ReMix:Chrono Trigger "stratification" 3:54

By melody

Arranging the music of one song...

"Corridor of Time"

Primary Game: Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES), music by Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda

Posted 2015-12-17, evaluated by the judges panel


Our previous featured ReMix from melody (Peter Kim) was his legendary Phoenix Wright collab with Detective Tuesday, which has a permanent spot on my "all-time" playlist. What's he been up to, since? Well, playing with the mind-blowing DiscoCactus, for one... also seemingly working on his guitar chops, or at least displaying them a bit more, as this one-man "Corridor of Time" rock/jazz jam features sick, speedy soloing, tons of polish, and a cool groove that's filled to the rim with musicianship:

"it's been a while, good people at ocr! like for most people playing through chrono trigger for the first time, reaching zeal was breathtaking. its disconcerting ethos, and the wonder of a fantastical city suspended above the clouds, were perfectly captured by a rookie mitsuda in his seminal 1995 soundtrack (of which the 19 oc remixes of corridors of time alone are inarguably a testament to).

in my mind, the island of zeal's vertical positioning with respect to the earthbound ones was/is an elegant metaphor for the social stratification present in trigger's era of antiquity. that image went a long way as i constructed this homage to a composer who has greatly influenced this small voice in a great sea of admirers."

Oh, the profundity! Seriously, cool analysis from Peter; I see it. Electric guitar really gets the spotlight, here, turning the arrangement into more of a solo-with-accompaniment noodly meditation on the ever-popular theme. Accompaniment *is* dope, don't get me wrong, as there's plenty of detail, variation, and intelligent writing going on to keep it interesting in its own right, but the electric lead sets the tone & stays around for most of the mix, melting faces at the very coolest of temperatures. Jivemaster summed this one up well:

"I'm not an expert of the Chrono soundtrack, but I think I'm hearing enough source usage here. The lead really makes you forget about some of the other elements (in a good way), due to the face meltingness of the almost nonstop solo.

Great production, everything has its place. Nice use of breakdowns with varied ideas each time. I wish the bass was a little louder cause there's some nice little licks in there, but I think this is good to go. Great playing, definitely brings the feels."

If this were some obscure melody that Peter had unearthed, one might be tempted to criticize not focusing on that ingredient a bit more, but ultimately the soloing is inspired by & relates to said melody in some creative ways... while still taking certain liberties that help distinguish the arrangement from many others. Great, refreshing stuff... Peter's a "musician's arranger" and is able to work creative & interesting arrangement ideas into pieces that also allow for expressive & demanding musicianship. That's a great combination of abilities, and when you add his multi-instrumental studio chops, it's legitimately killer!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2018-05-07 01:54:36

God damn that guitar playing is sexy! But in addition to that, there's a great atmosphere underneath that is jazzy, and somehow still manages to be be somewhat relaxing, at least to me if I don't focus directly on the guitar. I often forget that songs don't have to be slow or quieter to have that chill quality, especially when the groove is this damn smooth. And of course the piano was delightful. This is the kind of song I would love to listen to in the car on a closed road going over sixty miles an hour, because it's as smooth as the ride but also as exciting as the speed. Excellent ReMix, melody.

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melody
on 2016-11-08 18:32:04
On 10/3/2016 at 11:05 AM, Rexy said:

Yes, that's a band that has melody and three other musicians. From what I saw on VGMdb, melody arranged the entire suite and played the guitar parts for the band recording. They also came back together for the recent Nintendo 64 tribute as well :)

that's all very correct, thanks rexy! thanks for the kind words alcino!

chrono suite also made the cut onto our (materia) debut album, released through overclocked records! you can check it out at www.materiavgm.com!

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Alcino
on 2016-10-05 01:42:04
On 10/3/2016 at 11:05 AM, Rexy said:

Yes, that's a band that has melody and three other musicians. From what I saw on VGMdb, melody arranged the entire suite and played the guitar parts for the band recording. They also came back together for the recent Nintendo 64 tribute as well :)

Ah, thanks for the information, I was genuinely curious. So Materia did the Kirby 64 Boss on that tribute album (which I had just finished listening to when I wrote my previous post), and melody also did Indomitable in Chronicles of Time.

