ReMix: Final Fantasy V 'Wicked n' Floating'
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- Game: Final Fantasy V (Square, 1992, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): AeroZ
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'Cursed Earth'
- Posted: 2007-10-04, evaluated by the judges
Final Fantasy... V? What's that?? With all the VII love (or, for the anti-fanboys, lack thereof), it's nice to see someone throwing some TLC to one of the lesser known FF soundtracks. Of course, this isn't the first time Mr. Freij has done so, with his memorably-named Dark Butz recently arranging Ahead on Our Way and Dark World. Here he moves on to different territory:
"Well, I have not much to say more than Final Fantasy V is a real goldmine. Nobuo has made really good melodies for this game, and I will fight to get them as popular they deserve to be. "Cursed Earths" is a fantastic example I think. Simple but genius."
I wonder how the FFV OST is percieved relative to the other FF OSTs in Japan, where it was domestically released in sequence; I've not often heard it referred to as a "goldmine", but AeroZ is certainly doing his part to convince me. Like its forebear, this is again a fairly liberal arrangement that tosses in a good deal of original material amidst multiple connections to the source that vary in strength. Also like Dark Butz, it employs what I'll call an "advanced chiptune" approach to most of its sounds, utilizing basic synth textures but then manipulating them in funky ways with processing, etc. In the middle of numerous chromatic tapestries, I especially liked the triplet call-and-answer section at 3'25", which had more of a "hook" than other passages. Shariq writes:
"Wow, this is really solid. I agree that it's liberal, but I don't think it's overly so. I can definitely hear the melody in here, albeit heavily riffed on; it does manage to retain its core though. This is a great example of how to really explore a simple melody. I love all the rolls in the square lead, and everything integrates rather nicely. Nice percussion + bassline interaction too."
I agree; Sebastian's doing a great job of expanding FFV tracks and shedding a little light on them. With the recent (and some might say, ridiculous) announcement of Jurassic Park 4, Sebastian's FFV mixes remind me of the scientists in the first film, filling in the dino DNA gaps with frog DNA; he's essentially extrapolating new material that would have worked in the original context. Whether this means his two mixes are female and will still somehow find a way to reproduce remains to be seen, but I think the analogy is entertaining, if not completely effective. Great stuff; I hope to see the ReMixer continue evangelizing the merits of the FFV OST, though it'd be interesting to switch genres or incorporate more acoustic elements. At any rate, this is a slick piece that fits snugly alongside your Butz.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the Of course the dealbreaker is whether things get overwhelming or not, and fortunately this mix completely steers clear of that by using simple sounds in clever and interesting ways. It's like a scrapbook full of ideas strung together with the utmost coherency.
In other words, it's freaking brilliant.
- Marmiduke on August 2, 2009
OA;329903 wrote: Complete organized chaos
Indeed.
It's too incoherent for me to like, but it's interesting nonetheless. I'd give it an A for effort.
- 42 on January 23, 2009
- Dr. Rod on December 12, 2007
There's an overwhelming amount of stuff going on here in this mix but it stays safe from being overbearing. That's some organized chaos magic right here.
I love how AeroZ uses so simple, chiptunish sounds as the base of his music. I like chiptune sounds as they are, but the skillful processing and mixing makes them especially delicious.
My favourite parts of the remix: the lo-fi start with the beautiful arpeggios; the descending "icicle" chords at 01:33, so beautifully reverbed; the Megaman-style bass line part right after.. But really there's nothing extra or unneeded here, and you could name any of the parts, there's lots of goodies in there..
--Eino
- evktalo on December 8, 2007
Basically, I'm wondering why this isn't in some game yet ^^
- Dectilon on October 16, 2007
The ending was a little too anticlimactic for me, but the rest was amazingly ornamented and busy without being cluttered. Super skills on display here, folks.
- OA on October 12, 2007
Your effects are wild as hell, every time I felt like you were about to go overboard you brought it back into a constant groove. Sweet harmonies all throughout. Loved the call and response 1:26-1:33. The build up around 3:40 was particularly nice too. This is the first song I've liked enough to save to CD since TEEM.ROKIT sometime back. I definitely look forward to hearing more of your stuff in the future.
- Dr. Rod on October 10, 2007
I am unfamiliar with the source material, but I have a feeling I'd be let down by it anyway. This certainly does sound a lot like Shnabubula's stuff, with the trilltastic melodies, eclectic sound choices and aforementioned level of dexterity (infact he linked me to it.)
A diamond in the rough!
- Dave Harris on October 8, 2007
- Fishy on October 6, 2007
PS: Screw Darkesword's request, I'd love to see what you could get out of the [URL="http://project2612.org/details.php?id=21"]Dynamite Headdy[/URL] soundtrack.
- Jaybell on October 5, 2007
One of my favorite remixers with one of my favorite remixes.
Great use of chiptune-sounds and an arrangement that's way above the bar for OCR, in this case liberal schmiberal. Some incredibly sweet synth textures, spastic drums and surprsing touches makes this an instant winner.
Sebastian shows that he's getting to the same level as Mazedude and Shnabubula, both masters of interesting, chiptune inspired arrangements. Now that's something.
and yeah, what DarkeSword said in his YES post, the PS part
- Another Soundscape on October 5, 2007
Incredible song. This is so slick, so cool in every aspect.
- ProjectSpam on October 5, 2007
Liberal, sure, but the original's pretty identifiable when it's there.
I'm really starting to like this guy.
- CHz on October 4, 2007
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