ReMix:The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess "Unseen Realities" 4:10

Yes, it's technically spring and the next season doesn't start for another month, but, for the collegiates and a lot of the kiddos, SCHOOL'S OUT, so it's time for summer vacation!!! Now, I'm a grown-ass man over here, so it's time for a six-pack! Well, I don't mean beer, my middle-aged tummy's poochy enough, so let's share a musical six-pack of Zelda's ReMixes! We just celebrated Michael Hudak for racking up featured ReMix #25, and here we are again with a magnificent milestone from Gaspode as he tacks on ReMix #15! Besides indie mega-hits, Amiga titles, and Metroid love, Gaspode's primarily a Zelda specialist whose already notched six different entries from the franchise on OCR, and it's time for a seventh -- Gaspode teams once again with Iranian string maven Niki Yaghmaee for their thumpin', bumpin', mystical, magical tribute to the Twilight Princess herself, Midna!

"»Unseen Realities« is a remix of »Midna's Theme« from »The Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess« (Asuka Hayazaki, Kōji Kondō & Toru Minegishi).

Midna, one of the best characters of all time from »The Legend of Zelda«. Her theme is strange and mysterious and it seems as if the individual notes are always moving in a different direction than you expect. So it's the perfect theme from another reality, the twilight realm.

I started this theme with the pulsing sound that starts at the beginning of 0:19. From there, the remix evolved into something dark and slow like the original theme. The part with the violas in the center was played with a synth sound at first. But I decided to work once again with Niki Yaghmaee, who did the violin lead on my Metroid remix, »Frozen Echoes«. This time he played viola and violin and took the quality of the piece to another level.

Basically, this remix was almost finished a few weeks ago, but I tweaked and optimised little bits almost every day until I finally was satisfied. So, here it is, my bow to an awesome theme in an awesome game. I hope you will enjoy it."

Smart writing that drives things forward with energy & zest separates the champions from the pretenders, and there's no question where judge prophetik music would categorize Gaspode, who absolutely killed it here compositionally:

"i like your description of the theme. i agree very much with it. [...] i love the way you play with time - the initial pattern in the kicks that's in 4/4 but is kind of 7+9 is great. i also like the anticipatory chord movement, moving on the last half-beat of the measure. it keeps it moving forward despite the lower-key approach overall. i think the string work also adds a lot. this is a fun listen with a great realization."

Over the three years since he's been featured in the community, Gaspode's only stepped his game up further & farther and shown a lot of growth on the production side, as well as exploring & learning from his collabs with Niki, strengths fully on display here according to judge Chimpazilla:

"I love Twilight Princess so much. The game has so many amazing and haunting themes. What is so interesting is how they re-used the primary motif again and again, in different ways. They have done this in other games too, one example is A Link Between Worlds. They used the same motif in every dungeon in Lorule, but the styles they used were so vastly different that it was hard to notice at first. [...]

I love the energy of this piece, the bassline sounds synthwavey, and the drums are great. The live violin is just gorgeous, I love it. The timbres Gaspode used fit the theme and vibe so well, the piece is melancholy yet groovy. Gaspode and I share a love of Zelda games, so he is my homeboy."

Man, Gaspode may be from Germany, but I wouldn't be shocked if there was some secret mystery melanin in the mix, because this homeboy's beats BANG. :-) GOTDAYUM, those kicks! Ease up on an old man. :-D Nah, these are so cool, adding gallons of extra juice to the picture. The beats were shaking my car, so this'll go over VERY well with the bass demographic. You gotta dig Niki's featured strings and I liked the way those underlying "Midna" chords played an important part of connecting this to the source and providing tension as well.

The percussion writing's so smart, the bass is so phat, the underlying chords are lush & mysterious, and Niki's gorgeous string work drew goosebumps. I love so many of Gaspode's pieces, but this one may be my new personal favorite. Look, I can't bash anyone who doesn't listen to their music with high-quality headphones, but if you DO, you WILL be richly rewarded! It sounds exquisite, it hits hard... turn... this... UP!