ReMix:Ragnarök Online "Hamadatan" 4:38

By Joshua Morse

Arranging the music of one song...

"Hamatan"

Primary Game: Ragnarök Online (Gravity , 2002, WIN), music by soundTeMP

Posted 2008-06-02, evaluated by djpretzel


So, Joshua Morse is pretty awesome. Just last week my girlfriend Anna, who listens to mixes randomly once in awhile, expressed her love for 'Dan's Ice Cream Truck,' with po!, and I gotta agree. Mr. Morse recently celebrated a birthday, so wish him some belated happy Bs if you seem him. We mentioned his Ragnarok Online project back when his last mix, a collab w/ Anthony Lofton, was posted, and now we've got one of its tracks (originally 'Hamatan') being posted as our first ReMix from the game's soundtrack. And what do you know? It's great.

It's also somewhat different from jm's motif, although stylistically most his key ingredients - tight sequencing, smooth production, excellent soloing, and an overall impeccable sense of rhythm & funk - are here. Things get an Asian/Middle Eastern infusion here, though, with sitar and ensemble strings favoring ethnic intonations whilst bass, drums, EP and synth stick to relatively traditional jazz voicings; it's a nice juxtaposition, and works quite well. The bassline here is ridiculously huge and funky and always doing something interesting, and there's tons of little details in the breaks and transitions to listen for. Not much else to say, really; this game clearly has a badass soundtrack that's had particular appeal to a talented mixer, and he's done a great job putting together an album that pays it homage. Be sure to check out Ragnarok Online: Hybridism for more - you won't regret it, whether you're an RO nut or not.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Marmiduke
on 2010-04-11 09:43:49

Amazing melding of the very distinguishable Morse sound with an unexpected eastern flavour. It's definitely more of a stylistic departure from the more centric retro-groove that I'm used to hearing. That said, I think this outreach into experimentation has resulted in one of my favourite mixes from Joshua. It's as combustible as any of his other pieces, but it burns just that much more intensely because of the new air around it.

All the staple ingredients of a classic Morse track are here; if you've heard anything else by him, you'll recognise his style right away. But that doesn't mean it wont be a pleasantly surprising earful of slick, sharp disco groove. As per usual, I love the crap out of this.

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Kaleb.G
on 2010-01-04 01:00:59
I swear I heard pieces of Kirby Superstar and Mega Man thrown in during the middle sections. Someone back me up here! For the record, I've never listened to Ragnarok's soundtrack, so...

Dopeness all around, though.

Didn't hear Kirby but I did hear Mega Man and what I think is Final Fantasy X-2.

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42
on 2009-01-18 22:38:04

8-O

:-P

Nice Asiatic grove vibe thing going on here.

Anyway, download this remix, and then download the whole album. You won't regret it.

Indeed, there's awesome stuff here.

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Dafydd
on 2008-10-23 03:00:58

I love this beat! This is good stuff.

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OA
on 2008-09-17 10:38:23

I'm pretty familiar with the soundtrack, and I wouldn't have expected this track to get the remix treatment, and especially not this well. Actually it seemed like the whole project was more obscure themes from the game.

Great beats, solid bass grove, and tons of layered percussion give this a fantastic foundation to work with, and the subtle details added with inaudible voices and synth flourishes make this whole thing excellent.

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metaphist
on 2008-09-09 16:13:55

I swear I heard pieces of Kirby Superstar and Mega Man thrown in during the middle sections. Someone back me up here! For the record, I've never listened to Ragnarok's soundtrack, so...

Dopeness all around, though.

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Martin Penwald
on 2008-06-24 16:32:35

Despite being a rather recent release, Hybridism is the remix album I've listened to most often, so that should make it obvious what I think about Joshua Morse's music.

The remix at hand, while having the typical JM groove, sticks out because of the middle eastern influence, and that makes it special. It actually reminds me of GeckoYamori Rayza's "Planet Oil" remix from Sonic 2.

Anyway, download this remix, and then download the whole album. You won't regret it.

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ChaosPlayer
on 2008-06-09 18:40:39

I would have to say this is a really spicey remix. Energitic, sweet, and relaxing. That's how it should allways should be created@.@ Really impressive stuff. At first, the begining sounds really middle eastern like and goes of a nice beat and remic after 20Secs or so.

Other than that, awesome stuff guys!:nicework:

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Brak
on 2008-06-04 20:11:59

Ah ok, that makes sense. Still a great tune, I was just curious.

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Liontamer
on 2008-06-04 20:10:39
I loved the mix. It brings back memories of when I couldn't stop playing that game.

I've got one question though. Is the name of the track misspelled? Here on OCR it's called "Hamadatan." Over on the Ragnarok Online: Hybridism site (http://roh.jmflava.com/) and in the game's music directory it's called "Hamatan." Looks like someone threw in an extra syllable when it made it to OCR?

In order to better distinguish ReMixes as standalone works, mixes aren't allowed to have the same name as the source tune. In this case, Josh threw in the extra syllable for OCR to slightly change the title up, yet keep it similar.

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Brak
on 2008-06-04 20:03:19

I loved the mix. It brings back memories of when I couldn't stop playing that game.

I've got one question though. Is the name of the track misspelled? Here on OCR it's called "Hamadatan." Over on the Ragnarok Online: Hybridism site (http://roh.jmflava.com/) and in the game's music directory it's called "Hamatan." Looks like someone threw in an extra syllable when it made it to OCR?

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munchi
on 2008-06-04 11:12:37

I've never played Ragnorok Online, but I love this song. (and all his other ones for that matter) Joshua has a new diehard fan.

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Equinox
on 2008-06-03 14:45:38

I would have never expected a remix of this song, ever. Kudos.

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EvilHorde
on 2008-06-03 09:45:04

Oh crap.. great stuff. Excellent production. I especially love the overall soundscape. Moody and awesome. And killer percussion. Oh yeah... SO-LID. Thanks a lot.

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Audity
on 2008-06-03 03:36:41

Probably my favorite source from the remix album and the original soundtrack. The original is there with the standard good style of Morse to really bring out a new and vibrant sound. I just wish it was higher bit-rate and included my favorite section of the original (it has all the other parts).

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Ragnarök Online (Gravity , 2002, WIN)
Music by soundTeMP
Songs:
"Hamatan"

Tags (5)


Genre:
Jazz
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electronic,Strings,Synth
Additional:
Regional > World

File Information


Name:
Ragnarok_Online_Hamadatan_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,200,896 bytes
MD5:
ef8bdc5441c253135b7458207fd7721a
Bitrate:
204Kbps
Duration:
4:38
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Ragnarok Online : Hybridism


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Published 2008-01-19
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