ReMix:Wild Arms 2 "Lord Blazer, The Robot Who Chills with da Peeps" 2:38

By ktriton

Arranging the music of one song...

"Battle: VS Lord Blazer"

Primary Game: Wild Arms 2 (Sony , 2000, PS1), music by Michiko Naruke

Posted 2006-04-18, evaluated by the judges panel


Kunal's original title for this was "Lord Blazer, the Robot who time travels back to current day to chill with da peeps" - we couldn't quite fit the entirety and didn't want to set the dangerous precedent of encouraging potential run-on sentences as mix titles, but still... let it be known. Wild Arms is one of those series I never really played, which spawned an anime I never really watched. Apparently ktriton's not played it either, but that doesn't stop his arrangement of the Battle vs. Lord Blazer theme from being creative and... rather different. Think "heavily-reverbed spacey jazz fusion" with percolating cross-delayed saxophone bits and a bass that is utterly recalcitrant to consistently anchoring the progression or sticking to quarter notes. There's a bit of an issue with clarity on the bassline, as when you apply this much reverb to a fretless bass, which is already very round, and then pan it right, as done here, it's gonna tend to act less like a bass and more like a wave of tone. I can see applying the extensive verb to the other elements, but I think leaving the drums and bass a little cleaner would have brought the arrangement forward and potentially given it more momentum as well. It's a short piece, though, almost like an impressionistic sketch, and seems less concerned with relaying a narrative than with setting a mood. Gray really dug the bass:

"...The chords are hot, and the bass writing is arguably some of the best I've ever heard in this community. This music reminds me of a lot of keyboard players of the late 80s/early 90s. This reminds me a lot of the Korg M1 and T series demos."

It does have the feel of a demo from that era, I'd tend to agree. I'd be one of the "arguers" as to this representing some of the best bass writing on OCR - I think it's some of the most unorthodox, and certainly the bass plays a more pivotal role, but sometimes it felt to me as if it were trying too hard to specifically avoid treading anywhere near convention - even if it would have helped the overall piece. Still, you have to love fretless - relatively underused in these parts. You might want to listen to this one a couple times right off the bat - it's short, after all, and the structure might reveal itself the second go-round. Quoth Larry:

"Overall, I liked the strangeness of the rhythms/beats here. Though the arrangement was there, everything performance-wise seemed badly off-kilter here to begin with, but you acclimate to it and "figure it out" better over several listens."

Let the acclimation commence. A peculiar, meditative piece from ktriton, which doesn't last long and doesn't really take you from point A to point B, but is nevertheless transporting.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2011-12-20 14:08:08

Nice title. I'm not really a fan of distorted jazz, but this was nice and for my tastes, was the perfect length. I gotta say that I enjoy the later part of this song when everything seemed to pick up a bit and the sax kicked in. It's a good ReMix, and I enjoyed listening to it for it's creativeness. I have a feeling that the more I listen to it, the more it'll grow on me. Nice work.

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OA
on 2009-12-02 15:57:01

geez this is a long song title, and it was *even longer*!? OMGZ~~

especially since the song is less than 3 minutes, the track is almost over by the time you are done saying the title. :

As for the mix itself, it's pretty synthy-sounding, but it is actually pretty rocking, and doesn't really make an attempt to convince us of its realism. I'd say that's the right call, because on it's own, it's pretty charming, with it's start-and-stop sax rhythms and smooth and slinky bassline. It's lite synth-funk for all. Dig it!

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Pachi Risu
on 2009-11-11 00:00:13

I'm a jazz person, so I enjoyed this a great deal. Great Job, I loved the whole thing. This is of course great praise coming from someone who loves Jazz. As already stated, I felt this ReMix to be too short of life. It's Jazz, if anything it should be a ludicrous amount of time.

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evktalo
on 2007-12-11 05:37:30

Great, great track. Arguably a bit short. The instrumentation is like a beautiful wash of sound. I love that synth sax arpeggio/composite.. it sounds incredibly good. If you think that it doesn't sound "real", stop listening to it like it should be and listen to it for what it is. If there's an instrument that part emulates, it's a sampler. :) I could well imagine a saxophonist constructing that part live by looping him/herself. Don't think just playing that live straight-ahead would sound nearly as good. The sax leads later on sound good enough for me, although *there* there might be some room for a little improvement.

Very soft, busy, underwater feel in this track. Me likey.

--Eino

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spineshark
on 2006-08-07 01:20:52

favorite remix ever...for now. every second of this song is total sonic interest. i especially love the weird key change at the end.

the original is campy as all hell, haha, and the melody was brought out really well in this one (the high notes of the phrases are like not recognizable to me in the original...).

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Geoffrey Taucer
on 2006-06-08 21:27:21

I feel like I gotta leave another review every time I listen to this. This just might be my favorite song on this site right now.

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Martin Penwald
on 2006-05-12 10:18:54

This piece needed some time to grow on me, but it did. I like this slightly distorted jazz-style very much. My only complaint would be that it is too short.

Hope to hear more from you.

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jorgandar
on 2006-05-02 14:32:23

ohhh..jazz piano. sounds like one of those "late night 3AM jazz mixes" on the radio. a little narration and it could be used in a movie.

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ktriton
on 2006-04-26 23:15:13

Alright. People need to stop posting 0-size fonts. Why do we even HAVE that option?

:P

Nothing to read here. Move on.

Seriously, stop reading this. Go away.

PS: VGDJ interview: http://www.vgdj.net/Shows/VGDJ_ep_038.mp3

At about 7:30.

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Geoffrey Taucer
on 2006-04-26 21:52:48
Nah, this is too weird and everything and shizz. Me no like. This iz coo'.

You fail, n00b

EDIT: you and your stupid zero-sized type

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Liontamer
on 2006-04-26 21:49:33

Nah, this is too weird and everything and shizz. Me no like. This iz coo'.

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Geoffrey Taucer
on 2006-04-26 21:47:41

God damn this is awesome. It kicked ass the first time I listened to it, and only gets better with every listen.

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G_D
on 2006-04-25 13:23:22

Good song. I have no specific complaints about this song, but it just isn't really my style. I loved the subtle string work (or maybe it was sax? I'm not good at picking out instruments) in the background, and it is a fun piece, but for some reason I can't really get into it.

Keep up the good work! 6/10

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DrumUltimA
on 2006-04-21 10:55:26

All I can say is that I dig. I love fretless bass. Maybe a better sax sound might've been nice-- like a live sax? Whatever though the intentions are all there. I totally dig.

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ktriton
on 2006-04-21 07:25:24
I won't be forgetting the name ktriton anytime soon.

Wow dude...thanks!

I did one of those quick, minute-long interviews for VGDJ in which I briefly explain the instrumentation and the reverb, so definitely check it out next Monday if you were curious about 'em.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Wild Arms 2 (Sony , 2000, PS1)
Music by Michiko Naruke
Songs:
"Battle: VS Lord Blazer"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Jazz
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Piano,Saxophone,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Wild_Arms_2_Lord_Blazer_The_Robot_Who_Chills_with_da_Peeps_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
4,462,555 bytes
MD5:
4936a57ff9cb5d5f59e0c160b8afe479
Bitrate:
220Kbps
Duration:
2:38

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