ReMix:Secret of Mana "Meister der Magie" 4:37

From the newly released tribute album, EXCALIBUR (now available on alllll the services), Jorito can finally unveil his heavy-hitting folk/rock tribute to Secret of Mana, his liveliest... or is that "livest"... arrangement yet! Lookit dat lineup!

• Jorito: arrangement, vocals, accordion, mixing production
• Earth Kid: harp, dulcimer, vocals
• Gamer of the Winds: tin whistle, sopranino, soprano recorder, alto recorder
• Matheus Manente: guitars
• thebitterroost: drums
• Andrew Thompson: bass, violin

There's 46 more tracks on EXCALIBUR with a nice blend of new and familiar faces, as Jorito, along with dozens of other arrangers, ended up needing a new home for the album:

"This is a track I did back in 2020 for a Secret of Mana album that was supposed to be released by Materia Collective. That never happened (but the album may or may not be released under a new umbrella by the time you're reading this), and, since I felt it'd be a shame to let this track fade into obscurity, I figured it'd be a neat idea to try and get it on OC ReMix and share it with the world."

Well, wouldn't you know it, EXCALIBUR has finally been released TODAY through Jayson Napolitano's Scarlet Moon Records, so big props to Jayson as well as album director Peter "XenoKeyz" Jones for seeing this through! We're always eager to signal boost VGM arrangements from across the scene, and these cross-promotions sure are fun to stage, especially with something as ambitious as this track, according to Jorito:

"The original idea was to try and turn it into a bit of a folk metal track, with most parts performed by actual people, and to give the track a bit of a new vibe. Folksy instruments are always a good match for Secret of Mana music, and, with the metal elements, the idea was to give it both a lot of energy and an interesting, different style. It may have turned out more like rock than metal, but at least it's an interesting blend!

The source track is a bit of a weird one, and, initially, I struggled a bit to make it work in the intended style. Especially, the second half took some head scratching, but I managed to sneakily work through it and I'd like to think it all turned out rather well. This also the first track of mine where 99.9% of the instruments are actually performed by humans! (The only non-recorded parts are the whale sound in the beginning and orchestral bells tucked away somewhere.) Anyway, hope you enjoy!"

Once it gets going, "Eternal Recurrence" is quite the unorthodox Kikuta theme, I agree, so therein lies the challenge to arrange it. Love the intro with plenty of Earth Kid, and I swear, one of these days, we're gonna get a Jorito-voice-led track -- as much as I rock with this accordion, the fates are calling for Jorito lead vocals! Dulcimer and harp tracks make me smile too, and there's lots more other live instrumentation involved. Andrew's chill bass as well as the violin highlight at 3:56 were key components, and then we've got Gamer of the Winds, who's also apparently an eternal recurrence on our front page with his fourth OCR mixpost this year. :-) Jorito's not wrong that this didn't turn out as metal, but Matheus's guitar work has just the right kind of bite to show off those kind of chops, and you could also say the same for thebitterroost & his complex and sophisticated drums. The live performer synergy's in full effect with this one, and Jorito's clearly a master of magic (or coercion, or charisma ;-D) for banding these folks together!