Liontamer Posted November 10, 2024 Posted November 10, 2024 I promised I wouldn't take so long to get back to ya'll again ;) And with ANOTHER Lena Raine remix too. Here's a remix of Starjump from Celeste, which was originally created for and featured on GameGrooves' G-Sides: A Nerdcore Tribute to Celeste! I produced it & wrote and performed the vocals, and all vibraphone parts were played by SQORE! About the Remix: The thematic heart of Celeste is the struggle of self - coming to terms with all aspects of you in order to grow as a person. In the game, our hero Madeline has her darkest and most intrusive thoughts made flesh - taunting, mocking, and sabotaging her journey up the mountain. This track remixes Starjump, which happens during the Chapter 6 Intro cut scene. There, Madeline meets with her antagonist ~Badeline~ overlooking the Northern Lights & calmly (and misguidedly) expresses the need to move on from this side of herself. This enrages Badeline, who even breaks through the game's dialogue window to sneeringly mock her, saying: "you think you can just leave me behind?" This track was built out entirely from the themes of this cutscene. It takes the POV of Badeline - the bad habits, the intrusive thoughts, the addictions, (whatever part of you that you wish could just vanish from the equation) - in that moment where you THINK you've overcome them. You haven't. It's a bit of a dark song - and the parallels to toxic, abusive relationships are intentional. It's also a bit of a silly song, theatrical and evolving and hopefully fun to listen to~ Enjoy! Lyrics: Leave Me Behind I guess this is it. I guess we’re through. Now that you’ve seen me alone. Now that you’ve seen me with you. I can be ok with this. I think I have to be. You will go away a bit. That’s cool. That’s cool. That’s cool with me. Cruel. You think you can just leave me behind? That’s unfortunate. I don’t think so. Nice try. You should just lay down and [die]. Let entanglement strangle your “rise and shine” away again. See, you and me? We’re intertwined. A knot. A friend forever and ever inside. Forever cruel inside. It doesn’t add up. You know it makes sense. Every year you blame me. You should blame yourself. You’ve been holding me at a Height you won’t summit, right? We both plummet though life. There’s no cushion. it’s tight and soul crushing. inside is so cozy, always rosy, never stress. never lonely. Why would you go? Cruel. You think you can just leave me behind? That’s adorable. I don’t think so. Nice try. You should just lay down and [die]. Let entanglement strangle your “rise and shine” away again. See, you and me? We’re intertwined. A knot. A friend forever and ever inside. You think you can just leave me behind? Games & Sources Celeste - Starjump (music) Celeste - Chapter 6 Cutscene (lyrical motif / theme)
Liontamer Posted November 10, 2024 Author Posted November 10, 2024 The track's 3:57-long, so I needed to hear the source theme used for at least 118.5 seconds for the source to be dominant in the arrangement: 0:04-0:58 (w/gaps), 1:06-1:34 (w/gaps), 1:47-1:58, 2:28-2:40, 2:42-3:09 (w/gaps), 3:09-3:14, 3:16-3:22, 3:24-3:28, 3:30-3:31 OR 109 seconds (w/gaps) + 39 uninterrupted seconds Thankfully didn't need to get granular with the stopwatching! The source tune's in use most of the way, it's just different rhythms. It's viable source usage, though I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed it like this. Maybe personal preference, but the source tune is so basic that altering the rhythms AND making it more pointilist-style with the notes AND having it be second fiddle to the spoken word makes the source arrangement feel more marginalized than I'd prefer. From :35-on in the source, there were sustained notes following the chord progression that would have functioned nicely as an anchor here. Even for the big finish at 3:40-3:54, that would have been a perfect place to have the melody be played straight but aggressively. None of that factors into my decision. Anyway, those crits make me no different than any other VGM arrangement scene fan who doesn't get their itch scratched. I'm just a couch potato yellin' out plays, so no tears for lil' old me. :-D Lush opening. Vocals from :31-:45 had some delay on 'em but overall felt pretty untreated and like they were amateur/unpolished. Some flat spots in the vocals that came and went [:38 ("alone"), :42 ("with you")]. Once more layering and effects came in at :45, everything else sounded more stylized, spacious, and solid. The vocal delivery from 2:00-2:35 was definitely my favorite part, especially the swagger at the "height you won't summit..." area; such smart lyrics the whole way though, but this was my favorite little piece. Just listening to it like it was an original work, divorced from "Starjump", I enjoy it on that level more. :-) Despite griping about the arrangement approach not using the source in the way I'd prefer, it's definitely there and it's a creative concept piece regardless. Cool way to tribute the Madeline/Badeline internal dialogue from Celeste and take an extended journey in this personality battle within oneself! YES
