ReMix: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 'The Monsaic'
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- Game: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (GT Interactive, 1997, PS1)
- ReMixer(s): The Orichalcon
- Composer(s): Ellen Meijers-Gabriel
- Song(s): 'Monsaic Lines'
- Posted: 2005-09-01, evaluated by the judges
New month, new mix, new game, as TO gives us our first ReMix from the peculiar Oddworld universe. Before I go further, a non-sequitir nod to William Shatner - I just now heard his cover of Pulp's 'Common People', with Ben Folds at the helm, and that shit just flat out rocks. My late summer anthem, to be sure. Mr. Barber writes:
"I wanted to bring out the more atmospheric and tribal essence of Oddworld that Meijers seemed to really dig. I feel the way I've remixed this is similar to the music from one of the later oddworld games (Stranger's Wrath) which made good use of acoustic guitar and woodwind instruments. I've used a flute, pan flute, acoustic guitar, orchestral strings, hollywood strings, and bass as well as acoustic drums from RMX and a tribal drums soundfont for the percussion."
Going off rather minimal, short source material, TO's expanded things quite a bit, with a neo-Western feel (Yul Brynner in... Westworld), complete with ambient wind effects, a good, bad, + ugly-style flute, and deliberate acoustic guitar. It's a bit more melodic than TO's stuff, and vaguely reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel's 'El Condor Pasa' (If I Could) at times. GrayLightning writes:
"Taking a very short source material and expanding it like this was quite clever and it works. I'm not sure if TO intentionally mixed this for electro-new age, but it is apparent he knows the genre well. This sounds like a great Enigma piece. It does what it's supposed to without fuss and without fail. Arrangement is top notch, as is the composition. It's incredibly hard to sequence for guitar and an admirable job was done here. What makes this mix for me though is the great rhythm complimenting the atmosphere. There's a lot of electro-drum/percussion along with native american rhythms and percussion that really add to the piece. The woodwind works to compliment this especially well also. Woodwind bends also add a nice series of articulation to the mix."
Not sure about the Enigma likeness, but perhaps I just haven't heard enough beyond the gratuitous Sadeness and Return to Innocence to call it; certainly, though, the woodwind pitch bends are clutch and are eventually what seal the Western vibe - having played only this title from the collection of Oddworld games, I can see how this arrangement might resemble some of the newer material, as there's a definitely a Western vibe going on in Stranger's Wrath, for example. It's good to see the rather creative series of games that stemmed from the original, Flashback/Out of this World style 2D title get some coverage here, and TO's M.O. works nicely with the atmospheric nature of the material. Good stuff - moody, but in an enveloping, enjoyable, non-emo way.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the i love how you started out with the flute very melodic with that atmosphere behind it. the percussions are nice gives that tribal feel to it. though it gets repetitive i have no issue with it. this piece is very relaxing, i sleep to this sometimes =]
good productions and arrangement. 9 out of 10
- Ascendancy on March 17, 2009
Of course, it isn't Abe's Odyssey without Abe mumbling or belching or something, and I for one am very happy the mix is detached from the game in that regard. Some things can only be fully appreciated in isolation.
When the music is this strong, extended runtimes and repetiveness are not a flaws but gifts. Thanks TO.
- Marmiduke on February 1, 2009
- OA on May 30, 2008
- meccaneer on October 7, 2005
- Ichitootah on September 10, 2005
- Baruch, Vampire Lord on September 3, 2005
- RimFrost the Tourianist on September 2, 2005
At 3:20, the drum stutter sounded out of place to me. Apart from that, very solid sounding mix.
New-Australian... Works for me. =)
- Qyzbud on September 2, 2005
It's not meant to be american [i]anything[/i]. If it sounds native american or whatever, it's purely by accident. What I was going for was to bring the Oddysee music up to the same style of music that was in the latest title of Stranger's Wrath.
You can argue over style's and what flavour it has, but in the end, it's just meant to be a nice tribal and atmospheric sounding mix with a bit of power in it. Consider it New-Australian then.
- The Orichalcon on September 2, 2005
You're request has been understood. Won't happen again (perhaps a private message next time)...
Let me just reiterate for all the fellow viewers out there:
"Do you see what kind of in-depth tangential debate can come from such an inspiring track?"
It really is a piece deserving of several threads: Native American history, Old American Western history, Japanese history, film history...the remix really resonates with so many varieties of themes...download it!
Great work again.
M
- OmegaMan on September 2, 2005
- The Orichalcon on September 2, 2005
Baruch, Vampire Lord wrote:
What recent phenomenon? 90% of classic waesterns are based on Jpanese tales of samurai. 'A Fist Full of Dollars' is based on the samurai tale called 'Yojimbo.' 'The Magnificent Seven' is based on 'The Seven Samurai.' Samurai and the Cowboy have been in league together since the Western genre was born.
Vamp Lord, you are absolutely correct 100% about the 90%. I should have clarified, it appears only 50% of my meaning was understood, by an unknown percentage of folks on the forum...
By "recent phenomenon", I meant it relatively. The earliest reference to Samurai was roughly before the 1000 AD mark. The Old American West ranges as far back as America's colonial period, but is generally considered to be the 19th century (1800's).
Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961) and a Fist Full of Dollars (1964), were both products from less than half of century ago...
Thus: "Recent phenomenon".
But in reference to a review of a song posted a few days ago...I could see how my meaning was muddled.
Most importantly, I'm glad you too can see the samurai scene scored by TO's track.
Take care and look forward to future exchanges of interesting trivia...
M
- OmegaMan on September 2, 2005
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