Liontamer

The source tune is great. Loved it after hearing virt arrange it in "Ska Poppin." I liked this track for the first 1:23, but it felt like it was just going through the motions beyond that. The beats were initially good, but they got plain and vanilla fast. The arrangement was too conservative; mostly altering the rhythms and so forth, but it got overly repetitive. When the key changed at 2:46, I felt it was a terrible choice and the arrangement had been going on cruise control for too long. Then some light electric guitar work came in at 3:16, which was a new idea, but didn't add much to the track either. I've loved Posu's past work, but this doesn't even compare. It just gets lazy and directionless over the course of the 4 1/2 minutes. Sorry bro, you make some great stuff as weed and many others know, but this wasn't it. It could be so much more. I don't really need to tell you how to get passed. NO

Cool arrangement, but cruddy samples and cruddily used samples at that. I feel like Vig here going this glib. But seriously though, cool ideas on the arrangement. The supporting drums and piano got really monotonous though, so address that. Head over to the ReMixing forum and work on humanizing the performance here. The sax in particular sounded awful. Shna already hit most of the salient points. NO

Too much hiss here was the first thing I noticed. I actually thought the key change was alright though, so I don't really see it as weakening the original, and I'm a big fan of the original. Sounds a lot more delicate this way, if anything. Certainly not a bad thing to do when trying to create a different feel as compare to the original. The performance was certainly decent, but aside from the key change and the obvious transposing of the source tune to piano, there wasn't much here on the interpretation front. This is a nice cover-style take on "Silence," but rearrange things much more substantially next time. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/dkq.rsn - "Jib Jig" (dkq-05.spc) Sounds pretty dope for MIDI stuff, but we generally don't take MIDI. The first section of the track didn't do anything that our other "Jib Jig" ReMix, "Set Sail," hasn't done already and done better. I can fairly safely assume that from the way you covered the DKC2 material, the Golden Sun 2 material probably isn't very interpretive either. No offense meant, but right now I don't feel like looking to see if my assumption is right or not. Head to the ReMixing forum and at least move a step up by learning how to hook it up with some free soundfonts for your MIDI. Hate to cut this short, especially since this was very well-done for a MIDI, but NO. Perhaps upload the MIDI to VGMusic.

No offense, but I dunno how this could be resubbed in this form and expected to pass. It's not much different than the first version. Frankly, this version sounded even more swamped than the previous, and, same as last time, the source material isn't interpreted much. Call this one a done deal please, and move onto the next project. I also crap on Gray for liking this one last time around. /grin NO

