ReMix: Secret of Evermore 'Canine Labyrinth'
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- Game: Secret of Evermore (Square, 1995, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Shnabubula
- Composer(s): Jeremy Soule, Julian Soule
- Song(s): 'Dog Maze'
- Posted: 2009-12-11, evaluated by djpretzel
In 2004, we overhauled the site design again (v4), Jeremy Soule sent in his epic 'Terra' mix, our second album was released in the form of Kong in Concert, and the infamous Russian-Nigerian Liontamer joined the judges panel...
...and pretty much became the Riker to my Picard; I definitely want to thank ALL judges who have ever served on the panel, and who continue to serve, but Larry Oji does deserve a special shout out since he's aided the site in innumerable additional ways, in spite of his body odor and fondness for professional wrestling. We posted 194 ReMixes in 2004, which ain't too shabby; KiC set an amazing standard for what a coherent, consistent album project could be, so props to director Binnie Katti on that one. The v4 site design finally came close to what I always envisioned - something powerful, which gave us the flexibility to cross-reference information easily. Architecturally, it laid a foundation for the site's code and design, much of which still remains in one form or another, today.
2004 was also the year when an artist named Shnabubula made his debut with a very creative Guardian Legend ReMix. You never know with these sorts of things... sometimes an artist submits an amazing, promising piece of music, and then we never hear from them again. In Sam's case, we heard from him seventeen more times, and this mix makes nineteen mixes total. He's basically in his own world, manipulating matter, defying gravity, and forging a musical cosmos, with each new arrangement containing a planet's worth of ideas, textures, and harmonies. Whether it's one of his earlier, more eccentric pieces, or his later jazz work with LSD, the common denominator is an intensely musical mind, and the ears and dexterity to extract from that mind some truly beautiful compositions. Sam writes:
"I've been wanting to submit this forever and now thanks to the filesize limit increase I can. I'm especially proud of this because it was entirely improvised and I was just barely familiar with the source being that I hadn't played it several years, but basically I got lucky, everything just clicked with the performance, recording it was a risk that paid off. This is from the same session as "Sugar, Water, Purple" and "Stone Eyes" believe it or not."
I'm gonna believe it; those are two great pieces, and so's this. Sam's one of those guys who can dredge up mixes from half a decade ago and have them sound fresh, new, and completely contemporary with his more recent stuff. This is a completely epic and loooong solo piano improvisation; the note count on this beast must be stratospheric. There are a lot of folks who can and have put together some amazingly impressive solo piano performances, but to do an 8+ minute improvisation, and have it come out sounding like this? Suffice it to say, Sam is elemental, singular, and OCR wouldn't be the same without him; this is a fantastic homage to Soule's Evermore soundtrack, and an amazing performance.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the This makes me feel like I'm a toddler plinking around on one of those rainbow-keys Playskool pianos.
You're really something special...
- Ectogemia on August 23, 2011
I didn't even realize this was posted until now. I blame traveling across USA forever in December.
Anyway... This has always been my favorite song by Sam... For years. I am so glad you guys upped the size limit for this amazing song to finally be posted. It was on Tha Sauce for years.
The intro to this song is just amazing... When he finally gets to the real meat at 1:20, I just die every time. This song really means a lot to me, so I am glad that it has been brought to a broader audience. It's also a song now that brings me back to a very different time of my life, when everything about it seemed so up in the air, and in a haze. Makes me a little sad actually.
5:40 - 5:44 really strike me every time. Everything there is so powerful and moving. Then, everything after just slowly takes me back down, not to earth, but off somewhere, and then leaves me there to contemplate...
Best piano song on the site now.
- Monobrow on March 24, 2010
- DrunkenSage on January 11, 2010
Why's the volume so low, though? Makes it kinda hard to listen to it as part of a playlist without having to adjust the volume.
- Martin Penwald on December 30, 2009
There's a lot of proficiency on display here though, as one can expect from Shnab. At the very least, it's hard not to enjoy the skillful playing that he brings to the table, and with a large degree of coherency maintained in this 8 min piece.
- Bahamut on December 22, 2009
Emunator;621895 wrote: This is definitely Sam at his finest. I don't mean to sound unappreciative of the talent that he's shared with the community, but a lot of his mixes are so fast-paced, technical, and spastic that I have a hard time listening to them as background music.
That's cause they ain't background music! They're "listenin'" music.
This mix is great. I will try to edit with more thoughts later.
- ella guro on December 13, 2009
Am I the only one feeling almost a little bit of FFX piano tracks in here? I don't know if it's the tone of the piano or what, but I'm getting that vibe, oddly enough.
- DragonAvenger on December 13, 2009
Love it.
- metalsnakejuice on December 12, 2009
- BlackPanther on December 12, 2009
This mix serves as a reminder to me that "more than mortal" men such as Hercules and Paul Bunyan still exist today.
Most assuredly, this is a mix that belongs in every collection.
- 42 on December 11, 2009
Very happy me. The song is amazing, and perhaps even more so than usual - they're always fantastic, but this stands out.
- artemisjaeger on December 11, 2009
Very good stuff, I approve. :D
- OA on December 11, 2009
yes, i've always loved this piece, and i've had it on my walkmanphone from time to time as well, i love walking around down town or somewhere else too for that matter, listening and TRYING to analyze what must be the internet scene's most creative musician. i always fail :tomatoface:
top notch
- Platonist on December 11, 2009
- Sinewav on December 11, 2009
