Palpable

Thanks for the (terrible) suggestion, but I thought of someone perfect to play me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naveen_Andrews. He really captures my rugged yet suave handsomeness, is all.

Then who's playing me?

I'm pretty comfortable passing this. The arrangement is very well put-together. It's sparse but the performances are excellent and fill it out well, and there's a very clean, crisp sound to it. Definitely dug it, awesome work. The intro (0:00-0:54) and the outro (3:40-4:38 ) are the major parts I'm hearing as being totally original, with a pair of ten-second sections harking back to it in the middle. I think it's a minority of the song, and even then the strings in 0:25-0:27 of the source gave some parts of those sections a similar feel. I don't think it makes sense to "stop the stopwatch" at parts like 1:08-1:12 and 1:26-1:31, because Kunal is just finishing out the measure, keeping the chords of the source. 2:41-3:08 soloed over a unique progression of the original, so I'd count that too. In all, it seems connected enough for me. YES

Cool to see people working on these. The Golden Sun games were totally slept on, soundtrack and all.

Argh. I was completely feeling this one up until the 3:00 mark. Those drums don't cut it - they sound flat and deflate that section. Could see some judges NOing it on that basis, though I think the rest of this arrangement is solid enough to make up for it. The strings in that last section sound improved as well. I still wish the source was used more prominently in the second half, but at least the first half has a constant connection and the entire piece is well connected. YES

I definitely like your approach here, and the playing is great. I would say the arrangement is almost everything it needs to be. But Larry is totally right that 1:08 does not deliver the impact one would expect. Neither does 1:51. Those drums need to sound fuller and make more use (some use!) of the crash cymbal. It just sounds weird to use the ride in what should be a dirty, energetic song. The vocals and guitars could also be afforded some more space in the upper frequency ranges, which are lacking a little in content. That's all I got. If you can make the fixes, I think this is a pass. NO (resubmit)

There's an unrefinedness permeating this mix. The intro is not bad, but afterward it feels directionless. The original writing bits don't mesh that well with the parts from the source, and it could have been more melodic in sections like 0:36-1:11 and 2:06-2:23. The general mix approach is not bad and I did like the breakbeat section, but the execution is lacking. Some of the problems boil down to production also. The sounds are muffled and thin and everything sounds hazy. Something needs to stand out or else it becomes very background-y. There are also sections where instruments seem to cover the same territory and those could be spread out across the frequency spectrum more. Hope these comments help you out if you decide to continue with this mix. I think it'll take some work. NO

I was gonna do my Bill Cosby impression about the kids these days, but eh, this is mixed just fine. Not even as loud as songs on the radio. Maybe Larry is getting old. Arrangement is pretty damn awesome. Lots of variety, lots of passion, completely epic. Performances could have been tighter, but I love this and no way those performances hold this song back. YES

Yeah I think I hear the Maw in there for a brief cameo, but still not hearing Flowers. Not the chords or the melody. Don't know if you can elaborate exactly where it is?

Refreshing. And kudos for using a bottle of one of the few beers I like. YES

Arrangement concept was pretty cool, really messing with the melodic and harmonic structure of the original song, and using a cool mix of samples to do it. Strings were very rigid and a little behind the beat, but it sounded like they were intended to be. Same with the weird off-the-beat synth. A lot of hip-hop songs play with this kind of rigidness and weird timing, and I thought it worked reasonably well here. One criticism I do have though, is that it never felt like the song totally took off. The bass section feels lacking in those chorus sections like 1:32 and 3:59. Felt like you were holding back. 4:28-4:48 was also a weak section that was rigid (in a bad way) and a little random writing-wise. Sometimes the song feels emptier than it should, as I mentioned, but otherwise I like the production. It's an improvement over previous subs of yours. While not perfect, I think this is solid enough for a pass, on both sides of it. It has some idiosyncrasies like your FFXII mix did, but whereas the ones in that song rubbed me the wrong way, in this mix they appealed to me. Let's hope the rest of the panel sees it that way. YES

Definitely a conservative take. I'm pretty familiar with the source song and I had to relisten to it to pinpoint the differences, most of which occur in the backing parts rather than the melody, and even then there are a few sections which are verbatim source. Mood and structure are pretty close to unchanged. I think it's probably on the border of interpretative enough, but I kept wishing there was some more drastic differences from the original. The production has some problems and that sinks this, IMO. The violin doesn't work for me, as much the timing as the attack articulations that Mattias mentioned. It feels too loose compared to the piano, coming off as sloppy playing rather than humanized playing. I came down hard on this, but with a little more variation and a stronger violin, this could be something great. The piano was well-done, writing and performance both, and I'd like to see the rest of the song match it. NO (resubmit)

