ReMix: Dragon View 'Apocryphal'

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Dragon View

First off, a happy post-4th to those of you in the US of A. I've never been into it all that much myself, but at least we've got a good repertoire of patriotic tunage, Sousa marches, and a respectable anthem. It was a little odd that the DC fireworks featured the (otherwise awesome) 1812 Overture so heavily, given this fact, but they made up with some good ole Stars & Stripes action. Though NYC had better fireworks and more of them, the music was atrocious, with some embarassingly bad, virtually unrecognizable tunes. All the more reason to download and dig the latest contribution from aluminum, whose sole previous submission was all the way back in November of last year. It's taken awhile, but he's come up with some similarly edgy stuff, rife with interesting sonic ideas and processing and an unorthodox amount of non-percussive segments. This is deliberate electronica, ambient new age crossed with downbeat techno/trip-hop. The main beat drops at 1'09" with a calliope lead carrying the main melody at 1'20", but building up to that you've got a mysterious, ethereal atmosphere introduced by strange digital wind and featuring enveloping sweep pads and chiming, delayed synths like something from Vangelis... good stuff. The piece actually oscillates between this vibe and the more substantive, rhythmic beat, until the truly unusual, abrupt ending that leaves the listener with the same strange, almost bit-crushed noise sound at the end. Certainly a bit odd, but not in a way that's uninteresting or too arbitrary to be enjoyable. The ReMixer notes:

"this remix is my take on the "Dragon Lords" theme from the relatively obscure SNES RPG "Dragon View." Well, I'm not sure how obscure it really is, but I had certainly never heard of it until I received a request to mix this song. The style I went for was kind of a cross between Enigma and Vangelis... I think I came reasonably close. The original is a rather short, looping chord progression (again), so I had to expand on it a bit."

I (honestly) had forgotten that he himself cited Vangelis as an influence until I copied and pasted the above, so I'd say at least for one half of the inspiration, the goal was believably attained :) This is varied, peculiar, and from a relatively obscure game that not many will have played, but is definitely worth your time and is quite the departure from standard electronica fare. Neat.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
This emits a vibe that's both warm and chill, close and far, soft and dynamic. The Dragons (a.k.a. Gods of Land and Sea) is tugged in various notational directions while keeping its mythological feel. Every staccato note is like the flicker of a candle flame, dancing this way and that, and the tenuto swells/pads/hums feel like the presence of ancient spirits. I also dig the accented clashes/crashes in the percussion; they add a dominating, windy depth to the soundscape.
Druidic.

- Polo on June 11, 2009
This is a wonderful arrangement! I love the sounds and atmosphere so damn much! The beginning sounds a lot like Vangelis which is a huge Pro for me. The rest of the song is no slouch either. The wind instruments do a good job setting an icy tone with the electronics. This feels like a song that should be played in an arty movie while snowflakes fall around someone on a desolate frozen-over lake.

- Hy Bound on January 8, 2009
Though I think the pan flute is too far-removed from the rest of the mix (it seems to sit on top as opposed to in), this is a great sounding mix. I really dig the pads and drum sounds, I think they mesh really well, and the mood set here is impressively understated.
A pretty nice track from an obscure game, I like this one.

- OA on December 10, 2007
Only 10 reviews for one of the best remixes on the site. Blegh. People need to check out more of these obscure games.
A pleasure for the ears it is.

- Bobwillis on March 11, 2006
A pleasing, ambient song to listen to. It's a shame the game is fairly unknown and not enough people will even look at this song!

- [blunai] on February 11, 2006
But all the parts before the abrupt ending that are included is way more than an average VG composer would do for something on the SNES or any old system or even any new system. So if you just take those parts it's good. Though a real ending would clear up things. I guess I just got started because you said 2/3 of a song. More like 15/16 of a song.
For some reason I started playing this game. I remember there was a remix for it at the time I was going through a list of SNES games and it sounded like an RPG, so I went for it. Very strange game. This mix reflects the environment this game could bring if it were on a newer system. It's especially this way since the original is so short, and the mix is a vast expansion on it with practically 90% new material. More like an Inspired By song, but still some ReMix in it.
Very relaxing. Very good type of sound to win over just about anyone's ears.

- Oddity on September 19, 2004
So I'm listening to this mix, right? Throughout, I'm pretty much thinking, "Wow, this is pretty good, all enigma-ish and stuffs like they said..."
But then, but [i]then[/i] near the end, as it drops off, I'm not paying much attention to the time so I'm thinking "Okay, so here's a drop-off part leading to another section of the song." So then I'm waiting for something new to pop in out of that emptiness for a bit until I realize the song's... OVER. Huh? W..what's goin' on, man? That was, like, two thirds of a song... (well, maybe three quarters or four fifths or something, whatever... "incomplete-sounding" is what I mean)
So yeah, that pretty much describes my impression of this song. Maybe there's a level of thinking you have to acquire in order to comprehend the greatness of a sudden, seemingly-random halt such as that, but to [i]me[/i] it was quite the awkwardness. Ah, well...

- benevolensaurus on August 27, 2004
I'm rarely driven to comment around here, but this one sounds excellent. Big thumbs up to the (re)composer here.

- Bruce on July 14, 2004
Yay! My request was taken! Yay! My request was taken! Yay! My request was taken!!! Wow, thanks alot Aluminum. Great work. I loved every part of it, though I had a tad bit of trouble finding the original song in there.

- Newfie on July 11, 2004
I like this song, but it is difficult to say why. The previous posters have much more to say than I. Anyone think of La Bamba at 2:34?

- Nobbynob Littlun on July 8, 2004
I had to post on this :). This is a great remix but I noticed there seems to be some confusion about the beginning and ending sounds. I might be able to clear that up. It has been many years since I've played Dragon View or it's sequel, but that strange sound is appropriate to the song. It is similar to the weird sound from the game that occurred just before you were attacked, I believe. It didn't occur every time, just when certain things came near you and if you managed to escape notice, that same sound would fade out as it got further away.
It's unfortunate that this game fell into almost complete obscurity because the game was interesting with a fairly good story line (further expanded upon in the sequel). Regardless, this remix does live up to the feel of the game (at least as I remember it ;)). Nicely done. :)

- Khevor on July 7, 2004
As usual, aluminum delivers the New Age goods. While his mixes aren't as prominent on Overclocked as GrayLightning's, for example, he has shown on numerous occasions that he knows how to craft an excellent New Age mix with great ambience and replayability. I strongly recommend that people check out his Trigun Remix on Anime Remix for another example of his proficiency at his craft. Specific points in this remix that I enjoy include:
-The delayed notes at :18 followed by the strings. Beautiful.
- 1:09 - Great buildup to the main melody....
- The main flute. I love its wetness...
- Just about the entire middle section
- The reversed notes that come in at 3:30ish. Wonderful.
Highly recommend this. Nice work, aluminum !

- myf on July 5, 2004
Nice mix, it definitely has a Vangelis/early Yanni sound, which I liked. But is it supposed to suddenly end at 3:44?? That was kind of an odd and abrupt ending.

- dilbert627 on July 5, 2004
I thought that this remix was pretty solid considering the type of vibe you were going for. I haven't heard the original, but hearing this song makes me want to play the game! :)

- hitokirisabin on July 5, 2004
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

- djpretzel on July 5, 2004

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