ReMix:Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals "Such Sweet Sorrow" 3:40

TWO DECADES! OC ReMix officially turns 20 years old today, and to celebrate we've got a preview track from our upcoming Lufia II album, Of Gods and Men, scheduled for release in Q1 of 2020...

It's a synthwave take (more or less!) on composer Yasunori Shiono's far more pensive "Parting" - self-quote:

"Had a lot of fun with this one, which is my personal take on a genre-staple synthwave/retrowave arrangement of this MUCH slower source from Lufia II, for the album.

Big bass, big drums, lots of different synths, filters, modulation, sidechaining. Lots of those things. Plus a couple of sleazy, big-hair fakey-guitar solos, courtesy Orange Tree's Evolution Infinity. Normally, I'd use Shreddage but this particular lib is tailor-made to a certain 80's sound I would then have had to recreate, etc. Source connections should actually be pretty apparent, even with the genre shift, speed up, & changes to the progression... original melody is chill & relatively straightforward, so I was happy with how it worked under considerable re-tooling.

Title is a fun Shakespearean nod, and I associate car revs w/the 80s & synthwave in general, so why not? Credit to https://freesound.org/people/manychefsbroth/sounds/151877/"

This album's been in the works for many, many years, and in an effort to see it through to completion before the site turns 30, I signed up for a track. Lufia II is a shining example of a non-Square JRPG on the SNES that had a fantastic OST, and I'm psyched to see the full album finally reach the light of day early next year. There's a great variety of arrangements from a great variety of artists, and I'm proud to be among them! This mix is nothing too serious, just good fun, taking a slower but very solid melody and bumping it up, adding a running, rolling bass, some dreamy synths, and an extremely crunchy fakeyguitar that you can almost smell the hairspray on; fun times. Liontamer writes:

"Melodically straightforward, so no stopwatch needed. Cool interpretive arrangement approach, one that would have made me think this source tune was from the Mega Man X/Zero series rather than Lufia II. It even made me want to fire up melody's MMZ4 ReMix, "resolut(-ion)"; guitar soloing was also a nice similarity to that one as well. Nice work, djsynthwave, welcome aboard!"

Gario has taken over leadership of the album and is now the director; he adds:

"Mmm, lovin' the eclectic 80's sound you got going here, with a healthy blend of rock guitar and classic synths throughout (with heavier emphasis on them synths). I'm definitely a sucker for this style, especially with that rich, thick bass tying everything together. The car leaving in the beginning of a song about "parting" is a nice touch, too."

Twenty years of OCR means the site has now been a part of my life for just as many years as it hasn't, and I'm extremely proud of what we've accomplished and what we continue striving towards; the Internet has changed so much over the years, for better & for worse, and while we've adapted, there is much work to be done to modernize both technical & procedural aspects of our operation. This is difficult to accomplish while still keeping up with the day-to-day of featuring mixes & publishing albums, but we've made inroads and will continue moving forward in 2020. We want the entire year to be a celebration of our 20th anniversary, not just today, and that will mean change, experimentation, & growth. In addition to some badass mixes & albums, of course:) In 2019 I've personally worked hard & set aside time to ensure that I still get to make some music myself, that OCR isn't JUST about the logistics and coordination for me. I've done this out of passion for arranging, but also out of sheer necessity: part of the reason I started the site was to challenge myself, musically, and losing that spark compromises my motivation and inspiration in other arenas. I hope you dig this preview track from Lufia II: Of Gods and Men, which you can look forward to experiencing (along with a TON more!) next year, and I also hope you've dug twenty years of our community!