ReMix: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 'Anthem of a Misguided Youth'

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Ahhh, Gerudo. Great theme, one of Kondo's best and most immediately identifiable, especially from his more recent repertoire, which has gotten its fair share of homage to date. When I mixed the piece myself way back in 2001, I was just getting into Gigastudio, and was happier with the altered resolution to the main melodic motif that I came up with more than anything else. Mr. Briggs, who sent in a dynamic first submission of Mario 64 back in February. And, much as the Detroit Pistons have proven this year (even if the finals are looking rather uphill), his second appearance puts to rest any notions that his initial mix was a fluke. Offering up his own uniquely titled and decidedly different take on Gerudo, chthonic melds electronica, breaks, jazz, and latin influences to create delicious fusion. A deep sub bass anchors breakish drums layered with bongos, woodblock, guiro (which always somehow takes me back to elementary school music class), acoustic guitar (solo + some good strummed 'n filtered passages), vibes/marimba, cello and violin, electric piano, acoustic piano, and a cornucopia of supporting and leading synth textures. Ben says:

"This one's... different. Lots of stuff in here that screams "I'm trying new things! Look at me!" Anyway, the main theme I was trying to get across with this piece is the fact that the Gerudo people are all theives, not knowing any differently. This is their anthem. All of the sorrow, guilt, and weight of immorality is balanced with a sense of sisterhood and acceptance, which is what I tried to convey with the "happier" sections of the piece."

Not sure if I could necessarily read that much into it, even as an English major, but I'll at least heartily concur with the first bit - there's a LOT of variety here, a lot of ideas, and they're pretty damn well-integrated - even given the plethora of timbral tradeoffs, it never really feels like "look at me", but rather a whole, logically-structured arrangement that simply happens to have a lot of different players, who all have their lines to deliver. None of the instrumental appearances scream 'cameo' but instead feel well-placed, duly considered, and necessary. Quoth Harmony:

"The intro had me a little worried. The claps and the strings just didn’t sit well with me but when that first PHAT warm bass note fills my headphones at :14, everything comes to life. This has a wonderful smooth latin jazz feel to it created by a triangle, congas, claves, and a guiro clicking away behind the simple but beautifully played classical guitar. The samples aren't amazing but they are all used quite effectively. This all fuses seamlessly with the synth elements. Props for 2:12-2:33 man and great use of the game samples at :56, :58… Rearrangement is right on. Not a significant departure from the vibe of the source but this is certainly nothing less than a show of even more of the chthonic creativity that brought us Fleeting Ecstasy. Very enjoyable. Is it this simple to make a cool mix or does chthonic just make it look like it is?"

Frankly, if you've got a variety of ideas for instrumentation in a given mix AND can make them work - can make them make sense and not seem like gratuitous window dressing - I say go for it. Ben's done just that, raising some chicken-and-egg questions about whether the mix was written for the individual instruments or whether the instrumentation drove the arrangement to some extent. Regardless of the answer or balance, the important point is that it sounds like both were the case, which is exactly where you wanna be. This does share some similarities in tempo/pacing with Gerudo mixes that have come before it, and I remember putting some latin elements in Interlude, but there's no doubting that Ben's mix is its own beast, or rather beauty. Excellent second mix that lives up to and exceeds the promise of the ReMixer's initial work, and both should be and deserves to be well-received and heavily rotated in playlists everywhere.

― djpretzel