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OCR00945 - Metal Gear Solid 2 "Big Shell West Bristol"


djpretzel
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This song was well made into this slow late night jazz/trip-hop mix.

It's very funny to hear slow hoppish beat flows with the jazzy backing and how everything comes in and out (the dueling vocal riffs... Woo :D ..) It reminds me of those music used in some 90's ads in the UK.

I dig the way this is put togeter, the song/vocal is used to give the feeling floating in the sky on top of the smooth flow which uses deep sounds to make the song/vocal seem all that much in the clouds.

So close your eyes and let the song take ya to the skys to look at the stars up there:D.

edit: I hadn't heard of portishead, so yeah I what to check out thier song out now!

As with some BenCousins remix, I would like someone to try to rap to that beat :P

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Usually, I try not to resort to foul language when reviewing something, but I must be truthful. The only thing going through my head right now is:

WOW! THIS IS FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!

djp nailed this one on the head: I would SWEAR this was a Portishead ReMix. In fact, I have a feeling this will be popping up on P2P programs in the near future as "Portishead - Metal Gear Solid 2 Remix" (mark my words). It sounds THAT good. Hell, it sounds BETTER than some of Portishead's work! And that's saying A LOT.

Nice feel, nice sounds, nice lyrics. Recorded a little low if you ask me. Would have liked the piece a little louder all around, but fortunately, that's what the volume knob is good for.

Never played MGS2, but would love to now JUST to hear this song and hear the difference in the mix.

Wanna know the sign of a good mix? When it plays well under repeated back to back listenings. I think I've looped this one 8 or 9 times now, and it's STILL incredible.

Download this NOW. You won't regret it.

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Wow. Simply wow. This mix = fucking incredible. Everything about it blends so well. I've been listening to it for about an hour now, and as endblink put it, it's still incredible. I usually don't review much either, but I just had to type something up for this song. It's that good. I've never heard of Portishead, so I think I'm gonna go check that out tonight.

Download it now...you'd be missing out if you didn't.

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While I don't really dig the mix much, I gotta give the man some respect for basically composing his own song around the lyrics. It works perfectly together, very polished, and is it just me, or is there something.. creamy about it?

Still, I don't really like the song much, but it's an absolute masterpiece in terms of composition and style.

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Heh. Within the first :20 of this mix, I immedietly thought "Hey...this sounds A LOT like Portished". And apparently I was right on. Kinda weird, considering that I've heard very few of their songs. Anyway, BenCousins had this up on his original mp3.com site awhile ago, and I thought "are those vocal samples from the game?? He can't have recorded it himself!" But he did. That's insane. And this is insane - insanely great, of course. Download. Now.

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Anyway, BenCousins had this up on his original mp3.com site awhile ago, and I thought "are those vocal samples from the game?? He can't have recorded it himself!" But he did. That's insane. And this is insane - insanely great, of course. Download. Now.

No, they're from the game, it's from the song that plays over the end credits. I have the original track on my computer. And this version tops the original by a mile. I was just saying a few weeks ago how I prefer remixes of older games, because for newer games it's tough to top the original track. BenCousins sure shut my mouth. Amazing work--I agree with djp, one of the best remixes in months.

EDIT: Or did you mean the samples from 2:00-3:00 and from 3:33 on? If you meant those vocal samples, then I misunderstood you, but the vocals that sing the lyrics are from the game.

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easilly *easilly* one of the best mixes on the site. in fact...... i thought this song was a poor choice for the ending credits of the game.

but christ..... if they'd used something like this remix for the games end credit sequence? o.O; even the games ending would've been perfect.

just..... amazing.

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I said "Yay, a new Mgs2 remix" when I came to the site and this is the first remix that I've listened to in a while. It's as I say "brilliant". I'm not sure I remember the singing from the game but the echoing of the voice makes me feel like I have heard it, I just can't put my finger on it. Well done, I'd play this loud.

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This is my first time listening to it, I'm only at 1:40 and so far I'm very amazed about how professional and how beautiful this trip-hoppish tune is. It's definitely something OCR doesn't have too much of (trip-hop), and I personally would like to see more of it. Great job Ben, Bravo. Keep them coming!

Random thought: Someone needs to make some Grandia 2 ReMixes, too. :D

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This is definitely getting played on my radio show. The professionalism here is incredible.

I'm not familiar with Portishead, but I will be giving them a look thanks to Kazaalite. On another angle, I felt the mix sounded very James Bond-ish, like one of the many movie opening themes, and I also thought it had similarities to Goldfrapp's "Pilots (Watching Stars)", if any of you would be interested in checking that out as well. I definitely felt it along those lines.

