ReMix: Final Fantasy VI 'Magicite Made My Mind Melt'
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- Game: Final Fantasy VI (Square, 1994, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Mattias Häggström Gerdt
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'Kefka'
- Posted: 2009-07-09, evaluated by djpretzel
I mean this in the best possible way, but Mattias really is a crazy Swede. Crazy talented, crazy prolific, crazy bilingual... at least a dozen more ways beyond that. A musical force of nature and a natural force of music, he writes:
"I tried some unorthodox processing in this one, for example the very distorted ARP2600 analogue drums and the plethora of detuned bells and music boxes playing counter-melodies until they all get lost in a mess of static. I personally enjoy the subtle changes during the last part with the constantly evolving cluster of bell melodies. This is also the first (but hopefully not the last) remix where I ventured outside of Reason 4. The bell effects I mentioned and some additional processing are courtesy of Ableton Live Lite 6 and the oh-so-lovely ReWire protocol. Nowadays I've actually bought Live 7 so don't be surprised if things get even more trippy from here! I've thrown in some wannabe-skrypnyk-drums for great justice! That's about it really... It's trippy, it's slightly repetetive but it's oh-so-charming for anyone into quirky left-field electronica. Like me."
Along with a very alliterative mix title, this Kefka arrangement features a percussive arsenal replete with dirty piston kicks, hydraulic snares, tics, blips, and myriad fx that wind away like clockwork under clean, soaring synth leads and delicate bells. While all the intro stuff is lovely, the mix is essentially bifurcated into two parts we'll call "extended intro" and "schizophrenic bell motif of doom". Or something like that; at 2'26" the bump starts thumpin' and the clock starts winding up into a frenetic machine of clangorous, joyous mayhem. Towards the end, there's so much harmonic interaction in the self-described "cluster of bell melodies" that you've basically got a vortex of sweet, ringing tine. It's crazy, which fits both Kefka and (full circle here, folks) Mattias as well. Crazy indulgent, crazy percussive, and crazy... belltastic. If it's not a word, it is now.
It's late and I've got no judges to quote since this one's direct, but at this point AnSo is an institution, a veritable Midas of VGM arrangement (without the unfortunate and impractical implications), so you shouldn't need much selling. It also doesn't hurt that it's FF6/Kefka, of which an all-kazoo mix played by tone-deaf squirrels would probably still get some attention, if not love. This one isn't high concept or master craft, it's just a fun, creative, well-constructed electronica piece that embraces its inner Kefka, realizes its Ken, and melts minds (and ears) with a massive miasma of musical magicite. Magnificent.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - co298 on March 21, 2010
One of my most-listened to songs on iTunes, I've been playing this one frequently since I downloaded it! Keep it up mate! :-D
- Emunator on December 22, 2009
- Palpable on August 22, 2009
And b4 the bell counterpoint stuff comes in, that part's really cool too bc the distorted drums are there,
I mean the trance beat is great but still. .
Wow I'm nit picky anyway 10/10!!!
- Mtlbro on August 10, 2009
Furthermore, I have to say that AnotherSoundscape is slowly but steadily turning into an artist whose remixes I enjoy immensely, no matter what the source or style. His first few mixes were good, but they always had some instrument/synth/whatever in them that really put me off. However, that is something of the past now, seeing as how all his recent mixes have not had anything in them I could really complain about.
Keep on rockin'
- Martin Penwald on July 28, 2009
Nice work as usual, man.
- SwordBreaker on July 22, 2009
The only thing I will say against this track is that I would have liked it to go on longer. That musical box would have sounded awesome if it had grown into a sort of overarcing swell (phear my fancy-sounding BS!). I'm not saying I wanted it to be loud or cacophanous, but that it could have grown, had a few more bells added, etc. On the other hand, it may be a good thing that it didn't do this, because then it might have lost its beautifully innocent-yet-sinister feel that is so perfectly Kekfa.
- Sorceror Nobody on July 21, 2009
I really like the part in the middle around 2:26 when the bass rejoins the bells, overall I'd have to agree with the writeup, the bells are a little chaotic, but it couldn't be any more appropriate under the circumstances, this is Kefka we're talking about here.
I do get a bit of a christmas vibe from it, just a little, very messed up one, but it's there, and that's kinda fun too!
- ZealPath on July 17, 2009
Though I've never played FF6..
I liked the sound of this a lot!
I felt like I was in a trance most of the time while listening to it..it was so captivating!
Great work!
- LadyReemz86 on July 16, 2009
All in all: AnSo, you are a bloody beast, mate.
- Sir_Downunder on July 13, 2009
- Jae on July 11, 2009
not digging the ridiculously liberal intro too much. doesn't sound like the source material at all till the bells come in
yknowwwwww
- nrich on July 10, 2009
