Liontamer

No need for the source tune here. The piano was GM-ish and very unnatural sounding. ... Those are some butt ugly synth guitar tones. Ass ugly. Some of the screeching noises in there almost sounded like pure feedback, which I didn't think was possible working with synths. Hope to God that wasn't real. Um...yeah, that's enough honestly. Should have snagged the form. Improve your hand at everything please. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ed2.rsn - "Final Battle" (ed2-207.spc) I'm already very familiar with the source tune, since it was mixed by Arkimides in his excellent VGMix "Ticking Clocks", which I bugged Jaron about submitting, but it looks like we'll never see it. In any case, I'm definitely a fan of the source tune. Terrible plucked string sounds along with the drum programming and synth choices. No sound balance here as the source melody is totally obscured, though I wouldn't have wanted to hear it louder based on that awful electric guiar synth chosen for it. Whereas Ark's take on this theme was mostly a cover, there were lyrics and original section as well to provide expansion and interpretation. Unfortunately there were no creative or interpretive liberties taken on the arrangement whatsoever, and the added instrumentation was awful. Doesn't have a thing going for it. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/ff1.zip - Track 1 Nah. It's the Prelude played in a straightforward manner on piano with some light drums, strings, as well as some like guitar and winds. I don't hate it, but it brings nothing interpretive to the table and isn't expansive enough. The sedate/laid back vibe was alright; somewhat enjoyable and the light guitar work reminded me of Ailsean's stuff on some level. Not bad though. Go for rearrangement in future submissions. And, you know...name the damn thing next time. NO

Everyone pay me $. Often. On account of the DJ training scheduled for this past Saturday being cancelled, I've decided to run that stuff from 5-8PM Monday night. Gotta put the station first. I'm definitely gonna be physically spent at the end of all that, since I'll be up for a while with no sleep, so I figure I have a better shot going for Tuesday, when I know I'll be well rested. So I'll be shooting for Tuesday at 6PM EST for VGF46. (Rescheduling always equals excitement.)

If y'all have a more workable suggestion for tomorrow's time, lay it on me, sirs and/or madames.

Sorry, sorry. Won't be a habit. Monday / 4PM EST.

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/castle~1.zip - Track 2 ("Bloody Tears") So fucking sick! Played this back on VGF43, and yea it was good. Just a nasty metal arrangement going full throttle with a good amount of energy and some welcome turns in the performance at 1:57 & especially at 2:14 going for the chorus and 2:46 with the arranged freestyle work. If you're not a VGMix regular, you're really missing out on Dennis's shit. My main gripe for this one was that Dennis's vocals were too soft compared to the music. Maybe the instrumentation is intended to take center stage here, but the vocals should have been louder to really pimp out the lyrics, not to mention the POWER! While this song played on VG Frequency, I recalled someone commenting that doing metal vocals doesn't require any talent, so someone's bound to say that in a review on this, but you try belting these lyrics out yourself and not destroying your vocal chords. It's not easy. I could have went for something new on the lyrics at 3:18, but the composition was nice and cyclical regardless; very nice structure and excellent ideas. Love it or hate it, it will kick you in the face. Not for the weak at heart. Always a pleasure talking to Dennis, and I hope this isn't the last mix we get from him. Keep 'em coming! YES

Well don't I look like a braggart. So the afformentioned ice storm managed to cause a lengthy power outage over at my apartment as well as much of the Atlanta area. So I didn't have time to prep a show. Let's do a late lunch tomorrow, as we do VGF46 at 4 PM EST. Hope to see j00 there.

6Y please. I'm not opposed to it passing, but don't wanna hear bitching about it without an extension.

U so hawt, Filk [sic]. But what's not so hawt? A 1 1/2-inch ice storm! Atlanta is covered in ice, so everything at Emory is cancelled...EXCEPT VG Frequency since I'm the fuckin' man. Tune in at 10PM EST for some radio show by some guy with some music. I heard it's good!

