (thanx to Tefnek and Yuzo for this music :!: )
- Streets of Rage bum on May 12, 2004
- AstaL on May 12, 2004
3:50 - 4:10 is my favorite part.
- CykoticZZ on May 5, 2004
