ReMix: Star Fox Adventures 'Fossil's Oasis'
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- Game: Star Fox Adventures (Nintendo, 2002, GCN)
- ReMixer(s): Level 99, LuIzA
- Composer(s): Ben Cullum, David Wise
- Song(s): 'Early Thorntail Hollow: Day', 'Early Thorntail Hollow: Night'
- Posted: 2010-03-20, evaluated by the judges
So, the reception to Serious Monkey Business has been great, the flood mixes were all wonderful and I had a blast posting them, and I've given out props to everyone involved in the creation of the album. However, it seemed like one final repeated shout out & thanks was necessary, and that's to Mr. David Wise for writing such great music and for getting involved and contributing to this community. He's a cool, humble, and exceptionally musical individual, and when I saw this ReMix queued up, our first from the soundtrack to Star Fox Adventures (Dinosaur Planet in Japan), I thought it was a nice way to again pay homage to his work. While lesser known than DKC2, his & Ben Cullum's score to Star Fox Adventures is catchy and has a great tribal/new age feel to it. Level 99 and LuIzA collabed on this rock mix that still incorporates some of that but mostly kicks out the jams. Stevo writes:
"Oh, where to begin... well, first, David Wise's soundtracks usually get a lot of love, but one in particular has been overlooked for a while: Star Fox Adventures. The almost-Zelda-type game Rare put out on the Gamecube in 2002 has a great soundtrack that is currently being under-represented on OCR. Step in LuIzA and Level 99 to take a shot at it with rock guitars in tow!
LuIzA approached me about a month ago talking about DoD, a competition I have attended the MAGFest listening parties for but never entered, asking for my opinion on songs she selected to do for that month's theme (Rare month): either a combination of Forest Frenzy from DKC and Forest Interlude from DKC 2, or Thorntail Hollow Day/Night from Star Fox Adventures. Well, I picked the combination, and a day later she said 'Nah, I think more can be done with Thorntail, wanna do DoD with me with month?' The next three weeks were an intense back-and-forth of ideas and composition, and the result is an almost-six-minute-long acousto-electric rock piece that switches back and forth between styles and embellishments."
Nice collab! Vinnie sums it up:
"Very nice rock collab that shows off the benefits of cooperation. The acoustic bookends give a good contrast to the rawk proceedings, like an appetizer and an after dinner mint. There's also a cool synth-y section that sounds more like Early Thorntail Night. Combined with some different-styled leads in the solo section, this mix really lets them highlight their strengths."
What I dig here is that, along with the great variety of well-played, rock-your-face guitars, the synth work, fx, choral bits, and essentially all the non-guitar components are excellent as well and blend nicely. A lot of the production reminds me of some of the heavier 90's alterna-rock, and I think a vocal here really could have rocked, but the textural variety & burning solo work make it function perfectly fine as an instrumental. Highlight is DEFINITELY at 0'52" when jungle sounds morph seamlessly into a sepulchral guitar scream - very, very slick moment. Great stuff all around from two talented ReMixers, and again some superb source material from Mr. Wise!
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - Emunator on June 2, 2011
This arrangement is something I listen to when I'm writing. Because it, like me, has a story to tell, and it does so epically and majestically. It has those wonderful, power ballad guitars, but at such a deliberate pace. It's like the careful and precise metalwork at Hephaestus's forge. Each blow and strike has all the energy needed but in a very controlled fashion.
In short, this mix just means a lot to me and is hands down one of my favorite arrangements on OCR.
Polo;699178 wrote: Man, Fossil's Oasis is a journey every time I listen to it. This mix is an ecosystem unto itself.
I like you're style; you seem to know what I'm talking about. :-)
- 42 on December 4, 2010
This mix is an ecosystem unto itself.
- Polo on July 23, 2010
- NinjaAtaris on May 28, 2010
- Mtlbro on May 2, 2010
- Martin Penwald on April 4, 2010
All that aside, this remix is definitely rockin' the right way. Major kudos to the both of you, your skills are mighty.
- MechaFone on March 31, 2010
And you guys did the [i]justice[/i] out of it.
Propssssssssss.
- Xenon Odyssey on March 30, 2010
- LuIzA on March 27, 2010
The only thing that would improve this is a slightly smoother ending chord, but dayum, this is nice. :-)
- OA on March 25, 2010
- JaDE ARaN HaRuNo on March 23, 2010
Prog bias. Yeah, what of it? This is a textbook example of taking a short, melodic idea and continually mutating it into a rocker's dozen of unique yet coherent sections. I went and listened to the sources (awesome stuff there, btw - temped to buy the game because of the sounds alone, so thanks for guiding me to an awesome new-to-me soundtrack) and, despite them being fairly long, there isn't a tremendous amount to work with. Which is to say that Dave Wise made the most of his melody; but for unpaid folk to take the work of a pro and double it up (, with guitarssssss), well... that's certainly nothing to scoff at. Nay, it's something to rock the fox out to.
So aside from how well each section compliments those preceding it and builds into the next, the layering is freaking fantastic. I suppose I cheated a bit by reading the breakdown, but there is some fine timbre selection (distortion, etc) on the electric and some stellar complimenting/interplay between all the guitars. And ALL THE GUITARS. Oh, sorry, I guess there were other instruments in there too; I just got excited. Everything fits, which is impressive due to all the stylistic and pacing changeups... even that oooh-y synth before the original section works.
And the original section: that was the best part of the entire track. "Fresh air" my toejam though. The entire mix is invigorating. What the original section did was stay in the spirit of the mother source while blasting into outer space. The fact that the return landing generates devil horns is simply a compliment to the following well-done section, and it's far, far from the only diabolical genius in this track.
Wicked shit like this makes a piano man love guitars. Rock on, Luiza. Rock on, Stevo.
- K.B. on March 23, 2010