True he'd like to fix things, but he also needs help on doing it. Not that we're a referral service, so I don't mean we have to direct what he does next, but what's to be done with the mix in the meantime? I suppose we could withdraw it if Jean wanted to, just post the votes that were there, and wait for a resub. Stuff's been withdrawn from consideration before.

http://www.ttlg.com/other/jukebox/ss2.htm - MedSci1: Science Sector (:09-2:00), Operations D (2:11-2:45), Hydroponics B/C (2:34-4:03) & Engineering A: Coolant Tubes (4:03-4:37) Played this one on VGF39, so I was waiting for it to come our way for a while. I hate to come across as flippant and mean Dain zero disrespect, since I thought this was a good track for what it was, but this had absolutely no chance to meet guidelines as is, from my view. The arrangement was way too conservative and suffered from total medley-itis here, as this was nothing more to me than a stylized cover most of the time. Not creatively expansive enough with the additions and certainly not interpretive enough with the source material whatsoever. Not gonna bitch much about the sounds as they're weren't so bad, but it could definitely get grating at points. Gotta go beyond a mere genre adaptation, especially give the similar style of these originals; hell, you know that. I'm sure you feel this track went beyond that, but in all honesty, I'm not sure why you'd feel this could pass like this. Sorry, bro. Looking forward to whatever you've got next however. NO

Though the guitar synth will grate on some people, I had no big complaints on the sounds. I felt 2:22-3:18 was a little too gimmicky and felt somewhat sparse, relying on the voice to fill things out, which it didn't quite do. Small problem, ultimately. My main complaint was on the level of arrangement and the source tune usage. I'm gonna cobble together my observations from #judges with some additional thoughts. I didn't even hear the original in most of this. 2:22-3:47, I recognized the source use; the rest seemed 95% original/inspired by the style of the source tune. I would have thought I chose the wrong source tune somehow if Jimmy hadn't sent us a low-bitrate version of it himself. I tried to look for very liberal arrangement in there. I didn't find it, though I heard some notes from the opening of the source borrowed in a couple of places and placed in the back (:33-:35, :40-:42, :54-:56, 1:01-1:03, 1:08-1:10, 1:22-1:24, with more uses in the fuller section going until 2:22 though you can barely hear it at that point). In regards to the first 2:22 of BGC's mix, I listened to both the mix and the original and didn't hear one track's ideas present in the other. 2:22-3:18 of the mix compared right to 1:11-1:54 of the source; you can easily hear the connection there at least. Same with 3:19-3:47 to 1:54-2:44. Conservative arrangement for those sections yet pretty expansive in my opinion, which basically falls under the style of Jimmy last two OC mixes. I was just very confused as to where the overt source usage was for the opening 2+ minutes; I was looking for liberal arrangement as some sort of way to justify the first half here, and the connection just ain't there like it should be. If it's even there, it's not overt enough. Find a way to identifiably incorporate "Go Down" in the first 2 minutes of the track and resubmit. NO (rework/resubmit)

Having a fairly split vote on the mix certainly indicates that some aspects should be better, but as for cherry-picking an argument like "groove bias" just because this passed, it's bullshit. Groove-type tracks aren't a shoe-in here. Though they generally encourage debate, some submissions are taken, and some are not. Several issues criticizing "Dirty Sam" on 1) the level of source arrangement, 2) the reliance on beats to make the track, and 3) repetition were also levied on "Drop and Roll", yet many of panelists who voted on both were on different sides of YES & NO. "Groove bias," Ari says. Judgez luv tekno 2! I'm not the one who voted on tefnek's first mix with... If you wanna criticize the panel on groove bias, the least you could have done back when you were on it was to not write flimsy votes that LOOK like groove bias. Pick your battles when you actually have a case, Ari. Don't be such a hypocrite.

Well I'll be damned.

