ReMix:Xenogears "Spirit of the Desert" 7:00

Oh shoot, it's time to bring Xenogears to the club! We've got a BRAND NEW KING for the longest gap between OC ReMix mixposts as WhoAmI? returns to the front page 21 years after his last featured arrangement! He's picking up right where he left off with Square RPG coverage courtesy of an extended electronic trip to Xenogears' city of Dazil!

Mysterious as ever, WhoAmI? submitted this and let the music speak for itself with no comments. Thankfully, prophetik music has been known to get down in the club himself with Yasunori Mitsuda's work, so we have the perspective of a judge who can really appreciate WhoAmI?'s electronic approach:

"hard to not hear Pillar of Salt when i hear this original.

some old-school synth sounds in this track. the hats and the 303 bass at about 1:25 or so are super retro and i love it. the subsequent stutter in the lead at 1:34 was perfect. around this point i noticed that there's no actual pads in the track - talk about progressive, that's a long time for additive arrangement - but there's some background synth work right after this so that's great.

there's a 'drop' at about 2:40 that functions as a great palate cleanser and allows some new synths to come in. i liked the shift a lot as a method to drive the track forward. that said, around the 4:00 point i again was getting ready to hear something else. there's a shift at 4:28 towards more sustained synths which was a nice contrast to what we've seen to this point.

there's a recap with the same three over two pattern to a drop that leads to the outro, which is extended as expected for a track that's as patient as this one is. the actual end (the reversed filtered gong) is a little weird, but it's a fine way to cut off the ending vs. just a kick/snare combo like you'd normally see.

this is a fun track to listen to. it doesn't go anywhere fast, but it's nice work with synths and sounds great when really pushed up volume-wise. nice work."

Just to ensure you don't leave this lengthy listening experience feeling as if you only got a taste of one style, WhoAmI? takes a turn at 5:52 to the more Arabian-inspired feel of Mitsuda's original theme, only combined with some electronic elements, to take things home in the final minute. Alright, he definitely got us with an unexpected twist to cap it, but can we really be surprised when dealing with an international man of mystery like WhoAmI? A warm welcome back to one of OCR's longest-tenured, yet majorly dormant, names with a triumphant revival! Don't call it a comeback though, his musical chops never left. :-)