ReMix:Choujin Sentai Jetman "Itsutsu no Chikara" 3:46

Alright, MAGFest's over, a lot of you are sick, it's super-cold out, things are freezing to other things that were never supposed to be able to freeze in the first place, and it's time to resume postin' some mix! Up next we've got Magellanic (Liam Charalambous a.k.a. Lidawg), who follows his more mainstream initial mixes of Castlevania & FFX with... Choujin Sentai Jetman!! ...I can tell from your reaction that you MAY not have played and/or heard of this title, but let me rephrase for the untrained/unitiated Western ear: POWER RANGERS!! Except not exactly... but close enough... Apparently the game's title translates as "Birdman Squadron Jetman," which is a whole lot of "man-coupled-with-airborn-prefix" action, to be sure. Unless you're already intimate with the world of Super Sentai & well-acquainted with these ladies & gents in splendid spandex, ultimately all you need to know is that it's all very, very Japanese. Of this upbeat, j-rock jam, Liam writes:

"Choujin Sentai Jetman has a fantastic soundtrack and the game is actually amazing. Very addictive and good fun. More people need to try this game out, though it is understandable that they haven't as it was only released on the Famicom. The source music is very energetic and uses the NES/Famicom soundchip really well. Though the arrangement is conservative, I really tried to give it my mark with the performances, structure and harmonies. It's in the lovely key of Bb Minor....or something. The choice of key came about from wanting to keep the guitar within a certain register where it sounded meaty, without being muddy."

Less mud, more meat... sounds good to me. I like the over-the-topness of this mix; you can easily picture grown men and women running around in costumes and fighting large bugs and demons and what not. You can't rock that sort of heroism without the right mood music, and this is pumping, nitro-injected smackdown fuel, no doubt about it. The arrangement does play it safe, but the artist has certainly personalized things through his overall execution, as he mentions. Larry writes:

"...an awesome, souped up cover of the source that really expanded upon the instrumentation nicely, giving a source tune that already had good drive a big boost of energy. Nice dropoff at 1:40. Loving the energy of the guitar work as well; this was definitely one of Liam's best, most polished performances yet, with excellent layering to give the sound of the theme tons of depth."

Intonation right at the end @ 3'34" seemed a little off to me, but no one else mentioned it. Judges DID have some minor beef with the mixing being a little toasty, but no one felt that it overshadowed the big picture; Palpable adds:

"Yeah it's on the hot side, but there's no arguing with the intricate drum writing and expressive lead performances - this was badassy. Really not much negative to say about this. Next time skew a little less hot, Liam, but keep making music this good."

Accessible, power-packed rock jamz from Magellanic; don't let the (potentially) unfamiliar source deter you, as this game had some great tunes courtesy Iwadon (Hiroyuki Iwatsuki), & Liam's done this one great justice!