ReMix: Final Fantasy II 'Town Tribute'

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NoppZ' latest is spacey, dreamlike major-key coverage of FF2 for the NES. Starting with a simple beat then entering with the melody on a very ethereal electric piano, the piece evolves from there with some nice latin percussion thrown in on the rhythm side of things and a monoglide synth solo, pads, and guitarish backup on the melody all entering at later points. This mix establishes its tone early on as being fairly mellow and floaty, and though there's some key changes later on, nothing really disrupts that feeling of peaceful restfullness - your typical "chillin' in my home town" RPG theme, but done well originally by The Uematsu and realized effectively by NoppZ. The maintenance of this consistent aura is both the piece's strength and weakness - NoppZ never falters and there's nothing in particular that stands out as being off, but there's also nothing that's too risky or experimental, so it does stay fairly "safe" to use the best adjective I can conjure at the moment. That's not a criticism I would even consider making if I didn't know that NoppZ is capable of some very original arrangements that wouldn't be obvious to just anyone. Does this prevent the mix from being enjoyable? Not really - it's still slickly produced and does achieve a mood with musicality and a good ear for mixing with instruments well-panned, etc. I have to admit, the original melody itself doesn't exactly cry out for an arrangement that takes a lot of artistic freedom i.e. chances. Solid stuff from NoppZ, one way or the other, but not necessarily as inspired as some of his other works.

― djpretzel