As the poll for who the sexiest OCR judge (other than me of course) keeps heating up, we continue pimping it up with summer material to cool you off, checking out the week from June 5th to June 11th: ABG - Final Fantasy 10 "Prayer" [VGMix2 #4333] As far as “Song of Prayer” remixes go, no one's ever really done anything much with transposing the melodies of the popular Song of Prayer vox into synth or instrumental music. And, unfortunately in my opinion, this is also not one of those cases. But if you're ok with some wholly original material being integrated with the Song of Prayer vox, and many people out there are, then you'll have absolutely no problem with ABG's latest release. This is yet another lengthy release from Shawn, clocking in at just under 8 minutes, and the trance ideas here are relatively basic but still well put together. The mixing could be a bit cleaner, but you can play this in a rave and shake your butt, so check it out if you have friends that also wanna take part in shaking their asses. BogusRed - Final Fantasy 7 "Beyond Midgar" [OC ReMix #1363] Ah, "Beyond Midgar." I'm so familiar with this one after so long that's it was almost strange to finally see it up on OC in all it's 88-key glory. After Ms. Susie Sahim got this one passed by the panel, djp along with many of the NOs pushed for something that would address some of the more glaring problems in this one, because while the arrangement was hot, there were some nagging hissing issues, as well as a pretty flat atmosphere, and a couple of notes with no releases, which is poison in terms of creating something that's remotely authentic-sounding. So I had the task of corresponding with Susie in order to keep her up to speed with revision suggestions and nudging her about the status of the mix. Once the summer kicked in and school wrapped up, everything was good to go from Susie's end, and you get this lengthy, beautiful and flowy solo piano coverage of the Final Fantasy VII Main Theme. Good stuff that the people are already fawning over (as if you couldn't guess). Chronblom - Rupert and the Ice Castle "Latin Wonderland Mix" [R:K:O #2690] It's as if we're required to have Latin-themed music represented every week somehow this summer. Chronblom of C64 scene fame offers up a quick one from the obscure Rupert and the Ice Castle with a mix that features some lead strings, acoustic guitars, spicy percussion, nice accordion (say wha?) and a pretty fakey piano. The mixing is a bit loud and rough and the piano in particular ain't bringing it, so I felt this one needed some more work before its release. But check this one out for a decent attempt at a European Spanish vibe, as the arrangement was fairly interesting. chthonic - Tetris 1 "Linear Groove" [VGMix2 #4293] Ben Briggs drops some beats alongside his blocks with this Tetris mix that takes more of a rhythmical and expansionist-style approach toward the source material. If you've ever wanted to hear Russian folk music given the funk treatment (and God knows I have), then you need not wait any longer. Sample-wise I was a bit underwhelmed as I felt the synths could have been played around with further via effects to create more unique textures. At the same time, I also felt the piece dragged on a little bit, but the ideas here are solid, so it's definitely worth the time to check out. I'd personally rather see some more done with this, but Ben's at the skill level where he could get this to OCR level, which I think would be quite a treat. Corran - Megaman X5 "X's Lament" [VGMix2 #4296] If want a man who knows how to make nice chillout music, Bryan is your man. The overall presentation here is relatively understated, much like DarkeSword's own "The Father of All" except even more so. That's even more of a surprise to me given how ominously this track felt like it would be during the intro. While the strings here sounded pretty fake, Bryan did a good job of not exposing his samples easily, allowing the casual listner to hear how relatively well all of the elements blended together. While it's a bit too active and upbeat to completely immerse yourself in, I think it'd be a good idea to either sit down or lay down while sampling this. Close your eyes and lament along with X. You know you wanna. DJ Mitch - Lightforce "Original Minimal Mix" [R:K:O #2717] Making the rounds at RKO this week is this groovy beat-driven electronic offering from DJ Mitch, who plays out some steady enjoyment for you clocking in at just over 6 minutes. I can't say I know where the "minimal" moniker for this one comes from, although the sounds here are fairly standard for the genre. I wouldn't have gone for more clarity and less murk here in the presentation, but this was some solid works that makes some nice active background music. No need to scope this one out if you're looking for catchy melodies and hooks; do in fact check 'er out if you're a fan of something that paces along nicely and lays down a consistent groove. Doron Deutsch - Bruce Lee "Acoustic Jam" [R:K:O #2705] Hey, this is some cool shit. It's not REALLY acoustic, but this sequenced piece at least attempts to convey a genuine instrumental feel here. I never played Bruce Lee on the C64, but I'm kind of wondering how it compares to Kung-Fu and Yie-Ar Kung Fu. In any case, this has some nice twangy acoustic guitar on lead that will remind you of Vurez on some level, though Doron & Vurez are, in my mind, apples and oranges. A little bit unwieldy on the guitar sequencing, and the mastering ain't the hotness, but this had a lot going for it as just something to kick back and enjoy for it's nostalgic value. Surprisingly strong in spite of its presentation weaknesses. Infamous - "Blood" [http://www.infamousuk.com] Oooh, some piano-centric stuff from Infy! Given the title here, this intro obviously wasn't what I expected, so I patiently waited for the track to take some darker turns. Indeed, some woodwinds and light haunting ambience/vox joined in, along with some beats and cymbal swells. The ambient vox was mixed disappointingly low and didn't play as much of a factor as it should have, which was a critical issue, but this wasn't half-bad for something so short. The beatwork in particular held this back a bit and could have been varied up and scaled back. Checking this one out, I didn't feel that Chris needed to shoehorn this original into some sort of CastleVania or Resident Evil style, but at the same time, those soundtrack tend to be haunting and really showcase all of the instrumentation clicking together and meshing well. Admirable stuff, and I hope Infy tries this style again in the future. Less Ashamed of Self - Rayman "Grave Task" [The People's Remix Competition v2-17] Be frightened...LAOS has won the People's Remix Competition. Here's he goes for an upbeat mix of the Skops Battle theme with a nice tempo, some decent but otherwise effective drumwork and some pretty damn cool synth texture than help make up for the relative sparseness of the piece as well. The use of drumloops was a little bit cheesy and REALLY drew itself out too long in the middle of the track, kinda like the pieces of bread in a sandwich somehow being the best part of the sandwich. In any case, this was surprisingly catchy, so swing by Doulifeè's space and see what LAOS brought to the table for this one. And if you do not find a way, no one will. Merino - "Search Lights" Version 1.0 [Club Party '05] Merino, baby! Where have you been at if you haven't been checking out their original material? You know, for most of Merino's material you hear some hiss during the intro, but as soon as the music kicks in, you couldn't care less. I keep pestering Kailem to submit more remixes, but while he decides to deprive us with oh so much cruelty, you can check out this mainstream-style weirdo pop for some original sampleage. The atmosphere is a little on the sparse side, but the instrumentation and lyrics are stylish, anchored by some acoustic guitar and Kaliem's vocals. His delivery is a little bit rough, because he excels at more of a spoken word-like style such as the one used in their previous original "Filtered Water", but it's a pleasure to hear the band pump out more releases and have him get some all-important practice. Other cuts from Club Party '05 are available including another overly lengthy but still solid track "Air Balloon," as well as the lyrically impressive "Outside." Not to be missed if you're a fan of the off-kilter stuff. mikka - X-Out "X-OUT" [R:K:O #2702] Alright, so the name's not creative, but it's what beyond the surface that counts. mikka goes for some electronic coverage of the C64 game that first came to my attention thanks to Binster's superlative mix "LiquidX." This one features some nice electronic work tempered by some string pads and built upon about a third of the way through by a well-handled electrosynth lead and the all-important SID chip sounds. This one moves along nicely and is a good choice to while lazily attending to what you people out there call life. You kick back, enjoy the SIDtune goodness and don't come back until it's looped through four or five times. Looking to hear more engaging and active stuff from mikka that grooves a bit better (groove bias, folks), but for your money, which conveniently is $0, you're definitely in good shape if you pick this up. Ork Estral - "Ravished Soul" [http://nigel.has.it] Go, Nigel, go! Ork's dropping the usual excellent orchestral stuff with this dynamic, flowly piece that doesn't sound melancholy, but nonetheless makes a nice go at conveying the implied imagery of the title. What mental imagery Nigel particularly had in mind, I couldn't really say myself, but to me this was a piece that was demonstrating a soul being romantically ravished in progress rather than examining the mind of an already ravished soul. You see how emotionally deep we get around here at VGF? This piece really develops and evolves nicely, a true joy to listen to over and over again. Remember to literally clear out Nigel's webspace of everything he has available over at the now 44-tracks strong Mostly Ghostly, all available at Nigel's webspace. PriZm f/Leonie - Xenosaga 1 "ein anderer Abschied" [VGMix2 #3719 / OC ReMix #1362] Pascal follows up with this excellent sophomore mix from Xenosaga showing he'd no one-hit wonder. I love the crying intro here, as it's one of those ideas that's unique and sets this mix apart from all of the others at OCR. This was some excellent rock with great interplay from all of the instrumentation involved, along with some haunting soprano vocals from Pascal's friend Leonie that filled things out nicely. The composition here was very nicely done, really progressing well and gradually building the music's intensity within its 5 minutes thanks to the introduction of some militaristic beatwork along with some wailing electrik geetar. That's like...damn. Nice stuff with some sinister leanings. Don't you wish everything had these evil connotations? I know you did. RushJet1 - "Premonition" [http://rushjet1.tk] RJ1's our man in this scene as far it comes to representing the demoscene and chiptune-making to its finest. Here he drops some excellent (and authentic!) NSF music format material with this brief but upbeat original. The way Rush uses the capabilities of NSF to their fullest reminds me of early 1990s Nintendo soundtrack that truly made use of the 2A03 APU soundchip and pushed the NES's sounds to their limits. My only big gripe whenever I hear Rush's pieces are that they don't loop at all. Now THAT's a key area where the NSF format's capabilities need not be wasted. The file's literally only a couple of kilobytes which makes this an absolute must download. Alongside this already pimp release, RushJet keeps it going with other equally catchy stuffs like "Against Overwhelming Odds," "Sea of Memories," & "Overdrive!" Give them all that look and hear a lot for only a little bit of size. NSF enthusiasts, we love the RushJet, oh yes we do. Sefiros - Silent Hill 2 "Under the Influence" [VGMix2 #4212] Bryan Henderson heads back to the bread and butter of his remixing game with another Silent Hill series VGMix release. Centered around a piano, some drumwork and some subtle synth work, this actually isn't the usual fare from Sef. Things kick into gear with the melody entering in at 1:50 via a distorted lead that'll be hit or miss. The drumwork is pretty vanilla, but it's certainly serviceable. More of my focus rested on the piano and string work, which occasionally hit some odd chords that left me like "whut whut?" but hey, he was under the influence while making this one. If you wanna sample some remix material from a horror game that's not the usual spooky vox/pads/ambience combination, here's your calling. Sephfire & pixietricks - Final Fantasy 10 "Journey's End" [VGMix2 #4325] Try not to focus on that fakey piano opening things up, because the sample really shouldn't be exposed like that. Once things pick up though, the atmosphere is pretty good though it's way too muddy and dull, which prevents it from achieving full pimp status. Daniel Floyd's been working on this for a while, but he announced in the Works forum a while back that he had gotten Jill Goldin into the picture with her vocal talents, making this pixie's follow-up mix to her Ocarina of Time OCR debut "Prayer." Seph & pix bring the melodic ambient game here with this take on "People of the Far North" that initially left me scratching my head to make a connection, but it's there and does a good job of giving things a whole new feel through changing the time signature and creating a much more delicate, ethereal soundscape. Solid new material from both Dan & Jill that needs better production, but otherwise handles the arrangement and performance nicely. PICK OF THE WEEK: Shnabubula - "Symbiote Funk" [indeed] Sam's back with some dope original stuff from a new EP hosted at his site. I've always been a big fan of Sam's kooky craftsmanship, as the synthetic textures in his works are consistently top-notch. You never really hear the same instrumental combination ideas repeated twice, and in a musical world dominated by repetition and hooks, this truly manages to stand out in creativity by making sure there are tons of instrumental variations. Indeed, indeed you need to snap this up and in particular don't also miss "First Prime of Apostrophe". Glad to see Sam dropping some new original works to keep the eclectic fandom satisfied once again. He's a muzak machine. zyko - Final Fantasy 4 "Losing Sight" [VGMix2 #4328] YAY! weed closes out out with some solid FF kwakage for the win this week. FF4, now that's an FF soundtrack that deserves more coverage than FFVI or FFVII. The 6 minutes went by like nothing, surprisingly groovy for something with such a distorted edge. And the opening with the keyboard organ along with that subtle close with the FFIV Main Theme...dope as well! I'm still just struck by how mellow and laid-back this turns out to be in-spite of the volume and aggression here. This kind of stuff makes me proud to end the week with our resident man with a Z on the panel (fellow panelist and all-around good Z-guy zircon notwithstanding). Such an easy pickup for those who like to rock. We salute you. That was fun-filled, y'all. Come back and see me, homies.

