ReMix:NiGHTS into dreams... "She Can Has Long Ears" 3:53

By Fishy

Arranging the music of one song...

"She Had Long Ears"

Primary Game: NiGHTS into dreams... (Sega , 1996, SAT), music by Fumie Kumatani, Naofumi Hataya, Tomoko Sasaki

Posted 2011-10-28, evaluated by the judges panel


I like my NiGHTS mixes how I like my tacos... Fishy. Actually, I prefer beef, and Cain is but one member of a talented platoon of mixers, led by Captain Bortz, who this year have given Sega's pedo-purple flying hero a magnificent musical tribute. I guess I just like thinking about tacos; sue me. Mr. McCormack writes:

"I quit about 5 projects a while back because I was a bit disenchanted with the process of remixing music from games I hadn't actually played. This was the only track I was working on at the time that survived the cull just because of how silly it was. I really had no idea what I was doing for much of this. Definitely a challenge to work on, featuring several places that were really not my comfort zone at the time. Definitely a Muse influence on the first half of the track. The rest in an obscure mish-mash of Satriani, Jazz, S3&K and god knows what else."

So Muse... were his muse? How symmetrical. The arrangement is indeed schizo, with some wild changeups, call-and-answer battles, and a weird blend of styles, including what sounds almost like Russian folk music, a crazy carnival, jazz wankery, rock, and prog all rolled into one. I use "wankery" as a term of endearment, of course. Director Stevo "Touch the Kids" Bortz gives good comment:

"This song is a rollercoaster ride. The source is extremely difficult to arrange, with three distinct sections that greatly vary in genre. Mr. McCormack follows suit with a tri-sectioned track that draws elements from Alt-Prog Rock and Jazz, among other influences. With top-notch production, insanely tight guitars, superbly sequenced support instruments, and likely the most insane guitar/piano-organ solo battles I've ever heard, 'She Can Has Long Ears' defies classification. This song is great for the active listener, so I politely say "shut up and enjoy the ride" to you."

Cain paneled this himself, just to see what his observant judgepeers thought; OA writes:

"I heard you are good at guitar."

Deia adds:

"Preposterous, fish don't have fingers, and therefore cannot play a guitar."

They'll be here all week at the Tropicana. Pensive insights aside, this track gave Lucid Dreaming a bit of the good old crazy, which juxtaposed nicely against the dominant thread of happy, flying-with-pants wonderment. My only nitpick was that, from a mastering perspective, it seemed like the very high end was a bit muted, and it could have been opened up a bit more for an airier sound. That's an extreme nitpick, though - I just didn't want all this praise to go to Cain's head, so I had to mention something. Great, more eclectic work from Fishy that still upholds his excellent production & performance standards!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 12 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Black_Doom
on 2014-12-11 10:38:55

One of my favorites from NLD. This one is another genre chimera, but it's also another awesome chimera. Cain made a solid 3-section song that is almost 4 minutes long and it works! I love the dark intro, but for me this fully picks up at 0:43. But then it suddenly becomes jazzy, circus-like music with mad piano and crazy guitar vs. organ battle. Damn, that solo at 2:42 is fucking awesome. The last section is nice as well. Great work, Fishy!

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TillyFun
on 2013-07-14 12:30:47

Oh wow, now this is really special! :D I just love how it sounds and moves around ^__^ Has a good kick to it too! :3

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Tuberz McGee
on 2011-12-25 21:27:12

All I've gotta say is

DAT BASS it makes me pumped every time I hear this.

Then after a playful melody line the guitar comes in. She can has long prog metal leeeds.

1:53 just brings hilarity at the fun playful Jazziness.

This whole album is about playful melodies and having fun with the music.

Which is EXACTLY what has happened here.

And you thought that was an ending at 3:00? Nope. He was just warming up.

