ReMix:Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team "The Sky Will Be Your Limit" 6:37

Over seven years ago, in June of 2005, we posted goat's epic FF4 ReMix 'The Sky Was Never A Limit'... fast forward to the present day, and we've got our first ReMix of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team from TheGuitahHeroe, titled... "The Sky Will Be Your Limit". Did everyone just get far more pessimistic in the last 7 years? Oh wait, yeah, I guess we did.... not here at OCR - quite the contrary - but with the economy, and its lack of pep & what not. I personally find that economies with pep are far more agreeable to everyone, and this one seems decidedly unpeppish, even downright sedentary. In seven more years we could be posting a ReMix titled "Stop Dreaming About the Sky, It'll Never Happen. Eat your gruel." or perhaps things will go the other way and we'll be posting "We Have Achieved Intergalactic Travel and are Prospering as a Species". Here's hoping it's that second one, or close. Seriously, the naming similarity appears to have been a coincidence, as Jamison didn't directly address it in his email:

"Judges: 'OMG MORR POKEEMONZ MZTRY DUNGNZZZ??????' Well.....yeah. And it's progressive house at that. :P

Honestly, my process for this mix involved so much copy-and-paste it wasn't even funny; dragging the paint tool across FL's pattern screen got pretty tiring after a while :P It's six and a half minutes long, inspired by deadmau5, and lo-fi (the most so I've submitted to the panel thus far, hope you guys dig it!). With DRY drums. Yes, very dry. I played with filters a lot in this one, but hey, what else is new. Also sidechaining, same old, same old A little excessive, sure. But you know what? I LIKE excessive sidechaning. DEAL WITH IT. Hahahaha! (seriously it's a personal preference :P) Except the end result is totally different from anything else I've made. Nonetheless, please enjoy my take on this gut-wrenching theme (you gotta play the game :P) It might be a little repetitive for some people's tastes, but I figured "who knows, it might hit the guidelines." XD"

Consider it dealt with! Definitely some thud/thwack compressed drums going on, fully exposed as the intro to this arrangement, as an undulating bass synth filters in. Trippy, cross-panned arpeggios and pitch-bent lines that almost sound like slide guitar fill things out as the mix develops. There's a LOT of repetition and slow builds, so from an arrangement perspective this has a little less going on, but this is also the type of track where the texture becomes almost inextricable from what you might consider arrangement in the first place. It gave the judges some definite pause, and resulted in a split decision that went TGH's way. I'm glad, but I can also see where if he'd stretched things even further, it would have been rejected. Judge, ReMixer & Father extraordinaire Nutritious writes:

"Cool source man. I can see how this would have nostalga points for people who played the game. Definitely a long, slow build here. There's no question what's being remixed here, though, as you phase in and out with elements from the OST. As far as arrangement level - I have no problem with this as the structure is quite divergent from the original. Connecting parts from the original were used creatively thoughout, but never to the point where it just felt like a trance cover (sorry- PROGRESSIVE HOUSE). Nice evolution over time too. Despite it clocking at 6:38, the track never felt like it overstayed its welcome."

While it may not BE trance, it has an entrancing, hypnotizing feel to it, no doubt aided by the steady pulse of kick/kick+snare and the shimmering synth bits woven around the spinal column of the beat. More excellent stuff from TGH; this one's easy to disappear into, which I suppose for a dungeon track makes complete & utter sense.