I see you've never heard The Wingless refine his voice all British-like for the ladies. Too bad Antonio Pizza isn't a current judge or he'd count for the fake accent too.

Um...right. Try "harder" next time. (Ugh, stupid puns.)

I'm not Trick, but he arranged two sources from the game - the castle theme and the prologue music. Just for clarification purposes HEY, don't undermine me, lady! My word is gold. Every last word!

Let’s continue covering the summer stuffs from May 29th to June 4th, for June is the month of the junebug... Motoi Sakuraba, Shinji Tamura & Ryota Furuya - "Freeze" [Tales of Phantasia (SNES Game Rip)] Here's a relaxing track from the ever-so-often remixed Tales of Phantasia, taking 1st Place for Song of the Week, Week #25. A bit, well, gimpish, compared to how we get spoiled with the bells and whistles of pristine redbook audio, but the composition here is good. In fact, we even have what amounts to a rip of this one hosted on OCR from back in the day courtesy of Spongemop! Some sleigh bells give off the added touch to really make "Freeze" a winner with the GamingForce Audio crowd voting in this week's competition. Falcom Sound Team JDK - "Legend of the Lone Wolves" [Music from Brandish 3: Spirit of Balcan] I'm usually not a huge fan of the overly synthy material from Sound Team JDK, but I felt like they delivered in a big way with the 2nd Place finisher for Song of the Week, Week #25. This ones takes exactly 2 minutes to get through the more slowly-paced intro before it kicks into a nice space-shooter genre theme with what I think are obvious Megaman-style overtones. Nice and catchy stuff that I feel could make excellent ReMix material if someone skilled ever felt compelled to give it a look. Jack Wall & The Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra - "Theme from Amateria" [Myst III: Exile the Soundtrack] Rounding out the top tracks for Song of the Week, Week #25 is this excellent downbeat piece from Myst III that doesn't sound anything like typical orchestral fare in the slightest. This one is short and sweet, more the length of a cutscene rather than something that sounds loopable, and the word of the day here is "ambient." The imagery here seems obviously that of a port, what with all the clanging involved. Of course I'm probably horribly wrong (and y'all will let me know I'm sure), but I'd guess that this isn't just any port involved, it's a SPOOOKY port. Maybe it's just me, but I got the imagery of slowly arriving toward a port in extremely gray, foggy weather. You download. You listen. You see what it does for you. Adam Dachis - Final Fantasy 6 "Little Painter Girl" [OC ReMix #1358] Adam encourages you fine folks to march to your own beat with this vibrant, quaint mix of "Relm" from FF6, which is a game that clearly never gets enough attention. The first submission of this one was rejected by the panel over a year ago, before I joined, so I unfortunately never got to hear how this version compares to its predecessor. But aside from the lil' note flubbery action going on at 1:38 (which some of the peeps love regardless), everything is upbeat and fun with the light orchestral ensemble piece that you can easily pass on to someone who likes orchestral music and trick them into enjoying the otherwise classless and tasteless brand of music that we collectively get off on: video game music. Do right by Dachis's debut and play this for your mom. She'll think you're a fine young lad if you do. Then you can go out and drink and she'll say to herself "My boy can't be bad at all if he listens to something adorable like this." And now that I've fulfilled my Wingless-jabber quotient for this week... Alexander Prievert - Xenogears "BMR2 Traumsterben" [VGMix2 #4262] This sequel to Alex's well-known "Broken Mirror's Reflection" warps the hell out of the first mix. Imagine the first one with a lot more distortion and beats and you probably still would properly expect what's coming your way if you check this out. A lot of you will feel this one is needlessly complicated for the first few minutes, but you get something more anchored to the ground around the 2 1/2 minute mark, so if you feel you can't handle the first few minutes, the second half is there to cradle you in its proverbial arms for a minute before spinning you around on your head for the final minute. Nothing hot here, but it's got shock value that's for sure. Bladiator - Final Fantasy 8 "Moon over Rinoa" [VGMix2 #4078 / Splendid Performance: On the Keys] For fans of Karl's previous piano waltz remix Super Mario World "Grand Valse Mario", you get more of the same goodness here with “Moon over Rinoa” which applies some waltzy touches to "Julia" before moving into some richer-sounding territory and circling back into the whimsical waltzy schmaltzy. Not really groundbreaking or anything, considering past work using the same idea, but now the FF fans have something from Blad to sink their grubby little paws into. I'd also like to point out how I didn't care much for the FF8 soundtrack, just to rub it in GrayLightning's face. Blue Magic - Dark Cloud 1 "Moon Dust" [OC ReMix #1359] Damon Campbell hooked it up this week with his second OC ReMix from the criminally undermixed Dark Cloud soundtrack and the results were pretty strong. Aside from what I dubbed a wonky (yep) string sample that's in stark contrast to the rest of the track, Damon nonetheless wove together some beautiful, mesmerizing ambient textures and a downbeat groove that ties up the spirit and leaves it gazing at the stars. (Ya like that? Of course you do.) Not many mixes pull off the use of a guitar synth nicely, and I loved the belltone-ish sounds and the surrounding use of panning effects to create a wider atmosphere. That string'll do ya wrong, but for all of you who haven't heard the source tune, that lone fakey string is a direct homage to "Ocean and Moon" from Dark Cloud and does in fact pay homage to the original material involved. Solid work here, so I'm looking forward to Damon recapturing the blue magic in his future works. Blue Magic - Sonic & Knuckles "Project Blue" [VGMix2 #4154] Damon Campbell's back with another laid-back style of arrangement with "Project Blue" featuring some bird SFX going on throughout the entire track. If that's not great incentive to DL a track, I dunno what is. This one was held back to me by some fairly generic synths, most notably the Ari Asulin slap bass of extreme fakery and discomfort. The track somewhat has an identity crisis, as the slap bass and occasionally the loud percussion kill off the potential for chillaxation. Sample realism's not high, and the composition doesn't really seem to go much of anywhere. But with some significant reworking, this could be some stronger work. Blue's one to keep an eye on with VGMix releases in his quest to get a 3rd mix posted to OCR. Darangen - Final Fantasy 6 "Deadly Promises" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005) / VGMix2 #3866 / OC ReMix #1360] Let me preface this one by saying that I hate "Terra." I think it's a crappy theme, and I won't lie when I say that most of the problem of it lies with it being so overmixed, not to mention creamed on by the smelly masses, who all love FF6 with no measure of objectivity. But when I first heard this one, I had to give it up to Michael Boyd who managed to take Terra's theme and create some genuine gold out of it. Jeremy Soule did a great job with "Squaresoft Variation", but I'd rather go for a piece like this which really does the interpretive route much better than everything else Terra on the site. Mike managed to adapt a very old original piece of his to click nicely with the source material here, and the guitar, drumkit and vox come together near-perfectly. This one competes with his previous OC ReMix, Final Fantasy "Warriors of Light", for what I personally think it his best work. This guy's like Ailsean 2005, not that it was anything done on purpose. Nonetheless, I give Mike some big props. No reason to pass this one up whatsoever. Das Karl Werk Projekt - The Human Race "Melodie Eine" [R:K:O #2670] DHS of the SoundWavers first turned me onto the Human Race soundtrack so I'm looking forward to his own Human Race mix finally seeing the light of day on OCR. In the meantime, here's another relatively conservative but nevertheless expansive take on some of Rob Hubbard's source material in this electronica mix that's fairing pretty well among Remix.Kwed.Org's fans. The sounds are straight electronic until a lushly-used piano enters the fray around the 3 minute mark, taking center stage over the course of the rest of the track and providing a finish that'll leave you saying "piano me some more!" Ok, maybe not, but a man can dream. Nothing earthshattering/groundbreaking here, but at the same time "good werk" from Das Karl Werk Project that puts their name on my radar. Depeche Mode f/tefnek - "I Feel Loved (tefnek Remix)" [http://www.tefnek.com] Jack Kirkpatrick takes an approach I'd yet to hear from him, remixing some mainstream a capella lyrics with his own material. I feel like the synths used here didn't stand out as unique, and I would have loved to have heard the lyrics a lot more prominently, but the beats are still dope and on a compositional level the music fit the lyrics like a glove. Personally, I dunno whether the music here is also remixed from the Depeche Mode original, but in any case this is one to scope out for more from OC's resident big beat champ. Dhsu w/Mustin - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages & The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time "Nayru's Lullaby" [VGMix2 #4228] David Hsu with some production assistance from the "Mustiest" man in game music remixing, Mustin, breaks off some relatively conservative stuff, also participating in the competition of performances that are splendid with this double-shot of Zelda game coverage. This was revised since the competition in the form that you hear now. Checking this out on headphones, there were tons of instances where no release on various notes exposed the piece as sequenced, killing the ability to really sit back and melt into the piece. But for the relatively undiscriminating ear of the casual listener, release issues like that mean jack shit and it's really easy to just let the piece whisk John Q. Remixing Fan to another place. I always prefer pieces to register with the higher frequencies, but the atmosphere was handled well regardless. Very engaging stuff that I hope gets reworked for the all-important details, for maximum splendidness, am I rite? DistantJ - Slayers "Moonlight and Water" [Anime Remix #62] What do you get when you cross trance and