Compyfox is seeding both VGF44.99 & VGF45 together over at the VGF Torrent page, so I encourage you to please pick up the episodes that way and seed them if you can. Sorry for the wait on the playlist, chat log & MP3 (199MB/4hr50min). Pretty busy over here and so forth. Thanks to everyone who called in and those of you who stuck around to catch the full show especially. VGF44.99 & VGF45 couldn't literally cover everything I would have played in the last 6 weeks if I had been on the air at that time, but I hope I provided a fairly good representation of what came out. Props to Flik for providing the name of this week's ep as he signed off the air. Ha! Same time next week, boyz and/or girlz. VG Frequency #45: Touching My Soul with Your Manhood Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) Saturday, January 22, 2005 / 10:15 PM - 3:05 AM EST Liontamer f/Xerol Oplan, Compyfox, Daniel Baranowsky, Leifo, Flik & SgtRama ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. CHz f/Liontamer & D-Lux - VG Frequency "Glimmering Facade" Bumper 2. Kazunori Miyake & The New Japan Philharmonic - Resident Evil 1 "Special End Title" [bio Hazard Orchestra Album AST] 3. Capcom Sound Team - "Pints and Punks" [Final Fight 3 OST] 4. Taika - Shining in the Darkness "Down in the Dungeon Just Creatures and Me" [OC ReMix #1301] 5. DJ Potatoe f/The Crazy Crakaz - "Funk Out" [The DJ Potatoe Super Collection] 6. Ellywu - Chrono Trigger "Soaring Across Eternity" [VGMix2 #2910] 7. Corran - Megaman X6 "Forest of Shadows" [VGMix2 #3092] 8. Big Giant Circles - Metroid 2 "Anthem of a Metroid Hunter" [OC ReMix #1291] 9. Capcom Sound Team - "Smeared Graffiti" [Final Fight 3 OST] 10. Xerol Oplan goes over aspects of the in-progress Final Fantasy Tactics Remix Project, rough plans for Xerol's Quest, prospective remix submissions for OC ReMix including a resubmission of Final Fantasy II "Peace and Pandemonium" as well as a Final Fantasy X piano mix, plans for a Washington, DC OCR get-together, and the very practical reason for the creation of the FFT Remix Project [http://www.lggaming.com] 11. Fatty Acid - Final Fantasy 1 "Matoya no Fuuketsu" [VGMix2 #3150] 12. Darangen - Lufia 1 "Hero's Solace" [VGMix2 #3095] 13. Kevin Lau - Final Fantasy 7 "Aeris Lives" [OC ReMix #1295] 14. kLuTz - "A Fresh Start" [http://klutz.vgmidi.com] 15. OverCoat - "Boyhood Wish" [ubo's Restaurant] 16. Ziwtra - Final Fantasy Adventure "Gifts of Mana" [OC ReMix #1303] 17. Capcom Sound Team - "Law and Disorder" [Final Fight 3 OST] 18. Compyfox braves a cold as he calls in really, really (really) early in the morning from Germany to plug the VG Frequency torrent collection, his post-production work for the SoundTempest original thematic album "Aura & Omen" (as well as Trenthian's OC ReMixes), a tentative release date for Aura & Omen, and a request for copies of older VGF episodes [http://www.studio-compyfox.de] 19. BT & Jan Johnston f/SuperGreenX - "Communicate (SGX Mix)" [http://www.supergreenx.com] 20. DarkeSword - Metroid Prime 2 "Torvus Clockwork" [VGMix2 #3124] 21. Shael Riley - VG Frequency "Reaching Out To The Ethnics" Bumper 22. Gwilym Wogan - "then she realises it's midnight and she's locked herself out" [the meinpenis zeitgeist] 23. Captain Tortilla - "Oblivion Hunter Zee" [Cold] 24. zircon - "Arsenal" [http://www.zirconstudios.com] 25. Capcom Sound Team - "Explosive Situation" [Final Fight 3 OST] 26. "Uncle Martin" from Joisey reminds Larry not to forget his family before revealing himself as the street smart Daniel Baranowsky; Dan's clears up the confusion for those out there who thought he was Beatdrop, and proceeds to profess his...um...affection for Aurora before telling some classy jokes, mentioning