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Mirby
on 2011-12-23 09:19:15

I already made a “can has” joke with the Attention Deficit review, so I’ll refrain from doing so here. Guitar at 0:22! It’s quite epic, I must say, and quite a counterpoint to the previous track. The riffs repeat until 1:14, when they enter a new cycle. I’m just waiting for the guitar solo. This has an awesome atmosphere. Add in the fact it keeps switching styles (at 1:54 is a good example). And the guitar solo comes in at about 2:08. This a very crazy song… I love it!! It keeps switching between guitar and keys. Fake ending at 2:52. It leads into even more epic guitar at 3:04 or so that comes right back into the riffs used earlier in the track. Suddenly, Strago’s theme from Final Fantasy VI popped into my head. Explosion at 3:47 or so ends it.

Great song. Nice listen. There's my review of it from the album.

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Neblix
on 2011-12-15 16:35:51

Sweet bass synth in the beginning. :D

The chords and harmonies remind me a bit of Final Fantasy. The guitar tone is thick and low, a little too much for my taste, but it's not exactly bothering me. The rhythms seem a bit simple. It's definitely not the best work I've heard from you, but it's pretty rocking. The guitars seem a bit detached from the drums.

SWEEET Jazz break at ~2 minutes. Those rides, man, love em. And that piano. It's glossy and punchy, fills up the empty parts of the soundscape nicely. The guitar tone is muffled and the phasering seems a bit like a gimmick more than adding to the tone.

I guess I just don't like the guitar tone in this mix. The arrangement itself is nice and diverse (love that jazz break), but the production needs a tiny bit of work.

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Crulex
on 2011-12-09 10:24:48

Oh, yep, I hear the Muse and Satriani in here. Loving the guitar/piano-organ combo used in this ReMix. I enjoyed the change up around 3:00 and this is probably just me, but I got a ethnic vibe off one of the guitar's melodys (in the way it was played, not so much the sound) in there around 3:25, which was cool. Wonderful work, Fishy.

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Bahamut
on 2011-12-02 00:44:17

I can see the Muse influence somewhat - I think to really hit that here, that synth needed to have more presence in the first half. As it is, it sits sounding too thin throughout the whole song. Interesting arrangement for the most part though.

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Fishy
on 2011-12-01 08:58:00

Yeah Uprising was totally what I was going for. Was definitely a challenge getting all the genres from the original across both faithfully and originally at the same time.

I should play this on Saturday (lol j/k I can barely play it at all, that solo is comped to hell and back).

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Rexy
on 2011-11-30 14:57:35

I stated at the NiGHTS project listening party that this was one of my favorites in the whole thing, if only for the ridiculous way of writing and handling of the source material.

And indeed the track didn't disappoint with an intro reminiscent of Muse's "Uprising" with the synth bass and some solid performance work before bringing in the source material melody ay 0:47. The arrangement ended up being modestly straight-forward since, but given the direction and genre changes throughout the whole thing and the general execution behind these transitions - even production-wise - it works well even with the light expansions thrown in along the way, most notably the Satriani-esque piano/guitar solos past the 2:30 mark. I gotta say the change to the downbeat section at 3:00 was the icing on the cake for me, returning to the core element of the melody and showing a clear amount of showmanship with the guitar expression there.

I'm definitely keeping a hold on this one for some time - takes guts to handle such a complex track and bring it to that kind of level, so nice going Fishy! (Oh, and see ya on Saturday :D)

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Emunator
on 2011-10-28 20:54:04

Fishy never disappoints, even when he's doing off-the-wall stuff like this. You can always tell he's had his hand it in it from the wacky melodies and unconventional instrument choices mixed seamlessly with prog rock shenanigans. Wasn't much of a fan of the source but this mix hit home :-D

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GTAHater836
on 2011-10-28 20:29:08

Now we just need Trans-Siberian Tuning Fork and I'll be satisfied with the Lucid Dreaming singles.

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djpretzel
on 2011-10-28 13:40:34

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
NiGHTS into dreams... (Sega , 1996, SAT)
Music by Fumie Kumatani,Naofumi Hataya,Tomoko Sasaki
Songs:
"She Had Long Ears"

Tags (7)


Genre:
Progressive Rock,Rock
Mood:
Aggressive
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Organ,Piano,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
NiGHTS_into_dreams_She_Can_Has_Long_Ears_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,053,290 bytes
MD5:
7387da3d401cc4c348b61565c6affd99
Bitrate:
239Kbps
Duration:
3:53

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