ReMix: F-Zero GX 'Beyond Velocity'
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- Game: F-Zero GX (Nintendo, 2004, GCN)
- ReMixer(s): Rozovian
- Composer(s): Alan Brey, Daiki Kasho, Hidenori Shoji
- Song(s): 'ZEN (Aeropolice)'
- Posted: 2009-08-04, evaluated by the judges
Beyond velocity, there lies... aftertouch? Back from a bit of a break, half of it self-imposed respite after returning from Chicago and the other half due to my main OS HDD throwing a hissy fit, I'm here to tell you all about Rozovian's sophomore ReMix. First he gave us some F-Zero love, now he's back to sweeten the deal with some GX action:
"Shortly after finishing Eat Your Own Dust, I had the melody for Zen in my head. The source is actually really simple when you ignore all the effects. I just listened to it, extracted all the source elements I could find, and this is the result.
A lot of tweaking went into it, so I'm really understanding the ex
pression "10% inspiration, 90% perspiration". Once again, I got some help from the #ocrwip channel, tho the most helpful feedback came from the J's."
Maybe I've just been subjected to one too many 'Ice Cap' mixes, but the opening chord progression here had my Spidey-sense alerted to the potential proximity of said melody. While that never happens, what does happen is some nice, understated, restrained electronica. It's so restrained, however, that at times the piece feels like it's building to some sort of a massive beat drop or climax, only to continue stewing in ambient suspense. As long as you calibrate your expectations more along ambient lines than dance/groove, you'll do just fine - AnSo writes:
"I really like the opening with the bells, I'm a sucker for bells. Solid build-up, you effectively faded elements from the source in and out without it feeling repetitive. Although I was pretty damn sure something would happen at aroud 1:10. Kinda drags with a build-up this long. Oh! Damn! Now I realized it wasn't a build-up. Bummer! Ambient, but bummer ;)
...You handled the source in a clever way even though I can't say it felt dominant. It WAS dominant, it just didn't feel dominant. Can't blame you though, the source is very minimal and you effectively placed most elements in your arrangement. The arrangement (although lacking some proper beats!) was dynamic and I never got bored. Some more interpretation wouldn't have hurt but it would've been pretty hard to pull off. All the elements clicked and production-wise this was just ace, nice work there."
Vinnie adds:
"Man, what a tease this song is, just like AnSo mentioned. Seeing the title I was imagining this would be like some kind of hyper-fast DnB song. The song never even broke a sweat! Putting my expectations aside, I did like the piece. Peaceful and measured, very good building of elements in the intro, and good lead additions. I was hoping for a more substantial beat sometime, but I think what you have is something different, not necessarily worse."
I think that's an excellent way of putting it, and I like what Rozo's done in exploring the tension of "intro-style" electronica more fully. There are definitely some peculiar intonations further on that some judges thought were iffy, but either way they do make the piece more interesting & playful. There *is* development, don't get me wrong, it just never results in the track busting out percussively... although the complimentary, brush-like patterns at 2'45", with lead soloing on top, are pretty fly, leading into a pleasant, futuristic sea of pentatonic monoglide synth riffs. Good follow-up mix from Rozovian that creates a smooth, futuristic, dreamlike atmosphere.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - Pachi Risu on November 15, 2009
- duskvstweak on September 16, 2009
Rozovian;582653 wrote:
If you hadn't posted before and we hadn't talked about this remix before, that would be an excellent way of sneakily saying it sucks. :P
hehehe you know me :D
- WillRock on August 23, 2009
Triad Orion;578478 wrote: The only thing that sounds a little off to me are the notes halfway through the song. I know those are a stylistic choice, but I can't really dig it.
Neither could Larry at first, he asked me to change them. And then he asked me to change them back. :D
Dafydd;576705 wrote: I probably won't be walking around singing. It's like there's... nothing to hold on to, really.
TheKrow;582643 wrote: Great job Ro, I haven't been able to get this song out of my head. Mostly the bell melody.
Interesting... :D
Willrock;581389 wrote: This gets better the more you listen to it... I like this about twice as much as I did before.
If you hadn't posted before and we hadn't talked about this remix before, that would be an excellent way of sneakily saying it sucks. :P
Again, thanks everybody for the feedback. Always interesting to read what ppl think of my work, and I don't mind that most of it serves as self-esteem boosters... and that's just on this track's thread. :D
There should be at least one more remix from me posted this year, maybe more. I got two more TBP (tho you might have heard Lacrima already on EOBLAHBLAH... on the FF4 album) and two more in the queue, and... more to come.
- Rozovian on August 22, 2009
- TheKrow on August 22, 2009
Very chill and relaxed piece. Sometimes, it even feels like music from a 90's JRPG. The synth coming in at ~2:57 is sweet, especially around 3:20.
Nice work.
- Martin Penwald on August 20, 2009
- WillRock on August 19, 2009
Excellent job Rozovian.
- metalsnakejuice on August 17, 2009
- yosefu on August 17, 2009
- Emunator on August 15, 2009
Very good stuff, love those bells. Nice work Rozo, keep it up. :-)
- OA on August 15, 2009
- ymitsuda on August 13, 2009
Also, cheers to Rozovian for some chill F-Zero coverage!
- DJ Tempora on August 12, 2009
On to the mix. Ambient to an extreme, with a sort of meandering sense to it. Normally straight synth-ambient tracks don't really do it for me, but given the sparseness of the Aeropolis track, it's relatively fitting. I can't complain about the synths here, and I love the bells that ring the main part of the theme. The synths backing up the bells mesh well and sound nice. The only thing that sounds a little off to me are the notes halfway through the song. I know those are a stylistic choice, but I can't really dig it.
Overall, I can't really call this ReMix a favorite of mine. However, I do really appreciate the interpretation and the polish put through the majority of the song. It's an ambient song done quite well, which I think is pretty hard to do. Worth a listen, definitely.
- Triad Orion on August 11, 2009
Damnit, I didn't mean to sound like I didn't like this. I did.
- Dafydd on August 6, 2009
