ReMix: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 'Ganon's Temple'

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Well, the Olympics have started, and here in Virginia at least we escaped Hurricane Charley. Best wishes to any listeners dealing with the mess in Florida. NBC "borrowed" the slower theme from the first Jurassic Park for their pre-Olympic documentary bit, which I thought was rather odd since there's an abundance of great themes and fanfares composed by Williams himself as well as others, written specifically for the occassion. Anyways, the games should provide good couch potato material for weeks to come. I somehow feel guilty eating a large pepperoni pizza all by myself, sitting on my ass, watching people swim 400 meters or do amazing gymnastic stuffs. But we all have our fortes. The forte (segue!) of Neskvartetten has been and remains making great, very atmospheric and authentic jazz game arrangements, with a predilection towards the Zelda series. This latest sub from Zelda 3 features Erik Kristoffesen on Alto Sax and is perhaps a little more challenging (i.e. less structured) than previous pieces by the group, but the core elements - a great, intimate, acoustic sound, impeccable musicianship, and spot-on mixing (the panning and effects are so natural you don't notice how good they are, it just all clicks together) - are all there in classic Neskvartetten style. I actually looped this a few times while viewing some of OCR listener tuggummi's excellent winamp visualizations - trippy in a very mellow way. In Zoetrope/Coppola's film The Conversation Gene Hackman plays sax, and for one reason or another this mix reminded me of that film. Same sort of experimental, 70's jazz jamming feel to it, I s'pose. The alto dances at a varying pace around the largely ride-cymbal driven percussion, laced with rolls, as bass, guitar, and a very electric-pianoish organ (or organesque EP) all accentuate. Again, as is the group's style, basically every player gets a chance to solo. From a certain point of view, you could say that all of them are constantly soloing, as none of the parts are on auto-pilot and all do fun things from bar to bar. I think a good way of summing up this mix, as well as their previous mixes, is to say that they put together arrangements that live musicians would have fun performing. That's not necessarily the most important thing in the world, but the side effect is that the parts all have life to them and breath, and the sum is always something mutating and expressive. Great stuff, VERY moody.

― djpretzel