ReMix: Pokémon Red Version 'Drowning Blue'
Download MP3
Play Preview
- Game: Pokémon Red Version (Nintendo, 1996, GB)
- ReMixer(s): Benjamin Briggs
- Composer(s): Junichi Masuda
- Song(s): 'S.S. Anne'
- Posted: 2011-03-03, evaluated by the judges
- Album: Featured on Pokémon: The Missingno Tracks
As the week draws to a close, so does our Missingno mixflood, ending with a couple themes that seem appropriately sweet and "ending theme-ish". First up is B. Briggs:
"when I found out the pokemon project was basically accepting any and all pokemon remixes, I had to jump on it. I have always loved the ss anne music, and I think it is probably one of the more memorable tracks from the OST (considering how much time one could potentially spend on the damn boat). as always, I basically had no plan at all when I started this mix, and I just let my natural memory of the theme guide the arrangement. clarinet, banjo, chiptunes, and a whole lot of pop-rock inspired chord changes are crammed into a fairly short time span, and I think it works pretty well. you could say it's a "concept" mix of sorts because the ending is designed to give the feeling of sinking/drowning, though that may be a stretch :P"
Not a stretch at all; I hear it. The ending also just works really well musically, and the entire arrangement has a nice playfulness to it, shifting tempos, ritardando, gated breaks, emulated instrument synths & all. Especially with the tempo fluctuations, it turns the "little" instruments employed into larger, fully articulated lines, superimposing some pop structures over a traditional VGM style. OA writes:
"Really nice chip sound here, it's clean and a little heavily compressed, but overall has a nice sound, and a lot of strong rhythmic interest, and a really nice melody. These is plenty going on throughout, and the sections are well-linked, but varied."
Fishy adds:
"Just echoing the above really. Good chippy fun. Some iffy sounds but that's kinda the point. Pretty inventive and expansive arrangement with some great rhythmic displacement and glitchy fills and texture.
You properly drowned that sucka at the end. Brutal."
Love the mix, love the style... sure, it's a sugary, chip-dominated track that's pretty easy to like, but the arrangement and additional instrumentation make it a bit quirkier and give it intrigue and depth that warrant revisiting.
Discussion: Latest 11 comments/reviews; view the So the track starts out fairly faithful, but in true Ben Briggs fashion it uses the progression as a foundation to manipulate over a more original structure, complete with some very interesting synth work being placed throughout. Even the little downtempo/syncopated part at 1:25 moving to the source's B theme helped to break the monotomy somewhat here and the gradual build back up to regular tempo also helped really give in a strong sense of color. That ending with the increasing echo/reverb space and the hi-passing does sound somewhat of a strange note to end with though, but it still shows another hint of testament towards Ben's skills as a producer.
I may understand that you might've leaned a lot towards halc's style in this particular track, though the one thing I might advise you to work with is with your manipulation of your polysynth pads; they do kind of start to feel stale after a while. But after sensing your guys' work as Insert Rupee I can understand that you've learnt a lot in regards to texture to really focus on these little details, so I have a lot of trust in you. :)
Hence, another neat Poke-mix! I'm all up for seeing future developments from you even though you've been focusing on more original material lately :)
- Rexy on December 10, 2011
- Cybermouse on August 4, 2011
- Crulex on March 9, 2011
- Overdriven on March 5, 2011
and I am very much kicking myself over this
- Benjamin Briggs on March 5, 2011
Annnnyway this remix is really great the ss anne is the one part of the game you can't ever return to (unless you cheat of course) so weirdly the source sticks in your head and so does this remix,
love the slow breakdown which then brings it back.
Very good remix and thank you for including it in the album.
- psychowolf on March 4, 2011
- meboeck on March 4, 2011
- Brandon Strader on March 3, 2011
the mp3 that was included in the album torrent is not the correct version; it is OLD and got mixed up during bundling
the mixposted version here is CORRECT, as is the FLAC version on the album, and has much improved mixing/mastering/EQ compared to the mp3 in the torrent
thanks for listening and thanks for the mixpost :3
- Benjamin Briggs on March 3, 2011
- yosefu on March 3, 2011
