ReMix: The Legend of Zelda 'Eutopia Pegasi'

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Mr. Burnett, aka he of no wings, had a little preamble to this Zelda collaboration with Destiny that I think is worth sharing:

"This is a collaborative effort between myself (The Wingless) and Destiny. Destiny wrote and performed her own vocal arrangement, and I wrote everything else. Somebody once asked on the forums what made a good remixer. I think I spouted off about the virtues of being evolutionary with the material. The best aspect of what we do is the fact that we can take something so rudamentary (what I call the bleeps and its companion, the bloops) and transform it, evolve it into something truly transportative. At the very least, this is the trait I find most endearing. I'd like to think this particular piece is best show and tell I have to illustrate that point. Many, many, many thanks to Destiny for her generous and rather spontaneous help. She added worlds to this piece, making it one of my favorites."

Though it might not be my favorite Wingless piece (I'd have to do Pepsi/Coke taste-tests on each to really figure that out, and even then I might be indecisive), neverthless I can see why he considers it perhaps most indicative of that quality of ReMixes that takes a bare-bones, strong-but-simple original melody and, while remaining true to the spirit and not venturing outside the realm of identification, really PLAYS with the guts of the melody and progression. Introing with delicate piano and solo strings, harps gliss into the introduction of rising arpeggios and Destiny's vocal, along with the main melody's first appearance as a clarinet solo. At the first minute there's another glissando into the rest of the melodic phrase that's similarly extended and mutated into a more deliberate, challenging progression. There's definitely some license being taken in the wide, wonderful worlds of key and chord, and this is the crux of the mix's appeal and will largely dictate whether you dig it or not. The uber-popularity of the original theme has drawn out many talented mixers' own, unique, often VERY revised arrangements, and John and Destiny have certainly done a good job of not retreading explored territory. At 4'04 the relatively simple violin part that comes in does stand out as being a little beneath the par set by piano and vocals, and the end of the third and most of the fourth minute have times when they seem like they're stretching a bit to keep the flow alive; I might have broken things down like the ending does (successfully) a little earlier on as well, for an instrumental solo sans some of the accoutrements. My other gripe is that harp glissandos are a little overused as a transition device. But I love some of the liberties taken with the melody, and how it's served as a point of divergence and is surrounded by new intonations that change its context and really broaden the scope. This is some serious extrapolation and chordwork - at times things get nested enough that I have a hard time discerning the base, especially with the flute trills later on, but the overall result is something of a singular quality that is challenging and elaborate. A very involved, meditative arrangement from The Wingless and Destiny, with a new spin on Kondo's work.

― djpretzel