the gratuitous usage of a shakuhachi? You get "Moonlight and Water", the latest remix release tackling an anime that I've never heard of (SUE ME!), Slayers. While I felt the mixing needed some work and would appreciate more creative synth design, the ideas here progressed nicely nonetheless, including some more active, booty-shaking ideas throughout the second half. Certainly something to check out among AR's growing library during this, the site's formative years. DistantJ - NiGHTS into Dreams... "Nights into Euphoria" [VGMix2 #3944] "Dreams Dreams" gets the trance treatment from DistantJ of the UK in his second track here this week. The melody really could have served to be much more prominent here, as it falters on a volume level and a compositional level. But I'm always for using source material very overtly. This one did a decent job of crafting something more from the motifs of Dreams Dreams rather than crafting a full-fledged arrangement out of things. If you like your mixes liberal, this shouldn't be a problem. Disturbed - The Legend of Zelda 3 "Before the Mirror" [splendid Performance: On the Keys] Mark Dillon's someone who's essentially a one-hit wonder if you've only combed around on OCR, thanks to his underrated Tyrian mix "Composition in Q". Here, Mark performs in a driving, energetic approach familiar to people who enjoy Noir's work with this arrangement tackling some better-known material from Zelda: A Link to the Past. I felt the arrangement could have stood to be more interpretive with its source material (particularly the Title theme), but each section of this medley possessed some level of personal flair. Another good representative of the talent being brought to the table amidst RPGamer's recent VG rearrangement competitions, which is why it narrowly took 1st place for Splendid Performance's first audition phase. djpretzel - Star Fox 1 "Fortuna Favors the Funk" [OC ReMix #1361] When I talked to David Lloyd (or Dave as we commonly call this god of a man) on VG Frequency #50, he said that one thing he missed as OverClocked ReMix got bigger and his responsibilities, both at OCR and elsewhere, got bigger was the ability to crank out music on a regular basis. During the past few months though he's been doing a good job of mixing more often, already dropping "The Sveldt" a few months ago along with a pair of well done vocal Anime Remixes. Here, the Pretz funks you down with some fly-ass shit. And that's pretty much all the selling I need to do for djp's latest ReMix effort. Snack on this shit. DjUnz! f/Perhaps-a-Doobie - Think Twice III (Frankie Boz Edit)" [R:K:O #2669] Stupidity, thy name is perhaps Perhaps-a-Doobie. Oy. If you're down with BEERmix given the European treatment, eat a bowl of fudge and kick back with some amusingly abominable joke mix crudulence with Unz & Doobie. Wow, that's bad, Boz! If those Euros aren't joking about sex, then they joke about fudge. Flik - "Only One Name..." [http://www.vagstudios.com] Chris Serani puts his voice skills to the test with this, the dilemma of knowing the man with only one name, Mustin. The music may be too loud, but that just means it's INTENSE, HAHAHAHA! Face! Freemind - "Close Your Eyes 2" [http://www.soundclick.com/freemind] Thanasis Kaloutzis returns with some original solo pianer stylins [sic] possessing some emotive overtones and constantly morphing ideas. The emotions conveyed in this piece seemed to alter every few seconds in what comes across as a fairly freeform piece that lack a lot of traditional structure. Indeed, it easily sounds like a performance that Freemind could duplicate if he ever wanted to. Did he close his eyes and simply make things up as he went along? Usually when I do that and play the piano, they kick me out of whatever establishment I'm in. Practice makes perfect I suppose. Not really a piece that you'll be able to get a firm grasp on, you should nonetheless feel enthused about taking the ride. the funktionalists - "the 5th funktion" [http://www.zykomusik.com] zyko's pimping the first set of tracks recorded with his new band, the funktionalists, so check out what weed, Ryan & Bryce have laid down in their first session from May 27th. I specifically listed "the 5th funktion" as my personal favorite track here, though I was also particularly feeling the 6th and 9th funktions as well. Everything here's game if you're looking for some laid-back, raw funk recordings. There's even a shoutout to X-Strike Studios head Tim Ekkebus in the titling of "Hthe8th funktion." Everything's pretty basic here, nothing flashy, so this is a good sampling of weed's latest musical project with no pretentiousness. Looking forward to the funktionalists cooking up some more funk stylings as they jam some more and gradually click together as a group. goat - CastleVania 1 "Scourge of 1691" [Dwelling of Duels: Konami] Ah, the killer rock medley. A winning staple of many a DoD, Chris Gates slayed the competition with this lengthy CV1 mix that blew away the rest. The great thing about the DoD entries are that many of the longer entries are justified in their length and leave the listener incredibly satisfied for their nostalgic game fix. With the popular choice of Konami for May's competition as well as the DoD format itself steadily increasing in overall participation, many of the other entries deserve your time as well. virt brought up 2nd place with the Metal Gear mix "MY FREQUENCY IS 140.85" while DoD's brother gods of geetar Ashane & housethegrate closed out the winners with the more obscure Madara arrangement "Madara, Movement 1". And of course, being DoD, a shitload of the runner-ups are worthy of pimpage including Dennis Mott, LuIzA TSM, Kadmium, Ryan8bit, zyko, Koelsch1, Ailsean, Rexy, XMark, Shawn Phase ("Bahhh, take THAT bitch!") and many other new and familiar names, including an unforgettable, inspirational performance from the DoD supergroup, The West Coast Shizzies! Infamous - "Rouge Crakaz" [http://www.infamousuk.com] Chris drops the quick one on ya this week with some original techno material. I definitely enjoyed that garbled robovoice type sampling in there, and even though the keyboard was a weak point, I started laughing at 1:36 when a sample that reminded me of the Chippettes got thrown in there. Infy's making me chuckle over here. Dunno what the inspiration behind the track is, as I would have loved to have heard some Jormungand - Secret of Mana "Dark Star Scherzo" [splendid Performance: On the Keys / VGMix2 #3292] Joe Schwebke took 2nd place in RPGamer's latest remixing competition with this piano-based arrangement of "Star of Darkness", a favorite of GrayLightning's that translates surprsingly well to the eighty-eight keys. Joe does a good job of tickling dem synthetic ivories and really offering up some good rhythmical ideas while arranging this piece. I really loved the quick, sweeping runs around the 2 minute mark, and while the production was lacking in higher frequencies, all-in-all this was a solid piece with an upbeat tempo and some crystalline textures. This being the first arrangement of Jormungand's that I've actually heard I can say that he certainly has work that espouses a great deal of creativity. Get up on this guy's other work as well and see what he has to offer. Forgot to mention the work splendid in here, by the way. Splendid. Kadmium - Jazz Jackrabbit 2 "Kill the Wabbit" [VGMix2 #4213] "This is a melodic death metal remix..." Say wha??? Do they do that now? Jesse Higginson channels one of the best Looney Tunes songs ever titled to bring you death in this excellent death metal mix. The lyrics are pure Satanic-level style, though I would have loved to have heard some more ear-breaking volume here. Break my ears, bro! The devil says DO IT! But seriously, when Jesse says melodic death metal, he's not playing around. Any fan of the rock can find something here to like. I'd love to hear this given another hard look at the mixing to really bring out the power and energy here and then have it subbed to OCR. You can break my ears, Kadmium, but don't break my heart. Kaijin - Air "Summer Lights" [VGMix2 #4278] Brief but very very stylish material from Tim Sheehy that lacks clarity, but possesses some good pop overtones. In that sense, it's a very loopable. The general vibe here repeats too often for such a short song, but that's likely an intentional move that I still feel sells the original material short on some level. The new sounds around 1:50 did threw me off the first time around, but you get used to them, even if they don't quite fit in there. Any release that indicates Kaijin is still at it is is something to check out. He's been an increasingly regular presence at VGMix with his releases. PICK OF THE WEEK: ktriton w/Christian Pacaud - Tsugunai, Shadow Hearts, Xenosaga, Magic Pengel 2 & Xenogears "Static Wonderland" [VGMix2 #4272] Boston's Kunal Majmudar collabs once again with the venerable Mr. Pacaud on bass to hook it up with another great medley mix, this time completely derived from material composed by Yasunori Mitsuda. In this case, most of the source material is relatively obscure, as you certainly don't see anyone else covering this stuff. While the mix is a bit on the quiet side and some of the quick static breaks in the track will definitely throw people off, the sum total of ideas here is total ear candy. Over time, I came to appreciate a lot of the strangers ideas placed in here, and most of you should as well. With Christian helping subtly with some stylish bass, ktriton carries the bear's share of the work in this smooth, jazzy hybrid of some of Mitsuda's finest compositions. Truly professional grade work that's a required download. You should be charged money for something this solid. Leis Miller - Megaman 3 "Plan B (80's Version 1)" [VGMix2 #4246] Leis's stuff is just a wonder to behold. It's really not for everyone. He takes an analogous approach to zyko in all of his material in that he doesn't care whether the mixing is slick, and doesn't mind relying on drumloops and odd sounds and textures as long as he's feels he's successfully expressing himself; that's always the most important goal for Leis, who many will only be able to classify as an acquired taste. Frankly, this wasn't as crazy as say "Start Button", and could use a lot of work on the support instrumentation in particular. Still good to see Leis breaking some off. He's become a cult figure of sorts over at VGMix, even having Ryan8bit remix some of his previous Metal Gear mix material. Nasenmann - "Pack Your Sack, Square!" [Thematic Original Music Competition 1] Picking up the victory for the first ever TOMC, Nasenmann created his own Overworld theme in