ReMix:Tetris "Linear Groove" 3:55

By Ben Briggs

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"A-Type (Korobeiniki)", "B-Type"

Primary Game: Tetris (Nintendo , 1989, GB), music by Hirokazu Tanaka

Posted 2007-08-23, evaluated by djpretzel


So, my girlfriend and I were at the 9:30 a while back, waiting for Gogol Bordello to come on, when I start feeling incredibly sick. We ended up having to leave before they started, and she got sick later so we think it was the appetizers at GB, but either way, it was a letdown, because we were both really psyched to see them. They're sort of "gypsy punk", and the only reason I mention the event - besides my predilection for irrelevant anecdote - is that I've always thought they'd do a GREAT Tetris cover, if they could ever be persuaded as such. In the meantime, though, Mr. Briggs comes through in spades with an eccentric blend of rock drums, retro electronica, and ethnic instrumentation. We're working on revising the standards currently, and we gave some serious thought to banning Tetris mixes, because the music involved wasn't originally written for a game. This *is* an important part of our standards - otherwise we'd get Star Wars mixes up the wazoo and any licensed Need for Speed rap would be fair play, which doesn't really maintain an emphasis on video game music - but for Tetris we agreed we'd make an exception. The main theme, Коробе́йники, is so pervasively known worldwide as the Tetris theme, despite its roots as a Russian folk song from the 19th century, that we felt it could constitute the one and only exception to an otherwise strictly enforced aspect of our standards. Heck, at Otakon this year there was an ice cream truck playing the theme, and people were lining up in spades because it was "the Tetris theme," as onlookers commented. How many of them knew said theme was really Korobeiniki? Who knows, but it has a unique status as the most widely known piece of video game music that wasn't written for a video game, regardless.

So, this policy decision comes at an appropriate time, given chthonic's excellent submission. This piece is a lot of fun; from the swinging, somewhat lo-fi rockish drum intro that's followed by some chiptunish textures in a funky jam to the intentional vinyl crackling effects to the unexpected cello and strummed/plucked guitar turn at 2'09" followed by some shoutin' samples, it's definitely both energetic and peculiar, in a good way. If the tempo was a little less perfect and you added in some crowd ambience, it would almost sound like a live recording; I could definitely see the arrangement being performed live very effectively. Actually, throw in some vodka-induced shouting and somewhat goofy singing, and it'd make a great Gogol Bordello track. So, while we may have missed them in concert, we get our zany Russian regardless. Всё что ни делается, всё к лучшему.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Black_Doom
on 2015-01-22 14:26:49

What I like about early Ben's mixes is presence of live instruments. I like how playful this mix sounds. The lo-fi rock drums and some live-recording noises works greatly. The Korobeiniki section whcih starts at 1:41 is my favorite section, actually. And that drop at 2:09 is incredibly great. You know, it gives this bouncy and energetic mix some ethreal/floating feeling. The acoustic guitar cello work is just incredible. Великолепная работа, Бен! :)

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Crulex
on 2013-04-10 14:49:02

This ReMix is ridiculously infectious. Seriously, the beat and funk to this mix makes me really want to move around! I actually liked the slow down ending. Nice to hear a great ReMix of the B Music.

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WillRock
on 2011-01-12 15:59:17
so dude like you totally wrote this song on my computer

so like theoretically im the reason it exists

props to me

Sup halc.

Nice mix, pretty funky stuff. I think the bass is too upfront - or the leads are too in the forground - and as a result, this mix gets stale quicker than it should, as the bass isn't very intresting considering its so upfront.

Not to say its bad, its just unpolished slightly.

Funky stuff from Chthonic! :P

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FallenOne
on 2010-02-05 20:34:32

Very funky and listenable mix of A-Type, first tetris mix I've actualy grabbed and added to regular listing, nicely done!

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OA
on 2009-12-10 17:48:13

Fun and funky, this takes a very serious source and makes it into something that's catchy and quirky. I'm not sure of the drum sound used really, but it's small apples compared to the strengths on display here. Transitions were good between themes, and everything was clicking for most of the time. I loved that acoustic guitar breakdown.

Good work!

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supergameland
on 2009-10-29 04:09:40

Hello,

I come from France.

Just few words to say that I listen this music about 2 years and I very appreciate it ! You're remix is good. How can I create some mix too ?

