ReMix: Top Gear 'Rockabilly ~ Dark Gears ~ Surfing Gear'

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Top Gear

8 Bit Instrumental may be new to OCR, but they're no strangers to game music, and in fact were invited by Mr. Tallarico himself to participate in Video Games Live when the concert visited Brazil; check this video for Metroid and SF2.

Here they give us Top Gear mixage, arranging three themes in an upbeat rock/funk/metal/surf medley of, like the band name promises, 8-bit instrumentalism. It's perhaps the most intuitive band name ever, but at least it ain't false advertising (although technically, Top Gear IS 16-bit)... There's a lot of material here, but luckily the Top Gear soundtrack does actually have enough solid, original tracks to support the multi-faceted coverage; sometimes racing games don't always come through, but OutRun, F-Zero, and Top Gear are all good examples of excellent original racing game soundtracks. The band writes:

"The first theme we wanted to do something different from the already existing versions of the game, on the second theme we change almost anything and for the third theme feel like a surf music mood on the riff´s so we kind of let if flow"

These guys JUST released an entire Mega Man 2 album, "Beat the 8 Super Robots With 8 Bit Instrumental," that you'll definitely wanna check for more of their stuff. As far as this track goes, the transitions aren't the most seamless in the world, making for a minor case of medleyitis, but each theme is solid in and of itself, and since the instrumentation remains consistent, it's not as jarring. Judges noted performance sloppiness in the initial moments, the less cohesive addition of the surf bit at the end, and production "garagey-ness" as potential pitfalls, but most felt it compensated by getting progressively tighter and packing in a lot of musical ideas successfully. Jesse said:

"The first segment didn't thrill me..not because of the recording, which I think is fine, but the performance was a bit sloppy. The second section makes up for it. The track keeps getting better. I'm surprised it manages not to succumb to the medleytits, but it comes across more like a rock epic, something like Paranoid Android, than a bunch of parts slapped together."

Vinnie added:

"One does get the scent of medley-itis with those awkward transitions between sections, but that was my only real complaint about the arrangement. The sheer number of styles the song goes through is impressive - you get a lot of mileage out of the material. The surf take on "Hiroshima" was a little bit of a jolt from the much harder "Bordeaux", and I think it might have been stronger to just cut the song at 4:55, but I can give you some slack for getting 5 minutes of it totally right."

Good, organic stuff that's polished enough so it doesn't feel thrown together, but still has a lot of energy and spontaneity. Download it now, then check out their discography for other great mixes of F-Zero, Super Mario World, and more; they're definitely representing Brazil with both power and style.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 11 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
I'll start off to say that the dirty, garage-band sounding feel isn't my cup of tea, so I'm sure it doesn't help my review. I think some of the playing could've been a bit tighter. On the other hand, however, it's obviously capably produced and well executed for live instruments. Good job varying up the different sections to keep things fresh.
Oh man, quick panning at 1:14 really messes with my head. I think it's important to keep in mind some of us listen on headphones :).
I did like the wah guitar section coming in a bit after 2:20. I've always been a sucker for the effect. I would've liked to hear some more transitions, rather than abrupt changeups (I'm looking at you, 4:55), but it's not bad enough to mess with the overall track too much.
Overall, I can appreciate a solid instrumental piece like this, whether or not it's my style. Well done.

- Nutritious on July 4, 2009
There's a few spots where I wish it was tighter, but aside from those, I've got no complaints. It's high-speed, high-energy, goes into a slow part, and keeps moving, keeps changing. I've skipped past this track a few times too many, didn't notice how good it is. Great track.

- Rozovian on December 23, 2008
OA;368093 wrote: The extreme panning on the tapping section early on makes you kinda sick with headphones though. :-( bleaaaahhhhh (that was me throwing up from sonic vertigo)

I got that with speakers. Whoa, kinda dizzy.
A fun mix, but I'm not crazy about the different sections overall. Needs to be more fluid, or expand just one section and go from there.
Unfortunately the beginning is messiest, which sets up a not so great first impression. I would clean that up if possible.
Despite all the criticism, it's still a fun mix to listen to, and I enjoyed it. Kudos.

- DragonAvenger on October 10, 2008
I agree about the energy - and the headphone issue too. This track has sort of "garage" production - at first I didn't like it so much, but then it somehow just clicked, it sounds right. The transitions between different original material are indeed very "medley". It makes the whole sound undeveloped. There are a lot of good ideas, but they don't get to shine so much. The second section is quite great. The beginning solo bass sounds really nice to me. I'd love a "full" ReMix developed from that part.
I also grabbed the Megaman 2 soundtrack from 8-bit Instrumental's homepage, and I really enjoy tracks 11-13 - the password piece is among them.
--Eino

- evktalo on March 12, 2008
As has been said before, this is a very energetic mix, but the transitions are lacking; too abrupt, IMO.
Love the part from 2:23 on, as it reminds me of one of the tracks from the very first GTA.
Moreover, I really like the third part. Again, the transition could've been handled better, but come on, surf-guitar music on OCR? Gotta love that.

- Martin Penwald on February 8, 2008
I've heard these guys on VGmix X. Like the other tracks this one's very well arranged and has a novel feel to it. As said before, some of the transitions are rough and a few guitars there are a little loose in terms of rythum, but all in all, you guys keep things upbeat and bright.

I'm satisfied with this mix, but ready for another submission from you. Keep it up!

- A-RoN on January 22, 2008
A bit messy, yeah, but super energetic. You really can't help but bop along. The extreme panning on the tapping section early on makes you kinda sick with headphones though. :-( bleaaaahhhhh (that was me throwing up from sonic vertigo)
Transitions are pretty weak, and i think it if pretty medley-heavy, but it's still pretty enjoyable to listen to. There's good variety on the different sections to keep it feeling fresh, even if it is actually several different songs stitched together.
So in my opinion, there are several rough spots but overall it's a fun track, especially on speakers.

- OA on January 21, 2008
Righto... overall a decent mix. I didn't care for the first part, partially because it came in too abruptly, and partially because your lead guitar seemed to be having some slight issues staying on time. Slight, mind you, but noticeable. After the change up, it started sounding pretty good from there on out. It would've been nice to hear some better changeups between the parts though, they were very abrupt. Started to rock pretty hard in the third part, I'd say that was my favorite bit of the mix. My biggest issue would be the overall quality of the instrumentation. This simply could've been played quite a bit better. Decent mix, but definite room for improvement.

- Shadow Wolf on January 20, 2008
I Enjoyed this, the first part was, on the other hand, the least pro-sounding.. but overall a nice medly!
You guys should submit your Password Theme from your Megaman 2 album .. that was pure uniqueness!
hope to hear more of this!

- Platonist on January 20, 2008
I've seen a lot of your mixes over at VG mix X and I generally enjoyed them. I wondered if I'd ever see one here :). Sure it's a bit rough and the transitions aren't the most seamless in the world. But that's not what sells this one for me.
The arrangement of the individual themes are all very different and very good. The thing I like about this track is it feels spontaneous like a good jam session.
It's the kind of improvisation that's just plain fun :). Personally, I'd probably enjoy breaking out my keyboard and jamming with a band like this because it sounds like you guys had a blast making an arrangement of a cherished game and it shows :).

- Kidd Jredd on January 20, 2008
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

- djpretzel on January 20, 2008

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