ReMix:Mass Effect "Cosmic Contemplation" 3:44

After a catchy stop visiting Aleste 2 with Jorito, our space journey continues with prophetik music's winding path through the stars, taking on Sam Hulick's earworm of a map theme from Mass Effect! With "Uncharted Worlds" being the scene's most popular piece from the Mass Effect series, it makes sense that it also made an instant impression on proph:

"mass effect is a series with a number of unforgettable moments. the first time you open the galaxy map and see the different places you'll be exploring the first time in mass effect 1 is one of them. this theme is just absolutely perfect for capturing that sense of exploration and wonder and i've always wanted to do an arrangement of it as a result.

i intentionally didn't want to focus on a bumping beat with real drums, or a synthwave-esque approach, as i've been in a bit of a creative rut lately around that. instead, i focused on more interesting combinations of synths with rhythmic elements, and played around with some of the chord progression under the melodic material.

i mostly used omnisphere for this."

I like the subtle lil' swirl effect on the opening sound; nice and engaging opening playing with the rhythm of the source and with some very cool sound design. The imagery feels like a scientific/technological experiment going on that has a lot of futurist potential. And -- will you look at this? -- count judge Chimpazilla among the "Uncharted Worlds" fans too:

"Very cool source tune, gives me Tangerine Dream vibes. [...]

It's a luscious soundscape, I love it. Feels like floating out in space. Also giving me a very mellow Donkey Kong vibe.

When the kick comes in, I am loving this groove, because the 4-on-the-floor is totally unexpected!"

Expect the unexpected when the Js are the ones concocting things! Both Chimpa as well as fellow judge Emunator were pleasantly surprised by proph's novel interpretation:

"This arrangement clearly feels like a deliberate exercise in restraint, which can feel like a bit of a rug pull at first when you're expecting a big beat drop and don't get one, but the concept really opens up on repeat listens and rewards patience. There's a ton of evolution and tension created by the ebbing and flowing of different synth lines and arpeggios without needing to utilize any massive drops or dynamic changes or big moments - it still feels pretty massive all the same! You picked a perfect source to test this approach with, too - the repeating arpeggios give you so much room to play around with tension and release, and you capitalized perfectly. [...]

Unconventional and memorable without any of the showboating that typically comes with electronic music, I love it!"

3 minutes in, the rhythm keeps going as it did from the start, yet it doesn't plod at all, then the textures began to get subtractive and wind down starting at 3:08. Absolutely co-signed with Emu with how effectively the evolving textures kept things engaging, dynamic, and epic, while simultaneously exercising restraint. Such a delicate balance to maintain, yet prophetik pulled it off masterfully. Contemplative as advertised, I love the mood this sets! :-)

When learning this would go up, proph also has some personal thoughts he shared with the Js that I'm gonna blow up his spot and share:

"this is the first track i did when i got back to doing music again at the beginning of the summer. it's the first (aside from flowstone) that i've done with just me since 2021.

my kids are old enough to listen and like things and they've been very kind re: the music i've been occasionally sound testing on the home system. they asked for a track by name last week, i was literally speechless. i did a lot for chrono cross, but realistically despite that releasing in 2019, it was mostly 2018, and that was the first time i did music since my daughter was born (she'll be 10 in january). i did two tracks for the metroid project that shinesparkers did, but again those were one-offs that someone asked me to do. this is essentially the first time i chose to do a thing (outside of flowstone, which was kind of the catalyst) in at least five years.

and it's the first one i did on my new computer, which was my first home build just for me and not a customer in at least ten years, so also special for that. music is meaningful and special and it's so special to be a part of a community that cares about this stuff. it has been so good to get back to arranging again."

Stepping up as a dedicated evaluator for OCR oftentimes comes at the expense of focused time towards creating music, so it's wonderful to have Brad feel the spark light up and get back in action on the creative side! For years, he's been our most active and prolific judge, which -- genuinely fulfilling as it is -- can still feel like a thankless task. Having been on the other side of the process as a developing artist (13 rejections before his first approval), proph's worked tirelessly to make the present-day judging process even more comprehensive & helpful than the days when he came up. I am (and I know many others are) sincerely grateful to have Brad's care & insight help lift up the current generation of contributors, and I'm equally grateful to be able to point to his introspective treatment of Mass Effect as a top-flight example of what our Js, our community, and our scene are capable of. Just something to contemplate... ;-)