ReMix:Pokémon X "Forest Fire" 3:37

Last up from Apex 2015: This Is the Moment is Amphibious, whose SSB ReMix from Apex 2014 we JUST featured - but you can never have too much land/sea duality! This POKEMANZ ECKS arrangement is a more aggressive EDM affair, coupling a sweet intro shred guitar riff with ginormous beats; album director DarkeSword writes:

"Pokémon at a fighting game tournament?! WHAAAT? Apparently that's how they roll at Apex. You won't hear any complaints from me though. Jordan knocked this outta the park. Solid beats and I love that crunchy, side-chained guitar, which is something you don't usually hear. Pokémon battles are usually a little slower paced than the typical fighting game fare you usually get at Apex, but this track still has a driving energy that keeps you hyped up. Love it!!"

Sidechaining here is loud & proud and very explicit, more or less defining the overall sound. Amphibious gives us some backstory on the track:

"This mix was an interesting new style to me. I've been dabbling in more hard-hitting electronic tracks lately, but this one seemed pretty unique compared to some of the other stuff I've tried. As much as I loved working on my chillout track last year, this was a nice change of pace. The "Stantalune Forest" theme was a cool one to work with. I definitely made it way more intense at times, but during the bridge section I tried to keep the mysterious feel of the original intact. Overall, I was pretty happy with how this turned out, and I'm glad to be a part of the Apex album once again!"

Definitely a good contrast to Jordan's Apex contribution from last year, with a more assertive/foreground style that's got a vaguely Asian melodic/harmonic flavor to it and which certainly brings both the funk & the untz, in abundance. Keys take the spotlight for a breather at 2'02" with a nice oasis of beatless panache before the track builds back up. Great stuff; cool to see Jordan branch out a bit & contribute such a great, high-octane addition to the Apex 2015 lineup. Congrats to Jordan, Shariq, Ivan, and the rest of the Apex 2015 crew for putting together another fantastic album, and congrats to the Apex organizers for powering through what must have been a stressful setback & finding a way to keep the dream alive!