ReMix: Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium 'PhantasyIsAFourLetterWord'

Download MP3
5,061,432 bytes, 5:16, 128kbps

• Trade-in your Games or Anime DVDs!
• OC ReMix Shirts & Merch
• Games:
  • DS | GBA | GC | PS2 | WII | XBOX | 360
  • Imports & Pre-owned
• Anime:
  • DVDs & Merchandise

Cool - I didn't really expect anyone else to ReMix this track (title screen) from Phantasy Star 4 that I covered way back when, but I'm sure glad someone did. Whereas my mix was overblown techtronica that totally emphasized the bassline, Rosencrantz & guildensterN have given us a more industrial, guitar-driven piece that emphasizes the melody. I use the term "melody" loosely, as this is pretty repetitive title BGM that doesn't develop much and is essentially about a decent bassline and a chromatic riff on top and little else, but now we've got two mixes that focus on either of the main components, so I suppose we're covered :) In typical R&G fashion, this has a lot of edgy vocal samples and audio manipulation at play. Mitch & Nate take some heavy but funky drums, undulating slap bass with attitude, stereo shred guitar, a great electric-piano-ish bubbling "computer" synth pattern, and a variety of other percussive and ambient sounds to turn the PS4 intro into a different beast. Note the wah that gets added to the guitar on its second iteration and the nifty solo effected electric guitar outro. These guys specialize in making mixes that are sonically out-of-the-ordinary, and never fail to throw at least one fresh timbre or effect our way with each submission, which is saying a lot. If you haven't checked out their stuff yet, this is a good, representative introduction that should tell you whether you'll dig it or not. As for the mix name, Mitch writes:

"anyway the new song is called "phantasy is a four letter word".... the title is derived from the fact that in PS4, each name had only 4 letters... plus we couldnt think of anything else to call it, so it seemed right... "

As accidental or fairly irreverent titles go, I think it works pretty well. I remember naming my character "DAVD" back with Phantasy Star 2 - seemed to be a convention of the series for awhile there. Hard-hitting, ambient-industrial goodness from the dynamic duo, this time of source material I'm more familiar with and from a series I'm partial to. At 5'16", this is also quite long for the genre and esp. for the depth of the original piece - the length might be the arrangement's one weakness - but overall I enjoyed all 5+ minutes and can recommend this to both fans of the genre and of the series. Groovy.

― djpretzel