a chiptune-inspired style. It's pretty loopy and brief, just like in the 8-bit days. With this kind of title, it sounds like one of those tunes used in those unpopular 3rd party NES games that you wondered "who in the hell would buy that?" But if in fact you wanted to envision what it would be like playing something called "Squirrley's Nuts," you've got you man in Nasenmann. Wait a second, that says "square???" Bah. Seriously though, this competition helps to fill the void created by the lack of CompoST competitions over at zircon's site SoundTempest.net, and Nasenmann's winning effort earns the victory through some catchy old-school composition. Nasenman - "Power Hardcore" [Original Remix Competition 22] Damn, that's hardcore. While the mixing is frankly pretty weak, there's certainly much power to be had in this purposefully ear-splitting winner of ORC22, which took a decidedly different approach on Ichitootah's work than Rexy's 2nd place finisher did. I really would have liked to have heard some more work done with vocals, because the distorted vocals briefly thrown in here were pretty damn cool. So while it ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer in regards to the percussion, there were a lot of driving ideas and thick textures here that made this better and better over multiple listens. Nick Tam - Tales of Symphonia "Fair Lass of Ozette" [VGMix2 #4280] Some cool new material from Nick Tam who continues to come out with some worthwhile releases at VGMix. He'd be a killer with some more experience to refine his work, but he's definitely got the right idea. I didn't really mind the production and timing issues so bad as a causal listener, and checking this one out does give you a window into the guy's potential. Acoustic guitar, piano, light drum work, woodwinds, and the all-important harmonica come together to form a pretty promising piece of music. He's got a lot to learn in order to up his game, but I like hearing this guy at work nonetheless. OverCoat - "Type" [http://www.neutronstar.org/soc] Scott Porter can't sleep. And what SOC can't sleep, that means he's busy making musicks for you the people, the ones that he loves (or at least has a desperate need of gaining their worship). Scott SOC's it up per his usual style with some nice distorted techno featuring some dope drumloops, vox work and a tight, beepy (yeah, shutup) lead that locks everything together. OverCoat been pumping out the jams for as long as I can remember. The distortion may not be your thing, but it's not over the top or anything like that. Very loopable and ready to give you a good example of what OverCoat's general style is about. Rexy - Dragon Warrior 2 "Anguished Beyond Words" [splendid Performance: On the Keys] Bev brought out her own splendid performance this week with this delicate DW2 arrangement on solo piano. Personally, I go for fuller pieces myself, though that's nothing some extra sustain or reverb couldn't have handled here to take away some of the relative sparseness. Compositionally, I also felt this could have been more dynamic over the course of it's four and a half minutes, but like I mentioned the slow, delicate nature of this one does a good job of conveying solemn emotions and, for some of you heart-on-your-sleeve types, an atmosphere of quiet introspection. (Hey, did ya like that close?) Rexy - "Snowflakes" [Original Remix Competition 22] Bev really steps shit up with this bueno-bueno arrangement of some original material by Ichitootah for OCR22, taking 2nd place. The compositional and pacing are both solid, and I liked the energy here, where the pluckiness of the intro gave off some good snowfall imagery. Very loopable and catchy. Not really there in terms of sounding like a real piano, but this was well done for synthetic piano and something a lot of you out there will enjoy greatly. Only 4 or 5 months removed from the winter too, so this is the quite the seasonal arrangement for ya. Roetaka - "Let Yourself Live" [http://www.soundclick.com/roetaka] The first thing I noticed? Mixed too damn loud. Shame on ya. But one you reconcile the volume levels with yourself (or just turn down the volume, I imagine), you can enjoy this original that Alex Roe has labeled as Big Beat Orchestral. The sounds are fairly basic for the most part, but the texture is pretty decent. Wish I could have heard the melody a bit more in here, but I really liked the composition here regardless. There was a fair amount of variation here and a ton of energy. If this was revisited in a few years, it could be revised an turned into a monster of an original track that would fit like a glove into any action-based game soundtrack. I noticed at a relatively brief 3 1/2 minutes that the track didn't drag on like many of Roe's lengthier pieces. Good stuff. The sides needs to be refined, but the meat and potatoes are mmm-mmm good (and so forth). I wouldn't pass this one up at all. Just watch your ears though. I mean it. Roetaka - Pokémon Gold & Silver "Rest" [VGMix2 #4264] Alex keeps it coming this week with some almost tropical-sounding chillout from a game I shall not name, for it makes me retch and gag. Charmander-char. I any case, at a lengthier 5:05, the track manages to wander aimlessly around a bit before returning to that sweet sequenced guitar melody. The support on strings, string pads, and piano was pretty solid, thought the drumkit felt rather out of place here. This was really one I appreciated for the compositional ideas rather than the production, which was downright muddy and washed out. That, and the needlessly loud volume, made it hard to really get a grasp on things, and probably went over the top with reverb in order to present a fairly ethereal atmosphere. With the mixing and mastering being reassessed, along with some other areas, this could be a winner. In its present stage, it's absolutely worth getting to keep tabs on Roe and is efforts to get onto OCR. You may still find yourself chillin' to this one. SGX - "Distant" [http://www.supergreenx.com] Danny Adler, now using his SuperGreenX nickname in shorthand, releases his first original track since officially adopting the SGX moniker. My attention was hooked by a very tense intro that made me think the track would be dark the whole way through. But a nice change in the tone thanks to a lush piano and strings taking over brightened the mood. And indeed, later on, the track continued to change, going darker and cycling back to brighter sounds. Quite the identity crisis, this original piece. Not the normal high-tempo, beat-intensive work of Danny's that I'm used to hearing, "Distant" has the potential of really altering your perception of the potential of SGX's music. Very cryptic and indeed on some level unbalanced and disturbing, you've just gotta check out the buzz. Shnabubula - Secret Stuff [Like I'm Gonna Follow Up on That] I thought I'd heard the last from Samuel Ascher-Weiss once we posted "Mucho Dollar Care a Junk CIA" over at OCR and he disappeared for six months to follow his musical lust for Chopin. But fear not, because he's back and he's tackling some cult classic source material that you'll be proud of when you finally get your hands on it. I've been sworn to secrecy by Sam and another top name in the scene on this one, so that's all you get so they don't outright kill me. Trenthian - "Asper Laboratory Complex" [Lifeform OST] John St.John hooks it up with some action-oriented original material featuring strings, synths and some subtle synth electric guitar filling things out in the back. To me, the track is missing a certain "I don't know" to really give the whole think punchiness or meatiness or some other word espousing overall manliness. Right now, this one is more of a demo-level version of the track, so there may be more to come as far as additional ideas go. This was some good hybrid stuff, melding string orchestration with electronic and industrial-style elements. And clocking in at over 3 1/2 minutes, the major majority of this one seems to be in the can, so now's a good time to see what Trent's got cooking since he hasn't had any remix releases in a little while. trickwaters - Final Fantasy "Contrapunctus" [splendid Performance: On the Keys / VGMix2 #4160] Got 10 minutes? You do? Well, that's still not enough time to sit down and check out Patrick Waters' organ-based FF mix. Got 10 minutes and 47 seconds? Ok, now we're ready to talk turkey. I think the novelty of this one is strong enough to make y'all check it out, though I will say from my genuinely ignorant but speculative opinion that this didn't have much in the way of splendid performance dynamics. The organ sounds far from realistically sequenced, I mean FAR, though my limited experience listening to organs involved visiting a few Catholic Sunday masses. I'm much more used to church choirs singing a capella. So while I think it's a lemon, and that's no offense to Pat who I'm sure is aware of his own limitations give it that look and see if you're down with a very unorthodox idea for a remix. And yes, for those of you with no patience, this is arranging only one source tune. That's stamina for ya. The Wingless f/Aurora - "Auroramix" [http://www.thewingless.com] Doing radio (and doing it well) has it perks, I should know. You get zealous fans and community fame, and on top of that, you get community artists sampling your voice and immortalizing you with fucked up remixes. I've gotten the "I used samples and soundclips from you to embarrass you" treatment from Rayza & Jared Hudson among others, so it's only fair that VGDJ sex kitten/host Teresa Fisico get the same treatment from the OCR panel's resident black stallion and all-around deviant John "The Wingless" Burnett. It's only a minute and 16 seconds long, but you'll loop it for 16 minutes if you're as horndoggy lonely as some of the schmoes around the community. "Funky, cool, this song has energy from start to finish. Oh my God, I loved it. Um, ok." Xtormrage - Metal Gear Solid 2 "Salsa Snake" [VGMix2 #4276] So I saw this one in VGMix tier 1 and had to check it out, since everyone like salsa muzak. Despite some MIDI-grade samples, the heart of this one is the stylish arrangement from Jorge Luis Boscan that takes a creative spin on the frequently mixed "Metal Gear Solid Theme." I have to say, I'd love to hear this performed by a live band, but if you're gonna sequence salsa music, this has to be the way to do it. Haven't heard of Xtorm before this one, but he provides the goods and the substance. Twirl your lady around with this one while she holds a rose in her mouth. It's what God intended for you to do. Enjoy the community stuffs. And now...the disappearance...