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Benjamin Briggs
on 2009-09-25 04:03:15

bumping this review thread to point out that one of the tags down there is "goofy"

awesome

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Red_Link
on 2009-09-14 23:45:12

I, surprisingly, actually liked this one. This was surprising to me, because when the beginning came in with just those drums, I was thinking 'Oh, please no... not another with just loud drums. Not a beatbox remix...,' though not in such polite terms. It's one thing I HATE in music - drums drowning out everything else. Also the same with electric guitar and screaming into mikes, but hey. The relaxed tempo and the swing rhythm were very nice, and makes it one of those you can listen without really having to focus on it much. It is mildly repetitive, but then, so it the Tetris theme, the original name of which escapes me. One of the things you did nicely to break that repetition was to add slightly different notes that that bass was doing, which made each part identifiable. All in all, it seemed like a nice piece. The slowdown ending didn't quite match it, and (probably just me) the beginning was waaay too heavy on drums, but I think I'd give this one an 8/10 anyways. Yet another hit by Chthonic!

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Detrius
on 2009-02-22 19:13:45

I`m glad to hear that I´m not the only one who thinks that this remix is a bit addictive. For the last 10 days I`ve listened to it so often that I started to get worried... now I feel better.

"Nice job, chthonic."

dito

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CobaltDelta
on 2008-09-21 16:45:25

This mix just happened to pop up for the first time while I was driving home with my MP3 player on shuffle mode.

While it may not be the best mix ever, it certainly wins points for how addictive it is. I'll definitely end up leaving it on repeat for the next hour or so. Okay, so it's lacking in a few places, but that certainly doesn't make it a bad mix in my book. I'd give it an 8.9/10, personally.

Nice job, chthonic.

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wayamy27narf
on 2008-03-03 15:30:01

It's time to come out of my lurker cave and make my singular post for the year. This song has been popping up a tremendous amount of times on my mp3 player. 2:09 kept really jumping at me, and for a while I couldn't figure out why. Then it finally hit me, it's very reminiscent of "Puttin' on the Ritz". That was such an AWESOME touch. Just how intentional was that? It's not my favorite Tetris mix, (can't say why) but it's resting comfortably in third place.

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Benjamin Briggs
on 2007-09-19 04:46:15
so dude like you totally wrote this song on my computer

so like theoretically im the reason it exists

props to me

he is not lying, folks

props to him, indeed

in hindsight, your computer is really slow dude

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a'ndu
on 2007-09-17 10:37:05

so dude like you totally wrote this song on my computer

so like theoretically im the reason it exists

props to me

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Benjamin Briggs
on 2007-09-03 15:10:50
Simple and slick. I love when a mix takes a solid underlying groove (like what’s established with the synth that kicks off the source material at 0:09) and runs with it. When that foundation is setup, there’s almost nothing you can do as a musician to screw it up. The guitar breaks at 2:10 and 2:39 are needed to break the monotony and they are great in their own right.

Not sure what you were going for with the decision to add vinyl pops and hisses throughout major portions of this. Yeah, it fills out holes in the soundsscape but at the cost of sound quality. And if it was the lo-fi thing you were after, the rest of the mix just doesn’t echo that. Meh, I’m probably biased after having heard earlier versions sans vinyl effects.

Speaking of that, I have a wip of this titled “Tetraphobia WIP v2.” Where in the timeline of WIP - VGmix - OCRemix does that version fall?

that was in the VGMix WiP stage, but it's almost an exact replica of the final version (I only worked on this mix thrice)

also, about the vinyl ambiance... you have no idea, dude

I actually rendered two versions of the song, one with the vinyl and one without, and I listened to them back to back on loop for about 3 nights before releasing this

when push came to shove, for me, the payoff of hearing the vinyl effects alongside the pizzicato with that ridiculous lo-fi filter combo was enough for me to leave it in

I'm just glad you heard that it was a instrumentational (is that a word?) sacrifice... you're definitely one of the scarce detailed listeners I've found in recent years

instrumentational

lol

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Benjamin Briggs
on 2007-09-03 14:54:10
Eh, you're right. I've been listening to it more, and it's growing on me.

That being said, I still think it's missing something, but I can't put my finger on what.

could it be that it's intentionally missing something? 8-)

my overall point here is ocremixes are music, and a very strong niche genre at that

djpretzel linked to the dictionary.com definition of a big word for "meaningful" in the site mission for a very real reason, and it's my personal opinion that a very large portion of the community doesn't recognize that reason... however, for the sake of site growth and musical expansion, they are welcomed and guided as well as possible (given the dismal number of detailed listeners), and that is an extremely fair trade-off

dunno if that makes any sense, but I'm at least glad you took the time to listen in a different mindset... that means a lot to me as a musician

bai

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
Tetris (Nintendo , 1989, GB)
Music by Hirokazu Tanaka
Songs:
"A-Type (Korobeiniki)"
"B-Type"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Mood:
Goofy
Instrumentation:
Acoustic Guitar,Electronic,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Tetris_Linear_Groove_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,742,596 bytes
MD5:
e6ca2124e17f23e40d81bb23cbca8aed
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
3:55

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