ReMix: Streets of Rage 'Sensual Ippon'
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- Game: Streets of Rage (Sega, 1991, GEN)
- ReMixer(s): mv
- Composer(s): Yuzo Koshiro
- Song(s): 'Keep the Groovin''
- Posted: 2004-09-03, evaluated by djpretzel
News flash: mv is good. Damn good. Varied styles, consistently high quality, creative arrangements. There's not much left for me to do but simply describe his mixes and highly advise them to listeners, which is a good thing. This go 'round he covers Yuzo's Streets of Rage soundtrack with a funky trip-hop rendition of the level 4 bridge theme, throwing in the intro as a brief cameo at the very end. He reveals a surprisingly short development period and some insight into the track's origins and name:
"this mix was started and finished one day in a few hours, while i had other projects on hold. i had always wanted to remix some yuzo koshiro music since i find him to be one of the very best musicians in the game music industry. i had always been fascinated by the round 4 visuals and music, and actually found the track to sound moody and relaxing rather than catchy and agressive; so here's a trip-hop/lounge version of that tune, with a general mood that would be a hybrid of "cammy by night" and "time chill". the end of the mix actually uses the main SOR theme for nostalgia. The title is a humorous word association with "Sensual" describing the mood and the character Blaze; and "Ippon" being the japanese word for winning point moves that can be achieved in karate, martial art which Blaze masters in Streets of Rage."
Regardless of what it means, it certainly sounds cool. Mellow rhodes, very warm, sits in a comfortable puddle of 70's-infused trip-hop, with wah guitar stage left doin' its thing while ambient "bridge" effects (traffic and the like, very atmospheric and tasteful) fly by, and an unobstrusive bass anchors the beat, while a flute lead covers large portions of what you could call the chorus, with interspersed sax. The cameo intro at the end is just a LITTLE cheesy and conspicuous to those intimately familiar with the material, but it works, and reminds me of something I might do, so from that biased perspective I certainly dig it. Yuzo was the master of 16-bit funkdom, combining mad electrofunk skills with usually ninja-related contexts for further amplified mojo, and mv keeps the faith with his interpretation. Great stuff; furthermore I can now enjoy it in the comfort of my fully air-conditioned home... albeit $2700 lighter. The joys [sarcasm] of home ownership are at least partially alleviated with tunage like this. Smooth.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the It has a really smooth groove that is pretty easy to get into, but I think I would have to be in a specific mood to really appreciate this one. It flows very well, but doesn't really take any risks.Some of the samples are kind of weak, like the flute that is thankfully only used in a few minor spots. But for every weak sample, there is a strong one, like the underlying undulating synth.
Pretty nice stuff, with just a few issues with a few instruments.
- OA on April 24, 2008
I like these, kind of relaxing, "chill-songs", and since Streets of Rage is one of the most memorable titles from my (early) youth, this song is pretty nostalgic too :o)
The melody fits in perfectly with the bassline (which could have been a bit "fatter" imo), and the kick (synth. drum or w/e) just makes me wanna nod my head :)
Good one, I can't get enough of it :)
- FliE on September 18, 2006
I love this one, just like your Time Chill mix, creativity, original touches, flow, awesomeness. Love ya mv! :oops: and merry christmas!!
- I_Love_OC_ReMixes on December 24, 2005
- Miletus on April 4, 2005
- shrimpchips on September 30, 2004
- tyler_lucero on September 24, 2004
- CykoticZZ on September 24, 2004
share my impressions of this mix.
Usually, as soon as I download a SoR mix, I love it,
as I do most SoR mixes on this site, barring a
couple. I was really looking forward to
downloading this mix, and when I finally listened
to it I was a little disappointed - it sounded
too downbeat and unimpressive right of the bat.
I have to agree with Prot on almost everything he
said about the mix.
Oh well, in any case, most SoR mixes sound either
minimalistic or suspiciously like midi-rips, they
manage to capture the essence of the originals.
This one just doesn't. Gecko Yamori does it way
better in his version. Sensual Ippon sounds
uninspired.
On the bright side, rhodes do sound great and the
variations are also good.
I think that this mix would not have had an easy time
with the judges. Lack of progression is one issue.
The ending from the title just sort of pops up out
of nowhere, there is no buildup to it. Drums are
repetitive, I hear 4 unique measures at most, one
repeating over and over and 3 alternating fills.
The flute sounds subpar to put it mildly. There is
also very little going on in the rearrangement
department, especially considering the emphasis
that is being put on rearrangement on this site.
Also, it just sounds sparse in a lot of places.
The quality of this mix is surprising, especially
coming from mv, whose TimeChill is surely in my
top three favorite mixes of all time.
EDIT:
After listening to this mix on a good system
a couple of times, I learned to appreciate it more.
- ambient on September 9, 2004
- SirRus on September 7, 2004
But anyway, yeah, very cool, mellow, lounge-like, etc. I like it, and stuff. I could go on to say a really corny line about "taming" this "raging" beast of a game, but I don't think I will. Even though I just sort of did. Eh...
- benevolensaurus on September 5, 2004
So in retrospect, feels like a simple upgrade from the original into slow, minimal version.
I would have prefered some real progression, some real direction, but I suppose simplicity and a casual feel were the focus here. Would like to see more interesting things done to these songs in the future, especially in the realm of percussion, progression, and rearangement, but thats just a personal taste. More or less, it really feels as if this mix was thrown together in a few hours. Ending is rather uninspired.
- Protricity on September 3, 2004
Good breaks in drumline.
A powerful set of instruments in a super rearrangement.
Good job :wink:
- mrjag on September 3, 2004
-Josh- 8)
- Hasbro24 on September 3, 2004
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