Israfel

Really great to see this get posted so quickly. With this, the recent Dezoris Winter remake and the collab. with Freemind, I can honestly say that in my opinion GL is creating some of the most musically interesting mixes currently on scene. He labels himself "new age," but pieces like these really seem to transcend mere "genre work" and instead stands as a very unique and personal musical vision. GL has evolved as a composer at an astonishing rate and I eagerly look forward to his future works. Those looking for serious, honest music that doesn't pander to genre conventions or audience whims should really start to take notice of GL's work. And I know it sounds like I'm just gushing here, but these opinions have been a long time in the making- I really think we have something special here. Congratulations man.

Game: ICO Song: "Heal" the save menu theme plus a little bit of the continue theme in the middle. Title of mix: Save Me (OC Edit) (yes, I would like to have this one named the OC edit because I had to shorten this version down a lot from the original 9 minutes for the 6 mb limit) Mixer: SuperGreenX System: PS2 DJP, if this is posted, could you please mention in your write up that the full version is available at my website www.mp3.com/supergreenx? It almost made me cry when I had to cut down my 9 minute song, so I would love it if people could hear the full version . (btw, if by any chance Save Me (the full version) is not up on my mp3.com page by the time you get this, it should be up shortly. I made some minor changes to the song and reuploaded to mp3.com. Approval is usually just a couple of days though, so it should be up before you get this anyways. ) Some song info: I used some voice samples from the game again like I did with More Than A Weapon. As with Panzer Dragoon, ICO uses a made up language (actually, two different ones, I believe). So I pretty much don't know what any of the samples I used mean. They just sounded cool. Though the last Yorda sample I used is from the end of the game when the good old screen with "~fin~" comes up. I hope you guys dig this. ------------------------- And then I was recently PM'd this from SuperGreenX as well: "The university shut down its webhosting servers for the time being because of the hurricane. So, my ICO mix should be temporarily unavailable. I got a mirror though: If it would help, you could update the judging thread with that info. Thanks!"

I agree with the main criticism that Protricity had- this is just a bit too similar in both "composition and style" to the original. Those looking to hear older game tunes updated with better samples and some beats will likely enjoy it. But as the site's submission guidelines state- "The idea is to put your own spin on a track, to reinterpret it - to remake it." As such, though the mix is enjoyable, it falls outside the scope of this site. NO

The arrangement is typical (even perhaps a tad cliched) piano-fare, but this is nonetheless a well performed mix. I may have grown tired of right hand-melody/ left hand-arpeggio type piano pieces- but personal biases aside, this certainly seems ocr worthy to me. YES

Don't really think there should be any doubt on this one. A cut above the typical submissions, and I'm sure electronic music fans will really dig this. Solid work. YES

You know, I didn't think much of this until around the 2:00 mark when the vocoder really starts to take center stage. The arrangement isn't exactly mindblowing, but man that vocoder sounds cool. 3:09 in particular is pure gold. I'm also reminded of Carlos, but mainly because she's the only artist that I listen to who makes regular use of that particular sound. Groovy work.

Solid sounding work- and I really enjoyed listening to it. But I agree that this sticks to the original too closely. I'm sure a good number of people will dig this, but it doesn't quite fit in with the type of mix that ocr is looking for. NO

Does an excellent job of achieving a nice "dance-pop" sound. The weak point is the singing- the recording and intonation are sub-par. And it's a huge shame because most everything else is done rather well. Performance issues give this a somewhat amateurish feel, but overall it's a fairly solid work. YES

The drums are rather overpowering- pretty much drowning out everything else. Could definitely some more ideas as well- there's only one musical idea going on here, as the same harmonies, beats etc. basically repeat throughout. I can appreciate some of the attempts at creating a unique sound with the off-kilter drum beat and such, but overall this mix just doesn't work well in my opinion. NO

Umm...this doesn't seem to know what it's trying to be. You've got this subdued instrumentation, and then this pounding snare drum line comes in. I mean, what's going on at 3:25- driving snare line or a quiet solo piano? It's like the piece is caught between wanting to be a meditative work and wanting to have a big climax- and as a result it's caught somewhere in the middle and just meanders around. I'm borderline- at times it seems like an empty arrangement without any real focus or direction. And at other times it can be fairly enjoyable. Strikes me as a rather flawed composition with a few nice qualities. I'll let the listeners decide for themselves. YES

yeah, the hi-hats in particular are annoyingly loud- but otherwise this is a really great arrangement that for some reason reminds me of alot of Konami's music for Castlevania. Very enjoyable mix, so a YES from me.

