ReMix:Silver Surfer "Wanking with the Alien" 4:37

Still more mixes from artists we haven't heard from recently!! In this case it's a twofer, with an arrangement by Midee (2006) featuring smokin' lead guitar from prozax (2008), taking on Tim Follin's legendary score to the notoriously difficult Silver Surfer on the NES. Jason & Dan have teamed up several times in the past, with great results, so there's no real reason not to expect similar kickage of ass. The former writes:

"This arrangement was done for MAGFest's Japan Tsunami/Earthquake fundraiser relief fund. Thanks to Arto Helske for his donation!

I first heard the music to this game a little over a decade ago, and absolutely loved it. Though there isn't a whole lot of tracks, I was amazed at what Follin did with the NES palette, transforming it into a soaring flight of epic fancy that shoots you right out into space, rocking your face off the entire way. Then I actually played the game (yikes!).

Despite the title, we actually tried to keep the wank to a minimum, as in not much more than the original. I decided to try my hand at rhythm guitars this time around, leaving Dan (prozax) solely to lead guitar duties. Rather than load it up with epic orchestral sounds or giant pads, I opted for more of a 70s prog rock feel, with my usual space echo effects interspersed with bubbly and arpeggiated synths with some vintage string machines ...and there's even cowbell!"

Cue obligatory fever remark... This is definitely one of those soundtracks that has a certain elevated status among VGM diehards, and Jason describes it very eloquently & accurately; glad we've finally got our first mix! Definitely a prog vibe, with some of those synth solos channeling Styx in particular at times. You're fooling yourself if you don't believe it. An ever-ascending series of riffs climbs into the stratosphere as part of an intro that sets the outer-space progressive rock pacing off, and what's this?!? Not only is there cowbell, but a veritable COWBELL SOLO circa 1'03" - nice syncopation on the drums. Synth solo at 1'36" would put the Emerson in ELP, and the overall aesthetic is both of the era & exceptionally well-executed. But what to make of the mix title?? Does it refer to the speaker wanking along with (in addition to) a single alien, or is "the Alien" in this case referring to all aliens, i.e. any alien. Or is the speaker the only one wanking, with an alien simply in nearby proximity, and not objecting? Or is the speaker actually using an alien... to wank? In a word: YES (actually, WillRock informed me it's a reference to a Joe Satriani album that was itself referencing the comic!)

Midee & prozax are two collaborators who absolutely work seamlessly as one complete whole, and this is yet another ReMix that proves it. Awesome stuff that takes me back simultaneously to the days when I played the NES, the later years when I got into prog rock a bit more, and also the years when we saw submissions from Jason & Dan more often - all great memories. Great to hear from both artists again, and hope to hear more, sooner!