You've got some very interesting ideas for an orchestral piece, though the unique build-up raised my expectations a little high for the rest of the song, which didn't quite live up. After the 1:20 mark, it got a lot more subdued and didn't have as much to draw the listener in. Though I might get flack for saying so, you might go further with the dissonance angle you were toying with in the later sections. That's something that drew my attention and could be harnessed. After 3:35, there really wasn't anything new, and that last section needs to be embellished or excised. As mentioned, the brass at 1:20 doesn't sound like any instrument you'd find in an orchestra, more like a melodica or bagpipes. That needs to go. I like about half of this and I think the other half needs more ideas. Get creative and play with textures and rhythms the way the intro did, because there's a lot more you could do with that. NO (resubmit)

Love the changes you made here, dude. New guitar part is very cool, and things sound much more refined. Snare sticks out a little in the beginning but by the end you get used to it. This is really a great jam now. But ouch those strings. Too loud, too dry, not a great articulation. I think the loudness and dryness are actually the bigger offenders, and tucking it in better would hide the unrealistic articulations. I would try that first, then if it still sounds a little off, try changing the sample. Maybe get a friend to listen if you're losing your objectivity. This is a perfect conditional YES candidate - there's one very small problem that I'm sure you can fix. Get to it! YES (conditional)

Yeah, this is a really interesting, varied piece that builds well on the original tracks, but man, that snare is weak and tucked away. It really needs more bite. The rest of the drumkit is a little quiet but not as bad. It's quite noticeable only because everything else sounds pitch perfect. The only question in my mind is to make this conditional YES or just a YES. I'm gonna give you the straight YES because I think the rest of the track is stellar and the flat drums don't ruin the piece, they just detract. If you could bring those drums out a little more before we post, that would be great, but I'm ok passing it anyway. Cool beans. YES

Damn, great sound, man. I think this sounds great, but it's not right for OCR because of how similarly it follows the original. I may keep this one anyway, and I'd love to see you submit any more interpretive stuff you manage to come up with. NO

Lots of cool effects going on here, as your songs tend to have. Gentle but a good solid beat, very easy to lose yourself in and lends itself well to repeating. I kept expecting the chord progression to get modified sometime, especially around 3:24, but it never happened. I guess this is something for me to do if I ever take on this theme!

This is seriously a new high for you, man. The stuttering vocal bits in the first couple minutes - what an amazing sound. And the total switch-up in the last minute is great too, like a bonus song. From both a creative and production standpoint this is the best I've heard from you yet. Keep making music!

I didn't feel it was that much like most Christmas songs, but instead suggested a quiet Christmas by the fire. Very gentle and well put-together, and a great addition to OCR.

I've wanted to go to Coachella for about seven years now, though I feel like I always pick up newer bands the year AFTER they play Coachella. This year's big names look pretty damn good, several acts I'd like to see (Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, Crystal Method, MSTRKRFT, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Lupe Fiasco). If I lived anywhere within driving distance of it, I'd definitely want to go.

Yep working on it right now.

Happy birthday, even though it looks like I'm a week belated!

Thanks for the comments everyone! It has been a while for me, hasn't it? But I've got a project mix that's ready to be posted, and I've nearly completed another project mix that I'm very excited about (my first collab!). So you'll see more from me this year. BTW, I wrote that I was the first to tackle this theme after checking out the other two NES BC mixes on the site. Big Giant Circles informed me after the fact that the GB soundtrack is the same as the NES, and he in fact covered the same theme (quite well, I might add).

Arrangement is damn good. zyko's wild guitar solo steals the show for me, but all the writing and playing is great. So much energy! Like a controversial Final Fantasy 6 sub we judged, about half of this is great riffing straight on the melodies from the original, and the rest is soloing over the original's chords. We passed that sub, and this one has an even more unique structure, so I never felt it got too far away from the original. There's no problem arrangement-wise. Mixing was... a little rough but decent. I could make the leads out the entire time, but there's a lack of breathing room. And when that keyboard comes in, it's a mess. Luckily, that's a fairly short part of the song. I think I'm comfortable passing this as it is. We've passed live arrangements with rougher production before, and in this case, the arrangement is really tight. I'd love to see this six-year old mix make it to the front page. YES

I've got a Trentemøller-inspired remix that should be posted sometime soon. Not nearly as good as him, naturally, but I do what I can. I love the hell out of him too. One of the most creative electronic producers working today.