his new website, quoting Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, singing Katamari Damacy's "Lonely Rolling Star", disavowing knowledge of [censored], and asking Larry to be more proactive on controversial issues [http://www.therighteous.net] 27. Star Slazman - Xenogears "Odin's Wrath" [VGMix2 #3080] 28. zykO - Crack Down "4:20 AM" [OC ReMix #1294] 29. Ziwtra - Soukaigi "Aftershock" [OC ReMix #1284] 30. The Fat Man & Team Fat - Wing Commander 1 "Wing Theme Surf" [OC ReMix #1296] 31. Capcom Sound Team - "Heavy Hitters" [Final Fight 3 OST] 32. Leifo's trapped in Joisey under a foot and a half of snow, but he's coasting and goes over how easily his latest original "Enter My World" came together, along with some talk on other material out on both Leifo.com & bLiNd's TheBrailRoom.com, "In the Distance" appealing to the ladies, and hunkering down in the blizzard with a 24-pack [http://www.leifo.com] 33. Kentarou Haneda - Sorcerian "Where We Meet ~ Underworld ~ The Dark Swamp" [symphony Sorcerian AST] 34. GrayLightning - Chrono Trigger "Sacratus Bellator" [OC ReMix #1288] 35. Israfel - Pac-Man 1 "Glass Cage" [VGMix2 #3065] 36. po! - My Neighbor Totoro "totoro's groove" [http://www.wushuplaya.com] 37. Capcom Sound Team - "For Metro City" [Final Fight 3 OST] 38. Flik is in full Detective mode as he prepares to record part 2 of his self-produced audio drama series "The Detective", but he stops to reminisces on the brief glory of his Zelda 3 mix "Kakariko Prom" and the lengthy misery of everything going wrong over at North Dakota's Fox affiliate station KVRR earlier in the week ("King of the Hill - Tonight at 5:30 on FOX!"), along with the inactivity of his website; "Damn that Dr. P!" [http://www.vagstudios.com] 39. Joshua Morse - Parasite Eve 1 "Mitochondriatic Phase" [http://www.joshuamorse.com] 40. Shnabubula - "Naughty Oaf Isle" [P Senior] 41. Suzumebachi - "Industry of Paradox" [http://www.liquidhive.tk] 42. EgM - Golden Sun "Sol Sanctum Guitar" [VGMix2 #3028] 43. Philip Ulrich & Stéphane Picq - "Wake Up" [Dune Spice Opera: Exxos OST] 44. Capcom Sound Team - "Inner Sanctum" [Final Fight 3 OST] 45. "Grandpa Joe" is suffering some interesting ailments, so enjoy his senile antics as he acts all crotchety [http://www.therighteous.net] 46. Trademark f/RichBRF & Binster - "Burn (Fire Escape Mix)" [http://www.brfuk.com/rich & http://www.abandonedsheep.com] 47. jdproject - "Wake Up" [The Ken Song EP] 48. Leifo - "Enter My World" [http://www.leifo.com] 49. Capcom Sound Team - "Straight to the Top" [Final Fight 3 OST] 50. SgtRama pitchs ideas for pr0n; the upcoming Duck Hunt: RoFL show was brought up, but let's not forget the real selling point of this call: "Pirate Dick" & "Dick on Dick Action"; Yarrrrr, matey! [http://sgtrama.no-ip.com] 51. Captain Tortilla - "Stay Frosty" [Cold] 52. TO - Lagoon "Tropic Lodge Lagoon" [The People's Remix Competition v2-6] 53. Malcos - "You Cannot Have Both of Us" [http://urbanizm.thebigshot.com] 54. The C64 Mafia - "I'd Like to Be Your Enemy" [R:K:O #2552] 55. Dale North - Super Hang-On "Outride a Crisis" [The Very Best of Sega] 56. Capcom Sound Team - "Down and Out" [Final Fight 3 OST] 57. po! & zykO - Metal Gear 1 "Venom" [VGMix2 #2930] 58. goat - CastleVania 3 "Kick That Sinking Feeling" [unchosen Paths / Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (December 2004) / VGMix2 #2660] 59. Ryan8bit - King's Quest 5 "Forlorn Dream" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (December 2004) / VGMix2 #3068] 60. Capcom Sound Team - "Sunny Skies" [Final Fight 3 OST] 61. Capcom Sound Team - "Free and Clear" [Final Fight 3 OST] 62. CHz f/D-Lux - VG Frequency "Purple Monkey Dishwasher (Take 2)" Bumper

