ReMix:Pokémon Trading Card Game "Ascent Through the Atmosphere" 3:54

Happy birthday Val! Stevo asked that we hold off posting this special mix for his lady's birfday, and we chivalrously agreed! In addition to celebrating Vilecat's day of birth AND being our very first ReMix from the Pokemon Trading Card Game, this track represents a DOUBLE WHAMMY for Emunator, aka Wes - as of today, he's now officially both a ReMixer AND our newest judge! Mr. Bortz wears his heart on his sleeve:

"Who did what: Emunator - Piano, arrangement assistance, Level 99 - Everything Else

This is going to be a very special, from-the-heart submission letter to you OCR folks. Last MAGFest, I met a wonderful girl who I've been dating ever since. It's basically due to ReMixing and OCR that I had the opportunity to meet Valérie, so it is completely appropriate that I decided to ReMix one of her favorite tracks from Pokemon Trading Card Game for her birthday this year. I stepped pretty far outside of my normal musical style to do this, and it took quite a long time to get it to where I was happy. Valérie means everything to me, and it was worth making this just to see the smile on her face. The song is meant to convey the feeling of bliss and contentment that she brings to my life. Hopefully others enjoy it as well.

The song is an ambient electronica mix of the Water, Rock, and Psychic Clubs that was inspired by Boards of Canada and Ulrich Schnauss. The original song didn't provide a whole lot to work with, but I stretched it out pretty far, keeping the main melody line intact for the majority of the song. The chord progression is a simplified version of the bass from the source, and there are two original sections to break up the song that have been source-inspired.

I have to give a huge amount of thanks and credit to Emunator, who really helped make this mix possible. By not only giving me lots and lots of feedback on the mix, but also agreeing to help by contributing piano, he helped me achieve the song I was going for. It was such a pleasure working with him, despite some of the technical issues we had to get over to make it all work. I look forward to the next time we get to collaborate.

I am so incredibly lucky to be a part of this community, and it has brought me so many incredible things as I've been involved. If you'll pardon me for ending on a sappy note, I can't imagine my life without Valérie now, and I have OCR and the video game remixing community to thank."

Can I get a collective, 80's-era sitcom laughtrack "Awwwwwww"?? Thanks. Stevo gives back a lot, especially behind the scenes, where he's become rather integral on the logistics side of the fence, so it's really US that should be thanking HIM, but then we'd just be a bunch of bros standing around thanking each other ad infinitum, and that's how civilizations collapse... mix has a lofty, transporting effect and is almost less electronica and more dream-pop or ambient rock - take your pick. OA writes:

"This is a really good expansion of the theme, and seems to be a pretty seamless collab, despite what may or may not have actually happened during it's creation. I love the epic drawn out vocals as well, and the gritty guitar helps give the song extra character."

halc begrudgingly adds:

"Great choice of source.. this is one of the best gameboy soundtracks ever made, imo. love the arrangment. reminds me of OA's lighter stuff sometimes with the stuttered synths. also digging the guitar tone and lead synth, and all the pitch bending in the backround. very cool, creative stuff, and a great collab. I suppose Emunator can be an ocremixer after all. ;D"

I like how the piano blends into the EQ curve of the crackle at the end; almost reminds me of Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Hero' jammin-with-the-radio intro. It's a very interesting source that tried something a little different on the Gameboy hardware, and the treatment here expands that rather Spartan structure with a soundscape that exhales a bit more and replaces the somewhat lonely vibe of the source with something more uplifting. Happy bday to Val, congrats & reciprocated thanks to Stevo himself, and props to Emunator for picking up two titles, Judges & ReMixer, on the same day!