Having listened to every mix on OCR, this one, in my opinion, definitely puts Cousins on another level, along with the more recent mixers, like Quinn Fox and Gecko Yamori, who consistently come out with high-quality stuff. I think Ben Cousins' stuff with Zelda has been good, though more minimalist. If he came out with more of these thorough types of mixes, it's obvious Cousins will getting more and more recognition.

It's not to put OCR down when I say that a lot of tracks here are inaccessible to people who aren't familiar with video game music, because trip-hop stuff like this can fall on deaf ears to many people as well. But, honestly, this is one of the mixes on OCR that I would try introducing to people who otherwise have no idea about this site. It's really that good.

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I'm not a big fan of this song to begin with, as Konami has a poor history of choosing closing credit songs.

But this is simply amazing. The work put into this mix is impressive, but even better than the technical accomplishment is the way the song flows completely on its own. This is one of the occasions that a remix truly can exist in the world outside. The lyrics almost take on a different meaning set to this darker, eerie music.

The piece builds and builds, becoming more impressive and complex as it progresses.

I am now very curious about what BenCousins has to say about this piece. His inspiration and his methods. I would love to hear his take on everything.

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Thanks for your comments. You've given me a nice boost!

I am now very curious about what BenCousins has to say about this piece. His inspiration and his methods. I would love to hear his take on everything.

I'm a huge vocal jazz fan (I saw Jimmy Scott at Ronnie Scott's in London a few months ago - amazing).

I heard this track first in the backing for the E3 demo of MGS2 and it blew me away. Yes the lyrics are a little trite, but the vocal performance is truly brilliant. I'd recommend anyone get hold of the original track. I've only been using Reason for a few months (that's all I use for the mixes, Reason 1 and bit of CoolEdit), and after the last few mixes I felt confident enough to try something a little left-wing. The hardest part of the mix was working out the chord sequence to underpin the vocals, I'm not sure its the same as the original track. Took me a couple of evenings looping the vocals and trying to finds the right chords. I'm a drummer first, and a very poor keyboard player so that was hard.

Once I'd got the vocals and the chord sequence it was easy work. I've been listening to Portishead since '94 when I bought their first single and I find it quite easy to slot into that style - the plate 'verbs and the Hammond and a nice Mellotron string sound. Obviously there's a huge degree of luck in composition and I just happened upon the vocal lead sound that fitted like a dream.

I'm very glad you all like it. Hopefully I'll be able to improve upon it with later tracks.

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I will make it clear. I am not a fan of Ben Cousins's stuff.

However... I will say that this is his best remix on the site. The others I found repetitive and somewhat... irritating. Sorry. This one is starting to grow on me a little. I think the problem is a genre gap; I don't like hip-hop. I've never heard Portishead, so I can't make any connection there.

The part at 2:00 is my favorite - seemed to me to be a pretty powerful hit, and I like those. I would have liked the percussion to do something different, or to be a little bit more in the background. The voice is an excellent style for what you're doing.

It is an excellent example of the genre. Unfortunately, the genre does not appeal to me. For those who like it... well, it's worth the click.

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Wow. I mean...wow. 8O

You've almost left me speechless with this remix, it's incredible.

I was reminded almost instantly of Telepopmusik's song "Breathe", which is a good thing considering it's one of my all time favourites. The lyrics are from the game itself, and are so euphoric, and the remix itself makes it feel complete. I can easily see this in the music charts, it's amazing.

Kudos. You've made a lasting impression.

:D

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I've never commented on a mix before, but this one, this one is definetly special. It is unlike anything I have heard before on this site, which I think is hard considering how diverse the music at OverClocked is.

I usually read djpretzels comments while I'm loading the songs, and once he said vocals I thought that it was gonna be junk. But then he said Portishead. If anyone wants to hear what Portishead sounds like, look no further than this song, pretzel wasn't kidding when he stated the similarity.

In closing, I really really really enjoyed this ReMix, the only thing that still confuses me is from exactly where the vocals are from....whatever the answer is, it's still brilliant. GOOD WORK BEN!

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This... this has to be one of the best, if not THE best remix I have ever downloaded on this site. I passed this around to a few other DJs on my station (not really MINE, but you get the picture), and they are now adding it on their playlists to play on the air. This song encouraged me to register on the forums after about 8 months of downloading various songs. You sir, have a GREAT talent, and have put it to good use. And for the love of humanity, tell me you will do more like this.

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8O WOW! this is a great piece! It helps if your into a jazzy kind of mood, but the music mixes well and you should have no problem getting into jazzfunktechnobeat of the song. The vocals are awesome too, so an all around excellent remix!
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