ReMix: Mega Man 2 'Tickle My Wily'

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Mr. Salzman had to re-encode this as it was a slight bit over our strict six megabyte limit, resulting in a bit of a delay, but without further interruption here be his latest opus, a electro-orchestral hyperballad arrangement from Mega Man Part Deux. This is a mix that really goes places - no lack of development or direction, and quite a liberal bit of genre blending and juxtaposition. We get a tentative, deliberate solo piano intro, which orchestral elements are added to, building effectively to the introduction of synthetics at 0'55", with delayed, mutating synths and a half-speed beat with a verbed clap. At 1'32" things pick up with a firm beat and razor-sharp synth lead, but just as soon said beat drops out - Star's obviously not going to play all his cards early on, pulls back out for some more development, then brings a stronger beat in around 2'40" with some absolutely badass string runs. The core elements remain for the rest of the mix, but they are traded in and out creatively, in a fashion that keeps the listener fully attentive. This has very much the feel of a "sonic odyssey", if such a trite phrase can be seriously used anymore, as it doesn't at any point succumb to instant gratification and stay in a single groove for too long, but instead moves ahead to something new. For that reason, it packs a formidable number of musical constructs into its five-minute plus timespan, and exhaustively explores the original material without ever treading compositional water. I'd be remiss not to mention that Mr. Salzman, temporarily bereft of ideas himself, turned to judge Digital Coma to christen his ReMix, and that Binnie suggested the mix title, for better or worse. If you need your Wily tickled, in any possible euphemistic interpretation of the phrase, however, you could certainly do worse than this mix. Star's mixes continue to impress, especially in terms of time taken to flesh out ideas and create a landscape full of motifs and themes that add up to a whole larger than the sum of its parts. Great, fully-realized hybrid ReMix. Highly recommended.

― djpretzel