Been contacting Jean re: the submission. Anyone have a recommendation as to where we could/should go from here? Perhaps someone would want to touch it up via a collab if Dave & us absolutely won't take it in this form. Also need more votes.

The inclusion of vocal clips (George H. W. Bush and a Russian anchorwoman speaking) is gonna be hit or miss depening on who you ask. It was a miss with me, though I appreciate the Russian clip. Moving more along :32 where the music seems to get started, I liked the ambient strings and female vox here. Things stayed pretty lush until 1:14 when that pipe entered in. Still retaining a good vibe, though nothing really dealing with the source material yet. Source finally comes in at 1:46. Pretty interesting cover of it, before moving into some new (though very liberal) rearrangement at 2:10. The track continues with the liberal rearrangement approach at 2:34, and I'm just not hearing enough of a direct connection with the source material. Heard a brief reference at 2:56, but otherwise, this didn't pick back up on the source material until 3:15. The track consists of original material to open things, then verbatim coverage of the source tune melody, followed by arrangement that's actually too liberal, in my opinion, to pass. The sounds are all pretty good anyway. Sans the opening vocals, it sounds like a very logical fit in a Metal Gear Solid game as an ending theme nonetheless. Binnie's right in that the female vocals are mixed low, and the track in general should be a bit louder. I agree with Israfel on the track seeming too short. The dropoff at 3:38 came about very suddenly, and it actually felt as if though several minutes were lopped out of the track before the very end, which also closed very quickly. Didn't mind the linear development of the piece, but I ask that more interpretive yet recognizable things be done with the source tune for the arrangement here. Don't just create a MGS-style track with brief usage of the theme. Please don't lose site of the big picture of substantially reinterpreting the Metal Gear Solid Main Theme. A lot of the reviews at VGMix had great things to say about this, but I hope you're not discouraged over the NOs here. At this rate, Chris, you'll be posted eventually, as you've been attempting to develop your skills further. Keep up the progress, and feel free to resubmit this one with any revisions you feel would benefit the piece. NO (revise/resubmit)

Thanks very much to all of those who tuned in tonight for a great show covering a bunch of material from the last 6 weeks while I was away. The other half of the winter break material will mostly by covered by this coming Saturday's show, so be sure to be check it out. Many people were asking where the original game music for tonight's show came from. My bro, Kaleb Grace, has been running the Song of the Week contest over at the GamingForce Audio forums, spotlighting more obscure but quality original and arranged video game music. Sample 13 weeks worth (39 tracks) of excellent VGM over at SongOfTheWeek.info, and keep an eye out for Week 14's results over at SotW and on VGF itself. Check out the playlist over at Ormgas.com and leave comments. The 3hr/125MB show is available alongside the night's chat transcript of #VGF. More good stuff is headed your way this weekend for the official premiere of VG Frequency: Season 4. Hope to see you there! VG Frequency #44.99: Zombo Everybody, Zombo Everything Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) Thursday, January 20, 2005 / 10 PM - 1:02 AM EST Liontamer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Rayza f/Liontamer - VG Frequency "Number One Host" Bumper 2. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "Invitation" [Gradius III OST] 3. Beatdrop - SaGa Frontier 1 "V-MAX Engaged" [VGMix2 #2916] 4. Steve Root - "Wall Street" [Die Hard 3 (Die Hard Trilogy) OST] 5. Crazy Crakaz (Disposer & Joecam) - Alien Hominid "The Invasion" [shonen Samurai's OneUp Studios Alien Hominid Remix Contest / VGMix2 #2926] 6. Captain Tortilla - "Aristophanes" [Cold] 7. Captain Tortilla - "Breakfast in Sweden" [Cold] 8. Mythril Nazgul - Doom 1 "The Man Alone" [VGMix2 #3021] 9. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "Departure for Space" [Gradius III OST] 10. Gradius Symphonic Orchestra - Gradius 1 "Gradius Fantasia" [Gradius Fantasia AST] 11. bLiNd - "The Last Hymn" [http://www.thebrailroom.com] 12. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "Dead End Cell" [Gradius III OST] 13. Ashane - Ninja Gaiden 2 "Ninjascape" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (December 2004) / VGMix2 #3081] 14. Sefiros - Final Fantasy 9 "To Be Forgotten is Worse Than Death" [VGMix2 #3064] 15. OverCoat - "The Waitress" [ubo's Restaurant] 16. Michiel van den Bos - "Snowscapes" [Age of Wonders OSV] 17. Ichitootah - "Dancing with Delay" [Original Remix Competition 12] 18. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "Aqua Illusion" [Gradius III OST] 19. zyko - "zombo" [zombo] 20. zyko - "Munchies" [zombo] 21. Ubik - "Tsumitsuki" [The Owl in Daylight] 22. Yoko Kanno - "Southern Twilight ~ Dance on a Cape of Good Hope" [uncharted Waters II Special Edition OST] 23. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "Sand Storm" [Gradius III OST] 24. Star Salzman - Bionic Commando "Advance with Caution" [VGMix2 #2974 / OC ReMix #1302] 25. Gwilym Wogan - "vox pop a (jeah right mix)" [the meinpenis zeitgeist] 26. Kohei Tanaka - "Wind that Spans the Earth" [Alundra OST] 27. Reuben Kee - Metal Gear Solid 1, Metal Gear Solid 2 & Metal Gear Solid 3 "Legend of the Snake" [VGMix2 #2851] 28. CarboHydroM - Street Fighter 2 "The Nine Tails Fox and the Avenger" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (December 2004) / VGMix2 #3061] 29. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "In the Wind" [Gradius III OST] 30. OverCoat - Seiken Densetsu 3 "Path-ology" [VGMix2 #3041] 31. NoWave - "Nevada-tan" [invisible] 32. Christian Pacaud - Chrono Trigger "Alone at the Bottom of Night" [VGMix2 #2696] 33. Paragon - Secret of Mana "Iridescent Memories" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (December 2004) / VGMix2 #3053] 34. qaid - "and then there was one" [cork music] 35. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "Cosmo Plant" [Gradius III OST] 36. kLuTz - "Warmth" [http://klutz.vgmidi.com] 37. Naoki Kodaka - "Main Theme 2" [Albert Odyssey Gaiden ~ Legend of Eldean OST] 38. OverCoat - "The Talking Rat" [ubo's Restaurant] 39. BrainCells - Axelay "The Path to Hell - Lake of Fire" [VGMix2 #3044] 40. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "Final Shot" [Gradius III OST] 41. Quinn Fox - Megaman 2 "Oxygen Flare" [VGMix2 #3135] 42. Gwilym Wogan - "vox pop d" [the meinpenis zeitgeist] 43. Israfel - Lagoon "Some that Have Deeper Digg'd Love's Mine than I" [The People's Remix Competition v2-6 / VGMix2 #3042] 44. Shnabubula - Castlevania Chronicles "Mucho Dollar Care a Junk CIA" [OC ReMix #1289] 45. The C64 Mafia - The Forbidden Forest "Don't Go Walking Slow" [R:K:O #2524] 46. Lie Mf B - Megaman 3 "Got My Dope from the Needle Man" [sex, Drugs n' Nintendo / VGMix2 #3130] 47. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "Mechanical Base" [Gradius III OST] 48. Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko & Yukie Morimoto - "Game Over" [Gradius III OST]

