ReMix: Wild Arms 2 'Lord Blazer, The Robot who Chills with da Peeps'

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Wild Arms 2

Kunal's original title for this was "Lord Blazer, the Robot who time travels back to current day to chill with da peeps" - we couldn't quite fit the entirety and didn't want to set the dangerous precedent of encouraging potential run-on sentences as mix titles, but still... let it be known. Wild Arms is one of those series I never really played, which spawned an anime I never really watched. Apparently ktriton's not played it either, but that doesn't stop his arrangement of the Battle vs. Lord Blazer theme from being creative and... rather different. Think "heavily-reverbed spacey jazz fusion" with percolating cross-delayed saxophone bits and a bass that is utterly recalcitrant to consistently anchoring the progression or sticking to quarter notes. There's a bit of an issue with clarity on the bassline, as when you apply this much reverb to a fretless bass, which is already very round, and then pan it right, as done here, it's gonna tend to act less like a bass and more like a wave of tone. I can see applying the extensive verb to the other elements, but I think leaving the drums and bass a little cleaner would have brought the arrangement forward and potentially given it more momentum as well. It's a short piece, though, almost like an impressionistic sketch, and seems less concerned with relaying a narrative than with setting a mood. Gray really dug the bass:

"...The chords are hot, and the bass writing is arguably some of the best I've ever heard in this community. This music reminds me of a lot of keyboard players of the late 80s/early 90s. This reminds me a lot of the Korg M1 and T series demos."

It does have the feel of a demo from that era, I'd tend to agree. I'd be one of the "arguers" as to this representing some of the best bass writing on OCR - I think it's some of the most unorthodox, and certainly the bass plays a more pivotal role, but sometimes it felt to me as if it were trying too hard to specifically avoid treading anywhere near convention - even if it would have helped the overall piece. Still, you have to love fretless - relatively underused in these parts. You might want to listen to this one a couple times right off the bat - it's short, after all, and the structure might reveal itself the second go-round. Quoth Larry:

"Overall, I liked the strangeness of the rhythms/beats here. Though the arrangement was there, everything performance-wise seemed badly off-kilter here to begin with, but you acclimate to it and "figure it out" better over several listens."

Let the acclimation commence. A peculiar, meditative piece from ktriton, which doesn't last long and doesn't really take you from point A to point B, but is nevertheless transporting.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
Great, great track. Arguably a bit short. The instrumentation is like a beautiful wash of sound. I love that synth sax arpeggio/composite.. it sounds incredibly good. If you think that it doesn't sound "real", stop listening to it like it should be and listen to it for what it is. If there's an instrument that part emulates, it's a sampler. :) I could well imagine a saxophonist constructing that part live by looping him/herself. Don't think just playing that live straight-ahead would sound nearly as good. The sax leads later on sound good enough for me, although *there* there might be some room for a little improvement.
Very soft, busy, underwater feel in this track. Me likey.
--Eino

- evktalo on December 11, 2007
favorite remix ever...for now. every second of this song is total sonic interest. i especially love the weird key change at the end.
the original is campy as all hell, haha, and the melody was brought out really well in this one (the high notes of the phrases are like not recognizable to me in the original...).

- spineshark on August 7, 2006
I feel like I gotta leave another review every time I listen to this. This just might be my favorite song on this site right now.

- Geoffrey Taucer on June 8, 2006
This piece needed some time to grow on me, but it did. I like this slightly distorted jazz-style very much. My only complaint would be that it is too short.
Hope to hear more from you.

- Martin Penwald on May 12, 2006
ohhh..jazz piano. sounds like one of those "late night 3AM jazz mixes" on the radio. a little narration and it could be used in a movie.

- jorgandar on May 2, 2006
Alright. People need to stop posting 0-size fonts. Why do we even HAVE that option?
:P
Nothing to read here. Move on.
Seriously, stop reading this. Go away.
PS: VGDJ interview: http://www.vgdj.net/Shows/VGDJ_ep_038.mp3
At about 7:30.

- ktriton on April 26, 2006
Liontamer wrote: Nah, this is too weird and everything and shizz. Me no like. This iz coo'.

You fail, n00b
EDIT: you and your stupid zero-sized type

- Geoffrey Taucer on April 26, 2006
Nah, this is too weird and everything and shizz. Me no like. This iz coo'.

- Liontamer on April 26, 2006
God damn this is awesome. It kicked ass the first time I listened to it, and only gets better with every listen.

- Geoffrey Taucer on April 26, 2006
Good song. I have no specific complaints about this song, but it just isn't really my style. I loved the subtle string work (or maybe it was sax? I'm not good at picking out instruments) in the background, and it is a fun piece, but for some reason I can't really get into it.
Keep up the good work! 6/10

- G_D on April 25, 2006
All I can say is that I dig. I love fretless bass. Maybe a better sax sound might've been nice-- like a live sax? Whatever though the intentions are all there. I totally dig.

- DrumUltimA on April 21, 2006
Less Ashamed Of Self wrote: I won't be forgetting the name ktriton anytime soon.

Wow dude...thanks!
I did one of those quick, minute-long interviews for VGDJ in which I briefly explain the instrumentation and the reverb, so definitely check it out next Monday if you were curious about 'em.

- ktriton on April 21, 2006
Not for everyone but a welcome addition to the OCR family.
Grows on you.
Very fluid, very spordaic, and very very well executed.
A short passionate burst of musical expression. But, unfortunately, the kind of thing that an un-trained ear would take for granted. The lower sample qualities of some instruments isn't as important because of the speed /dynamics of the instruments.
I won't be forgetting the name ktriton anytime soon.
9.5/10

- Less Ashamed Of Self on April 19, 2006
I want to like this, but I cant. It sounds sloppy. The synth sax sounded odd. Should have been replaced with a different instrument. I do like the piano and parts of the bass. Also there are not enough dynamics. All the instruments remain at the same volume the whole time.

- Spring Water on April 19, 2006
ktriton wrote: Meccaneer: It's cool if you didn't like it, but could you maybe explain why you didn't like it so much? Like, for starters, what did you hate about the instrumentation?

Yeah, I am also curious about that...

- Mr. Fox on April 18, 2006

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