ReMix:Terranigma "Groovin' Like a '90s Kid" 3:02

ONLY '90s KIDS WILL REMEMBER... funky fresh Terranigma vibes? It's more likely than you think, as this new jack swingin' Jorito & co. jam from Paths Less Travelled: Terranigma busts out a sweet, bumpity synth bass, drum groove that would get Boyz II Men on bended knee, sleazy elec. guitar solo from Juan "Sixto" Medrano, some fantastic synth work, and even a rap. The whosits-whatsits are as follows:

• Jorito - arrangement, production
• Gnegon Galek - lyrics, vocals
• Juan Medrano - electric guitar

Jorito (Jorrith Schaap) writes:

"Perel" was a last-minute drop-out on the album, and I was sad it would not be on the album. So, I did what any good album director with music skills would do: arrange it myself. Originally, it started out as a chiptune track, just because I wanted something simple that could be finished quickly. When pondering a title, I recalled this YouTube review of Terranigma, where they called Perel, a supporting character with a skateboard, a "typical '90s kid." Since it already had the groove and bounce that you hear now, I quickly settled on "Groovin' Like a '90s Kid" as a title. When I sat down again the next day, I figured "Why not take this bounce to the next level and go all the way new jack swing and '90s cheese with it?" And, so, it happened. Can't say "no" to the cheeze, after all. And gotta have those orchestra hits, too. No holding back, gotta go all out.

I quickly figured out that it would need rap to make it a true homage to the '90s, but... where does one find a rapper who not only knows Terranigma to write some suitable lyrics but can also deliver it quickly? After some asking around, Gnegon offered to help out. He knew the game, had done a single rap verse in one of his own tracks before and wouldn't mind giving it a try. After some back and forths, he wrote some lyrics from Perel's '90s-hipster perspective and was able to get it done just before the deadline. Same goes for Juan; we both share a fondness for melodic stuff and we both have warm fuzzy memories of the '90s. He liked what he was hearing, and was able to help out again just in time with his signature Sixto sound.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to do this track, and maybe a bit of a guilty pleasure. So, while I was sad it was dropped, I am happy I picked it up and got to play around with it. Also major kudos to Gnegon and Juan, who hopped on board and helped bring the track to the next level with their performances, at the drop of a hat, no less.

Hope it makes you groove like a '90s kid too, I know it did make me!

As a quick source breakdown, I mostly took the main melody (:09-:26 from the source) and used that at 0:20-0:38, 1:05-1:23, 2:09-2:36, and 2:36-2:54. I incorporated the repetitive single note motif (:27-:34 in the source) as a clavinet with some extra notes, a bit more groove, and some variations in 0:38-0:47, 0:56-1:03, 1:23-1:39, and 1:50-2:00."

Gnegon Galek chimes in:

"When I reached out to Jorito to do the vocals, I had no idea what I was going into, other than that I had to rap. To be honest, I'm out of touch with OCR, so I was very positively surprised to learn that it's for a Terranigma track! I love this game. I was recommended to play it a few years back by one of my closest friends and it was one of the few video games that moved me to tears and I had so much fun playing it too. I immediately loved the idea for the track as well; practically all my artistic integrity is rooted in the '90s, one way or the other. Wish I knew earlier of this project, would've totally submitted a whole track of my own!"

Album co-director Trism adds:

"Talk about an 11th-hour contribution! When Jorito casually mentioned that he might pick up "Perel" after the original remixer dropped their claim, I was quite surprised, considering we had something like a week until the deadline. Then, a day later, he dropped what could easily be considered an advanced WIP on me, then, 2 days after that, he just casually mentions he's planning a rap section and a cameo from Sixto. Then, a few more days go by and, BOOM; completed track. Seriously, this dude's work output utterly terrifies me."

Jealous; takes me much, much longer. Rexy evaluated:

"This track nailed two goals in one here - to create something out of the very brief melodies, and to seamlessly capture 90s production tropes. Those presentation values are high from the get-go - a clean mixdown, appropriate uses of reverb to capture the roomy feel of new jack swing, and a fun palette that appropriately captured the feeling. Staccato bass, record scratching, well-timed orchestral hits, synth strings with minimal expression, the choice of tones for both the synth lead and Juan's guitar work - this instrumentation is confident in its intended delivery.

And when I said the source's melodies are brief, they are very brief as Jorrith had outlined in the notes. But he did a lot to change things around - a transposed key, grace notes to separate variations from one another, and opportunities during both Juan's first guitar solo and Gnegon's rap to bring the melody further into the background. The synth lead is well articulated, Juan and Gnegon's performances are also clean and energetic, and all the background writing matched the 90s groove as much as the production. It feels like a complete package, so much to the point that I can't think of a better way to reflect a character with a dress sense from that era. Totally bangin'!"

Did I mention ORCH HITS? Lots of ORCH HITS here. Cross-panned, even. It's a common fallacy that lack of citrus & vitamin C can lead to scurvy - it's actually lack of ORCH HITS. So if you don't want scurvy, listen to this mix once a week. I can think of far worse weekly uses of ~3 minutes of your time, and this way you also avoid disease. This doesn't feel like a last-minute addition at all; the swing is tight, the kick is thick, the synths are funky, the strings are fakey, the guit is sexy, the rap is (appropriately!) cheesy, and it all comes together in a neatly-wrapped character/decade homage package, with a bow. Enjoy!