We preview season 4 tonight. All info for listening and chatting is on page 1. Be there.

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Xenogears_psf.rar - 215 "Omen" http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Presentiment" (ct-1-01.spc)??? It's always good to see one of OCR's one-shot contributors return, especially with something as solidly constructed as this. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this mix was actually from Xenogears itself, which is about the highest compliment I can give it. Omen's use as the backing stays pretty straightforward. For the life of me, I can't fully identify what tune Jerad's using at :50, but recognize it from somewhere. "Frozen Flame" from Radical Dreamers? Beats me. It's vaguely familiar from somewhere in Square universe, but I'd prefer to know what exactly it is. I thought everything else sounded good, like the female vox at 1:58, and I have no problem with the panning. I have reservations on this though. Once we move into 1:24, aside from hearing a cover of "Omen" in the background with light string plucks that never changes for the rest of the track, I have no idea where the rest of the track is inspired from. The vox sounds nice and creates a full sound, but where it's derived from relative to some source material, I couldn't say. I also don't hear CT's "Presentiment" referenced in any overt way. Maybe someone can elaborate on where other aspects of the arrangement come from. I can contact the artist to ask for more information if need be, but ask that we hold off on passing this. EDIT - 1/27: Sorry for not doing it sooner, but I mailed Jerad today asking for more information. Waiting to hear back. 1/30: Have a reply back from Jerad. I'll post it here as well as vote as soon as I can.