prophetik music Posted November 13, 2024 Posted November 13, 2024 opens with some sfx, but gets back to the melodic content right off the bat in the background in an altered fashion. some tasteful electric keys bring us to the intro of the vocals at 0:31. vocals sound untreated, but i like the variety of backing vocal elements brought in. there was some intentional wavering in the pitch, and i don't think it all quite works (1:02's just too indistinct to work imo). 1:07's a vibe shift, clearly more of an aggressive feel as it builds up towards the percussive hit at 1:36. some of the textures around the 1:45 range are pretty interesting. the live vibes add a lot. this whole section thematically fits the game but really doesn't feel tied to Starjump at all. there's another chorus where the untreated vocals seem more intense and obvious, and the vocals sound even more Lin-Manuel Miranda than they did before. there's some very nicely handled bells as it fades towards a faux ending, and then we get the intense banging chorus that we've been waiting for the whole song. this section not being swung was a little jarring to me (fitting!) and the deconstruction of the vocals over time was nice as well. i was on the fence for source usage on this one for a bit. the original's just a broken chord arpeggio for the entire track, so with the initial transformation you did to that pattern, i felt it was getting lost in some places. i think you tied it back in pretty well throughout with some of the voicings and especially the ending, however, and the whole package overall definitely feels more Starjump than individual sections do. i also was on the fence because i really didn't care for the vocal performance initially. in general i don't care for this style of spoken-word half-singing, and even after listening several times i don't think there's really a melody - learning the song and repeating it wouldn't really be singing, but more theater. i found myself being more open to it when i thought of the whole work as a performance instead of a recording. i wish the vocals were better treated - there's a lot of room sound on it which flattens the feel a lot. from a creative perspective, though, whoa. there's so much variety and clever interplay of parts over the four minutes of runtime. the vibes performance as well is perfect for this kind of quirky track. celeste continues to inspire some really creative and unique works and this is no different. nice work. YES
Gario Posted November 23, 2024 Posted November 23, 2024 I think we need to be careful when considering whether this is a performance vs a vocal arrangement, as when we've had similar material in the past that was considered a performance with a backing track we rejected it on the grounds that it was not in fact a video game arrangement but rather, y'know, a performance piece, and that's not what this site is about, fundamentally. I don't think the arrangement is a performance piece just because the vocals are often spoken, however - there's plenty of that in genres like rap, for example, and that's perfectly acceptable for the site - it's just a bit more... experimental with it's use of vocals. They're pretty rhythmic and are often sung with pitch, so I think this still works as a vocal track, personally - I think this is acceptable on the grounds that this is an arrangement and not a piece of performance. That all being said, concerning the arrangement itself while the source is a little tricky to hear in passing due to the rhythmic changes made to the texture it's still pretty apparent that it's there, when it's there. The production values in this are pretty nice, as well, and the instruments are pretty well blended. The vocals catch you off guard in the first pass, because they're raw. It's obvious that's also the intent, it doesn't sound unintentional or having amateur mistakes - it sounds more like Schoenberg's Sprechstimme (Speak-Singing). It's interesting. Not everyone is gonna "get it", especially at first, but give it a few listens. It'll grow on you, I promise. YES
prophetik music Posted November 23, 2024 Posted November 23, 2024 sprechstimme is a great way to put it, and i'm surprised i didn't make that connection myself.
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