Hamauzu is mentioned in my profile and I know this song very very well.... if I could somehow show you on a piece of manuscript paper how the source is being used I would, but the problem is you don't exist outside of the internet and manuscript paper doesn't work on the internet. Please trust me! The reason you're having trouble hearing the source is because it was changed to 6/4. Keep that in mind and you might find it easier to make out. Oh not even the 6/4, I just didn't recognize the sections after the first being taken from the source tune. Here's me listening to the source tune again and my train of thought talking to Gray while he was busy tweaking some stuff: <Liontamer> yeesh <Liontamer> I'm fucking deaf <Liontamer> why'd I vote NO on arrangement <Liontamer> has the fucking string chorus right there <Liontamer> yeesh <Liontamer> Jesus, how embarrasing <Liontamer> chorus comes in like around 1:20 in the original Mea-culpa, I'M DEAF NOW! Have a hot size-29 YES. With the arrangement issue out of the way, it's time to re-review the main issue of the production quality, going by the version Gray touched up. The production was a LOT better on this go. Sorry but the previous version was mixed poorly; just sludgy last time and Jill sounded very obscured. I agreed with Harmony that Jill vocals sounded good except for when the pronounciations of S's and CH's got sharp. Kinda pierced the ears there, but like Gray said the most practical solution to touching that up would be outright recording things, and even that's not very practical. Overall though, Gray really hooked it up on that front, so while I still think it's a bit rough around the edges, this was really given a lot more polish. Dan's instrumentation sounded a lot clearer and cleaner while still retaining a very ethereal atmosphere, certainly accentuated by Jill vocal delivery as well. Vocals didn't blend well when they were left pretty much alone from 3:57-4:09; made them sound like they were recorded on a subpar mic. Nonetheless, pixie's harmonizations were spot on and I hope I hear something in the future like "Prayer" where the recording quality isn't an issue. Keep 'em coming, Dan & Jill, solo or collab!

