Arranging the music of one song...
"Dark Madonna"
Primary Game: Wild Arms (Sony , 1997, PS1), music by Michiko NarukePosted 2011-12-21, evaluated by djpretzel
Eliot Britton, aka E-Bison, doesn't send us mixes very often, but each one has been excellent, and quality trumps quantity for me every day of the week and twice on Sunday, unless we're talking about money or beer. Of this frantic electronica concoction for WA:A&D, he writes:
"Wild Arms was fascinating because of the intersection of Wild West fantasy, sci-fi and magic. These ideas, combined with the simplicity of the themes, ended up pushing the remix in a strange direction. I really wanted the machines to sound alive, and animate the images of twisted, god-like demon robots that made Wild Arms so bad ass.
The OST themes are split apart and set against one another in various ways. Even if it sounds far removed from the source material, all the lines (bass, harmony, melody) are there. The only exception is the re-harmonization of the chant theme in the breakdown. I think I used a Renaissance counterpoint device for that part. All 6ths, 10ths and suspensions, but the arpeggiator kinda masks all that. The stylistic juxtapositions seem pretty crazy, but forcing a holy-sounding chant into a driving drum and bass track felt good. Hopefully, the mechanical textures and synth/sample work tie everything together. Also, this track broke in some new gear, including neat little analog vocoder. That's how the holy mother robot voices got in there."
Nice. The resultant sound is certainly distinct, I think he accomplished the described animation, and the choral components juxtapose nicely against the sci-fi synth textures. Director Jade writes:
""Holy Mother!" is correct. E-Bison completed an intricate and extremely pleasing track. So much detail was worked into the song. I adored E-Bison's track for the Xenogears project, so I wanted him to have a similar approach, but with more diverse atmosphere added. Indeed, he took a big risk, but that's what makes it one of the best tracks on the album in my opinion. Feel the groove."
What strikes me about this mix is not just the detail in the sound design, but in the actual structure - it seems unusual to pack in this many changeups & varied patterns, and to do so while combining so many different elements. It's an expansive mix that's hard to pin down and should certainly keep you guessing, and I think Eliot succeeded in mashing up fantasy, sci-fi, magic, robots, and, well, holy mothers, into an energized arrangement replete with ideas & the power to execute them.
Discussion
on 2016-06-10 20:00:28
I love this remix. It fuses such disparate elements and does them all really well. I just get it running through my head at random times, and it takes a LOT of repetitions to become unwelcome.
on 2015-12-28 12:26:07
This is kind of an odd remix for me. The vocalized chorus don’t seem to blend with the beats, almost making them sound out of sync to me. The bass and percussion work is great, and some of the synth work here is pretty good too. Not all, but some. Production wise, it’s decent. But for my ears, I don’t see myself listening to this more than once. Although Rexy does have an interesting point on this track being good for Audiosurf.
on 2011-12-26 21:23:20
Damn there's a lot of Dnb coming out of this album. Crazy soundscape and frantic feel. Machines coming alive was a good way to describe it. Really digging the beat in places. Loved the effect at 3:35 then the transition into the choir, which sounds strange and great. Really liked the build around 4:45, although then the release at 5:13 kinda flopped. I liked the switch to half time at 5:58. Good track
on 2011-12-21 19:24:15
Hehe, this is a weird little drum and bass song. It's got the frantic energy that drum and bass demands, but it's also got a lot of odd sci-fi sounding quirks to it. Again, as with a lot of these long ReMixes off of ARMed and DANGerous, it has enough variety to keep the ReMix from getting boring and such. There is still a melody going on that you can hear throughout it all, which was great, and I enjoyed the break halfway past the fourth minute. Cool stuff you have here.
on 2011-12-21 18:35:05
This mix is a fun a bit of a quirky mix coming from E-Bison - you don't really see it coming from this angle. There's some great execution here, although I think the ending is sort of weak when given how the rest of the song goes. The song doesn't manage to get old due to how many things are going on here, which is a good thing for people to take note of - the source itself isn't that complicated, so it's pretty much an example of how to have fun with a source and twist it in all sorts of ways while retaining its recognizable melody. Good job by the bison here!
on 2011-12-21 18:01:39
Oooh, E-Bison. Long time no see! (and what's with all the long electronica tracks in the mix-flood, Jade? )
I feel glad to see a return to form come through for Elliot, and indeed this comeback track demonstrates the capacities very capably well with some solid synth processing mostly within the lower-register that fit the feel of the source remarkably well, what sounds like a lot of clock-ticking sounds fitting with this etheral soundscape (leftovers from "Time Management"?) and some very classy filter/gating/envelope manipulation that have shown that his means of production have improved drastically since we last saw him.
In regards to the writing, I kind of feel torn. I don't mind drum n' bass every now and again and it's definitely a brilliant way of writing within the constraints of the genre. But structure-wise it may be a little difficult to follow and understand where it's going, and it would definitely take a few listens to even remotely get to grips with the progression. Though, you know what this means to me - this might be an interesting track to Audiosurf to (!!).
Either way, I offer a hearty welcome back to OCR after all this time, Elliot! If your production's up to this calibre, then goodness knows what future submissions may turn out to be like
Sources Arranged (1 Song)
- Primary Game:
-
Wild Arms (Sony
, 1997,
PS1)
Music by Michiko Naruke
- Songs:
- "Dark Madonna"
Tags (6)
- Genre:
- Mood:
- Aggressive,Dark
- Instrumentation:
- Choir,Electronic
- Additional:
- Time > Duration: Long
Time > Tempo: Fast
File Information
- Name:
- Wild_Arms_Holy_Mother_OC_ReMix.mp3
- Size:
- 14,649,263 bytes
- MD5:
- b6352f81e25bae42230bb3dd5386fdae
- Bitrate:
- 248Kbps
- Duration:
- 7:48
Wild Arms: ARMed and DANGerous
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