Eino Keskitalo

Yup, could definitely use more elements thrown in and yeah, a bit more break from that one arpeggio. It wouldn't necessarily take a lot, but it should be something substantial. The track has a really nice feel, but doesn't have enough meat in it to stand on it's own. That's a pity, I think it could be great. --Eino

Not quite on par with Infinite Natalia as far as Shnabubula's orchestral works go, but good stuff nonetheless. Some of the instruments sound noticeably non-real at places, but the quality of the arrangement indeed trumps over such concerns, ultimately. The sound is maybe a bit muddy to my ears. Anyhow, very enjoyable. Slightly easier listening than Shnab's busier tracks, maybe. Not my favourite shnab-attack, but still very recommendable. It might grow on me even more in time. --Eino

Am I the only one here that finds this track annoyingly feeble? Maybe it's just too "easy listening" for me. I do have a real issue with the acoustic guitar - the playing is not very tight. And what's that mega-loud chord at 03:15? (Ok, that's nit picking.) I do have to compliment the sax playing. Very pleasant, and a great tone. The guitar lead ain't bad either. Overall however the track is quite limp and frankly it's a bit scary how much love it's getting. Well, I guess it just doesn't do it for me. --Eino

Great "prog-metal" arrangement! I wasn't so keen about this mix at the start, but the part that begins 01:15 totally won me over. The beginning sounds good to me now as well. Minor flaw of this tune is that to me the non-solo lead sound is a wee bit tinny. More serious flaw is that the drums have a mechanical feel to them and would in my opinion benefit from a more "roomy" sound, they don't much blend with the other instruments which I would prefer. But I have to say the drum arrangement itself is creative, versatile and enjoyable! The use of the choir synth at 02:51 is a fantastic touch. It really makes the part. Very nice solo of course too. No arbitary wankery there. Nice "gliding" sound. I like the ending as it is. I much prefer that cut-off with reverb to a fadeout. EDIT: Whoops, I now realize that there's a cutoff in the reverbed stuff; true, that's an unfortunate glitch. --Eino

How's this mix going Splunkle? I'd like to hear it (the links have died). I'm thinking of doing a SC2 arrangement myself. --Eino

I thought so too - WIP's would *definitely* benefit from some reviews. The original idea is of course good as well. --Eino

That extra percussion definitely wins me over. It's just ..fun. Gotta agree with OA on this one, would definitely need a sound update. But damn, it's a fun romp.. --Eino

This is quite rough. Some of those organ(?) notes sound out of sync. A lot of the sounds sound a bit too "cheap." Rough samples, but even rough samples can be used well. The mix ain't all bad. The brass stabs are kinda painful, yeah, but at the same time kinda intriguing. The transition at 03:00 to a wider/fuller sound spectrum is very effective. The piece gains a whole lot of momentum, but then it just dies. I think what the arrangement is going for is a good idea, the first three minutes build tension (with the bell-like melodies providing a little breathing breaks) and the release at 3:00 works really well, but on the whole it doesn't quite achieve what it's going for. --Eino

Yeah, much too short to really stand on it's own. Nice idea, but the idea could have supported a more complete track. --Eino

According to my last.fm stats this is my top listened song and for a lot of good reasons. Alongside Shnabubula AeroZ is my favourite remixer and I badly desire more music from him. There's an overwhelming amount of stuff going on here in this mix but it stays safe from being overbearing. That's some organized chaos magic right here. I love how AeroZ uses so simple, chiptunish sounds as the base of his music. I like chiptune sounds as they are, but the skillful processing and mixing makes them especially delicious. My favourite parts of the remix: the lo-fi start with the beautiful arpeggios; the descending "icicle" chords at 01:33, so beautifully reverbed; the Megaman-style bass line part right after.. But really there's nothing extra or unneeded here, and you could name any of the parts, there's lots of goodies in there.. --Eino

There's a frog in the right channel. Otherwise, the simplicity of this remix can be thought of as it's strength. Yeah, I wouldn't mind if it aimed a bit higher, but I like it as it is, it's somehow quite sweet. Except for that frog. I find it hard to listen past it. --Eino

Like it's been said before, a great, great track. A personal favourite. I've played a lot of great Master System games, unfortunately, Zillion I haven't experienced. Judging by this, it's got a great soundtrack! Special mention to the lovely "dirty" of with the drums and guitar. --Eino

A well crafted piece. I love that constant little glittering arpeggio travelling from left to right, what ever instrument that is. Very dramatic orchestral gestures indeed. Like TO is quoted saying in the write-up, this is background music, not foreground music - perhaps that's why it has gotten so little reviews? While it sounds great and has a truck-load of good details, it doesn't grab me like that. --Eino

I definitely love those synth arpeggios.. the way the reverb disappears in the intro and then the main tune kicks in.. a really nice touch. The flute is rather stiff though, no volume variation. And yeah, it's really short. Just begging for another part. But it's really sweet too. --Eino