Not like DJP to make a gramatical error... odd. OMG, there'z no err0r!

Still opposed to this one on an arrangement level, because I really don't recognize the source being used in anything but a very liberal sense here, but I'm willing not to push for extra votes as long as no one else agrees with the arrangement being too liberal.

hahahahahahaha

Nope.

Nope.

Nah.

Well, just to clarify, after Joel read the in-progress judges decision vote that I sent him (at the time 4Y/5N), he really did a phenomenal job revising this mix thanks to some perspective from other judges as well as listening to the mix again with a fresh set of ears. If the posted form of this mix had hit the panel with the production & arrangement revisions it now has, it would have easily went 4Y, though I'd honestly say that it would have been direct posted actually. And for those glad to see some older faces back on the OC front page, we've got another one coming back relatively soon that will make you very happy definitely.

I dream of Judge Judy without her robe.

Nope. Size: 6,219,776 bytes And just to stay relevant, this mix be double dope dope. EDIT: Bah, Gray ya smelly bum, stealing my damn thunder!

Bah, fuggin' touching my poll! Dammit, I'm gonna kill u Gray and/or Navid!

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/smk.rsn - "Rainbow Road" (smk-12.spc) :'-( I've gotta say, I was really disappointed in this resub, cuz I thought it was gonna improve upon the first version and give it that nudge it needed. The production was a lot duller this time around. The track lacked clarity and the panning/stereo placement was actually more varied the last time around. And while I realize that other judges thought the CRAZY beats were too over-the-top, scaling them back so much took away all the power in the track. It also left the other samples sounding very thin and exposed. Small example, there's no release on one the synths at 1:50 and again at 3:01. It was covered up decently last time around, but it easily stuck out this time. Neutering the drums/beats also made the track too empty despite the other activity going on. When you had people criticizing how the sounds were MIDI-grade, I think the last thing you wanna do is make a move where the samples are too exposed. The way the beats layered over the rest of the instrumentation filled out the soundfield and masked many of the weaker sounds. I thought the first version was the hotness but this is nothing but a step back. Sorry bro. Not trying to hold you back, but I can't say YES to this. NO (resubmit)

Plain covers/remixes are a dime a dozen. Read the FAQ. Read the submission standards. THAT's what the site is about.

Is it original VGM, or could it possibly be derived from music from the anime? Hate to say it but...who's the panel's resident Pokémon expert? :vomit: In any case, I reviewed this for VGF in early June: Gonna have to run without the source on this one, but I pretty much said what I wanted to say in my Pimp Section comments. Composition was a bit meandering and repetitive, but functioned reasonably well for chillout. The production hurt this a lot, as there's no clarity or good separation of sounds. Sounded very dull and while I like reverb, there was too much of it in play. Drumkit felt out of place and was too loud, and when exposed the piano sounded very fake. The track was too loud for no justifiable reason. Keep working on it and provide the source if possible. NO (resubmit)