In essense what we have is one section of music that is slowly expanded throughout the mix. That is, a new idea is presented first by itself, and then it is incorporated back into the whole- so over time more and more instruments are being added. This is basically just a way of disguising the fact that the form of this mix is just "A" - one section of music- and it's the reason why this piece feels repetitive. This *really* needs a B section- something to break the monotony. But even so- by slowly adding new instruments, you do mask the repetitiveness as well creating a little bit of forward momentum for the mix. Eh, the repetitiveness and lack of form really makes me borderline on this. But seeing as everything else is mostly well done and overall the mix is fairly enjoyable, I'll go ahead and give it a YES I'm sure a decent number of listeners will like it anyway.

Niiiiice. Really diggin' this. If you're the sort of person who refers to Silent Hill's soundtrack as "music" (with the condescending quotes) then this probably won't appeal to you, but otherwise this is a pretty groovy track. I think it would have been neat to have more development of timbres- or just more development of ideas in general- but even so, this is a cool piece.

I'm a huge Tull fan so this was a nice treat. The section at 1:10 in particular has that Tull vibe and is insanely cool to boot. Very groovy stuff. Hey, just noticed that two days in a row now the mix writeup has included a link to a prog-group...let's try to keep that trend going.

At times the harmony is rather interesting. The beginning sounds downright polytonal. Hard to tell if what's going on there was intentional or if you just got confused by the harmony. Might what to double check your samples to make sure they're in tune with each other, and double check the notes in that section. The section at 2:52 does the same thing. To be honest though, regardless of what you intended, I find the "off-ness" to be far more interesting than if it were traditional harmony. Seems to depend a bit too much on the drum (loops?) to propel the piece forward- but that's a fairly minor issue. Borderline for me- like the harmony, not totally digging the beats- but overall I thought this was pretty fun YES

Some pretty fun synth work going on throughout- nice work there. A tad on the short side, and it is a bit repetitive, but everything that is here sounds pretty well done and nicely constructed. I'm borderline on this one, but at the end of the day nothing strikes me as horribly wrong, and it's an enjoyable listen, so YES

This could easily be mistaken for a piece on the Narada or Windham Hill labels. Very authentic new age sound going on here. I wish it were longer, but what's here is quite excellent. YES Hmm...is my setup screwed up or is there an annoying popping sound at the end?

You know, despite the few performance flubs, I like this mix. It does a rather marvelous job of capturing a particular genre. The guitar and trumpet sound rather authentic for the style- although I wish a few of those mistakes were fixed. This could definitely be improved some (the performance and ending in particular), but it's already pretty nice, so YES

Fairly nice creepy atmosphere going on here, but the mix just never gets off the ground. It really just feels like the same idea is being played 3 times but with different instruments. And the section at 2:35 or so could really use some tempo changes, dynamics or something- it just sounds a bit too mechanical right now; there's just a certain musicality that's missing. And then the ending feels incomplete- the mix just stops basically. I really liked the beginning of this actually, but then the piece started to run out of steam. Not bad work here, but I'll have to go with a NO

prog meets techno...well, not really, but those synth solos at around 2:40 really reminded me of Emerson, Lake & Palmer or something. hehe, anyways, this is really incredible. Lots of really great stuff going on- love the piano, love the synth leads...I just love the mix. YES

Very cool opening build-up and the section at 1:39 was really great. A few sections seem overly generic- but nothing sticks out as "bad" per se, and there are few excellent moments spread throughout. My speakers can't handle that bass drum though. And what's with the long section of silence at the end? But anyway, not too bad, and a few standout sections put it over the top for me. YES

Cool- 8 Eyes. Old favorite of mine. The style of the mix is a tad generic- which doesn't kill the mix, but it doesn't exactly help. What really hurts the mix however is that the original is pretty much recreated note-for-note. In essense it's just the original piece being played over a dance beat. Ending is kind of a letdown as well. NO

yeah, in agreement with vig here. Just too many technical problems to let this one pass. NO

Does a nice job of expressing the title- definitely feels like you're drifting. I like how the areas where one might expect a climax (1:28 ) are the most understated of all the sections- gives a fresh, unpredictable sound. Nice effect with the bells changing timbres throughout and the interweaving melodies- creates an enveloping mass of sound. Cool stuff YES

This is really working nice for me- a dark, cold atmosphere. Wispy is a good way to describe it. I love the way this thing develops- it's like some sort of expanding mass- like it's creeping up on you. Was a bit iffy when the drums came in- seemed to change the mood of the piece a little too much. Reminds me of the dark, somewhat ambient works of Russell Mills or someone like that. Cool stuff. YES