ReMix: Pokémon Red 'Clairvoyant Eulogy'

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Pokémon Red

Lee writes:

"FiremanJoe requested this one. Wanted to do an industrial style remix. With the elements of electronica and some strings. Things get quite distorted, but it's all relative and ultimately purposeful. The ReMix is short, but that's because I accomplished what I wanted in the short amount of time. Elements of the source should be readily recognisable."

Though I'm sure FiremanJoe is happy as well, I can attest to numerable other listeners anxiously waiting for Pokemon mixes, all of whom should dig this as well. Not being particularly into the whole craze, I always envision sugary, poptastic, upbeat mixes when I see submissions of its soundtrack, but am more often than not surprised with darker, edgier or brooding fare. Go figure. On a complete tangent, for a second: go see No Country for Old Men. 1. Because the Coen brothers are among the best and most versatile storytellers working in film and 2. Because Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh is a *seriously* compelling villain. Right then; I'm not entirely sure how I can spin this particular mix as representing a larger theme of that for which I'm thankful, other than to say that it's great to have one's preconceptions challenged, it's great to see requests being fulfilled, and it's great to see Lee making more great music. In this case, most of the judges felt the source material was... well... less than stellar, and that Lee did an admirable job transmogrifying it into something not only palatable, but enjoyable. Andy writes:

"On the whole, this is a well-crafted and enjoyable remix that really expands on a simple and rather crappy source. Chill pads and ambience, crunchy beats, synth riffage... it all gels together swimmingly. Some might say the arrangement doesn't really go anywhere, or it's not melodic enough, but I think TO covered all the bases in his own style as best as one can when working with a source tune like this. Good job."

It takes the mix a solid minute for a synth bass to enter, tempering the industrial vibe with a little synth-pop flavor; it sounds not unlike a hypothetical soundtrack to a hypothetical 80's-era science fiction movie, albeit with better production. There are some rather peculiar intervals here, which makes the more traditional, resolving intervals more satisfying. Odd choice of source material and juxtaposition, but it works - good stuff.

djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
OA;395698 wrote: Why you chose to remix the Red version of the theme instead of the Blue is kind of baffling, since the latter version was so much better. To each his own I guess. :<

But,
but,the Red and Blue themes for Pokemon Tower are the same :?
This mix has a decent amount of creepiness to it.
And I agree with previous sentiments that it's more "improvement" than "reimagined", but still, it's good, listenable, and I like it. At the least, its worth listening to for nostalgia.

- 42 on February 1, 2009
I am totally digging the super crunchy drums, and the panning synths, and compared to the source, this is completely awesome.
It does really feel like an expansion of the original rather than a vast re-imagining, but the additional parts are all really good, and make it listenable. Why you chose to remix the Red version of the theme instead of the Blue is kindof baffling, since the latte rversion was so much better. To each his own I guess. :<
To sort of echo AnSo, I think the bass does get a bit repetitive, and the fadeout seems kind of weak, but otherwise it's a great track. Nice work.

- OA on April 10, 2008
Oooh, creepy. Well done. I guess it takes patience as well as talent to take what is ultimately a boring piece of BGM and turn it into a cool listen. Pokemon games are definately not known for their music, after all, but this is a good start. Perhaps we can soon expect a remix of the 'ice cave' area BGM from Pokemon Crystal? I don't remember what the level was called, only that it had awesome music that seemed really out of place in a Pokemon game. Yes, I'd love to hear a remix of that!

- Crittertoon on December 9, 2007
Yeah, this is groovy. I likes it. The crunchy drums make it seventy times cooler.
Groovy and industrial are not things I think would go together but here they are and here it is awesome.

- Jaybell on November 28, 2007
Hah, you judges thought the source tune sounded like the "gameboy batteries were dying"; if you heard it as it was in the game itself (as stated, at Lavender Town), you'd know what it was like that. :P
Still it was awesome to see a twisted source like that transformed into an equally twisted arrangement like this one. As The Damned said, it's a shame that it's not on the Pokemon project lineup, otherwise this would have made one heck of a release track or something.

- Rexy on November 28, 2007
great stuff, TO, i really enjoy it. i love the stuttered synths throughout most of the mix.
too bad we couldn't get this one on pkmn project, but oh well. at least we've got one or two mixes that are in the queue for that too.

- the prophet on November 25, 2007
I used to sit in Lavendar town for 20 minutes listening to the music there, glad someone finally got a remix of it.
Nice one TO, I enjoyed the material immensely.

- monkofevil on November 24, 2007
I wasn't excited about the atonal stuff, but altogether it was still alright.

- Knives on November 24, 2007
I disapprove of this name.

- bladiator on November 24, 2007
Dark_T_Zeratul;346253 wrote: The name sounded really familiar, so I had to check my music folder to make sure I didn't somehow already have it. Turns out there's a Final Doom OCR called Clairvoyant ELEGY.

Yes, I wonder who made that. :lol:

- Liontamer on November 23, 2007
The name sounded really familiar, so I had to check my music folder to make sure I didn't somehow already have it. Turns out there's a Final Doom OCR called Clairvoyant ELEGY.

- Dark_T_Zeratul on November 23, 2007
Really not bad, I'm a great fan of Pokémon music and I'm happy that the people started to make remix of this games.....but I think that more can be done in future...
8.3/10

- Dunther on November 23, 2007
Lavender Town! Sourcetune of death!
Anyway. You made it sound less horrible and added some pretty basic, but sweet chords. The last note in the intro section is totally atonal, but it's cool because it gives kind of a freaky mood, something the source is all about.
The bass is funky. But it feels like you're milking it a bit. It's basically the same bassline during the whole main part of the song.
The gating of the strings are nice and some of the ambient FX really sets the mood. But imho I think you could've been a bit more liberal about the arrangement, maybe added some of your own ideas instead of just building it all on top of the original.
This is not a bad remix, not by a long shot, but I can't help to think it could've been better.

- Another Soundscape on November 23, 2007
Very, very good. This is a keeper.

- Barnsalot on November 23, 2007
I have to say, this took a couple tries and a look through the chiptune to recognize it as Lavender Town. I love it, now that I've recognized the thing.

- Gaeamil on November 23, 2007