Considering that I'm about 6 weeks back on summer Pimp Sections, I've need to get back on the horse for a while now. I remember a year ago when it took a full day to write these damn things. I guess judging's paid off this time around, since I only spent a few hours going through everything below. Let's cover the material from the week of May 22nd to May 28th. ABG - Chrono Trigger "Children of Time" [VGMix2 #4238] Shawn Overn brings it this week with a nearly 10-minute long trance affair that screams authenticity to the genre. To me, the sound was too swamped when everything came into play, but when I say the sound is authentic to the genre, that isn't a polite way of saying it's generic. The homage to Robert Miles' "Children" was apparent here in this nice take on the often-mixed Zeal theme "Corridors of Time" that your inner Zeality will love. I wouldn't mind hearing Shawn tackle some more material that's outside of the FF/CT arena, but he nonetheless puts out some solid stuff. While I love the superlative progressive trance pieces I've encountered in the community, Shawn can really take it to you in more of a "mainstream" style. It grooves, it morphs, it develops. Perfect for the club, so check it out. AkumajoBelmont - Jazz Jackrabbit 1 "Have You Ever? (Down in Medivo)" [VGMix2 #4189] The voice intro here is so awesome, you can help but keep listening in. This is some cool spacey electronic material, so don't let the source game fool you. I thought the drums were the weak link here, very plain jane and not thick at all, but they're at least serviceable. This one's relatively short at 2:48, but the development is substantial enough where you feel that a lot has taken place in this Medivo World remix. The vocal section introing the mix repeated at the end which was a little bit of a letdown (despite the obvious usage of it to give the mix a cyclical close), but this was some solid material nevertheless. I'd love to see this tweaked some more before it hit the judges panel, but Robbie's nonetheless very dependable with this nice non-jazzy spin on the only video game jackrabbit I've ever heard of. E-Bison - Chrono Trigger "Time Management" [VGMix2 #4191] I normally don't spotlight re-releases of older material, but Eliot's not very active in the scene, so any release from him is something to look forward to. As one of the few remixers on OCR to have what's considered a legendary mix for their only remix on the site, this complete version of the classic "Time Management" now-available at VGMix is required downloading. Eliot complained that the full version of this mix couldn't be submitted due to the "stupid" no-MP3s-greater-than-6MB rule. Even some of us on the judges panel don't agree with the rule, but if anything it helps establish VGMix as the place to be in order to discover legendary but lengthy tracks that couldn't see the light of day on OCR due to their size. If you've heard the OCR version of Time Management, the extended version is literally all that and more. You won't find yourself disappointed by any of the new material found here. Fatty Acid & Sephfire - Final Fantasy 10-2 "Under a New Moon" [VGMix2 #3324 (removed) / OC ReMix #1357] I remembering hearing this one on VGMix and I'll reveal that I done a bad thing by reporting it to the admins as a remix of an already posted mix. Before y'all kill me, it was bound to happen anyway, but one thing I knew as I grabbed the mix was that it would be an undiscovered gem by the time it hit OCR due to my dutiful/evil machinations. [i grin like a cat here.] There really isn't another mix here in the Pimp Section this week that allows you to chillax, so if you're really looking for something light and downtempo, Joe & Dan's collab is where u be at and stuff, receiving the plug from zyko as being great music to slow down the speed of life with. Quite the unique piece as far as OCR's body of material is concerned, it's almost like SimCity music only a bit more active. housethegrate - Final Fantasy 6 "Seized with Fury" [VGMix2 #3932 / OC ReMix #1356] Alexander Liss has been on my radar for quite some time due to his consistently strong DoD work, so I was glad he bit the bullet and submitted the superlative "Seized with Fury". I pretty much said my piece on this one in my judging decision, but with house and his brother Ashane both subbing quality material to the site, it'll hopefully mean that more will be coming in the future. We're not so bad here, are we? In any case, "The Decisive Battle" & "The Fierce Battle" are given the rawk/rok pimpage from house, further establishing the Decisive Battle as one of the new generation of heavily mixed tracks. Alex doesn't do you dirty, including a lil' baby piece of CastleVania's "Vampire Killer" for those of you perceptive enough to catch it. Do the right thing with "Seized with Fury" and take it 2 da house! (God, that was lame.) Infamous - Xenophobe "There Are Aliens in My Closet and They Won't Leave" [VGMix2 #4121] Chris hooks it up on the Commodore 64 side with some tight electronica from yet another C64 game with cool music that I've never heard of. Infamous's production has never been poor, but I felt there was some measure of improvement here that made this mix enjoyable. The beats, buzzing synths, and sustained strings were mixed pretty damn well, and I especially loved the bassline. 3 solid minutes of well-developed electronic flavor that'll keep ya moving. Don't let the obscurity of the game for most of you make you pass this up, as Infy's quite the capable mixer representing the European side of the community. jdproject - "The Way I Feel" [http://www.joedarwish.net] Joe Darwish, another OC ReMixer with one legendary mix to his name, is someone you'd know about on the original side if you've been frequenting his website. Joe's primary expertise is in making mainstream guitar-driven pop, so if you're interested in hearing him slow things down as compared to "The Ken Song", this is where you need to be. Joe could easily pass for a mainstream pop act, which is exactly what he'd like to be in a perfect world. The mixing is pretty good, especially since Joe's been handling it himself. If this guy had money thrown behind him, he'd be pretty damn dangerous, and I can tell you that's not an exaggeration (hey, I can't listen to non-mainstream music ALL the time). Best of luck to jdproject as he continues work on his second EP. I'd love to see him make it in the big-time and sell out for the $$$. We don't deserve to hide him. Kevin Stephens - Xenogears "Knight of Fire" [splendid Performance: Audition 1 / VGMix2 #3023] Kevin continues to impress on the arrangement side with this Xeno mix featuring the piano doing its thing. The transitions at 1:08 was way too sudden, so you don't really get much breathing room or notice before ideas change, but there weren't any other sweeping changes going on here, so you may be thrown for a loop at 1:08 while listening to this, but you'll just as soon regain your footing as you continue onward. The human touch on Kevin's pieces is one that others have criticized in the past, so those among you who don't like the velocities here may have qualms, but I was all about it, 'bout it here. I won't lie, as I don't quite get where the imagery of a Knight of Fire comes into play here, but that's a relatively insignificant part of the picture. I always look forward to Kevin's work. Have you downloaded this yet...? mellogear - SimCity 3000 "Sim Shitty (in-stereo)" [VGMix2 #4200] Haven't heard a damn thing in a while from Jon Delvaux, so you take the mello style and mix it with a underappreciated favorite like SimCity and you get some dope results. Hell, for a groove-biased gentleman such as myself, I don't really mind that this is mostly beat kwak. No matter what, you'll be nodding your head, even during some of the freestyle work thrown in from 2:08 to 2:50. And just to point out, the "(in-stereo)" portion of the title is far from a simple redundancy. Can you handle the drastic panning effects thrown your way fron 3:33 until the end? There's only one way to find out, isn't there? mv - "Star Wars KWAK" [http://mv.vgmix.com] Xavier drops a mere 2 hours of work making some brief but nice mixage of some John Williams Star Wars material. If Star Wars gets ya off, you'll only need 1 minute and 11 seconds when mv's done with ya. Cave in and get this ear candy. I'd tell ya what particular track this movie mix tackled by name, but hey, I don't speak dork. Ork Estral - "Rotating Room of Invisible Cats and Toking Centipedes" [http://nigel.has.it] When I think of avant garde style orchestral artists (and I'm PROBABLY grossly misusing the term avant garde, but WORK WITH ME), Shnabubula tends to come to mind, but as far as I'm concerned Ork Estral, otherwise known around these parts as Nigel Simmons was the innovator. I've always been insanely biased towards Nigel's original work as opposed to his remixes, because Ork really cuts loose on some of his original stuff, and Rotating Room was no exception. If you love off-kilter orchestration that would fit right at home in a professional movie score, download this one immediately. This original composition never stays in the same place for more than a fraction of a second. Patrick Wagstaff - Donkey Kong Land 1 "Funky City" [VGMix2 #4193] The groove is too plain, so it's not gonna kick your ass, but Pat gets a little light-hearted with Gameboy mix of muzak from the character I had the privilege of impersonating for Kong in Concert. The arrangement took an unsettling turn via a key change around the 2 minute mark, but things soon got back into the swing of things. Nothing great here, but still worth checking out, as Patrick's a name to watch on the development side, as he's not afraid to try any and all ideas with his mixes. He really needs to step it up with synth design and production here, but hey, it's better than I can do, eh? Rexy & KyleJCrb - Dragon Warrior 4 "Requiem of a Warrior" (Version 2.0) [VGMix2 #4195] Talking to Kyle on VG Frequency #60, the scene's most knowledgable rock enthusiast could only crap on his own guitar performance the first time around when this mix was entered in the Dwelling of Duels Dragon Warrior competition. While serviceable the last time around, here, Kyle's performance better accentuated the material compositionally, though for some reason the recording on it sounded a lot more lo-fi and distant this time, so it doesn't really sit well amidst the synth orchestration. Meanwhile, the synth strings could use some further work on the note-to-note movement to evoke more realism. Aside from those particular issues, you get to hear some interesting stuff as the track really does come across as one of those rock/orchestral hybrid pieces, not in the sense of most of the scene material you've heard, but more analogous to classical music being used to accentuate a rock piece. You also get to hear Bev with some brief vocal work near the end, so there's a lot to check out in one sitting. Needs some real refinement with the synth strings in particular, but this was some ambitious stuff from Bev alongside Kyle, who I also hope to hear more from in terms on actually contributing to future arrangements. tefnek - Contra 1 "Snow Field" [OC ReMix #1355] Jack Kirkpatrick surprised me with this one in my inbox, which allowed me to play it for VG Frequency #50, and the world was beautiful at that moment in time, for who among you can lay down the big beats like this man? Transposing the original Contra material to big beat did kind of take the "tenseness" out of the source material, as you're not gonna listen to this and feel like part of a crack commando squad set out to destroy alien forces with hot ass weapons and a spray power-up. But in fact, you're still on the squad. No, you're not gonna run and jump around everywhere. But you're still gonna dodge every laser and bullet fired at you. Cuz with these beats, you're gonna do it, and you're gonna do it while struttin'. zircon - "Hourglass" [impulse Prime] PICK OF THE WEEK: zircon - "Studies in Ether" [impulse Prime] Fellow OC Judge Andy Aversa dropped two more releases from Impulse Prime my way with the awesome beat-driven "Hourglass" as well as the more ambient "Studies in Ether". If you're any fan of felloe big beat ReMixer tefnek, "Hourglass" will keep your music collection some excellent company featuring some impressive synth design, some meaty production, and enchanting female vox sampling courtesy of the industry staple vocal library Symphony of Voices. Meanwhile, continue your muzak education this week with the very enveloping "Studies in Ether" featuring some more quality beatwork, modulating synths and beautiful ambient pads, all coming together to provide my personal favorite track on the album. Studies is a track you can really put on in the background that relaxes you yet remains active enough to keep your mind engaged. Hell, I'd love to drive down a long, deserted stretch highway at night with this song providing the soundtrack. Impulse Prime continues to impress me, so head over to Zircon Studios to get more information on the upcoming album. zykO - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 "Mysticism 2000" [zykO zone / VGMix2 #4227] weed absolutely warps the Mystic Cave Zone with this heavily distorted Sonic 2 mix. It even features some Oil Ocean references. Part of what I like about zyko's shit is that he's not afraid to absolutely cut loose and not give two shits about mixing or production when his primary concern is putting out the music as a sheer form of expression. If you're looking for refinement, weed might say "go fuck yourself", as a full minute of this was nothing but the crunchiest of crunchy guitar work. But stick around for things; 5 years in the making, this isn't meant to please ya aurally, but it's much like the car accident where you can't look away. Gotta love that plucky finish too. And with that, I bid you adieu for now. ‘Till next time (whenever that is).