I'd definitely say this mix picks up at the guitar solo. From there on it sounds sublime, tight and uplifting. I dig the arpeggios over the string pads and those final two chords are so fine. Lovely piano underneath. It takes unfortunately long to get there. When I decide to listen to this track, I try to remind myself why I like it so much. The ending is a revelation. The rest of the track really is not bad either, but definitely less good. Weak points: I agree with OA about the strings at the start. I also really don't like the tremolo piano sound, it's messy and just plain bad. In general, the decision to put the strings et al to the top and leave the rhythm guitar, drums and especially bass in the background makes the whole sound rather flimsy to my ears. The guitar/drums themselves could have used a bit more variation in the fast part. Slower stuff has nice rhythmical variations. Fast part does have nice fills, but maybe a half-tempo part or a fill with less playing somewhere could have spiced things up. Also, and this is actually my major gripe, rhythmically the foreground from 01:17 to 02:27 seems detached from the background, even a bit "blocky". The strings/synths may be in the middle of the beat, where it would benefit them to be a bit on top of the beat. Perhaps? The attack of the synth/strings may be too slow? I'm not 100% sure about that but that's how I feel. That's a lot of criticism, but that said, I still enjoy the track a whole lot. Intro is really nice except the problem with strings, 0:33-0:44 transition is great (love the gap).. good attention to detail overall. --Eino

A very careful and considerate arrangement from Shnabubula. Quite different from lots of his other (likewise excellent!) outings, maybe even surprising, but the guy obviously doesn't compromise on the main sector of his strengths (in my opinion): beauty. This is indeed a beautiful track. Subtle, perhaps, nearly understated. Everything is in it's right place and there's not an arbitary note in sight. A remix I will try to study in purposefulness. Not necessarily a piece of music to loop endlessly, but listen once with total attention. I'm not a big listener of classical, but this piece reminds me some of the work from Finnish composers that I've liked, actually it just might trump those pieces. --Eino

Tons of atmosphere in this track. The production has lot's of delicious roooooom in it. I think there were some comments about repetitiveness - I don't agree. For instance the great groovy beat might even lose some of it's impact if it wasn't as solid as it is now - in any case it's great as it is. I'm not familiar with the original, and I have to say I couldn't tell the time signature has been changed. I love all the different synth sounds that play the different melodies. The roooom in the mix is also the roooom to have all these alternating sounds in there. It wouldn't work so well if it was busier and more stuffed. The build-up in the end is very good too. But I have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of the breakbeats in the end. It doesn't fit so well with the mood and tightness of the rest of the piece. At least I really miss a definitive OOOMPH in the lower fidelities either in 04:05 or 04:16. (Or is it there, and I just can't hear it with these headphones?) --Eino

Oh man, how feeble the source material sounds now. :/ I can remember how it sounded back then.. Suppose it still fits the game, but on it's own, huh. I'm amazed how much you can draw out of that. Quite a scary, hostile ambience. However, I'd like to hear more "content".. is that a quote from the shipyard bgm in the beginning? Maybe you could splash some of that in, and then lift a melody motive from yet another soundtrack tune. Well, just my two cents. --Eino

Hey yeah! I played this game soooo much. Ahh, the sound of the tires squealing and the engine revving.. the sweet, monophonic sound of the PC beeper. I've downloaded a GPC remix or two before, but apparently they're made from the C64 version, which apparently has a lead melody over the arpeggio, which I didn't really care for. Also, they don't cover the second tune, maybe it's not in the C64 version? I've toyed with an idea of making a remix from the both pieces in the PC version, and I'm quite happy you've thought about it too! I dig the chord changes in the later part. They do please my ears. Alternating the parts between the intro and the menu makes an intresting tension in my opinion. I wouldn't change them, myself, but go ahead and do what ever that makes it work for you. --Eino

Ahh, what an energetic remix. The voices freak out our cats. The "bombu"-section has them too loud perhaps, I can take it but I can definitely understand why many find them irating. Otherwise the voices are used excellently and provide plenty of motion into an already high-speeding piece. Great work (and props for Fast Tracking!), I too wish Fuzz had more tracks on this site. --Eino

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. The parts seem to alternate so that a curtain after curtain is pulled to reveal a blissful, nearly incomprehensibly beautiful soundscape after another. I like the panning breakbeats. I love the cut-up vocal samples, they remind of me of some Steve Reich stuff I should really track down again. I feel they sort of, erm, ground the piece. I noticed the cough at 01:24 just before I read this thread, heh. Subtle, musical humour which shows how playful this piece actually is. Spoken voice is a kind of an "everyday" element in this track which connects it to the real world. That's what I mean with "grounding". Well put mr. Heart! --Eino

I've never played Solstice, but this track was an instant hit for me. Some of it reminds me of the band Battles, which I've enjoyed recently. The contrast between lo-fi drums and the brighter foreground instruments creates a lot of space in the mix, I think. Either way, the arrangement is/sounds deliciously sparse, even with all the many many notes played. I agree with other posters that the sax sounds a bit artificial, but after a few listens it has started to sound more like a "feature" than a flaw. (The most bothering thing about the sax to me is that sometimes there's a jarringly louder note in the middle of a run, it's a subtle effect but makes it sound like it was cut-and-pasted together from two takes or something.. well, to me at least.) But any way, that's a minor criticism on an otherwise fabulous track. Yay, first post. --Eino