Hope to hear more from them; this Corridor of Time remix is my favorite, albeit tied with Corrupter of Time, ahead of 30 others. The ambience, the driving drum and bass, the dancing guitar lead... it's beautiful.

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Rexy
on 2016-10-03 11:05:57
2 hours ago, Alcino said:

Heeeey... this remix has been covered anew as the last part of Chrono Suite, credited to "Materia", in the Chronicles of Time album.

Yes, that's a band that has melody and three other musicians. From what I saw on VGMdb, melody arranged the entire suite and played the guitar parts for the band recording. They also came back together for the recent Nintendo 64 tribute as well :)

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Alcino
on 2016-10-03 08:11:54

Heeeey... this remix has been covered anew as the last part of Chrono Suite, credited to "Materia", in the Chronicles of Time album.

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Chromarin
on 2016-05-31 10:50:16

I am going to join the army of the Youtube comments in that the source track has been remixed so many times, yet this take on it still offers a very fresh take on it! The guitar work and the soundscape are phenomenal, no question! An instant favorite for me!

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kwSuther
on 2016-05-20 12:39:52

Reminiscent of "Grand Central Station" by Guy Pratt, but stands beautifully on it's own - Love it. :-D

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melody
on 2015-12-23 11:47:49

man, i want to hop in here and say how much i appreciate the kind words coming from everyone in this thread. thanks for giving me your ears, your time, and your thoughts; they're humbling gifts to receive. and thanks to dave and all of the ocr staff for toiling over this site, to give video game music the platform it truly deserves, as well as the constructive criticism and undue praise you all have given to me over the years.

much love everyone, and hope you all have a merry Christmas.

- peter/melody

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DimeTower
on 2015-12-23 02:47:37

Transcendental. Wavy and airy at times, rocking at others. It's like you took a really good version of this theme, and THEN said, "Hey, give me the coolest solo guitar work you can imagine over the top of this and never let that solo stop, but also you're never allowed to just play random notes, you need to have a purpose." And the result is this. Wonderful. Made the mix feel like it was 1 minute long, and that's a compliment to it's transportive nature.

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jnWake
on 2015-12-21 21:07:44

Everyone said it already but this is pretty good. A somewhat straightforward approach to the song with cool solo-ing on top. I like how the focus seems to be more on the chord progression of the original rather than on the opening notes, it makes it sound refreshing. Guitar playing, as pointed out by everybody above me, is spot on and damn good. If I had to offer some nitpicking, I felt the snare sounded a bit stale sometimes, like if the velocity didn't change much.

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SuperiorX
on 2015-12-20 12:44:09

Simply astounding. I always love melody's stuff :D

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Wiesty
on 2015-12-19 08:43:58

Such a tasteful and respectful handling of the source material, which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful melodies.

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Necrox
on 2015-12-18 22:28:11

SICK guitar playing. Great take on a well-known source. Sounds like an evening in Zeal just sitting on a hill, probably cause the backing is great too. I know nothing about guitar playing, but the improvisation and playing here is just awesome.

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MrKyle
on 2015-12-18 09:28:18

Ok, awesome. melody, very well done! This was a pleasure to listen to every second of the way. I'm not intending to pigeon-hole at all, because your playing and tone are all your own, but I get this great vibe of Beck playing through Vai's gear...with Satch-like pinch and tap harmonics. Super expansive, super quacky, super rich. And a tight mix to boot. Repeatin' this for awhile.

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Black_Doom
on 2015-12-17 23:04:37

Holy shit! melody!!! I'm HUGE fan of all Peter's works and I was extremely glad to see his name of the front page. While this remix is on the rockier side of things, compared to other Peter's songs, it's still a great pleasure to listen to. And though this work is a bit of departure from other melody's stuff in terms of genre, it can be easily recognised as his work due to badass drum groove and wonderful jazzy licks here and there. What a lovely song! :)

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu,Noriko Matsueda,Yasunori Mitsuda
Songs:
"Corridor of Time"

Tags (8)


Genre:
Jazz,Rock
Mood:
Energetic,Jazzy
Instrumentation:
Choir,Electric Guitar,Piano
Additional:
Arrangement > Extended Soloing

File Information


Name:
Chrono_Trigger_stratification_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,880,718 bytes
MD5:
e54a9af23a1775bd990efb925cf6a0db
Bitrate:
232Kbps
Duration:
3:54

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