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/dkc.rsn - "Northern Hemispheres" (dkc-18.spc) I greatly enjoyed a lot of the tracks from Kong in Concert. While Adhesive Boy's "Cry of the Chasmal Critter Chain" was my favorite as a judge, Prophecy's contribution was my favorite as a listener. The source tune melody kicks in at 1:08 for any impatient people comparing to the SPC, though earlier ideas there are used as well. The rearrangement was hot, though I'm sure some fans out there will say "too liberal", which it isn't. New ending with bells rather than vox, I noticed. Good stuff. The primary complaint I've heard on this one is the track sounding cluttered. Some people are bound to feel that way, but this achieved a full atmosphere while retaining a strong enough separation of sounds here so that my ear could focus on different instruments and sections. Nothing I haven't also heard from tracks like SuperGreenX's "Kick Your A", SGX & MC's "4F73R M3" & bLiNd's "G-Storm"; absolutely nothing wrong with it to me. I doubt it would retain it's epic feel with squeaky clean mixing. Being half-Russian myself, something like Gothic trance wasn't going to be literally evocative of the motherland, but I definitely see the Russian influence here from many of the elements in play like the choir vox, bells, and strings, as well as the cadence of the source tune arrangement from 2:48 to 3:14 in particular. I thought the winter vibe was captured very well. I could envision DK & Diddy having to navigate through the most difficult Gorilla Glacier level imaginable. Very eerie and enveloping work the whole way through, and true DP material all the way. Congratulations to Jason for this superlative work. I'm proud this'll be the mix that introduces him to OCR, and I hope "Chekan Winter" was something that the Rare team enjoyed as well. This was one of the tracks that made Kong in Concert a true success from a creative standpoint, and makes me want to dump my girlfriend so I can have Binnie Katti's children. I think Binnie simply posting the mix writeup he gave this track and writing YES to conclude it would be hilarious.

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 301 "Cosmo Canyon" Had the pleasure of playing this for VGF43. Very stylish piano & string arrangement to handle things for the first minute and a half. The mix stayed straightforward with the source tune melody but proved to be very expansive with the support work nonetheless, like Israfel pointed out. Engaging and excellent stuff. We got a well-handled switch at 1:31 that upped the intensity with some pounding drums, then things came down a little bit to make way for Reu's trademarked Eastern sounds to enter in at 1:59 for another iteration of the Cosmo Canyon melody. Nice sounds that regular listeners of Reu's work will immediately recognize. Things stayed safe yet expansive riffing on the source melody for the first few minutes before they got more involved via rearrangement from 3:11 until the end for a relatively strong finish. Felt the ending could have been a bit more epic given what I heard, but otherwise everything was great. Always an enjoyable listen from Reuben and a great addition to the site. YES

http://www.zophar.net/usf/ge64usf.rar - 111 Archives.miniusf Whoa, that lead synth that opens things up is kind of abrasive; needs some processing/effects so it doesn't sound so bare as well. It doesn't layer well with the orchestral stabs done during the chorus (1:08-1:15) and with other instruments later on. Very overcompressed beatwork and the cymbals are WAY over the top and extremely tacky. All that could afford to be significantly toned down. It really gets ridiculous in the long run. This track's an interesting mishmash of samples as some are fairly good, like the orchestral stabs, strings & piano, while other like the choir vox, percussion, that lousy horn-like thing at 1:51 & the electric bass on lead are weak. Loads of potential here, but if I could take a hatchet to some of the instruments here, I would. 2:44-3:25 just redoes/retreads earlier ideas in the arrangement. Overall, I felt like the sections that contained beatwork were too similar, even though I heard two alternating patterns used from section to section. This would need a little bit more than that to keep things from getting stale. Keep at it, Alex. NO

Joecam & Disposer have a remix of this theme over at VGMix, "The Invasion", done for Shonen Samurai's Alien Hominid Remix Contest over at the OneUp Studios boards, so I'm familiar with the source material. This mix was so dumbed down and basic, it just wasn't happening. Can't help but laugh at how simple and empty this is. Lone electric guitar synth with some generic beats underneath. Then the beats would switch up. Then ANOTHER electric guitar synth and some other whatever come in on accompaniment. Now I feel spoiled. HAHAHAHAHAHAH! I had Winamp in the background as I was writing this, and decided to check the time. As the song hit 1:53, I saw it was a whopping 4:08 track. Wow! Some of y'all will hate me out there, but fuck it. I haven't laughed this hard at an honest-to-God legit submission in a long time. Should have gotten the form letter, but djp sent it here being the kind-hearted, loveable soul he is. Awesomely bad stuff. You have no chance to survive make your time. NO